Monitor IT Employee Experience

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  • Parent Category Name: Engage
  • Parent Category Link: /engage
  • In IT, high turnover and sub-optimized productivity can have huge impacts on IT’s ability to execute SLAs, complete projects on time, and maintain operations effectively.
  • With record low unemployment rates in IT, retaining top employees and keeping them motivated in their jobs has never been more critical.

Our Advice

Critical Insight

  • One bad experience can cost you your top employee. Engagement is the sum total of the day-to-day experiences your employees have with your company.
  • Engagement, not pay, drives results. Engagement is key to your team's productivity and ability to retain top talent. Approach it systematically to learn what really drives your team.
  • It’s time for leadership to step up. As the CIO, it’s up to you to take ownership of your team’s engagement.

Impact and Result

  • Info-Tech tools and guidance will help you initiate an effective conversation with your team around engagement, and avoid common pitfalls in implementing engagement initiatives.
  • Monitoring employee experience continuously using the Employee Experience Monitor enables you to take a data-driven approach to evaluating the success of your engagement initiatives.

Monitor IT Employee Experience Research & Tools

Start here – read the Executive Brief

Read our concise Executive Brief to find out why you should focus on employee experience to improve engagement in IT, review Info-Tech’s methodology, and understand how our tools will help you construct an effective employee engagement program.

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

1. Start monitoring employee experience

Plan out your employee engagement program and launch the Employee Experience Monitor survey for your team.

  • Drive IT Performance by Monitoring Employee Experience – Phase 1: Start Monitoring Employee Experience
  • None
  • None
  • EXM Setup Guide
  • EXM Training Guide for Managers
  • None
  • EXM Communication Template

2. Analyze results and ideate solutions

Interpret your Employee Experience Monitor results, understand what they mean in the context of your team, and involve your staff in brainstorming engagement initiatives.

  • Drive IT Performance by Monitoring Employee Experience – Phase 2: Analyze Results and Ideate Solutions
  • EXM Focus Group Facilitation Guide
  • Focus Group Facilitation Guide Driver Definitions

3. Select and implement engagement initiatives

Select engagement initiatives for maximal impact, create an action plan, and establish open and ongoing communication about engagement with your team.

  • Drive IT Performance by Monitoring Employee Experience – Phase 3: Measure and Communicate Results
  • Engagement Progress One-Pager
[infographic]

Workshop: Monitor IT Employee Experience

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

1 Launch the EXM

The Purpose

Set up the EXM and collect a few months of data to build on during the workshop.

Key Benefits Achieved

Arm yourself with an index of employee experience and candid feedback from your team to use as a starting point for your engagement program.

Activities

1.1 Identify EXM use case.

1.2 Identify engagement program goals and obstacles.

1.3 Launch EXM.

Outputs

Defined engagement goals.

EXM online dashboard with three months of results.

2 Explore Engagement

The Purpose

To understand the current state of engagement and prepare to discuss the drivers behind it with your staff.

Key Benefits Achieved

Empower your leadership team to take charge of their own team's engagement.

Activities

2.1 Review EXM results to understand employee experience.

2.2 Finalize focus group agendas.

2.3 Train managers.

Outputs

Customized focus group agendas.

3 Hold Employee Focus Groups

The Purpose

Establish an open dialogue with your staff to understand what drives their engagement.

Key Benefits Achieved

Understand where in your team’s experience you can make the most impact as an IT leader.

Activities

3.1 Identify priority drivers.

3.2 Identify engagement KPIs.

3.3 Brainstorm engagement initiatives.

3.4 Vote on initiatives within teams.

Outputs

Summary of focus groups results

Identified engagement initiatives.

4 Select and Plan Initiatives

The Purpose

Learn the characteristics of successful engagement initiatives and build execution plans for each.

Key Benefits Achieved

Choose initiatives with the greatest impact on your team’s engagement, and ensure you have the necessary resources for success.

Activities

4.1 Select engagement initiatives with IT leadership.

4.2 Discuss and decide on the top five engagement initiatives.

4.3 Create initiative project plans.

4.4 Build detailed project plans.

4.5 Present project plans.

Outputs

Engagement project plans.

Secrets of SAP S-4HANA Licensing

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  • Parent Category Name: Vendor Management
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  • With the relatively slow uptake of the S/4HANA platform, the pressure is immense for SAP to maintain revenue growth.
  • SAP’s definitions and licensing rules are complex and vague, making it extremely difficult to purchase with confidence while remaining compliant.
  • Aggressive audit tactics may be used to speed up the move to HANA.

Our Advice

Critical Insight

  • Mapping SAP products to HANA can be highly complex, leading to overspending and an inability to reduce future spend.
  • The deployment model chosen will directly impact commercial pathways forward.
  • Beware of digital (indirect) access licensing and compliance concerns.
  • Without having a holistic negotiation strategy, it is easy to hit a common obstacle and land into SAP’s playbook, requiring further spend.

Impact and Result

  • Build a business case to evaluate S/4HANA.
  • Understand the S/4HANA roadmap and map current functionality to ensure compatibility.
  • Understand negotiating pricing and commercial terms.
  • Learn the “SAP way” of conducting business, which includes a best-in-class sales structure, unique contracts, and license use policies combined with a hyper-aggressive compliance function.

Secrets of SAP S/4HANA Licensing Research & Tools

Start here – read the Executive Brief

Read our concise Executive Brief to find out why you should explore the secrets of SAP S/4HANA licensing, review Info-Tech’s methodology, and understand the four ways we can support you in completing this project.

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

1. Establish requirements

Determining SAP’s fit within your organization is critical. Start off by building a business case to assess overarching drivers and justification for change, any net new business benefits and long-term sustainability. Oftentimes the ROI is negative, but the investment sets the stage for long-term growth.

2. Evaluate licensing options

Your deployment model is more important than you think. Selecting a deployment model will dictate your licensing options followed by your contractual pathways forward.

  • SAP License Summary and Analysis Tool
  • SAP Digital Access Licensing Pricing Tool

3. Negotiation and license management

Know what’s in the contract. Each customer agreement is different and there may be existing terms that are beneficial. Depending on how much is spent, anything can be up for negation.

  • SAP S/4HANA Terms and Conditions Evaluator
[infographic]

Automate Testing to Get More Done

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

Our Advice

Critical Insight

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

Impact and Result

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

Automate Testing to Get More Done Research & Tools

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

1. Start here – read the Executive Brief

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

2. Adopt good automated testing practices

Develop and implement practices that mature your automated testing capabilities.

  • Automated Testing Quick Reference Template

Infographic

Workshop: Automate Testing to Get More Done

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

1 Adopt Good Automated Testing Practices

The Purpose

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

Develop your automated testing foundational practices.

Adopt good practices for each test type.

Key Benefits Achieved

Level set automated testing expectations and objectives.

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

Activities

1.1 Build a foundation.

1.2 Automate your test types.

Outputs

Automated testing vision, expectations, and metrics

Current state of your automated testing practice

Ownership of the implementation and execution of automated testing foundations

List of practices to introduce automation to for each test type

2020 Security Priorities Report

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  • Parent Category Name: Security Strategy & Budgeting
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Use this deck to learn what projects security practitioners are prioritizing for 2020. Based on a survey of 460 IT security professionals, this report explains what you need to know about the top five priorities, including:

  • Signals and drivers
  • Benefits
  • Critical uncertainties
  • Case study
  • Implications

While the priorities should in no way be read as prescriptive, this research study provides a high-level guide to understand that priorities drive the initiatives, projects, and responsibilities that make up organizations' security strategies.

Our Advice

Critical Insight

There is always more to do, and if IT leaders are to grow with the business, provide meaningful value, and ascend the ladder to achieve true business partner and innovator status, aggressive prioritization is necessary. Clearly, security has become a priority across organizations, as security budgets have continued to increase over the course of 2019. 2020’s priorities highlight that data security has become the thread that runs through all other security priorities, as data is now the currency of the modern digital economy. As a result, data security has reshaped organizations’ priorities to ensure that data is always protected.

Impact and Result

Ultimately, understanding how changes in technology and patterns of work stand to impact the day-to-day lives of IT staff across seniority and industries will allow you to evaluate what your priorities should be for 2020. Ensure that you’re spending your time right. Use data to validate. Prioritize and implement.

2020 Security Priorities Report Research & Tools

Start here – read the Executive Brief

This storyboard will help you understand what projects security practitioners are prioritizing for 2020.

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

1. Data security

Data security often rubs against other organizational priorities like data quality, but organizations need to understand that the way they store, handle, and dispose of data is now under regulatory oversight.

  • 2020 Security Priorities Report – Priority 1: Data Security

2. Cloud security

Cloud security means that organizations can take advantage of automation tools not only for patching and patch management but also to secure code throughout the SDLC. It is clear that cloud will transform how security is performed.

  • 2020 Security Priorities Report – Priority 2: Cloud Security

3. Email security

Email security is critical, since email continues to be one of the top points of ingress for cyberattacks from ransomware to business email compromise.

  • 2020 Security Priorities Report – Priority 3: Email Security

4. Security risk management

Security risk management requires organizations to make decisions based on their individual risk tolerance on such things as machine learning and IoT devices.

  • 2020 Security Priorities Report – Priority 4: Security Risk Management

5. Security awareness and training

Human error continues to be a security issue. In 2020, organizations should tailor their security awareness and training to their people so that they are more secure not only at work but also in life.

  • 2020 Security Priorities Report – Priority 5: Security Awareness and Training
[infographic]

Assess Infrastructure Readiness for Digital Transformation

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  • Parent Category Name: Strategy and Organizational Design
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There are many challenges for I&O when it comes to digital transformation, including:

  • Legacy infrastructure technical debt
  • Skills and talent in the IT team
  • A culture that resists change
  • Fear of job loss

These and many more will hinder your progress, which demonstrates the need to invest in modernizing your infrastructure, investing in training and hiring talent, and cultivating a culture that supports digital transformation.

Our Advice

Critical Insight

By using the framework of culture, competencies, collaboration and capabilities, organizations can create dimensions in their I&O structure in order to shift from traditional infrastructure management to becoming a strategic enabler, driving agility, innovation, and operational excellence though the effective integration of people, process, and technology.

Impact and Result

By driving a customer-centric approach, delivering a successful transformation can be tailored to the business goals and drive adoption and engagement. Refining your roadmap through data and analytics will drive this change. Use third-party expertise to guide your transformation and help build that vision of the future.

Assess Infrastructure Readiness for Digital Transformation Research & Tools

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

1. Assess Infrastructure Readiness for Digital Transformation – Unlock the full potential of your infrastructure with a digital transformation strategy and clear the barriers for success.

  • Be customer centric as opposed to being technology driven.
  • Understanding business needs and pain points is key to delivering solutions.
  • Approach infrastructure digital transformation in iterations and look at this as a journey.

    • Assess Infrastructure Readiness for Digital Transformation Storyboard
    • I&O Digital Transformation Maturity Assessment Tool

    Infographic

    Further reading

    Assess Infrastructure Readiness for Digital Transformation

    Unlock the full potential of your infrastructure with a digital transformation strategy and clear the barriers to success.

    Analyst Perspective

    It’s not just about the technology!

    Many businesses fail in their endeavors to complete a digital transformation, but the reasons are complex, and there are many ways to fail, whether it is people, process, or technology. In fact, according to many surveys, 70% of digital transformations fail, and it’s mainly down to strategy – or the lack thereof.

    A lot of organizations think of digital transformation as just an investment in technology, with no vision of what they are trying to achieve or transform. So, out of the gate, many organizations fail to undergo a meaningful transformation, change their business model, or bring about a culture of digital transformation needed to be seriously competitive in their given market.

    When it comes to I&O leaders who have been given a mandate to drive digital transformation projects, they still must align to the vision and mission of the organization; they must still train and hire staff that will be experts in their field; they must still drive process improvements and align the right technology to meet the needs of a digital transformation.

    John Donovan

    John Donovan

    Principal Research Director, I&O
    Info-Tech Research Group

    Insight summary

    Overarching insight

    Digital transformation requires I&O teams to shift from traditional infrastructure management to becoming a strategic enabler, driving agility, innovation, and operational excellence through effective integration of people, process, and technology.

    Insight 1

    Collaboration is a key component of I&O – Promote strong collaboration between I&O and other business functions. When doing a digital transformation, it is clear that this is a cross-functional effort. Business leaders and IT teams need to align their objectives, prioritize initiatives, and ensure that you are seamlessly integrating technologies with the new business functions.

    Insight 2

    Embrace agility and adaptability as core principles – As the digital landscape continues to evolve, it is paramount that I&O leaders are agile and adaptable to changing business needs, adopting new technology and implementing new innovative solutions. The culture of continuous improvement and openness to experimentation and learning will assist the I&O leaders in their journey.

    Insight 3

    Future-proof your infrastructure and operations – By anticipating emerging technologies and trends, you can proactively plan and organize your team for future needs. By investing in scalable, flexible infrastructure such as cloud services, automation, AI technologies, and continuously upskilling the IT staff, you can stay relevant and forward-looking in the digital space.

    Tactical insight

    An IT infrastructure maturity assessment is a foundational step in the journey of digital transformation. The demand will be on performance, resilience, and scalability. IT infrastructure must be able to support innovation and rapid deployment of services.

    Tactical insight

    Having a clear strategy, with leadership commitment along with hiring and training the right people, monitoring and measuring your progress, and ensuring it is a business-led journey will increase your chances of success.

    Executive Summary

    Your Challenge

    There are a lot of challenges for I&O when it comes to digital transformation, including:

    • Legacy infrastructure technical debt.
    • Skills and talent in the IT team.
    • A culture that resists change.
    • Fear of job loss.

    These and many more will hinder your progress, which demonstrates the need to invest in modernizing your infrastructure, investing in training and hiring talent, and cultivating a culture that supports digital transformation.

    Common Obstacles

    Many obstacles to digital transformation begin with non-I&O activities, including:

    • Lack of a clear vision and strategy.
    • Siloed organizational structure.
    • Lack of governance and data management.
    • Limited budget and resources.

    By addressing these obstacles, I&O will have a better chance of a successful transformation and delivering the full potential of digital technologies.

    Info-Tech's Approach

    Building a culture of innovation by developing clear goals and creating a vision will be key.

    • Be customer centric as opposed to being technology driven.
    • Understand the business needs and pain points in order to effectively deliver solutions.
    • Approach infrastructure digital transformation in iterations and look at it as a journey.

    By completing the Info-Tech digital readiness questionnaire, you will see where you are in terms of maturity and areas you need to concentrate on.

    Info-Tech Insight

    By driving a customer-centric approach, delivering a successful transformation can be tailored to the business goals and drive adoption and engagement. Refining your roadmap through data and analytics will drive this change. Use third-party expertise to guide your transformation and help build that vision of the future.

    The cost of digital transformation

    The challenges that stand in the way of your success, and what is needed to reverse the risk

    What CIOs are saying about their challenges

    26% of those CIOs surveyed cite resistance to change, with entrenched viewpoints demonstrating a real need for a cultural shift to enhance the digital transformation journey.

    Source: Prophet, 2019.

    70% of digital transformation projects fall short of their objectives – even when their leadership is aligned, often with serious consequences.

    Source: BCG, 2020.

    Having a clear strategy and commitment from leadership, hiring and training the right people, monitoring and measuring your progress, and ensuring it is a business-led journey will increase your chances of success.

    Info-Tech Insight

    Cultural change, business alignment, skills training, and setting a clear strategy with KPIs to demonstrate success are all key to being successful in your digital journey.

    Small and medium-sized enterprises

    What business owners and CEOs are saying about their digital transformation

    57% of small business owners feel they must improve their IT infrastructure to optimize their operations.

    Source: SMB Story, 2023.

    64% of CEOs believe driving digital transformation at a rapid pace is critical to attracting and retaining talent and customers.

    Source: KPMG, 2022.

    Info-Tech Insight

    An IT infrastructure maturity assessment is a foundational step in the journey of digital transformation. The demand will be on performance, resilience, and scalability. IT infrastructure must be able to support innovation and rapid deployments.

    Release management

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    • Parent Category Name: Infra and Operations
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    • byline: Stabilize your deployments via excellent release management.
    Today's world requires frequent and fast deployments. Stay in control with release management.

    Proactively Identify and Mitigate Vendor Risk

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    • Parent Category Name: Vendor Management
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    • IT priorities are focused on daily tasks, pushing risk management to secondary importance and diverging from a proactive environment.
    • IT leaders are relying on an increasing number of third-party technology vendors and outsourcing key functions to meet the rapid pace of change within IT.
    • Risk levels can fluctuate over the course of the partnership, requiring manual process checks and/or automated solutions.

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    • Every IT vendor carries risks that have business implications. These legal, financial, security, and operational risks could inhibit business continuity and IT can’t wait until an issue arises to act.
    • Making intelligent decisions about risks without knowing what their financial impact will be is difficult. Risk impact must be quantified.
    • You don’t know what you don’t know, and what you don’t know, can hurt you. To find hidden risks, you must use a structured risk identification method.

    Impact and Result

    • A thorough risk assessment in the selection phase is your first line of defense. If you follow the principles of vendor risk management, you can mitigate collateral losses following an adverse event.
    • Make a conscious decision whether to accept the risk based on time, priority, and impact. Spend the required time to correctly identify and enact defined vendor management processes that determine spend categories and appropriately evaluate potential and preferred suppliers. Ensure you accurately assess the partnership potential.
    • Take a proactive stance against IT threats and vulnerabilities by identifying and assessing IT’s most significant risks before they happen.

    Proactively Identify and Mitigate Vendor Risk Research & Tools

    Start here – read the Executive Brief

    Read our concise Executive Brief to find out how to create a vendor risk management program that minimizes your organization’s vulnerability and mitigates adverse scenarios.

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

    1. Review vendor risk fundamentals and establish governance

    Review IT vendor risk fundamentals and establish a risk governance framework.

    • Proactively Identify and Mitigate Vendor Risk – Phase 1: Review Vendor Risk Fundamentals and Establish Governance
    • Vendor Risk Management Maturity Assessment Tool
    • Vendor Risk Management Program Manual
    • Risk Event Action Plan

    2. Assess vendor risk and define your response strategy

    Categorize, prioritize, and assess your vendor risks. Follow up with creating effective response strategies.

    • Proactively Identify and Mitigate Vendor Risk – Phase 2: Assess Vendor Risk and Define Your Response Strategy
    • Vendor Classification Model Tool
    • Vendor Risk Profile and Assessment Tool
    • Risk Costing Tool
    • Risk Register Tool

    3. Monitor, communicate, and improve IT vendor risk process

    Assign accountability and responsibilities to formalize ongoing risk monitoring. Communicate your findings to management and share the plan moving forward.

    • Proactively Identify and Mitigate Vendor Risk – Phase 3: Monitor, Communicate, and Improve IT Vendor Risk Process
    • Risk Report
    [infographic]

    Workshop: Proactively Identify and Mitigate Vendor Risk

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

    1 Prepare for the Workshop

    The Purpose

    To prepare the team for the workshop.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Avoids delays and interruptions once the workshop is in progress.

    Activities

    1.1 Send workshop agenda to all participants.

    1.2 Prepare list of vendors and review any contracts provided by them.

    1.3 Review current risk management process.

    Outputs

    All necessary participants assembled

    List of vendors and vendor contracts

    Understanding of current risk management process

    2 Review Vendor Risk Fundamentals and Establish Governance

    The Purpose

    Review IT vendor risk fundamentals.

    Assess current maturity and set risk management program goals.

    Engage stakeholders and establish a risk governance framework.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Understanding of organizational risk culture and the corresponding risk threshold.

    Obstacles to effective IT risk management identified.

    Attainable goals to increase maturity established.

    Understanding of the gap to achieve vendor risk readiness.

    Activities

    2.1 Brainstorm vendor-related risks.

    2.2 Assess current program maturity.

    2.3 Identify obstacles and pain points.

    2.4 Develop risk management goals.

    2.5 Develop key risk indicators (KRIs) and escalation protocols.

    2.6 Gain stakeholders’ perspective.

    Outputs

    Vendor risk management maturity assessment

    Goals for vendor risk management

    Stakeholders’ opinions

    3 Assess Vendor Risk and Define Your Response Strategy

    The Purpose

    Categorize vendors.

    Prioritize assessed risks.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Risk events prioritized according to risk severity – as defined by the business.

    Activities

    3.1 Categorize vendors.

    3.2 Map vendor infrastructure.

    3.3 Prioritize vendors.

    3.4 Identify risk contributing factors.

    3.5 Assess risk exposure.

    3.6 Calculate expected cost.

    3.7 Identify risk events.

    3.8 Input risks into the Risk Register Tool.

    Outputs

    Vendors classified and prioritized

    Vendor risk exposure

    Expected cost calculation

    4 Assess Vendor Risk and Define Your Response Strategy (continued)

    The Purpose

    Determine risk threshold and contract clause relating to risk prevention.

    Identify and assess risk response actions.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Thorough analysis has been conducted on the value and effectiveness of risk responses for high-severity risk events.

    Risk response strategies have been identified for all key risks.

    Authoritative risk response recommendations can be made to senior leadership.

    Activities

    4.1 Determine the threshold for (un)acceptable risk.

    4.2 Match elements of the contract to related vendor risks.

    4.3 Identify and assess risk responses.

    Outputs

    Thresholds for (un)acceptable risk

    Risk responses

    5 Monitor, Communicate, and Improve IT Vendor Risk Process

    The Purpose

    Communicate top risks to management.

    Assign accountabilities and responsibilities for risk management process.

    Establish monitoring schedule.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Risk monitoring responsibilities are established.

    Transparent accountabilities and established ongoing improvement of the vendor risk management program.

    Activities

    5.1 Create a stakeholder map.

    5.2 Complete RACI chart.

    5.3 Establish the reporting schedule.

    5.4 Finalize the vendor risk management program.

    Outputs

    Stakeholder map

    Assigned accountability for risk management

    Established monitoring schedule

    Risk report

    Vendor Risk Management Program Manual

    Build a Winning Business Process Automation Playbook

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    • Parent Category Name: Business Analysis
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    • Organizations often have many business processes that rely on manual, routine, and repetitive data collection and processing work. These processes need to be automated to meet strategic priorities.
    • Your stakeholders may have decided to invest in process automation solutions. They may be ready to begin the planning and delivery of their first automated processes.
    • However, if your processes are costly, slow, defective, and do not generate the value end users want, automation will only magnify these inefficiencies.

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    • Put the user front and center. Aim to better understand the end user and their operational environment. Use cases, data models, and quality factors allow you to visualize the human-computer interactions from an end-user perspective and initiate a discussion on how technology and process improvements can be better positioned to help your end users.
    • Build for the future. Automation sets the technology foundations and process governance and management building blocks in your organization. Expect that more automation will be done using earlier investments.
    • Manage automations as part of your application portfolio. Automations are add-ons to your application portfolio. Unmanaged automations, like applications, will sprawl and reduce in value over time. A collaborative rationalization practice pinpoints where automation is required and identifies which business inefficiencies should be automated next.

    Impact and Result

    • Clarify the problem being solved. Gain a grounded understanding of your stakeholders’ drivers for business process automation. Discuss current business operations and systems to identify automation candidates.
    • Optimate your processes. Apply good practices to first optimize (opti-) and then automate (-mate) key business processes. Take a user-centric perspective to understand how users interact with technology to complete their tasks.
    • Deliver minimum viable automations (MVAs). Maximize the learning of automation solutions and business operational changes through small, strategic automation use cases. This sets the foundations for a broader automation practice.

    Build a Winning Business Process Automation Playbook Research & Tools

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

    1. Business Process Automation Deck – A step-by-step document that walks you through how to optimize and automate your business processes.

    This blueprint helps you develop a repeatable approach to understand your process challenges and to optimize and automate strategic business processes.

    • Build a Winning Business Process Automation Playbook – Phases 1-3

    2. Business Process Automation Playbook – A repeatable set of practices to assess, optimize, and automate your business processes.

    This playbook template gives your teams a step-by-step guide to build a repeatable and standardized framework to optimize and automate your processes.

    • Business Process Automation Playbook

    3. Process Interview Template – A structured approach to interviewing stakeholders about their business processes.

    Info-Tech's Process Interview Template provides a number of sections that you can populate to help facilitate and document your stakeholder interviews.

    • Process Interview Template

    4. Process Mapping Guide – A guide to mapping business processes using BPMN standards.

    Info-Tech's Process Mapping Guide provides a thorough framework for process mapping, including the purpose and benefits, the best practices for facilitation, step-by-step process mapping instructions, and process mapping naming conventions.

    • Process Mapping Guide

    Infographic

    Workshop: Build a Winning Business Process Automation Playbook

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

    1 Identify Automation Opportunities

    The Purpose

    Understand the goals and visions of business process automation.

    Develop your guiding principles.

    Build a backlog of automation opportunities

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Business process automation vision, expectations, and objectives.

    High-priority automation opportunities identified to focus on.

    Activities

    1.1 State your objectives and metrics.

    1.2 Build your backlog.

    Outputs

    Business process automation vision and objectives

    Business process automation guiding principles

    Process automation opportunity backlog

    2 Define Your MVAs

    The Purpose

    Assess and optimize high-strategic-importance business process automation use cases from the end user’s perspective.

    Shortlist your automation solutions.

    Build and plan to deliver minimum viable automations (MVAs).

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Repeatable framework to assess and optimize your business process.

    Selection of the possible solutions that best fit the business process use case.

    Maximized learning with a low-risk minimum viable automation.

    Activities

    2.1 Optimize your processes.

    2.2 Automate your processes.

    2.3 Define and roadmap your MVAs.

    Outputs

    Assessed and optimized business processes with a repeatable framework

    Fit assessment of use cases to automation solutions

    MVA definition and roadmap

    3 Deliver Your MVAs

    The Purpose

    Modernize your SDLC to support business process automation delivery.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    An SDLC that best supports the nuances and complexities of business process automation delivery.

    Activities

    3.1 Deliver your MVAs

    Outputs

    Refined and enhanced SDLC

    Create a Customized Big Data Architecture and Implementation Plan

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    • Parent Category Name: Data Management
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    • Big data architecture is different from traditional data for several key reasons, including:
      • Big data architecture starts with the data itself, taking a bottom-up approach. Decisions about data influence decisions about components that use data.
      • Big data introduces new data sources such as social media content and streaming data.
      • The enterprise data warehouse (EDW) becomes a source for big data.
      • Master data management (MDM) is used as an index to content in big data about the people, places, and things the organization cares about.
      • The variety of big data and unstructured data requires a new type of persistence.
    • Many data architects have no experience with big data and feel overwhelmed by the number of options available to them (including vendor options, storage options, etc.). They often have little to no comfort with new big data management technologies.
    • If organizations do not architect for big data, there are a couple of main risks:
      • The existing data architecture is unable to handle big data, which will eventually result in a failure that could compromise the entire data environment.
      • Solutions will be selected in an ad hoc manner, which can cause incompatibility issues down the road.

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    • Before beginning to make technology decisions regarding the big data architecture, make sure a strategy is in place to document architecture principles and guidelines, the organization’s big data business pattern, and high-level functional and quality of service requirements.
    • The big data business pattern can be used to determine what data sources should be used in your architecture, which will then dictate the data integration capabilities required. By documenting current technologies, and determining what technologies are required, you can uncover gaps to be addressed in an implementation plan.
    • Once you have identified and filled technology gaps, perform an architectural walkthrough to pull decisions and gaps together and provide a fuller picture. After the architectural walkthrough, fill in any uncovered gaps. A proof-of-technology project can be started as soon as you have evaluation copies (or OSS) products and at least one person who understands the technology.

    Impact and Result

    • Save time and energy trying to fix incompatibilities between technology and data.
    • Allow the Data Architect to respond to big data requests from the business more quickly.
    • Provide the organization with valuable insights through the analytics and visualization technologies that are integrated with the other building blocks.

    Create a Customized Big Data Architecture and Implementation Plan Research & Tools

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

    1. Recognize the importance of big data architecture

    Big data is centered on the volume, variety, velocity, veracity, and value of data. Achieve a data architecture that can support big data.

    • Storyboard: Create a Customized Big Data Architecture and Implementation Plan

    2. Define architectural principles and guidelines while taking into consideration maturity

    Understand the importance of a big data architecture strategy. Assess big data maturity to assist with creation of your architectural principles.

    • Big Data Maturity Assessment Tool
    • Big Data Architecture Principles & Guidelines Template

    3. Build the big data architecture

    Come to accurate big data architecture decisions.

    • Big Data Architecture Decision Making Tool

    4. Determine common services needs

    What are common services?

    5. Plan a big data architecture implementation

    Gain business satisfaction with big data requests. Determine what steps need to be taken to achieve your big data architecture.

    • Big Data Architecture Initiative Definition Tool
    • Big Data Architecture Initiative Planning Tool

    Infographic

    Workshop: Create a Customized Big Data Architecture and Implementation Plan

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

    1 Recognize the Importance of Big Data Architecture

    The Purpose

    Set expectations for the workshop.

    Recognize the importance of doing big data architecture when dealing with big data.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Big data defined.

    Understanding of why big data architecture is necessary.

    Activities

    1.1 Define the corporate strategy.

    1.2 Define big data and what it means to the organization.

    1.3 Understand why doing big data architecture is necessary.

    1.4 Examine Info-Tech’s Big Data Reference Architecture.

    Outputs

    Defined Corporate Strategy

    Defined Big Data

    Reference Architecture

    2 Design a Big Data Architecture Strategy

    The Purpose

    Identification of architectural principles and guidelines to assist with decisions.

    Identification of big data business pattern to choose required data sources.

    Definition of high-level functional and quality of service requirements to adhere architecture to.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Key Architectural Principles and Guidelines defined.

    Big data business pattern determined.

    High-level requirements documented.

    Activities

    2.1 Discuss how maturity will influence architectural principles.

    2.2 Determine which solution type is best suited to the organization.

    2.3 Define the business pattern driving big data.

    2.4 Define high-level requirements.

    Outputs

    Architectural Principles & Guidelines

    Big Data Business Pattern

    High-Level Functional and Quality of Service Requirements Exercise

    3 Build a Big Data Architecture

    The Purpose

    Establishment of existing and required data sources to uncover any gaps.

    Identification of necessary data integration requirements to uncover gaps.

    Determination of the best suited data persistence model to the organization’s needs.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Defined gaps for Data Sources

    Defined gaps for Data Integration capabilities

    Optimal Data Persistence technology determined

    Activities

    3.1 Establish required data sources.

    3.2 Determine data integration requirements.

    3.3 Learn which data persistence model is best suited.

    3.4 Discuss analytics requirements.

    Outputs

    Data Sources Exercise

    Data Integration Exercise

    Data Persistence Decision Making Tool

    4 Plan a Big Data Architecture Implementation

    The Purpose

    Identification of common service needs and how they differ for big data.

    Performance of an architectural walkthrough to test decisions made.

    Group gaps to form initiatives to develop an Initiative Roadmap.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Common service needs identified.

    Architectural walkthrough completed.

    Initiative Roadmap completed.

    Activities

    4.1 Identify common service needs.

    4.2 Conduct an architectural walkthrough.

    4.3 Group gaps together into initiatives.

    4.4 Document initiatives on an initiative roadmap.

    Outputs

    Architectural Walkthrough

    Initiative Roadmap

    The Importance of Clear Communication During an IT Incident

    IT incidents—such as outages, software bugs, or security alerts—are a routine part of managing business technology. The effectiveness of incident management depends not only on technical resolution but also on how clearly the situation is communicated across the organization.

    Distinguishing Technical Issues from Business Impact

    It’s important that communication during an IT incident separates technical details from business impact.

    Technical communications focus on the nature of the incident, technical root cause, and steps to resolution.
    Business communications address what the incident means for users, customers, and ongoing operations.
    Tactical vs. Strategic Impact
    A key aspect of effective communication is differentiating between tactical and strategic impact:

    Tactical Impact

    This refers to the immediate, short-term effects of the incident. For example, a payment processing outage might delay customer transactions or require manual workarounds. Tactical impact is about “what’s happening right now,” how it disrupts daily operations, and what steps are being taken to restore service.

    Strategic Impact

    This concerns whether the incident has any meaningful effect on the organization’s long-term goals, strategic initiatives, or overall direction. In most cases, IT incidents do not affect strategic objectives. Communication should make it clear to leadership and stakeholders if an incident is limited to tactical impact, helping to avoid unnecessary escalation or concern.

    Tailoring Communication to Audience Levels

    1. Technical Teams
    “The payment gateway service is returning intermittent 503 errors due to a backend database lock. We are currently restarting the affected services and monitoring log files for additional errors. No data loss has been detected, and all failed transactions are being queued for reprocessing.”

    2. Business Operations
    “We are experiencing a temporary issue with our payment processing system. Some transactions may be delayed. Our IT team is actively working on a resolution, and we expect normal operations to resume within the hour. In the meantime, please inform customers of the delay and assure them that no payments have been lost.”

    3. Executive Leadership
    “There is a temporary disruption in our payment processing system that is affecting transaction completion for some customers. The issue is strictly tactical and does not have any impact on our strategic initiatives or financial targets. The technical team is addressing the problem, and we anticipate full resolution shortly. No long-term risk or reputational impact is expected.”

    Best Practices

    Segment communications by audience and need.
    Be explicit about whether an incident has any strategic impact—most do not.
    Use plain language for non-technical stakeholders, focusing on what matters to them.
    Provide timely updates and clarify as the situation evolves.

    Clear communication during IT incidents means more than just relaying facts—it means ensuring that all audiences understand the scope of the impact, especially the difference between tactical disruptions and strategic threats. Consistently making this distinction helps manage expectations, reduces unnecessary concern, and supports more effective incident management.

     

     

     

    Microsoft Dynamics 365: Understand the Transition to the Cloud

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    • Parent Category Name: Licensing
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    • Your on-premises Dynamics CRM or AX needs updating or replacing, and you’re not sure whether to upgrade or transition to the cloud with the new Microsoft Dynamics 365 platform. You’re also uncertain about what the cost might be or if there are savings to be had with a transition to the cloud for your enterprise resource planning system.
    • The new license model, Apps vs. Plans and Dual Use Rights in the cloud, includes confusing terminology and licensing rules that don’t seem to make sense. This makes it difficult to purchase proper licensing that aligns with your current on-premises setup and to maximize your choices in transition licenses.
    • There are different licensing programs for Dynamics 365 in the cloud. You need to decide on the most cost effective program for your company, for now and for the future.
    • Microsoft is constantly pressuring you to move to the cloud, but you don’t understand the why. You're uncertain if there's real value in such a strategic move right now, or if should you wait awhile.

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    • Focus on what’s best for you. Do a thorough current state assessment of your hardware and software needs and consider what will be required in the near future (one to four years).
    • Educate yourself. You should have a good understanding of your options from staying on-premises vs. an interim hybrid model vs. a lift and shift to the cloud.
    • Consider the overall picture. There might not be hard cost savings to be realized in the near term, given the potential increase in licensing costs over a CapEx to OpEx savings.

    Impact and Result

    • Understanding the best time to transition, from a licensing perspective, could save you significant dollars over the next one to four years.
    • Planning and effectively mapping your current licenses to the new cloud user model will maximize your current investment into the cloud and fully leverage all available Microsoft incentives in the process.
    • Gaining the knowledge required to make the most informed transition decision, based on best timing, most appropriate licensing program, and maximized cost savings in the near term.
    • Engaging effectively with Microsoft and a competent Dynamics partner for deployment or licensing needs.

    Microsoft Dynamics 365: Understand the Transition to the Cloud Research & Tools

    Start here – read the Executive Brief

    Read our concise Executive Brief to find out why you should learn about Microsoft Dynamics 365 user-based cloud licensing, review Info-Tech’s methodology, and understand the four ways we can support you in completing this project.

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

    1. Timing

    Review to confirm if you are eligible for Microsoft cloud transition discounts and what is your best time to move to the cloud.

    • Microsoft Dynamics 365: Understand the Transition to the Cloud – Phase 1: Timing
    • Microsoft License Agreement Summary Tool
    • Existing CRM-AX License Summary Worksheet

    2. Licensing

    Begin with a review to understand user-based cloud licensing, then move to mapping your existing licenses to the cloud users and plans.

    • Microsoft Dynamics 365: Understand the Transition to the Cloud – Phase 2: Licensing
    • Microsoft Dynamics 365 On-Premises License Transition Mapping Tool
    • Microsoft Dynamics 365 User License Assignment Tool
    • Microsoft Licensing Programs Brief Overview

    3. Cost review

    Use your cloud mapping activity as well your eligible discounts to estimate your cloud transition licensing costs.

    • Microsoft Dynamics 365: Understand the Transition to the Cloud – Phase 3: Cost Review
    • Microsoft Dynamics 365 Cost Estimator

    4. Analyze and decide

    Start by summarizing your choice license program, decide on the ideal time, then move on to total cost review.

    • Microsoft Dynamics 365: Understand the Transition to the Cloud – Phase 4: Analyze and Decide
    [infographic]

    Workshop: Microsoft Dynamics 365: Understand the Transition to the Cloud

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

    1 Understand What You Own and What You Can Transition to the Cloud

    The Purpose

    Understand what you own and what you can transition to the cloud.

    Learn which new cloud user licenses to transition.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    All your licenses in one summary.

    Eligible transition discounts.

    Mapping of on-premises to cloud users.

    Activities

    1.1 Validate your discount availability.

    1.2 Summarize agreements.

    1.3 Itemize your current license ownership.

    1.4 Review your timing options.

    1.5 Map your on-premises licenses to the cloud-based, user-based model.

    Outputs

    Current agreement summary

    On-premises to cloud user mapping summary

    Understanding of cloud app and plan features

    2 Transition License Cost Estimate and Additional Costs

    The Purpose

    Estimate cloud license costs and other associated expenses.

    Summarize and decide on the best timing, users, and program.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Good cost estimate of equivalent cloud user-based licenses.

    Understanding of when and how to move your on-premises licensing to the new Dynamics 365 cloud model.

    Activities

    2.1 Estimate cloud user license costs.

    2.2 Calculate additional costs related to license transitions.

    2.3 Review all activities.

    2.4 Summarize and analyze your decision.

    Outputs

    Cloud user licensing cost modeling

    Summary of total costs

    Validation of costs and transition choices

    An informed decision on your Dyn365 timing, licensing, and costs

    Cost Optimization

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    • Parent Category Name: Financial Management
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    • byline: IT cost cutting has consequences.
    Minimize the damage of IT cost cuts

    Create a Data Management Roadmap

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    • Parent Category Name: Data Management
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    Data has quickly become one of the most valuable assets in any organization. But when it comes to strategically and effectively managing those data assets, many businesses find themselves playing catch-up. The stakes are high because ineffective data management practices can have serious consequences, from poor business decisions and missed revenue opportunities to critical cybersecurity risks.

    Successful management and consistent delivery of data assets requires collaboration between the business and IT and the right balance of technology, process, and resourcing solutions.

    Build an effective and collaborative data management practice

    Data management is not one-size-fits-all. Cut through the noise around data management and create a roadmap that is right for your organization:

    • Align data management plans with business requirements and strategic plans.
    • Create a collaborative plan that unites IT and the business in managing data assets.
    • Design a program that can scale and evolve over time.
    • Perform data strategy planning and incorporate data capabilities into your broader plans.
    • Identify gaps in current data services and the supporting environment and determine effective corrective actions.

    This blueprint will help you design a data management practice that builds capabilities to support your organization’s current use of data and its vision for the future.

    Create a Data Management Roadmap Research & Tools

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

    1. Create a Data Management Roadmap Storyboard – Use this deck to help you design a data management practice and turn data into a strategic enabler for the organization.

    Effective data delivery and management provides the business with new and improved opportunities to leverage data for business operations and decision making. This blueprint will help you design a data management practice that will help your team build capabilities that align to the business' current usage of data and its vision for the future.

    • Create a Data Management Roadmap – Phases 1-2

    2. Data Management Strategy Planning Tools – Use these tools to align with the business and lay the foundations for the success of your data management practice.

    Begin by using the interview guide to engage stakeholders to gain a thorough understanding of the business’ challenges with data, their strategic goals, and the opportunities for data to support their future plans. From there, these tools will help you identify the current and target capabilities for your data management practice, analyze gaps, and build your roadmap.

    • Data Strategy Planning Interview Guide
    • Data Management Assessment and Planning Tool
    • Data Management Project Charter Template

    3. Stakeholder Communication and Assessment Tools – Use these templates to develop a communication strategy that will convey the value of the data management project to the organization and meet the needs of key stakeholders.

    Strong messaging around the value and purpose of the data management practice is essential to ensure buy-in. Use these templates to build a business case for the project and socialize the idea of data management across the various levels of the organization while anticipating the impact on and reactions from key stakeholders.

    • Data Management Communication/Business Case Template
    • Project Stakeholder and Impact Assessment Tool

    4. Data Management Strategy Work Breakdown Structure Template – Use this template to maintain strong project management throughout your data management project.

    This customizable template will support an organized approach to designing a program that addresses the business’ current and evolving data management needs. Use it to plan and track your deliverables and outcomes related to each stage of the project.

    • Data Management Strategy Work Breakdown Structure Template

    5. Data Management Roadmap Tools – Use these templates to plan initiatives and create a data management roadmap presentation.

    Create a roadmap for your data management practice that aligns to your organization’s current needs for data and its vision for how it wants to use data over the next 3-5 years. The initiative tool guides you to identify and record all initiative components, from benefits to costs, while the roadmap template helps you create a presentation to share your project findings with your executive team and project sponsors.

    • Initiative Definition Tool
    • Data Management Roadmap Template

    6. Track and Measure Benefits Tool – Use this tool to monitor the project’s progress and impact.

    Benefits tracking enables you to measure the effectiveness of your project and make adjustments where necessary to realize expected benefits. This tool will help you track benefit metrics at regular intervals to report progress on goals and identify benefits that are not being realized so that you can take remedial action.

    • Track and Measure Benefits Tool

    Infographic

    Workshop: Create a Data Management Roadmap

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

    1 Develop Data Strategies

    The Purpose

    Understand the business’s vision for data and the role of the data management practice.

    Determine business requirements for data.

    Map business goals and strategic plans to create data strategies.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Understanding of business’s vision for data

    Unified vision for data management (business and IT)

    Identification of the business’s data strategies

    Activities

    1.1 Establish business context for data management.

    1.2 Develop data management principles and scope.

    1.3 Develop conceptual data model (subject areas).

    1.4 Discuss strategic information needs for each subject area.

    1.5 Develop data strategies.

    1.6 Identify data management strategies and enablers.

    Outputs

    Practice vision

    Data management guiding principles

    High-level data requirements

    Data strategies for key data assets

    2 Assess Data Management Capabilities

    The Purpose

    Determine the current and target states of your data management practice.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Clear understanding of current environment

    Activities

    2.1 Determine the role and scope of data management within the organization.

    2.2 Assess current data management capabilities.

    2.3 Set target data management capabilities.

    2.4 Identify performance gaps.

    Outputs

    Data management scope

    Data management capability assessment results

    3 Analyze Gaps and Develop Improvement Initiatives

    The Purpose

    Identify how to bridge the gaps between the organization’s current and target environments.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Creation of key strategic plans for data management

    Activities

    3.1 Evaluate performance gaps.

    3.2 Identify improvement initiatives.

    3.3 Create preliminary improvement plans.

    Outputs

    Data management improvement initiatives

    4 Design Roadmap and Plan Implementation

    The Purpose

    Create a realistic and action-oriented plan for implementing and improving the capabilities for data management.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Completion of a Data Management Roadmap

    Plan for how to implement the roadmap’s initiatives

    Activities

    4.1 Align data management initiatives to data strategies and business drivers.

    4.2 Identify dependencies and priorities

    4.3 Build a data management roadmap (short and long term)

    4.4 Create a communication plan

    Outputs

    Data management roadmap

    Action plan

    Communication plan

    Further reading

    Contents

    Executive Brief
    Analyst Perspective
    Executive Summary
    Phase 1: Build Business and User Context
    Phase 2: Assess Data Management and Build Your Roadmap
    Additional Support
    Related Research
    Bibliography

    Create a Data Management Roadmap

    Ensure the right capabilities to support your data strategy.

    EXECUTIVE BRIEF

    Analyst Perspective

    Establish a data management program to realize the data strategy vision and data-driven organization.

    Data is one of the most valuable organizational assets, and data management is the foundation – made up of plans, programs, and practices – that delivers, secures, and enhances the value of those assets.

    Digital transformation in how we do business and innovations like artificial intelligence and automation that deliver exciting experiences for our customers are all powered by readily available, trusted data. And there’s so much more of it.

    A data management roadmap designed for where you are in your business journey and what’s important to you provides tangible answers to “Where do we start?” and “What do we do?”

    This blueprint helps you build and enhance data management capabilities as well as identify the next steps for evaluating, strengthening, harmonizing, and optimizing these capabilities, aligned precisely with business objectives and data strategy.

    Andrea Malick
    Director, Research & Advisory, Data & Analytics Practice
    Info-Tech Research Group

    Frame the problem

    Who this research is for
    • Data management professionals looking to improve the organization’s ability to leverage data in value-added ways
    • Data governance managers and data analysts looking to improve the effectiveness and value of their organization’s data management practice
    		 This research will help you
    • Align data management plans with business requirements and strategic plans.
    • Create a collaborative plan that unites IT and the business in managing the organization’s data assets.
    • Design a data management program that can scale and evolve over time.
    This research will also assist
    • Business leaders creating plans to leverage data in their strategic planning and business processes
    • IT professionals looking to improve the environment that manages and delivers data
    		This research will also help you
    • Perform data strategy planning and incorporate data capabilities and plans into your broader plans.
    • Identify gaps in current data services and the supporting environment and determine effective corrective actions.

    Executive Summary

    Your Challenge
    • The organizational appetite for data is increasing, with growing demands for data to better support business processes and inform decision making.
    • For data to be accessible and trustworthy for the business it must be effectively managed throughout its lifecycle.
    • With so much data circulating throughout our systems and a steady flow via user activity and business activities, it is imperative that we understand our data environment, focus our data services and oversight on what really matters, and work closely with business leads to ensure data is an integral part of the digital solution.
    		 Common Obstacles
    • Despite the growing focus on data, many organizations struggle to develop an effective strategy for managing their data assets.
    • Successful management and consistent delivery of data assets throughout their lifecycle requires the collaboration of the business and IT and the balance of technology, process, and resourcing solutions.
    • Employees are doing their best to just get things done with their own spreadsheets and familiar patterns of behavior. It takes leadership to pause those patterns and take a thoughtful enterprise and strategic approach to a more streamlined – and transformed – business data service.
    		 Info-Tech’s Approach
    • Incremental approach: Building a mature and optimized practice doesn’t occur overnight – it takes time and effort. Use this blueprint’s approach and roadmap results to support your organization in building a practice that prioritizes scope, increases the effectiveness of your data management practice, and improves your alignment with business data needs.
    • Build smart: Don’t do data management for data management’s sake; instead, align it to business requirements and the business’ vision for the organization’s data. Ensure initiatives and program investments best align to business priorities and support the organization in becoming more data driven and data centric.

    Info-Tech Insight

    Use value streams and business capabilities to develop a prioritized and practical data management plan that provides the highest business satisfaction in the shortest time.

    Full page illustration of the 'Create a Data Management Roadmap' using the image of a cargo ship labelled 'Data Management' moving in the direction of 'Business Strategy'. The caption at the top reads 'Data Management capabilities create new business value by augmenting data & optimizing it for analytics. Data is a digital imprint of organizational activities.'

    Data Management Capabilities

    A similar concept to the last one, with a ship moving toward 'Business Strategy', except the ship is cross-sectioned with different capabilities filling the interior of the silhouette. Below are different steps in data management 'Data Creation', 'Data Ingestion', 'Data Accumulation, 'Data Augmentation', 'Data Delivery', and 'Data Consumption'.

    Data is a business asset and needs to be treated like one

    Data management is an enabler of the business and therefore needs to be driven by business goals and objectives. For data to be a strategic asset of the business, the business and IT processes that support its delivery and management must be mature and clearly executed.

    Business Drivers
    1. Client Intimacy/Service Excellence
    2. Product and Service Innovations
    3. Operational Excellence
    4. Risk and Compliance Management
    		 Data Management Enablers
    • Data Governance
    • Data Strategy Planning
    • Data Architecture
    • Data Operations Management
    • Data Risk Management
    • Data Quality Management

    Industry spotlight: Risk management in the financial services sector

    REGULATORY
    COMPLIANCE
    Regulations are the #1 driver for risk management.

    US$11M:

    Fine incurred by a well-known Wall Street firm after using inaccurate data to execute short sales orders.
    “To successfully leverage customer data while maintaining compliance and transparency, the financial sector must adapt its current data management strategies to meet the needs of an ever-evolving digital landscape.” (Phoebe Fasulo, Security Scorecard, 2021)

    Industry spotlight: Operational excellence in the public sector

    GOVERNMENT
    TRANSPARENCY

    With frequent government scandals and corruption dominating the news, transparency to the public is quickly becoming a widely adopted practice at every level of government. Open government is the guiding principle that the public has access to the documents and proceedings of government to allow for effective public oversight. With growing regulations and pressure from the public, governments must adopt a comprehensive data management strategy to ensure they remain accountable to their rate payers, residents, businesses, and other constituents.

    1. Transparency Transparency is not just about access; it’s about sharing and reuse.
    2. Social and commercial value Everything from finding your local post office to building a search engine requires access to data.
    3. Participatory government Open data enables citizens to be more directly informed and involved in decision making.

    Industry spotlight: Operational excellence and client intimacy in major league sports

    SPORTS
    ANALYTICS

    A professional sports team is essentially a business that is looking for wins to maximize revenue. While they hope for a successful post-season, they also need strong quarterly results, just like you. Sports teams are renowned for adopting data-driven decision making across their organizations to do everything from improving player performance to optimizing tickets sales. At the end of the day, to enable analytics you must have top-notch information management.

    		Team Performance Benefits
    1. Talent identification
    2. In-game decision making
    3. Injury reduction
    4. Athlete performance
    5. Bargaining agreement
    Team Performance Benefits
    1. Fan engagement
    2. Licensing
    3. Sports gambling
    (Deloitte Insights, 2020)
    Industry leaders cite data, and the insights they glean from it, as their means of standing apart from their competitors.

    Industry spotlight: Operational excellence and service delivery within manufacturing and supply chain services

    SUPPLY CHAIN
    EFFICIENCY

    Data offers key insights and opportunities when it comes to supply chain management. The supply chain is where the business strategy gets converted to operational service delivery of the business. Proper data management enables business processes to become more efficient, productive, and profitable through the greater availability of quality data and analysis.

    Fifty-seven percent of companies believe that supply chain management gives them a competitive advantage that enables them to further develop their business (FinancesOnline, 2021).

    Involving Data in Your Supply Chain

    25%

    		 Companies can reap a 25% increase in productivity, a 20% gain in space usage, and a 30% improvement in stock use efficiency if they use integrated order processing for their inventory system.

    36%

    		 Thirty-six percent of supply chain professionals say that one of the top drivers of their analytics initiatives is the optimization of inventory management to balance supply and demand.
    (Source: FinancesOnline, 2021)

    Industry spotlight: Intelligent product innovation and strong product portfolios differentiate consumer retailers and CPGs

    INFORMED PRODUCT
    DEVELOPMENT         		Consumer shopping habits and preferences are notoriously variable, making it a challenge to develop a well-received product. Information and insights into consumer trends, shopping preferences, and market analysis support the probability of a successful outcome.

    Maintaining a Product Portfolio
    What is selling? What is not selling?

    Product Development
    • Based on current consumer buying patterns, what will they buy next?
    • How will this product be received by consumers?
    • What characteristics do consumers find important?
    A combination of operational data and analytics data is required to accurately answer these questions.     		Internal Data
    • Organizational sales performance
    External Data
    • Competitor performance
    • Market analysis
    • Consumer trends and preferences
    Around 75% of ideas fail for organizational reasons – viability or feasibility or time to market issues. On the other hand, around 20% of product ideas fail due to user-related issues – not valuable or usable (Medium, 2020).

    Changes in business and technology are changing how organizations use and manage data

    The world moves a lot faster today

    Businesses of today operate in real time. To maintain a competitive edge, businesses must identify and respond quickly to opportunities and events.

    To effectively do this businesses must have accurate and up-to-date data at their fingertips.

    To support the new demands around data consumption, data velocity (pace in which data is captured, organized, and analyzed) must also accelerate.

    Data Management Implications
    • Strong integration capabilities
    • Intelligent and efficient systems
    • Embedded data quality management
    • Strong transparency into the history of data and its transformation

    Studies and projections show a clear case of how data and its usage will grow and evolve.

    Zettabyte Era

    64.2

    		 More Data

    The amount of data created, consumed, and stored globally is forecast to increase rapidly, reaching 64.2 zettabytes in 2020 and projected to grow to over 180 zettabyes in 2025 (Statista, 2021).

    Evolving Technologies

    $480B

    		 Cloud Proliferation

    Global end-user spending on public cloud services is expected to exceed $480 billion next year (Info-Tech, 2021).

    To differentiate and remain competitive in today’s marketplace, organizations are becoming more data-driven

    Pyramid with a blue tip. Sublevels from top down are labelled 'Analytical Companies', 'Analytical Aspirations', 'Localized Analytics', and 'Analytically Impaired'.

    Analytic Competitor

    “Given the unforgiving competitive landscape, organizations have to transform now, and correctly. Winning requires an outcome-focused analytics strategy.” (Ramya Srinivasan, Forbes, 2021)
    Data and the use of data analytics has become a centerpiece to effective modern business. Top-performing organizations across a variety of industries have been cited as using analytics five times more than lower performers (MIT Sloan).

    The strategic value of data

    Power intelligent and transformative organizational performance through leveraging data.

    Respond to industry disruptors

    Optimize the way you serve your stakeholders and customers

    Develop products and services to meet ever-evolving needs

    Manage operations and mitigate risk
    Harness the value of your data

    Despite investments in data initiatives, organizations are carrying high levels of data debt

    Data debt is the accumulated cost that is associated with the suboptimal governance of data assets in an enterprise, like technical debt.

    Data debt is a problem for 78% of organizations.

    40%

    of organizations say individuals within the business do not trust data insights.

    66%

    of organizations say a backlog of data debt is impacting new data management initiatives.

    33%

    of organizations are not able to get value from a new system or technology investment.

    30%

    of organizations are unable to become data-driven.

    (Source: Experian, 2020)

    The journey to being data-driven

    The journey to becoming a data-driven organization requires a pit stop at data enablement.

    The Data Economy

    Diagram of 'The Data Economy' with three points on an arrow. 'Data Disengaged: You have a low appetite for data and rarely use data for decision making.' 'Data Enabled: Technology, data architecture, and people and processes are optimized and supported by data governance.' 'Data Driven: You are differentiating and competing on data and analytics, described as a “data first” organization. You’re collaborating through data. Data is an asset.'

    Measure success to demonstrate tangible business value

    Put data management into the context of the business:
    • Tie the value of data management and its initiatives back to the business capabilities that are enabled.
    • Leverage the KPIs of those business capabilities to demonstrate tangible and measurable value. Use terms and language that will resonate with senior leadership.

    Don’t let measurement be an afterthought:

    Start substantiating early on how you are going to measure success as your data management program evolves.

    Build a right-sized roadmap

    Formulate an actionable roadmap that is right-sized to deliver value in your organization.

    Key considerations:
    • When building your data management roadmap, ensure you do so through an enterprise lens. Be cognizant of other initiatives that might be coming down the pipeline that may require you to align your data governance milestones accordingly.
    • Apart from doing your planning with consideration for other big projects or launches that might be in-flight and require the time and attention of your data management partners, also be mindful of the more routine yet still demanding initiatives.
    • When doing your roadmapping, consider factors like the organization’s fiscal cycle, typical or potential year-end demands, and monthly/quarterly reporting periods and audits. Initiatives such as these are likely to monopolize the time and focus of personnel key to delivering on your data management milestones
    Sample milestones:
    • Data Management Leadership & Org Structure Definition
      Define the home for data management, as approved by senior leadership.
    • Data Management Charter and Policies
      Create a charter for your program and build/refresh associated policies.
    • Data Culture Diagnostic
      Understand the organization’s current data culture, perception of data, value of data, and knowledge gaps.
    • Use Case Build and Prioritization
      Build a use case that is tied to business capabilities. Prioritize accordingly.
    • Business Data Glossary/Catalog
      Build and/or refresh the business’ glossary for addressing data definitions and standardization issues.
    • Tools & Technology
      Explore the tools and technology offering in the data management space that would serve as an enabler to the program (e.g. RFI, RFP).

    Insight summary

    Overarching insight

    Your organization’s value streams and the associated business capabilities require effectively managed data. Whether building customer service excellence or getting ahead of cyberattacks, a data management practice is the dependable mainstay supporting business operations and transformation.

    Insight 1

    Data – it’s your business.
    Data is a digital imprint of business activities. Data architecture and flows are reflective of the organizational business architecture. Take data management capabilities as seriously as other core business capabilities.

    Insight 2

    Take a data-oriented approach.
    Data management must be data-centric – with technology and functional enablement built around the data and its structure and flows. Maintain the data focus during project’s planning, delivery, and evaluation stages.

    Insight 3

    Get the business into the data business.
    Data is not “IT’s thing.” Just as a bank helps you properly allocate your money to achieve your financial goals, IT will help you implement data management to support your business goals, but the accountability for data resides with the business.

    Tactical insight

    Data management is the program and environment we build once we have direction, i.e. a data strategy, and we have formed an ongoing channel with the guiding voice of the business via data governance. Without an ultimate goal in a strategy or the real requirements of the business, what are we building data systems and processes for? We are used to tech buzz words and placing our hope in promising innovations like artificial intelligence. There are no shortcuts, but there are basic proven actions we can take to meet the digital revolution head on and let our data boost our journey.

    Key deliverable:

    Data Management Roadmap Template

    Use this template to guide you in translating your project's findings and outcomes into a presentation that can be shared with your executive team and project sponsors.

    Sample of the 'Data Management Roadmap Template' key deliverable.

    Blueprint deliverables

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

    Data Management Assessment and Planning Tool

    Use this tool to support your team in assessing and designing the capabilities and components of your organization's data management practice. Sample of the 'Data Management Assessment and Planning Tool' deliverable.

    Data Culture Diagnostic and Scorecard

    Sample of the 'Data Culture Diagnostic and Scorecard' deliverable.

    Leverage Info-Tech’s Data Culture Diagnostic to understand how your organization scores across 10 areas relating to data culture.

    Business Capability Map

    This template takes you through a business capability and value stream mapping to identify the data capabilities required to enable them. Sample of the 'Business Capability Map' deliverable.

    Measure the value of this blueprint

    Leverage this blueprint’s approach to ensure your data management initiatives align and support your key value streams and their business capabilities.
    • Aligning your data management program and its initiatives to your organization’s business capabilities is vital for tracing and demonstrating measurable business value for the program.
    • This alignment of data management with value streams and business capabilities enables you to use business-defined KPIs and demonstrate tangible value.

    Project outcome

    Metric
    Timely data delivery Time of data delivery to consumption
    Improved data quality Data quality scorecard metrics
    Data provenance transparency Time for data auditing (from report/dashboard to the source)
    New reporting and analytic capabilities Number of level 2 business capabilities implemented as solutions
    		In Phase 1 of this blueprint, we will help you establish the business context, define your business drivers and KPIs, and understand your current data management capabilities and strengths.

    In Phase 2, we will help you develop a plan and a roadmap for addressing any gaps and improving the relevant data management capabilities so that data is well positioned to deliver on those defined business metrics.

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

    DIY Toolkit

    Guided Implementation

    Workshop

    Consulting
    "Our team has already made this critical project a priority, and we have the time and capability, but some guidance along the way would be helpful." "Our team knows that we need to fix a process, but we need assistance to determine where to focus. Some check-ins along the way would help keep us on track." "We need to hit the ground running and get this project kicked off immediately. Our team has the ability to take this over once we get a framework and strategy in place." "Our team does not have the time or the knowledge to take this project on. We need assistance through the entirety of this project."

    Diagnostics and consistent frameworks used throughout all four options

    Create a Data Management Roadmap project overview

    1. Build Business Context and Drivers for the Data Management Program 2. Assess Data Management and Build Your Roadmap
    Best-Practice Toolkit

    1.1 Review the Data Management Framework

    1.2 Understand and Align to Business Drivers

    1.3 Build High-Value Use Cases

    1.4 Create a Vision

    2.1 Assess Data Management

    2.2 Build Your Data Management Roadmap

    2.3 Organize Business Data Domains

    Guided Implementation
    • Call 1
    • Call 2
    • Call 3
    • Call 4
    • Call 5
    • Call 6
    • Call 7
    • Call 8
    • Call 9
    Phase Outcomes
    • An understanding of the core components of an effective data management program
    • Your organization’s business capabilities and value streams
    • A business capability map for your organization
    • High-value use cases for data management
    • Vision and guiding principles for data management
    • An understanding of your organization’s current data management capabilities
    • Definition of target-state capabilities and gaps
    • Roadmap of priority data management initiatives
    • Business data domains and ownership

    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?

    Phase 1

    Phase 2
    Call #1: Understand drivers, business context, and scope of data management at your organization. Learn about Info-Tech’s approach and resources.

    Call #2: Get a detailed overview of Info-Tech’s approach, framework, Data Culture Diagnostic, and blueprint.

    		Call #3:Align your business capabilities with your data management capabilities. Begin to develop a use case framework.

    Call #4:Further discuss alignment of business capabilities to data management capabilities and use case framework.

    		Call #5: Assess your current data management capabilities and data environment. Review your Data Culture Diagnostic Scorecard, if applicable.

    Call #6: Plan target state and corresponding initiatives.

    		Call #7: Identify program risks and formulate a roadmap.

    Call #8: Identify and prioritize improvements. Define a RACI chart.

    		Call #9: Summarize results and plan next steps.

    Workshop Overview

    		 Contact your account representative for more information.
    workshops@infotech.com1-888-670-8889
    Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5
    Activities
    Understand and contextualize

    1.1 Review your data strategy.

    1.2 Learn data management capabilities.

    1.3 Discuss DM capabilities cross-dependencies and interactions.

    1.4 Develop high-value use cases.

    Assess current DM capabilities and set improvement targets

    2.1 Assess you current DM capabilities.

    2.2 Set targets for DM capabilities.

    Formulate and prioritize improvement initiatives

    3.1 Formulate core initiatives for DM capabilities improvement.

    3.2 Discuss dependencies across the initiatives and prioritize them.

    Plan for delivery dates and assign RACI

    4.1 Plan dates and assign RACI for the initiatives.

    4.2 Brainstorm initiatives to address gaps and enable business goals.

    Next steps and wrap-up (offsite)

    5.1 Complete in-progress deliverables from previous four days.

    5.2 Set up review time for workshop deliverables and to discuss next steps.

    Deliverables
    1. Understanding of the data management capabilities and their interactions and logical dependencies
    2. Use cases
    1. DM capability assessment results
    2. DM vision and guiding principles
    1. Prioritized DM capabilities improvement initiatives
    1. DM capabilities improvement roadmap
    2. Business data domains and ownership
    1. Workshop final report with key findings and recommendations

    Full page diagram of the 'Data & Analytics landscape'. Caption reads 'The key to landscaping your data environment lies in ensuring foundational disciplines are optimized in a way that recognizes the interdependency among the various disciplines.' Many foundational disciplines are color-coded to a legend determining whether its 'accountability sits with IT' or 'with the business; CDO'. An arrow labeled 'You Are Here' points to 'Data Management', which is coded in both colors meaning both IT and the business are accountable.

    What is data management and why is it needed?

    “Data management is the development, execution, and supervision of plans, policies, programs and practices that deliver, control, protect and enhance the value of data and information assets throughout their lifecycles.” (DAMA International, 2017)

    Achieving successful management and consistent delivery of data assets throughout their lifecycle requires the collaboration of the business and IT and the balance of technology, process, and resourcing solutions.

    Who:

    This research is designed for:
    • Data management heads and professionals looking to improve their organization’s ability to leverage data in value-added ways.
    • Data management and IT professionals looking to optimize the data environment, from creation and ingestion right through to consumption.

    Are your data management capabilities optimized to support your organization’s data use and demand?

    What is the current situation?

    Situation
    • The volume and variety of data are growing exponentially and show no sign of slowing down.
    • Business landscapes and models are evolving.
    • Users and stakeholders are becoming more and more data-centric, with maturing and demanding expectations.
    		 Complication
    • Organizations struggle to develop a comprehensive approach to optimizing data management.
    • In their efforts to keep pace with the demands for data, data management groups often adopt a piecemeal approach that includes turning to tools as a means to address the needs.
    • Data architecture, models, and designs fail to deliver real and measurable business impact and value. Technology ROI is not realized.
    		 Info-Tech Insight

    A data strategy should never be formulated disjointed from the business. Ensure the data strategy aligns with the business strategy and supports the business architecture.

    Info-Tech’s Data Management Framework

    What Is Data Management?

    “Data management is the development, execution, and supervision of plans, policies, programs and practices that deliver, control, protect and enhance the value of data and information assets throughout their lifecycles.” (DAMA International, 2017)

    The three-tiered Data Management Framework, tiers are labelled 'Data Management Enablers', 'Information Dimensions', and 'Business Information'.

    Adapted from DAMA-DMBOK and Advanced Knowledge Innovations Global Solutions

    Info-Tech’s Approach

    Info-Tech’s Data Management Framework is designed to show how an organization’s business model sits as the foundation of its data management practice. Drawing from the requirements of the underpinning model, a practice is designed and maintained through the creation and application of the enablers and dimensions of data management.

    Build a data management practice that is centered on supporting the business and its use of key data assets

    Business Resources

    Data subject areas provide high-level views of the data assets that are used in business processes and enable an organization to perform its business functions.

    Classified by specific subjects, these groups reflect data elements that, when used effectively, are able to support analytical and operational use cases of data.

    This layer is representative of the delivery of the data assets and the business’ consumption of the data.

    Data is an integral business asset that exists across all areas of an organization

    Equation stating 'Trustworthy and Usable Data' plus 'Well-Designed and Executed Processes' equals 'Business Capabilities and Functions'.     		Data Management Framework with only the bottom tier highlighted.

    For a data management practice to be effective it ultimately must show how its capabilities and operations better support the business in accessing and leveraging its key data assets.*

    *This project focuses on building capabilities for data management. Leverage our data quality management research to support you in assessing the performance of this model.

    Information dimensions support the different types of data present within an organization’s environment

    Information Dimensions

    Components at the Information Dimensions layer manage the different types of data and information present with an environment.

    At this layer, data is managed based on its type and how the business is looking to use and access the data.

    Custom capabilities are developed at this level to support:

    • Structured data
    • Semi-structured data
    • Unstructured data
    The types, formats, and structure of the data are managed at this level using the data management enablers to support their successful execution and performance.     		Data Management Framework with only the middle tier highlighted.

    Build a data management practice with strong process capabilities

    Use these guiding principles to contextualize the purpose and value for each data management enabler.

    Data Management Framework with only the top tier highlighted.

    Data Management Enablers

    Info-Tech categorizes data management enablers as the processes that guide the management of the organization’s data assets and support the delivery.

    Govern and Direct
    • Ensures data management practices and processes follow the standards and policies outlined for them
    • Manages the executive oversight of the broader practice

    Align and Plan
    • Aligns data management plans to the business’ data requirements
    • Creates the plans to guide the design and execution of data management components

    Build, Acquire, Operate, Deliver, and Support
    • Executes the operations that manage data as it flows through the business environment
    • Manages the business’ risks in relation to its data assets and the level of security and access required

    Monitor and Improve
    • Analyzes the performance of data management components and the quality of business data
    • Creates and execute plans to improve the performance of the practice and the quality and use of data assets

    Use Info-Tech’s assessment framework to support your organization’s data management planning

    Info-Tech employs a consumer-driven approach to requirements gathering in order to support a data management practice. This will create a vision and strategic plan that will help to make data an enabler to the business as it looks to achieve its strategic objectives.

    Data Strategy Planning

    To support the project in building an accurate understanding of the organization’s data requirements and the role of data in its operations (current and future), the framework first guides organizations on a business and subject area assessment.

    By focusing on data usage and strategies for unique data subject areas, the project team will be better able to craft a data management practice with capabilities that will generate the greatest value and proactively handle evolving data requirements.

    Arrow pointing right.

    Data Management Assessment

    To support the design of a fit-for-purpose data management practice that aligns with the business’ data requirements this assessment will guide you in:

    • Determining the target capabilities for the different dimensions of data management.
    • Identifying the interaction dependencies and coordination efforts required to build a successful data management practice.

    Create a Data Management Roadmap

    Phase 1

    Build Business Context and Drivers for the Data Management Program

    Phase 1

    1.1 Review the Data Management Framework

    1.2 Understand and Align to Business Drivers

    1.3 Build High-Value Use Cases

    1.4 Create a Vision

    Phase 2

    2.1 Assess Data Management

    2.2 Build Your Data Management Roadmap

    2.3 Organize Business Data Domains

    This phase will walk you through the following activities:

    • Identify your business drivers and business capabilities.
    • Align data management capabilities with business goals.
    • Define scope and vision of the data management plan.
    • This phase involves the follow

    This phase involves the following participants:

    • Data Management Lead/Information Management Lead, CDO, Data Lead
    • Senior Business Leaders
    • Business SMEs
    • Data Owners, Records Managers, Regulatory Subject Matter Experts (e.g. Legal Counsel, Security)

    Step 1.1

    Review the Data Management Framework

    Activities

    1.1.1 Walk through the main parts of the best-practice Data Management Framework

    This step will guide you through the following activities:

    • Understand the main disciplines and makeup of a best-practice data management program.
    • Determine which data management capabilities are considered high priority by your organization.

    Outcomes of this step

    • A foundation for data management initiative planning that’s aligned with the organization’s business architecture: value streams, business capability map, and strategy map
    Build Business Context and Drivers
    Step 1.1 Step 1.2 Step 1.3 Step 1.4

    Full page diagram of the 'Data & Analytics landscape'. Caption reads 'The key to landscaping your data environment lies in ensuring foundational disciplines are optimized in a way that recognizes the interdependency among the various disciplines.' Many foundational disciplines are color-coded to a legend determining whether its 'accountability sits with IT' or 'with the business; CDO'. An arrow labeled 'You Are Here' points to 'Data Management', which is coded in both colors meaning both IT and the business are accountable.

    Full page illustration of the 'Create a Data Management Roadmap' using the image of a cargo ship labelled 'Data Management' moving in the direction of 'Business Strategy'. The caption at the top reads 'Data Management capabilities create new business value by augmenting data & optimizing it for analytics. Data is a digital imprint of organizational activities.'

    Data Management Capabilities

    A similar concept to the last one, with a ship moving toward 'Business Strategy', except the ship is cross-sectioned with different capabilities filling the interior of the silhouette. Below are different steps in data management 'Data Creation', 'Data Ingestion', 'Data Accumulation, 'Data Augmentation', 'Data Delivery', and 'Data Consumption'.

    Build a Robust & Comprehensive Data Strategy

    Business Strategy

    Organizational Goals & Objectives

    Business Drivers

    Industry Drivers

    Current Environment

    Data Management Capability Maturity Assessment

    Data Culture Diagnostic

    Regulatory and Compliance Requirements

    		Data Strategy

    Organizational Drivers and Data Value

    Data Strategy Objectives & Guiding Principles

    Data Strategy Vision and Mission

    Data Strategy Roadmap

    People: Roles and Organizational Structure

    Data Culture & Data Literacy

    Data Management and Tools

    Risk and Feasibility

    		Unlock the Value of Data

    Generate Game-Changing Insights

    Fuel Data-Driven Decision Making

    Innovate and Transform With Data

    Thrive and Differentiate With a Data-Driven Culture

    Elevate Organizational Data IQ

    Build a Foundation for Data Valuation

    What is a data strategy and why is it needed?

    • Your data strategy is the vehicle for ensuring data is poised to support your organization’s strategic objectives.
    • For any CDO or equivalent data leader, a robust and comprehensive data strategy is the number one tool in your toolkit for generating measurable business value from data.
    • The data strategy will serve as the mechanism for making high-quality, trusted, and well-governed data readily available and accessible to deliver on your organizational mandate.

    What is driving the need to formulate or refresh your organization’s data strategy?

    Who:

    This research is designed for:

    • Chief Data Officer (CDO) or equivalent
    • Head of Data
    • Chief Analytics Officer (CAO)
    • Head of Digital Transformation
    • CIO

    Info-Tech Insight

    A data strategy should never be formulated disjointed from the business. Ensure the data strategy aligns with the business strategy and supports the business architecture.

    Info-Tech’s Data Governance Framework

    Model of Info-Tech's Data Governance Framework titled 'Key to Data Enablement'. There are inputs, a main Data Governance cycle, and a selection of outputs. The inputs are 'Business Strategy' and 'Data Strategy' injected into the cycle via 'Strategic Goals & Objectives'. The cycle consists of 'Operating Model', 'Policies & Procedures', 'Data Literacy & Culture', 'Enterprise Projects & Services', 'Data Management', 'Data Privacy & Security', 'Data Leadership', and 'Data Ownership & Stewardship'. The latter two are part of 'Enterprise Governance's 'Oversight & Alignment' cycle. Outputs are 'Defined Data Accountability & Responsibility', 'Knowledge & Common Understanding of Data Assets', 'Trust & Confidence in Traceable Data', 'Improved Data ROI & Reduced Data Debt', and 'Support of Ethical Use of Data in a Data-Driven Culture'.

    What is data governance and why is it needed?

    • Data governance is an enabling framework of decision rights, responsibilities, and accountabilities for data assets across the enterprise.
    • It should deliver agreed-upon models that are conducive to your organization’s operating culture, where there is clarity on who can do what with which data and via what means.
    • It is the key enabler for bringing high-quality, trusted, secure, and discoverable data to the right users across your organization.
    • It promotes and drives responsible and ethical use and handling of data while helping to build and foster an organizational culture of data excellence.

    Do you feel there is a clear definition of data accountability and responsibility in your organization?

    Who:

    This research is designed for:

    • Chief Data Officer (CDO) or equivalent
    • Head of Data Governance, Lead Data Governance Officer
    • Head of Data
    • Head of Digital Transformation
    • CIO

    Info-Tech Insight

    Data governance should not sit as an island in your organization. It must continuously align with the organization’s enterprise governance function.

    A diagram titled 'Data Platform Selection - Make complex tasks simple by applying proven methodology to connect businesses to software' with five steps. '1. Formalize a Business Strategy', '2. Identify Platform Specific Considerations', '3. Execute Data Platform Architecture Selection', 'Select Software', 'Achieve Business Goals'.

    Info-Tech’s Data Platform Framework

    Data pipeline for versatile and scalable data delivery

    a diagram showing the path from 'Data Creation' to 'Data Accumulation', to 'Engineering & Augmentation', to 'Data Delivery'. Each step has a 'Fast Lane', 'Operational Lane', and 'Curated Lane'.

    What are the data platform and practice and why are they needed?

    • The data platform and practice are two parts of the data and analytics equation:
      • The practice is about the operating model for data; that is, how stakeholders work together to deliver business value on your data platform. These stakeholders are a combination of business and IT from across the organization.
      • The platform is a combination of the architectural components of the data and analytics landscape that come together to support the role the business plays day to day with respect to data.
    • Don’t jump directly into technology: use Info-Tech tools to solve and plan first.
    • Create a continuous roadmap to implement and evolve your data practice and platform.
    • Promote collaboration between the business and IT by clearly defining responsibilities.

    Does your data platform effectively serve your reporting and analytics capabilities?

    Who:

    This research is designed for:

    • Data and Information Leadership
    • Enterprise Information Architect
    • Data Architect
    • Data Engineer/Modeler

    Info-Tech Insight

    Info-Tech’s approach is driven by business goals and leverages standard data practice and platform patterns. This enables the implementation of critical and foundational data and analytics components first and subsequently facilitates the evolution and development of the practice and platform over time.

    Info-Tech’s Reporting and Analytics Framework

    Formulating an enterprise reporting and analytics strategy requires the business vision and strategies to first be substantiated. Any optimization to the data warehouse, integration, and source layers is in turn driven by the enterprise reporting and analytics strategy.
    A diagram of the 'Reporting and Analytics Framework' with 'Business vision/strategies' fed through four stages beginning with 'Business Intelligence: Reporting & Analytics Strategy', 'Data Warehouse: Data Warehouse/ Data Lake Strategy', 'Integration and Translation: Data Integration Strategy', 'Sources: Source Strategy (Content/Quality)'
    The current states of your integration and warehouse platforms determine what data can be used for BI and analytics.     		Your enterprise reporting and analytics strategy is driven by your organization’s vision and corporate strategy.

    What is reporting and analytics and why is it needed?

    • Reporting and analytics bridges the gap between an organization’s data assets and consumable information that facilitates insight generation and informed or evidence-based decision making.
    • The reporting and analytics strategy drives data warehouse and integration strategies and the data needs to support business decisions.
    • The reporting and analytics strategy ensures that the investment made in optimizing the data environment to support reporting and analytics is directly aligned with the organization’s needs and priorities and hence will deliver measurable business value.

    Do you have a strategy to enable self-serve analytics? What does your operating model look like? Have you an analytics CoE?

    Who:

    This research is designed for:

    • Head of BI and Analytics
    • CIO or Business Unit (BU) Leader looking to improve reporting and analytics
    • Applications Lead

    Info-Tech Insight

    Formulating an enterprise reporting and analytics strategy requires the business vision and strategies to first be substantiated. Any optimization to the data warehouse, integration, and source layer is in turn driven by the enterprise reporting and analytics strategy.

    Info-Tech’s Data Architecture Framework

    Info-Tech’s methodology:
      1. Prioritize your core business objectives and identify your business driver.
      2. Learn how business drivers apply to specific tiers of Info-Tech’s five-tier data architecture model.
      3. Determine the appropriate tactical pattern that addresses your most important requirements.
    		 Visual diagram of the first two parts of the methodology on the left. Objectives apply to the data architecture model, which appropriates tactical patterns, which leads to a focus.
      1. Select the areas of the five-tier architecture to focus on.
      2. Measure your current state.
      3. Set the targets of your desired optimized state.
      1. Roadmap your tactics.
      2. Manage and communicate change.
    		 Visual diagram of the third part of the methodology on the left. A roadmap of tactics leads to communicating change.

    What is data architecture and why is it needed?

    • Data architecture is the set of rules, policies, standards, and models that govern and define the type of data collected and how it is used, stored, managed, and integrated within the organization and its database systems.
    • In general, the primary objective of data architecture is the standardization of data for the benefit of the organization.

    Is your architecture optimized to sustainably deliver readily available and accessible data to users?

    Who:

    This research is designed for:

    • Data Architects or their equivalent
    • Enterprise Architects
    • Head of Data
    • CIO
    • Database Administrators

    Info-Tech Insight

    Data architecture is not just about models. Viewing data architecture as just technical data modeling can lead to a data environment that does not aptly serve or support the business. Identify your business’ priorities and adapt your data architecture to those needs.

    A diagram titled 'Build Your Data Quality Program'. '1. Data Quality & Data Culture Diagnostics Business Landscape Exercise', '2. Business Strategy & Use Cases', '3. Prioritize Use Cases With Poor Quality'. 'Info-Tech Insight: As data is ingested, integrated, and maintained in the various streams of the organization's system and application architecture, there are multiple points where the quality of the data can degrade.' A data flow diagram points out how 'Data quality issues can occur at any stage of the data flow', and that it is better to 'Fix data quality root causes here' during the 'Data Creation', 'Data Ingestion', and 'Data Accumulation & Engineering' stages in order 'to prevent expensive cures here' in the 'Data Delivery' and 'Reporting & Analytics' stages.

    What is data quality management and why is it needed?

    • Data is the foundation of decisions made at data-driven organizations.
    • Data quality management ensures that foundation is sustainably solid.
    • If there are problems with the organization’s underlying data, it can have a domino effect on many downstream business functions.
    • The transformational insights that executives are constantly seeking can be uncovered by a data quality practice that makes high-quality, trustworthy information readily available to the business users who need it.

    Do your users have an optimal level of trust and confidence in the quality of the organization’s data?

    Who:

    This research is designed for:

    • Chief Data Officer (CDO) or equivalent Head of Data
    • Chief Analytics Officer (CAO)
    • Head of Digital Transformation
    • CIO

    Info-Tech Insight

    Data quality suffers most at the point of entry. The resulting domino effect of error propagation makes these errors among the most costly forms of data quality errors. Fix data ingestion, whether through improving your application and database design or improving your data ingestion policy, and you will fix a majority of data quality issues.

    Info-Tech’s Enterprise Content Management Framework

    Drivers Governance Information Architecture Process Policy Systems Architecture
    Regulatory, Legal –›
    Efficiency, Cost-Effectiveness –›
    Customer Service –›
    User Experience –›
    • Establish decision-making committee
    • Define and formalize roles (RACI, charter)
    • Develop policies
    • Create business data glossary
    • Decide who approves documents in workflow
    • Operating models
    • Information categories (taxonomy)
    • Classifications, retention periods
    • Metadata (for findability and as tags in automated workflows)
    • Review and approval process, e.g. who approves
    • Process for admins to oversee performance of IM service
    • Process for capturing and classifying incoming documents
    • Audit trails and reporting process
    • Centralized index of data and records to be tracked and managed throughout their lifecycle
    • Data retention policy
    • E-signature policy
    • Email policy
    • Information management policies
    • Access/privacy rules
    • Understand the flow of content through multiple systems (e.g. email, repositories)
    • Define business and technical requirements to select a new content management platform/service
    • Improve integrations
    • Right-size solutions for use case (e.g. DAM)
    • Communication/Change Management
    • Data Literacy

    What is enterprise content management and why is it needed?

    “Enterprise Content Management is the systematic collection and organization of information that is to be used by a designated audience – business executives, customers, etc. Neither a single technology nor a methodology nor a process, it is a dynamic combination of strategies, methods and tools used to capture, manage, store, preserve and deliver information supporting key organizational processes through its entire lifecycle.” (AIIM, 2021)

    • Changing your ECM capabilities is about changing organizational behavior; take an all-hands-on-deck approach to make the most of information gathering, create a vested interest, and secure buy-in.
    • It promotes and drives responsible and ethical use and handling of content while helping to build and foster an organizational culture of information excellence.

    Who:

    This research is designed for:

    • Information Architect
    • Chief Data Officer (CDO)
    • Head of Data, Information Management
    • Records Management
    • CIO

    Info-Tech Insight

    ECM is critical to becoming a digital and modernized operation, where both structured data (such as sales reports) and unstructured content (such as customer sentiment in social media) are brought together for a 360-degree view of the customer or for a comprehensive legal discovery.

    Metadata management/Data cataloging

    Overview

    Metadata is structured information that describes, explains, locates, or otherwise makes it easier to retrieve, use, or manage an information resource. Metadata is often called data about data or information about information (NISO).

    Metadata management is the function that manages and maintains the technology and processes that creates, processes, and stores metadata created by business processes and data.

    90%

    		 The majority of data is unstructured information like text, video, audio, web server logs, social media, and more (MIT Sloan, 2021).
    As data becomes more unstructured, complex, and manipulated, the importance and value of metadata will grow exponentially and support improved:
    • Data consumption
    • Quality management
    • Risk management

    Value of Effective Metadata Management

    • Supports the traceability of data through an environment.
    • Creates standards and logging that enable information and data to be searchable and cataloged.
    • Metadata schemas enable easier transferring and distribution of data across different environments.
    Data about data: The true value of metadata and the management practices supporting it is its ability to provide deeper understanding and auditability to the data assets and processes of the business.
    Metadata supports the use of:
    Big Data
    Unstructured data     		Content and Documents
    Unstructured and semi-structured data     		Structured data
    Master, reference, etc.

    Critical Success Factors of Metadata Management

    • Consistent and documented data standards and definitions
    • Architectural planning for metadata
    • Incorporation of metadata into system design and the processing of data
    • Technology to support metadata creation, collection, storage, and reviews (metadata repository, meta marts, etc.)

    Info-Tech’s Data Integration Framework

    On one hand…

    Data has massive potential to bring insight to an organization when combined and analyzed in creative ways.

    On the other hand…

    It is difficult to bring data together from different sources to generate insights and prevent stale data.

    How can these two ideas be reconciled?

    Answer: Info-Tech’s Data Integration Onion Framework summarizes an organization’s data environment at a conceptual level and is used to design a common data-centric integration environment.

    		A diagram of the 'Data Integration Onion Framework' with five layers: 'Enterprise Business Processes', 'Enterprise Analytics', 'Enterprise Integration', 'Enterprise Data Repositories', and 'Enterprise Data' at the center.
    Info-Tech’s Data Integration Onion Framework     		Data-centric integration is the solution you need to bring data together to break down data silos.

    What is data integration and why is it needed?

    • To get more value from their information, organizations are relying on increasingly more complex data sources. These diverse data sources have to be properly integrated to unlock the full potential of that data.
    • Integrating large volumes of data from the many varied sources in an organization has incredible potential to yield insights, but many organizations struggle with creating the right structure for that blending to take place, and that leads to the formation of data silos.
    • Data-centric integration capabilities can break down organizational silos. Once data silos are removed and all the information that is relevant to a given problem is available, problems with operational and transactional efficiencies can be solved, and value from business intelligence (BI) and analytics can be fully realized.

    Is your integration near real time and scalable?

    Who:

    This research is designed for:

    • Data Engineers
    • Business Analysts
    • Data Architects
    • Head of Data Management
    • Enterprise Architects

    Info-Tech Insight

    Every IT project requires data integration. Any change in the application and database ecosystem requires you to solve a data integration problem.

    Info-Tech’s Master Data Management Framework

    Master data management (MDM) “entails control over Master Data values and identifiers that enable consistent use, across systems, of the most accurate and timely data about essential business entities” (DAMA, 2017).

    The Data Management Framework from earlier with tier 2 item 'Reference and Master' highlighted.

    Fundamental objective of MDM: Enable the business to see one view of critical data elements across the organization.

    		Phases of the MDM Framework. 'Phase 1: Build a Vision for MDM' entails a 'Readiness Assessment', then both 'Identify the Master Data Needs of the Business' and 'Create a Strategic Vision'. 'Phase 2: Create a Plan and Roadmap for the Organization’s MDM Program' entails 'Assess Current MDM Capabilities', then 'Initiative Planning', then 'Strategic Roadmap'.

    What is MDM and why is it needed?

    • Master data management (MDM) “entails control over Master Data values and identifiers that enable consistent use, across systems, of the most accurate and timely data about essential business entities” (DAMA, 2017).
    • The fundamental objective of MDM is to enable the business to see one view of critical data elements across the organization.
    • What is included in the scope of MDM?
      • Party data (employees, customers, etc.)
      • Product/service data
      • Financial data
      • Location data

    Is there traceability and visibility into your data’s lineage? Does your data pipeline facilitate that single view across the organization?

    Who:

    This research is designed for:

    • Chief Data Officer (CDO)
    • Head of Data Management, CIO
    • Data Architect
    • Head of Data Governance, Data Officer

    Info-Tech Insight

    Successful MDM requires a comprehensive approach. To be successfully planned, implemented, and maintained it must include effective capabilities in the critical processes and subpractices of data management.

    Data Modeling Framework

    • The framework consists of the business, enterprise, application, and implementation layers.
    • The Business Layer encodes real-world business concepts via the conceptual model.
    • The Enterprise Layer defines all enterprise data asset details and their relationships.
    • The Application Layer defines the data structures as used by a specific application.
    • The Implementation Layer defines the data models and artifacts for use by software tools.
    		 Data Modeling Framework with items from the 'Implementation Layer' contributing to items in the 'Application Layer' and 'Enterprise Layer' before turning into a 'Conceptual Model' in the 'Business Layer'.

    Model hierarchy

    • The Conceptual data model describes the organization from a business perspective.
    • The Message model is used to describe internal- and external-facing messages and is equivalent to the canonical model.
    • The Enterprise model depicts the whole organization and is divided into domains.
    • The Analytical model is built for specific business use cases.
    • Application models are application-specific operational models.
    		Model hierarchy with items from the 'Implementation Layer' contributing to items in the 'Application Layer' and 'Enterprise Layer' before turning into a 'Conceptual Model' in the 'Business Layer'.

    Info-Tech Insight

    The Conceptual model acts as the root of all the models required and used by an organization.

    Data architecture and modeling processes

    A diagram moving from right to left through 5 phases: 'Business concepts defined and organized', 'Business concepts enriched with attribution', 'Physical view of the data, still vendor agnostic', 'The view being used by developers and business', and 'Manage the progression of your data assets'.

    Info-Tech Insight

    The Conceptual data model adds relationships to your business data glossary terms and is the first step of the modeling journey.

    Data operations

    Objectives of Data Operations Management

    • Implement and follow policies and procedures to manage data at each stage of its lifecycle.
    • Maintain the technology supporting the flow and delivery of data (applications, databases, systems, etc.).
    • Control the delivery of data within the system environment.

    Indicators of Successful Data Operations Management

    • Effective delivery of data assets to end users.
    • Successful maintenance and performance of the technical environment that collects, stores, delivers, and purges organizational data.
    		 'Data Lifecycle' with steps 'Create', 'Acquire', 'Store', 'Maintain', 'Use', and 'Archive/Destroy'.
    This data management enabler has a heavy focus on the management and performance of data systems and applications.
    It works closely with the organization’s technical architecture to support successful data delivery and lifecycle management (data warehouses, repositories, databases, networks, etc.).

    Step 1.2

    Understand and Align to Business Drivers

    Activities

    1.2.1 Define your value streams

    1.2.2 Identify your business capabilities

    1.2.3 Categorize your organization’s key business capabilities

    1.2.4 Develop a strategy map tied to data management

    This step will guide you through the following activities:

    • Leverage your organization’s existing business capability map or initiate the formulation of a business capability map.
    • Determine which business capabilities are considered high priority by your organization.
    • Map your organization’s strategic objectives to value streams and capabilities to communicate how objectives are realized with the support of data.

    Outcomes of this step

    • A foundation for data management initiative planning that’s aligned with the organization’s business architecture: value streams, business capability map, and strategy map

    Build Business Context and Drivers

    Step 1.1 Step 1.2 Step 1.3 Step 1.4

    Identifying value streams

    Value streams connect business goals to organization’s value realization activities. They enable an organization to create and capture value in the marketplace by engaging in a set of interconnected activities.
    There are several key questions to ask when endeavouring to identify value streams.

    Key Questions

    • Who are your customers?
    • What are the benefits we deliver to them?
    • How do we deliver those benefits?
    • How does the customer receive the benefits?

    1.2.1 Define value streams

    1-3 hours

    Input: Business strategy/goals, Financial statements, Info-Tech’s industry-specific business architecture

    Output: List of organization-specific value streams, Detailed value stream definition(s)

    Materials: Whiteboard/kanban board, Info-Tech’s Reference Architecture Template – contact your Account Representative for details, Other industry standard reference architecture models: BIZBOK, APQC, etc., Info-Tech’s Archimate models

    Participants: Enterprise/Business Architect, Business Analysts, Business Unit Leads, CIO, Departmental Executive & Senior managers

    Unify the organization’s perspective on how it creates value.

    1. Write a short description of the value stream that includes a statement about the value provided and a clear start and end for the value stream. Validate the accuracy of the descriptions with your key stakeholders.
    2. Consider:
      • How does the organization deliver those benefits?
      • How does the customer receive the benefits?
      • What is the scope of your value stream? What will trigger the stream to start and what will the final value be?
    3. Avoid:
      • Don’t start with a blank page. Use Info-Tech’s business architecture models for sample value streams.

    Contact your Account Representative for access to Info-Tech’s Reference Architecture Template

    Define or validate the organization’s value streams

    Value streams connect business goals to the organization’s value realization activities. These value realization activities, in turn, depend on data.

    If the organization does not have a business architecture function to conduct and guide Activity 1.2.1, you can leverage the following approach:

    • Meet with key stakeholders regarding this topic, then discuss and document your findings.
    • When trying to identify the right stakeholders, consider: Who are the decision makers and key influencers? Who will impact this piece of business architecture–related work? Who has the relevant skills, competencies, experience, and knowledge about the organization?
    • Engage with these stakeholders to define and validate how the organization creates value. Consider:
      • Who are your main stakeholders? This will depend on the industry in which you operate. For example, they could be customers, residents, citizens, constituents, students, patients.
      • What are your stakeholders looking to accomplish?
      • How does your organization’s products and/or services help them accomplish that?
      • What are the benefits your organization delivers to them and how does your organization deliver those benefits?
      • How do your stakeholders receive those benefits?

    Align data management to the organization’s value realization activities.

    Value streams enable the organization to create or capture value in the market in which it operates by engaging in a set of interconnected activities.

    Info-Tech Insight

    Your organization’s value streams and the associated business capabilities require effectively managed and governed data. Without this, you could face elevated operational costs, missed opportunities, eroded stakeholder satisfaction, negative impact to reputation and brand, and/or increased exposure to business risk.

    Example of value streams – Retail Banking

    Value streams connect business goals to the organization’s value realization activities.

    Example value stream descriptions for: Retail Banking

    Value streams enable the organization to create or capture value in the market in which it operates by engaging in a set of interconnected activities. Example Value Stream for Retail Banking with five value chains. 'Attract Customers: Retail banks design new products to fill gaps in their product portfolios by analyzing the market for changing customer needs and new competitor offerings or pricing; Pricing a product correctly through analysis and rate setting is a delicate balance and fundamental to a bank’s success.' 'Supply Loans and Mortgages and Credit Cards: Selecting lending criteria helps banks decide on the segment of customer they should take on and the degree of risk they are willing to accept.' 'Provide Core Banking Services: Servicing includes the day-to-day interactions with customers for onboarding, payments, adjustments, and offboarding through multiple banking channels; Customer retention and growing share of wallet are crucial capabilities in servicing that directly impact the growth and profitability of retail banks.' 'Offer Card Services: Card servicing involves quick turnarounds on card delivery and acceptance at a large number of merchants; Accurate billing and customizable spending alerts are crucial in ensuring that the customer understands their spending habits.' 'Grow Investments and Manage Wealth: Customer retention can be increased through effective wealth management and additional services that will increase the number of products owned by a customer.'

    For this value stream, download Info-Tech’s Industry Reference Architecture for Retail Banking.

    Example of value streams – Higher Education

    Value streams connect business goals to the organization’s value realization activities.

    Example value stream descriptions for: Higher Education

    Value streams enable the organization to create or capture value in the market in which it operates by engaging in a set of interconnected activities. Example Value Stream for Higher Education with five value chains. 'Shape Institutional Research: Institutional research provides direct benefits to both partners and faculty, ensuring efficient use of resources and compliance with ethical and methodological standards; This value stream involves all components of the research lifecycle, from planning and resourcing to delivery and commercialization.' 'Facilitate Curriculum Design: Curriculum design is the process by which learning content is designed and developed to achieve desired student outcomes; Curriculum management capabilities include curriculum planning, design and commercialization, curriculum assessment, and instruction management.' 'Design Student Support Services: Support services design and development provides a range of resources to assist students with academic success, such as accessibility, health and counseling, social services, housing, and academic skills development.' 'Manage Academic Administration: Academic administration involves the broad capabilities required to attract and enroll students in institutional programs; This value stream involves all components related to recruitment, enrollment, admissions, and retention management.' 'Deliver Student Services: Delivery of student services comes after curricular management, support services design, and academic administration. It comprises delivery of programs and services to enable student success; Program and service delivery capabilities include curriculum delivery, convocation management, and student and alumni support services.'

    For this value stream, download Info-Tech’s Industry Reference Architecture for Higher Education.

    Example of value streams – Local Government

    Value streams connect business goals to the organization’s value realization activities.

    Example value stream descriptions for: Local Government

    Value streams enable the organization to create or capture value in the market in which it operates by engaging in a set of interconnected activities. Example Value Stream for Local Government with five value chains. 'Sustain Land, Property, and the Environment: Local governments act as the stewards of the regional land and environment that are within their boundaries; Regional government bodies are responsible for ensuring that the natural environment is protected and sustained for future citizens in the form of parks and public land.' 'Facilitate Civic Engagement: Local governments engage with constituents to maintain a high quality of life through art, culture, and education.' 'Protect Local Health and Safety: Health concerns are managed by a local government through specialized campaigns and clinics; Emergency services are provided by the local authority to protect and react to health and safety concerns including police and firefighting services.' 'Grow the Economy: Economic growth is a cornerstone of a strong local government. Growth comes from flourishing industries, entrepreneurial success, high levels of employment, and income from tourism.' 'Provide Regional Infrastructure: Local governments ensure that infrastructure is built, maintained, and effective in meeting the needs of constituents. (Includes: electricity, water, sustainable energy sources, waste collection, transit, and local transportation.'

    For this value stream, download Info-Tech’s Industry Reference Architecture for Local Government.

    Example of value streams – Manufacturing

    Value streams connect business goals to the organization’s value realization activities.

    Example value stream descriptions for: Manufacturing

    Value streams enable the organization to create or capture value in the market in which it operates by engaging in a set of interconnected activities. Example Value Stream for Manufacturing with three value chains. 'Design Product: Manufacturers proactively analyze their respective markets for any new opportunities or threats; They design new products to serve changing customer needs or to rival any new offerings by competitors; A manufacturer’s success depends on its ability to develop a product that the market wants at the right price and quality level.' 'Produce Product: Optimizing production activities is an important capability for manufacturers. Raw materials and working inventories need to be managed effectively to minimize wastage and maximize the utilization of the production lines; Processes need to be refined continuously over time to remain competitive and the quality of the materials and final products needs to be strictly managed.' 'Sell Product: Once produced, manufacturers need to sell the products. This is done through distributors, retailers, and, in some cases, directly to the end consumer; After the sale, manufacturers typically have to deliver the product, provide customer care, and manage complaints; Manufacturers also randomly test their end products to ensure they meet quality requirements.'

    For this value stream, download Info-Tech’s Industry Reference Architecture for Manufacturing.

    Define the organization’s business capabilities in a business capability map

    A business capability defines what a business does to enable value creation. Business capabilities represent stable business functions and typically will have a defined business outcome.

    Business capabilities can be thought of as business terms defined using descriptive nouns such as “Marketing” or “Research and Development.”

    If your organization doesn’t already have a business capability map, you can leverage the following approach to build one. This initiative requires a good understanding of the business. By working with the right stakeholders, you can develop a business capability map that speaks a common language and accurately depicts your business.

    Working with the stakeholders as described in the slide entitled “Define or validate the organization’s value streams”:

    • Analyze the value streams to identify and describe the organization’s capabilities that support them.
    • Consider the objective of your value stream. (This can highlight which capabilities support which value stream.)
    • As you initiate your engagement with your stakeholders, don’t start a blank page. Leverage the examples on the next slides as a starting point for your business capability map.
    • When using these examples, consider: What are the activities that make up your particular business? Keep the ones that apply to your organization, remove the ones that don’t, and add any needed.

    Align data management to the organization’s value realization activities.

    Info-Tech Insight

    A business capability map can be thought of as a visual representation of your organization’s business capabilities and hence represents a view of what your data management program must support.

    For more information, refer to Info-Tech’s Document Your Business Architecture.

    1.2.2 Identify your business capabilities

    Input: List of confirmed value streams and their related business capabilities

    Output: Business capability map with value streams for your organization

    Materials: Your existing business capability map, Business Alignment worksheet provided in the Data Management Assessment and Planning Tool, Info-Tech’s Document Your Business Architecture blueprint

    Participants: Key business stakeholders, Data stewards, Data custodians, Data leads and administrators

    Confirm your organization's existing business capability map or initiate the formulation of a business capability map:

    • If you have an existing business capability map, meet with the relevant business owners/stakeholders to confirm that the content is accurate and up to date. Confirm the value streams (how your organization creates and captures value) and their business capabilities reflect the organization’s current business environment.
    • If you do not have an existing business capability map, complete this activity to initiate the formulation of a map (value streams and related business capabilities):
      1. Define the organization’s value streams. Meet with senior leadership and other key business stakeholders to define how your organization creates and captures value.
      2. Define the relevant business capabilities. Meet with senior leadership and other key business stakeholders to define the business capabilities.

    Note: A business capability defines what a business does to enable value creation. Business capabilities are business terms defined using nouns such as “Marketing” or “Research and Development.” They represent stable business functions, are unique and independent of one another, and typically will have a defined business outcome.

    Example business capability map – Retail Banking

    A business capability map can be thought of as a visual representation of your organization’s business capabilities and hence represents a view of what your data governance program must support.

    Validate your business capability map with the right stakeholders, including your executive team, business unit leaders, and/or other key stakeholders.

    Info-Tech Tip: Leverage your business capability map verification session with these key stakeholders as a prime opportunity to share and explain the role of data and data governance in supporting the very value realization capabilities under discussion. This will help to build awareness and visibility of the data management program.

    Example business capability map for: Retail Banking

    Example business capability map for Retail Banking with value stream items as column headers, and rows 'Enabling', 'Shared', and 'Defining'.

    For this business capability map, download Info-Tech’s Industry Reference Architecture for Retail Banking.

    Example business capability map – Higher Education

    A business capability map can be thought of as a visual representation of your organization’s business capabilities and hence represents a view of what your data governance program must support.

    Validate your business capability map with the right stakeholders, including your executive team, business unit leaders, and/or other key stakeholders.

    Info-Tech Tip: Leverage your business capability map verification session with these key stakeholders as a prime opportunity to share and explain the role of data and data governance in supporting the very value realization capabilities under discussion. This will help to build awareness and visibility of the data management program.

    Example business capability map for: Higher Education

    Example business capability map for Higher Education with value stream items as column headers, and rows 'Enabling', 'Shared', and 'Defining'.

    For this business capability map, download Info-Tech’s Industry Reference Architecture for Higher Education.

    Example business capability map – Local Government

    A business capability map can be thought of as a visual representation of your organization’s business capabilities and hence represents a view of what your data governance program must support.

    Validate your business capability map with the right stakeholders, including your executive team, business unit leaders, and/or other key stakeholders.

    Info-Tech Tip: Leverage your business capability map verification session with these key stakeholders as a prime opportunity to share and explain the role of data and data governance in supporting the very value realization capabilities under discussion. This will help to build awareness and visibility of the data governance program.

    Example business capability map for: Local Government

    Example business capability map for Local Government with value stream items as column headers, and rows 'Enabling', 'Shared', and 'Defining'.

    For this business capability map, download Info-Tech’s Industry Reference Architecture for Local Government.

    Example business capability map – Manufacturing

    A business capability map can be thought of as a visual representation of your organization’s business capabilities and hence represents a view of what your data governance program must support.

    Validate your business capability map with the right stakeholders, including your executive team, business unit leaders, and/or other key stakeholders.

    Info-Tech Tip: Leverage your business capability map verification session with these key stakeholders as a prime opportunity to share and explain the role of data and data governance in supporting the very value realization capabilities under discussion. This will help to build awareness and visibility of the data governance program.

    Example business capability map for: Manufacturing

    Example business capability map for Manufacturing with value stream items as column headers, and rows 'Enabling', 'Shared', and 'Defining'.

    For this business capability map, download Info-Tech’s Industry Reference Architecture for Manufacturing.

    Example business capability map – Retail

    A business capability map can be thought of as a visual representation of your organization’s business capabilities and hence represents a view of what your data governance program must support.

    Validate your business capability map with the right stakeholders, including your executive team, business unit leaders, and/or other key stakeholders.

    Info-Tech Tip: Leverage your business capability map verification session with these key stakeholders as a prime opportunity to share and explain the role of data and data governance in supporting the very value realization capabilities under discussion. This will help to build awareness and visibility of the data governance program.

    Example business capability map for: Retail

    Example business capability map for Retail with value stream items as column headers, and rows 'Enabling', 'Shared', and 'Defining'.

    For this business capability map, download Info-Tech’s Industry Reference Architecture for Retail.

    1.2.3 Categorize your organization’s key capabilities

    Input: Strategic insight from senior business stakeholders on the business capabilities that drive value for the organization

    Output: Business capabilities categorized and prioritized (e.g. cost advantage creators, competitive advantage differentiators, high value/high risk) See next slide for an example

    Materials: Your existing business capability map or the business capability map derived in Activity 1.2.2

    Participants: Key business stakeholders, Data stewards, Data custodians, Data governance working group

    Determine which capabilities are considered high priority in your organization.

    1. Categorize or heatmap the organization’s key capabilities. Consult with senior and other key business stakeholders to categorize and prioritize the business’ capabilities. This will aid in ensuring your data governance future-state planning is aligned with the mandate of the business. One approach to prioritizing capabilities with business stakeholders is to examine them through the lens of cost advantage creators, competitive advantage differentiators, and/or by high value/high risk.
    2. Identify cost advantage creators. Focus on capabilities that drive a cost advantage for your organization. Highlight these capabilities and prioritize programs that support them.
    3. Identify competitive advantage differentiators. Focus on capabilities that give your organization an edge over rivals or other players in your industry.

    This categorization/prioritization exercise helps highlight prime areas of opportunity for building use cases, determining prioritization, and the overall optimization of data and data governance.

    For more information, refer to Info-Tech’s Document Your Business Architecture.

    Example of business capabilities categorization or heatmapping – Retail

    This exercise is useful in ensuring the data governance program is focused and aligned to support the priorities and direction of the business.

    • Depending on the mandate from the business, priority may be on developing cost advantage. Hence the capabilities that deliver efficiency gains are the ones considered to be cost advantage creators.
    • The business’ priority may be on maintaining or gaining a competitive advantage over its industry counterparts. Differentiation might be achieved in delivering unique or enhanced products, services, and/or experiences, and the focus will tend to be on the capabilities that are more end-stakeholder-facing (e.g. customer-, student-, patient,- and/or constituent-facing). These are the organization’s competitive advantage creators.

    Example: Retail

    Example business capability map for Retail with capabilities categorized into Cost Advantage Creators and Competitive Advantage creators via a legend. Value stream items as column headers, and rows 'Enabling', 'Shared', and 'Defining'.

    For this business capability map, download Info-Tech’s Industry Reference Architecture for Retail.

    1.2.4 Develop a strategy map tied to data management

    Input: Strategic objectives as outlined by the organization’s business strategy and confirmed by senior leaders

    Output: A strategy map that maps your organizational strategic objectives to value streams, business capabilities, and ultimately data programs

    Materials: Your existing business capability map or the one created in Activity 1.2.2, Business strategy (see next slide for an example)

    Participants: Key business stakeholders, Data stewards, Data custodians, Data governance working group

    Identify the strategic objectives for the business. Knowing the key strategic objectives will drive business–data governance alignment. It’s important to make sure the right strategic objectives of the organization have been identified and are well understood.

    1. Meet with senior business leaders and other relevant stakeholders to help identify and document the key strategic objectives for the business.
    2. Leverage their knowledge of the organization’s business strategy and strategic priorities to visually represent how these map to value streams, business capabilities, and ultimately data and data governance needs and initiatives. Tip: Your map is one way to visually communicate and link the business strategy to other levels of the organization.
    3. Confirm the strategy mapping with other relevant stakeholders.

    Example of a strategy map tied to data management

    • Strategic objectives are the outcomes the organization is looking to achieve.
    • Value streams enable an organization to create and capture value in the market through interconnected activities that support strategic objectives.
    • Business capabilities define what a business does to enable value creation in value streams.
    • Data capabilities and initiatives are descriptions of action items on the data and data governance roadmap that will enable one or multiple business capabilities in its desired target state.

    Info-Tech Tip: Start with the strategic objectives, then map the value streams that will ultimately drive them. Next, link the key capabilities that enable each value stream. Then map the data and data governance initiatives that support those capabilities. This process will help you prioritize the data initiatives that deliver the most value to the organization.

    Example: Retail

    Example of a strategy map tied to data management with diagram column headers 'Strategic Objectives' (are realized through...) 'Value Streams' (are enabled by...) 'Key Capabilities' (are driven by...) 'Data Capabilities and Initiatives'. Row headers are objectives and fields are composed of three examples of each column header.

    For this strategy map, download Info-Tech’s Industry Reference Architecture for Retail.

    Step 1.3

    Build High-Value Use Cases for Data Management

    Activities

    1.3.1 Build high-value use cases

    This step will guide you through the following activities:

    • Understand the main disciplines and makeup of a best-practice data management program.
    • Determine which data management capabilities are considered high priority by your organization.

    Outcomes of this step

    • A foundation for data management initiative planning that’s aligned with the organization’s business architecture: value streams, business capability map, and strategy map

    Build Business Context and Drivers

    Step 1.1 Step 1.2 Step 1.3 Step 1.4

    1.3.1 Build high-value use cases

    Input: Value streams and business capabilities as defined by business leaders, Business stakeholders’ subject area expertise, Data custodian systems, integration, and data knowledge

    Output: Use cases that articulate data-related challenges, needs, or opportunities that are tied to defined business capabilities and hence, if addressed, will deliver measurable value to the organization

    Materials: Your business capability map from Activity 1.2.2, Info-Tech’s Data Use Case Framework Template, Whiteboard or flip charts (or shared screen if working remotely), Markers/pens

    Participants: Key business stakeholders, Data stewards and business SMEs, Data custodians, Data leads and administrators

    This business needs gathering activity will highlight and create relevant use cases around data-related problems or opportunities that are clear and contained and, if addressed, will deliver value to the organization.

    1. Bring together key business stakeholders (data owner, stewards, SMEs) from a particular line of business as well the relevant data custodian(s) to build cases for their units. Leverage the business capability map you created for facilitating this act.
    2. Leverage Info-Tech’s Data Use Case Framework Template as seen on the next slide.
    3. Have the stakeholders move through each breakout session outlined in the use case worksheet. Use flip charts or a whiteboard to brainstorm and document their thoughts.
    4. Debrief and document results in the Data Use Case Framework Template.
    5. Repeat this exercise with as many lines of the business as possible, leveraging your business capability map to guide your progress and align with business value.

    Tip: Don’t conclude these use case discussions without substantiating what measures of success will be used to demonstrate the business value of the effort to produce the desired future state, as relevant to each particular use case.

    Download Info-Tech’s Data Use Case Framework Template

    Data use cases

    Sample Data

    The following is the list of use cases as articulated by key stakeholders at [Organization Name].

    The stakeholders see these as areas that are relevant and highly valuable for delivering strategic value to [Organization Name].

    Use Case 1: Customer/Student/Patient/Resident 360 View

    Use Case 2: Project/Department Financial Performance

    Use Case 3: Vendor Lifecycle Management

    Use Case 4: Project Risk Management

    Prioritization of use cases

    Example table for use case prioritization. Column headers are 'Use Case', 'Order of Priority', and 'Comments'. Fields are empty.

    Use case 1

    Sample Data

    Problem statement:

    • We are not realizing our full growth potential because we do not have a unified 360 view of our customers/clients/[name of external stakeholder].
    • This impacts: our cross-selling; upselling; talent acquisition and retention; quality of delivery; ability to identify and deliver the right products, markets, and services...

    If we could solve this:

    • We would be able to better prioritize and position ourselves to meet evolving customer needs.
    • We would be able to optimize the use of our limited resources.

    Use case 1: challenges, risks, and opportunities

    Sample Data

    1. What is the number one risk you need to alleviate?
      • Loss of potential revenue, whether from existing or net new customers.
        • How?
          • By not maximizing opportunities with customers or even by losing customers; by not understanding or addressing their greatest needs
          • By not being able to win potential new customers because we don’t understand their needs
    2. What is the number one opportunity you wish to see happen?
      • The ability to better understand and anticipate the needs of both existing and potential customers.
    3. What is the number one pain point you have when working with data?
      • I can’t do my job with confidence because it’s not based on comprehensive, sound, reliable data. My group spends significant time reconciling data sets with little time left for data use and analysis.
    4. What are your challenges in performing the activity today?
      • I cannot pull together customer data in a timely manner due to having a high level of dependence on specific individuals with institutional knowledge rather than having easy access to information.
      • It takes too much time and effort to pull together what we know about a customer.
      • The necessary data is not consolidated or readily/systematically available for consumption.
      • These challenges are heightened when dealing with customers across markets.

    Use case 1 (cont'd)

    Sample Data

    1. What does “amazing” look like if we solve this perfectly?
      • Employees have immediate, self-service access to necessary information, leading to better and more timely decisions. This results in stronger business and financial growth.
    2. What other business unit activities/processes will be impacted/improved if we solve this?
      • Marketing/bid and proposal, staffing, procurement, and contracting strategy
    3. What compliance/regulatory/policy concerns do we need to consider in any solution?
      • PII, GDPR, HIPAA, CCPA, etc.
    4. What measures of success/change should we use to prove the value of the effort (KPIs/ROI)?
      • Win rate, number of services per customer, gross profit, customer retention, customer satisfaction scores, brand awareness, and net promoter score
    5. What are the steps in the process/activity today?
      • Manual aggregation (i.e. pull data from systems into Excel), reliance on unwritten knowledge, seeking IT support, canned reports

    Use case 1 (cont'd)

    Sample Data

    1. What are the applications/systems used at each step?
      • Salesforce CRM, Excel, personal MS Access databases, SharePoint
    2. What data elements (domains) are involved, created, used, or transformed at each step?
      • Bid and proposal information, customer satisfaction, forecast data, list of products, corporate entity hierarchy, vendor information, key staffing, recent and relevant news, and competitor intelligence

    Use case worksheet

    Objective: This business needs gathering activity will help you highlight and create relevant use cases around data-related problems or opportunities. They should be clear and contained and, if addressed, will deliver value to the organization.

    1.

    What business capability (or capabilities) in your business area is this use case tied to?

    		 Examples: Demand Planning, Assortment Planning, Allocation & Replenishment, Fulfillment Planning, Customer Management
    2.

    What are your data-related challenges in performing this today?

    Use case worksheet (cont’d.)

    Objective: This business needs gathering activity will help you highlight and create relevant use cases around data-related problems or opportunities. They should be clear and contained and, if addressed, will deliver value to the organization.

    3.

    What are the steps in the process/activity today?
    4.

    What are the applications/systems used at each step today?
    5.

    What data domains are involved, created, used, or transformed at each step today?

    Use case worksheet (cont’d.)

    Objective: This business needs gathering activity will help you highlight and create relevant use cases around data-related problems or opportunities. They should be clear and contained and, if addressed, will deliver value to the organization.

    6.

    What does an ideal or improved state look like?
    7.

    What other business units, business capabilities, activities, or processes will be impacted and/or improved if this were to be solved?
    8.

    Who are the stakeholders impacted by these changes? Who needs to be consulted?
    9.

    What are the risks to the organization (business capability, revenue, reputation, customer loyalty, etc.) if this is not addressed?

    Use case worksheet (cont’d.)

    Objective: This business needs gathering activity will help you highlight and create relevant use cases around data-related problems or opportunities. They should be clear and contained and, if addressed, will deliver value to the organization.

    10.

    What compliance, regulatory, or policy concerns do we need to consider in any solution?
    11.

    What measures of success or change should we use to prove the value of the effort (KPIs/ROI)? What is the measurable business value of doing this?

    Use case worksheet (cont’d.)

    Objective: This business needs gathering activity will help you highlight and create relevant use cases around data-related problems or opportunities. They should be clear and contained and, if addressed, will deliver value to the organization.

    10.

    Conclusion: What are the data capabilities that need to be optimized, addressed, or improved to support or help realize the business capability (or capabilities) highlighted in this use case?

    (Tip: This will inform your future-state data capabilities optimization planning and roadmapping activities.)

    Data Management Workshop
    Use Case 1: Covid-19 Emergency Management

    [SAMPLE]
    Problem Statement

    Inability to provide insights to DPH due to inconsistent data, inaccurate reporting, missing governance, and unknown data sources resulting in decisions that impact citizens being made without accurate information.

    Challenges
    • Data is not suitable for analytics. It takes lot of effort to clean data.
    • Data intervals are not correct and other data quality issues.
    • The roles are not clearly defined.
    • Lack of communication between key stakeholders.
    • Inconsistent data/reporting/governance in the agencies. This has resulted in number of issues for Covid-19 emergency management. Not able to report accurately on number of cases, deaths, etc.
    • Data collection systems changed overtime (forms, etc.).
    • GIS has done all the reporting. However, why GIS is doing all the reporting is not clear. GIS provides critical information for location. Reason: GIS was ready with reporting solution ArcGIS.
    • Problem with data collection, consolidation, and providing hierarchical view.
    • Change in requirements, metrics – managing crisis by email and resulting in creating one dashboard after another. Not sure whether these dashboards being used.
    • There is a lot of manual intervention and repeated work.
    		 What Does Amazing Look Like?
    • One set of dashboards (or single dashboard) – too much time spend on measure development
    • Accurate and timely data
    • Automated data
    • Access to granular data (for researchers and other stakeholders)
    • Clear ownership of data and analytics
    • It would have been nice to have governance already prior to this crisis
    • Proper metrics to measure usage and value
    • Give more capabilities such as predictive analytics, etc.
    Related Processes/Impact
    • DPH
    • Schools
    • Business
    • Citizens
    • Resources & Funding
    • Data Integration & GIS
    • Data Management
    • Automated Data Quality
    		Compliance
    • HIPAA, FERPA, CJIS, IRS
    • FEMA
    • State compliance requirement – data classification
    • CDC
    • Federal data-sharing agreements/restrictions
    		 Benefits/KPIs
    • Reduction in cases
    • Timely response to outbreak
    • Better use of resources
    • Economic impact
    • Educational benefits
    • Trust and satisfaction

    Data Management Workshop
    Use Case 1: Covid-19 Emergency Management

    [SAMPLE]
    Problem Statement

    Inability to provide insights to DPH due to inconsistent data, inaccurate reporting, missing governance, and unknown data sources resulting in decisions that impact citizens being made without accurate information.

    Current Steps in Process Activity (Systems)
    1. Collect data through Survey123 using ArcGIS (hospitals are managed to report by 11 am) – owned KYEM
    2. KYEM stores this information/data
    3. Deduplicate data (emergency preparedness group)
    4. Generate dashboard using ArcGIS
    5. Map to monitor status of the update
    6. Error correction using web portal (QAQC)
    7. Download Excel/CVS after all 97 hospital reports
    8. Sent to federal platform (White House, etc.)
    9. Generate reports for epidemiologist (done manually for public reporting)
    		Data Flow diagram

    Data flow diagram.

    SystemsData Management Dimensions
    1. Data Governance
    2. Data Quality
    3. Data Integrity
    4. Data Integration
    1. Data Architecture
    2. Metadata
    3. Data Warehouse, Reporting & Analytics
    4. Data Security

    Data Management Workshop
    Use Case 1: Covid-19 Emergency Management

    [SAMPLE]

    Problem Statement

    Inability to provide insights to DPH due to inconsistent data, inaccurate reporting, missing governance, and unknown data sources resulting in decisions that impact citizens being made without accurate information.

    List Future Process Steps

    Prior to COVID-19 Emergency Response:

    • ArcGIS data integrated available in data warehouse/data lake.
    • KYEM data integrated and available in data warehouse/data lake.
    • CHFS data integrated and available in data warehouse/data lake.
    • Reporting standards and tools framework established.

    After COVID-19 Emergency Response:

    • Collect data through Survey123 using ArcGIS (hospitals are managed to report by 11 am) – owned KYEM.
    • Error correction using web portal (QAQC).
    • Generate reports/dashboard/files as per reporting/analytical requirements:
      • Federal reporting
      • COVID dashboards
      • Epidemiologist reports
      • Lab reporting
    		Future Process and Data Flow

    Data flow diagram with future processes.

    Step 1.4

    Create a Vision and Guiding Principles for Data Management

    Activities

    1.4.1 Craft a vision

    1.4.2 Create guiding principles

    This step will guide you through the following activities:

    • Leverage your organization’s existing business capability map or initiate the formulation of a business capability map, guided by info-Tech’s approach.
    • Determine which business capabilities are considered high priority by your organization.
    • Map your organization’s strategic objectives to value streams and capabilities to communicate how objectives are realized with the support of data.

    Outcomes of this step

    • A foundation for data management initiative planning that’s aligned with the organization’s business architecture: value streams, business capability map, and strategy map

    Build Business Context and Drivers

    Step 1.1 Step 1.2 Step 1.3 Step 1.4

    1.4.1 Craft a vision

    Input: Organizational vision and mission statements, Stakeholder survey results and elicitation findings, Use cases, Business and data capability map

    Output: Vision and mission statements

    Materials: Markers and pens, Whiteboard, Online whiteboard, Vision samples and templates

    Participants: Key business stakeholders, Data managers, Data owners, Business leads and SMEs, Project team, Project sponsor

    Complete the vision statement to set the direction, the “why,” for the changes we’re making. The vision is a reference point that should galvanize everyone in the organization and set guardrails for technical and process decisions to follow.

    1. Bring together key business stakeholders (content owners, SMEs, and relevant IT custodians) to craft a data management vision statement.
    2. Start by brainstorming keywords, such as customer-focused, empower the business, service excellence, findable and manageable, protected, accessible, paperless.
    3. Highlight the keywords that resonate most with the group. Refer to example vision statements for ideas.

    Create a common data management vision that is consistently communicated to the organization

    A data management program should be an enterprise-wide initiative.

    • To create a strong vision for data management, there must be participation from the business and IT. A common vision will articulate the state the organization wishes to achieve and how it will reach that state. Visioning helps to develop long-term goals and direction.
    • Once the vision is established, it must be effectively communicated to everyone, especially those who are involved in creating, managing, disposing, or archiving data.
    • The data management program should be periodically refined. This will ensure the organization continues to incorporate best methods and practices as the organization grows and data needs evolve.
    		 Stock image of a megaphone with multiple icons pouring from its opening.

    Info-Tech Tips

    • Use information from the stakeholder interviews to derive business goals and objectives.
    • Work to integrate different opinions and perspectives into the overall vision for data management.
    • Brainstorm guiding principles for content and understand the overall value to the organization.

    Create compelling vision and mission statements for the organization’s future data management practice

    A vision represents the way your organization intends to be in the future.

    A clear vision statement helps align the entire organization to the same end goal.

    Your vision should be brief, concise, and inspirational; it is attempting to say a lot in a few words, so be very thoughtful and careful with the words you choose. Consider your strengths across departments – business and IT, the consumers of your services, and your current/future commitments to service quality.

    Remember that a vision statement is internally facing for other members of your company throughout the process.

    		A mission expresses why you exist.

    While your vision is a declaration of where your organization aspires to be in the future, your mission statement should communicate the fundamental purpose of the data management practice.

    It identifies the function of the practice, what it produces, and its high-level goals that are linked to delivering timely, high-quality, relevant, and valuable data to business processes and end users. Consider if the practice is responsible for providing data for analytical and/or operational use cases.

    A mission statement should be a concise and clear statement of purpose for both internal and external stakeholders.

    “The Vision is the What, Where or Who you want the company to become. The Mission is the WHY the company exists, it is your purpose, passion or cause.” (Doug Meyer-Cuno, Forbes, 2021)

    Data Management Vision and Mission Statements: Draft

    Vision and mission statements crafted by the workshop participants. These statements are to be reviewed, refined into a single version, approved by members of the senior leadership team, and then communicated to the wider organization.

    Corporate

    Group 1

    Group 2
    Vision:
    Create and maintain an institution of world-class excellence.     		Vision: Vision:
    Mission:
    Foster an economic and financial environment conducive to sustainable economic growth and development.     		Mission: Mission:

    Information management framework

    The information management framework is a way to organize all the ECM program’s guidelines and artifacts

    Information management framework with 'Information Management Vision' above six principles. Below them are 'Information Management Policies' and 'Information Management Standards and Procedures.'

    The vision is a statement about the organization’s goals and provides a basis to guide decisions and rally employees toward a shared goal.

    The principles or themes communicate the organization’s priorities for its information management program.

    Policies are a set of official guidelines that determine a course of action. For example: Company is committed to safety for its employees.

    Procedures are a set of actions for doing something. For example: Company employees will wear protective gear while on the production floor.

    Craft your vision

    Use the insights you gathered from users and stakeholders to develop a vision statement
    • The beginning of a data management practice is a clear set of goals and key performance indicators (KPIs).
      A good set of goals takes time and input from senior leadership and stakeholders.
    • The data management program lead is selling a compelling vision of what is possible.
    • The vision also helps set the scope and expectations about what the data management program lead is and is not doing.
    • Be realistic about what you can do and how long it will take to see a difference.
    Table comparing the talk (mission statements, vision statements, and values) with the walk (strategies/goals, objectives, and tactical plans). Example vision statements:
    • The organization is dedicated to creating an enabling structure that helps the organization get the right information to the right people at the right time.
    • The organization is dedicated to creating a program that recognizes data as an asset, establishing a data-centric culture, and ensuring data quality and accessibility to achieve service excellence.
      •
    		The vision should be short, memorable, inspirational and draw a clear picture of what that future-state data management experience looks like.

    Is it modern and high end, with digital self-service?

    Is it a trusted and transparent steward of customer assets?

    1.4.2 Create guiding principles

    Input: Sample data management guiding principles, Stakeholder survey results and elicitation findings, Use cases, Business and data capability map

    Output: Data management guiding principles

    Materials: Markers and pens, Whiteboard, Online whiteboard, Guiding principles samples and templates

    Participants: Key business stakeholders, Data managers, Data owners, Business leads and SMEs, Project team, Project sponsor

    Draft a set of guiding principles that express your program’s values as a framework for decisions and actions and keep the data strategy alive.

    1. Bring together key business stakeholders (data owners, SMEs, and relevant IT custodians) to craft a set of data management guiding principles.
    2. Refer to industry sample guiding principles for data management.
    3. Discuss what’s important to stakeholders and owners, e.g. security, transparency, integrity. Good guiding principles address real challenges.
    4. A helpful tip: Craft principles as “We will…” statements for the problems you’ve identified.

    Twelve data management universal principles

    		 [SAMPLE]
    Principle Definitions
    Data Is Accessible Data is accessible across the organization based on individuals’ roles and privileges.
    Treat Data as an Asset Treat data as a most valuable foundation to make right decisions at the right time. Manage the data lifecycle across organization.
    Manage Data Define strategic enterprise data management that defines, integrates, and effectively retrieves data to generate accurate, consistent insights.
    Define Ownership & Stewardship Organizations should clearly appoint data owners and data stewards and ensure all team members understand their role in the company’s data management system.
    Use Metadata Use metadata to ensure data is properly managed by tacking how data has been collected, verified, reported, and analyzed.
    Single Source of Truth Ensure the master data maintenance across the organization.
    Ensure Data Quality Ensure data integrity though out the lifecycle of data by establishing a data quality management program.
    Data Is Secured Classify and maintain the sensitivity of the data.
    Maximize Data Use Extend the organization’s ability to make the most of its data.
    Empower the Users Foster data fluency and technical proficiency through training to maximize optimal business decision making.
    Share the Knowledge Share and publish the most valuable insights appropriately.
    Consistent Data Definitions Establish a business data glossary that defines consistent business definitions and usage of the data.

    Create a Data Management Roadmap

    Phase 2

    Assess Data Management and Build Your Roadmap

    Phase 1

    1.1 Review the Data Management Framework

    1.2 Understand and Align to Business Drivers

    1.3 Build High-Value Use Cases

    1.4 Create a Vision

    Phase 2

    2.1 Assess Data Management

    2.2 Build Your Data Management Roadmap

    2.3 Organize Business Data Domains

    This phase will walk you through the following activities:

    • Understand your current data management capabilities.
    • Define target-state capabilities required to achieve business goals and enable the data strategy.
    • Identify priority initiatives and planning timelines for data management improvements.

    This phase involves the following participants:

    • Data Management Lead/Information Management Lead, CDO, Data Lead
    • Senior Business Leaders
    • Business SMEs
    • Data owners, records managers, regulatory subject matter experts (e.g. legal counsel, security)

    Step 2.1

    Assess Your Data Management Capabilities

    Activities

    2.1.1 Define current state of data management capabilities

    2.1.2 Set target state and identify gaps

    This step will guide you through the following activities:

    • Assess the current state of your data management capabilities.
    • Define target-state capabilities required to achieve business goals and enable the data strategy.
    • Identify gaps and prioritize focus areas for improvement.

    Outcomes of this step

    • A prioritized set of improvement areas aligned with business value stream and drivers

    Assess Data Management and Build Your Roadmap

    Step 2.1 Step 2.2 Step 2.3

    Define current state

    The Data Management Assessment and Planning Tool will help you analyze your organization’s data requirements, identify data management strategies, and systematically develop a plan for your target data management practice.
    • Based on Info-Tech’s Data Management Framework, evaluate the current-state performance levels for your organization’s data management practice.
    • Use the CMMI maturity index to assign values 1 to 5 for each capability and enabler.

    A visualization of stairs numbered up from the bottom. Main headlines of each step are 'Initial and Reactive', 'Managed while developing DG capabilities', 'Defined DG capabilities', 'Quantitatively Managed by DG capabilities', and 'Optimized'.

    		Sample of the 'Data Management Current State Assessment' form the Data Management Assessment and Planning Tool.

    2.1.1 Define current state

    Input: Stakeholder survey results and elicitation findings, Use cases, Business and data management capability map

    Output: Current-state data management capabilities

    Materials: Data Management Assessment and Planning Tool

    Participants: Key business stakeholders, Business leads and SMEs, Project team, Project sponsor, Data leads, Data custodians

    Assign a maturity level value from 1 to 5 for each question in the assessment tool, organized into capabilities, e.g. Data Governance, Data Quality, Risk.

    1. Bring together key business stakeholders (data owners, SMEs, and relevant IT custodians) to assign current-state maturity levels in each question of the worksheet.
    2. Remember that there is more distance between levels 4 and 5 than there is between 1 and 2 – the distance between levels is not even throughout.
    3. To help assign values, think of the higher levels as representing cross-enterprise standardization, monitored for continuous improvement, formalized and standardized, while the lower levels mean applied within individual units, not formalized or tracked for performance.
    4. In tab 4, “Current State Assessment,” populate a current-state value for each item in the Data Management Capabilities worksheet.
    5. Once you’ve entered values in tab 4, a visual and summary report of the results will be generated on tab 5, “Current State Results.”

    2.1.2 Set target state and identify gaps

    Input: Stakeholder survey results and elicitation findings, Use cases, Business and data management capability map to identify priorities

    Output: Target-state data management capabilities, Gaps identification and analysis

    Materials: Data Management Assessment and Planning Tool

    Participants: Key business stakeholders, Business leads and SMEs, Project team, Project sponsor, Data leads, Data custodians

    Assign a maturity level value from 1 to 5 for each question in the assessment tool, organized into capabilities, e.g., Data Governance, Data Quality, Risk.

    1. Bring together key business stakeholders (data owners, SMEs, and relevant IT custodians) to assign target-state maturity levels in each question of the worksheet.
    2. Remember that there is more distance between levels 4 and 5 than there is between 1 and 2 – the distance between levels is not even throughout.
    3. To help assign values, think of the higher levels as representing cross-enterprise standardization, monitored for continuous improvement, formalized and standardized, while the lower levels mean applied within individual units, not formalized or tracked for performance.
    4. In tab 6, “Target State & Gap Analysis,” enter maturity values in each item of the Capabilities worksheet in the Target State column.
    5. Once you’ve assigned both target-state and current-state values, the tool will generate a gap analysis chart on tab 7, “Gap Analysis Results,” where you can start to decide first- and second-line priorities.

    Step 2.2

    Build Your Data Management Roadmap

    Activities

    2.2.1 Describe gaps

    2.2.2 Define gap initiatives

    2.2.2 Build a data management roadmap

    This step will guide you through the following activities:

    • Identify and understand data management gaps.
    • Develop data management improvement initiatives.
    • Build a data management–prioritized roadmap.

    Outcomes of this step

    • A foundation for data management initiative planning that’s aligned with the organization’s business architecture: value streams, business capability map, and strategy map

    Assess Data Management and Build Your Roadmap

    Step 2.1 Step 2.2 Step 2.3

    2.2.1 Describe gaps

    Input: Target-state maturity level

    Output: Detail and context about gaps to lead planners to specific initiatives

    Materials: Data Management Assessment and Planning Tool

    Participants: Key business stakeholders, Business leads and SMEs, Project team, Project sponsor, Data leads, Data custodians

    Based on the gaps result, describe the nature of the gap, which will lead to specific initiatives for the data management plan:

    1. In tab 6, “Target State & Gap Analysis,” the same tab where you entered your target-state maturity level, enter additional context about the nature and extent of each gap in the Gap Description column.
    2. Based on the best-practices framework we walked through in Phase 1, note the specific areas that are not fully developed in your organization; for example, we don’t have a model of our environment and its integrations, or there isn’t an established data quality practice with proactive monitoring and intervention.

    2.2.2 Define gap initiatives

    Input: Gaps analysis, Gaps descriptions

    Output: Data management initiatives

    Materials: Data Management Assessment and Planning Tool

    Participants: Key business stakeholders, Business leads and SMEs, Project team, Project sponsor, Data leads, Data custodians

    Based on the gap analysis, start to define the data management initiatives that will close the gaps and help the organization achieve its target state.

    1. In tab 6, “Target State & Gap Analysis,” the same tab where you entered your target-state maturity level, note in the Gap Initiative column what actions you can take to address the gap for each item. For example, if we found through diagnostics and use cases that users didn’t understand the meaning of their data or reports, an initiative might be, “Build a standard enterprise business data catalog.”
    2. It’s an opportunity to brainstorm, to be creative, and think about possibilities. We’ll use the roadmap step to select initiatives from this list.
    3. There are things we can do right away to make a difference. Acknowledge the resources, talent, and leadership momentum you already have in your organization and leverage those to find activities that will work in your culture. For example, one company held a successful Data Day to socialize the roadmap and engage users.

    2.2.3 Build a data management roadmap

    Input: Gap initiatives, Target state and current-state assessment

    Output: Data management initiatives and roadmap

    Materials: Data Management Assessment and Planning Tool

    Participants: Key business stakeholders, Business leads and SMEs, Project team, Project sponsor, Data leads, Data custodians

    Start to list tangible actions you will take to address gaps and achieve data objectives and business goals along with timelines and responsibility:

    1. With an understanding of your priority areas and specific gaps, and referring back to your use cases, draw up specific initiatives that you can track, measure, and align with your original goals.
    2. For example, in data governance, initiatives might include:
      • Assign data owners and stewards for all data assets.
      • Consolidate disparate business data catalogs.
      • Create a data governance charter or terms of reference.
    3. Alongside the initiatives, fill in other detail, especially who is responsible and timing (start and end dates). Assigning responsibility and some time markers will help to keep momentum alive and make the work projects real.

    Step 2.3

    Organize Business Data Domains

    Activities

    2.3.1 Define business data domains and assign owners

    This step will guide you through the following activities:

    • Identify business data domains that flow through and support the systems environment and business processes.
    • Define and organize business data domains with assigned owners, artifacts, and profiles.
    • Apply the domain map to building governance program.

    Outcomes of this step

    • Business data domain map with assigned owners and artifacts

    Assess Data Management and Build Your Roadmap

    Step 2.1 Step 2.2 Step 2.3

    2.3.1 Define business data domains

    Input: Target-state maturity level

    Output: Detail and context about gaps to lead planners to specific initiatives

    Materials: Data Management Assessment and Planning Tool

    Participants: Key business stakeholders, Business leads and SMEs, Project team, Project sponsor, Data leads, Data custodians

    Identify the key data domains for each line of business, where the data resides, and the main contact or owner.

    1. We have an understanding of what the business wants to achieve, e.g. build customer loyalty or comply with privacy laws. But where is the data that can help us achieve that? What systems is that data moving and living in and who, if anyone, owns it?
    2. Define the main business data domains apart from what system it may be spread over. Use the worksheet on the next slide as an example.
    3. Examples of business data domains: Customer, Product, Vendor.
    4. Each domain should have owners and associated business processes. Assign data domain owners, application owners, and business process owners.

    Business and data domains

    [SAMPLE]

    Business Domain App/Data Domains Business Stewards Application Owners Business Owners
    Client Experience and Sales Tech Salesforce (Sales, Service, Experience Clouds), Mulesoft (integration point) (Any team inputting data into the system)
    Quality and Regulatory Salesforce
    Operations Salesforce, Salesforce Referrals, Excel spreadsheets, SharePoint
    Finance Workday, Sage 300 (AccPac), Salesforce, Moneris Finance
    Risk/Legal Network share drive/SharePoint
    Human Resources Workday, Network share drive/SharePoint HR team
    Corporate Sales Salesforce (Sales, Service, Health, Experience Clouds),
    Sales and Client Success Mitel, Outlook, PDF intake forms, Workday, Excel. Sales & Client Success Director, Marketing Director CIO, Sales & Client Success Director, Marketing Director

    Embrace the technology

    Make the available data governance tools and technology work for you:
    • Data catalog
    • Business data glossary
    • Data lineage
    • Metadata management
    While data governance tools and technologies are no panacea, leverage their automated and AI-enabled capabilities to augment your data governance program.     		Array of logos of tech companies whose products are used for this type of work: Informatica, Collibra, Tibco, Alation, Immuta, TopQuadrant, and SoftwareReviews.

    Additional Support

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

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

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

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

    		The following are sample activities that will be conducted by Info-Tech analysts with your team:
    Sample of the Data Governance Strategy Map slide from earlier.

    Build Your Business and User Context

    Work with your core team of stakeholders to build out your data management roadmap, aligning data management initiatives with business capabilities, value streams, and, ultimately, your strategic priorities.     		Sample of a 'Data Management Enablers' table.

    Formulate a Plan to Get to Your Target State

    Develop a data management future-state roadmap and plan based on an understanding of your current data governance capabilities, your operating environment, and the driving needs of your business.

    Related Info-Tech Research

    Stock image of people pointing to a tablet with a dashboard.

    Build a Robust and Comprehensive Data Strategy

    Key to building and fostering a data-driven culture.
    Sample of the 'Data & Analytics Landscape' slide from earlier.

    Understand the Data and Analytics Landscape

    Optimize your data and analytics environment.
    Stock image of co-workers looking at the same thing.

    Build a Data Pipeline for Reporting and Analytics

    Data architecture best practices to prepare data for reporting and analytics.

    Research Contributors

    Name Position Company
    Anne Marie Smith Board of Directors DAMA International
    Andy Neill Practice Lead, Data & Analytics Info-Tech Research Group
    Dirk Coetsee Research Director, Data & Analytics Info-Tech Research Group
    Graham Price Executive Advisor, Advisory Executive Services Info-Tech Research Group
    Igor Ikonnikov Research Director, Data & Analytics Info-Tech Research Group
    Jean Bujold Senior Workshop Delivery Director Info-Tech Research Group
    Mario Cantin Chief Data Strategist Prodago
    Martin Sykora Director NexJ Analytics
    Michael Blaha Author, Patterns of Data Modeling Consultant
    Rajesh Parab Research Director, Data & Analytics Info-Tech Research Group
    Ranjani Ranganathan Product Manager, Research – Workshop Delivery Info-Tech Research Group
    Reddy Doddipalli Senior Workshop Director Info-Tech Research Group

    Bibliography

    AIIM, “What is Enterprise Content Management (ECM)?” Intelligent Information Management Glossary, AIIM, 2021. Web.

    BABOK V3: A Guide to Business Analysis Body of Knowledge. IIBA, 2014. Web.

    Barton, Dominic, and David Court. "Three Keys To Building a Data-Driven Strategy." McKinsey and Company, 1 Mar. 2013. Web.

    Boston University Libraries. "Data Life Cycle » Research Data Management | Boston University." Research Data Management RSS. Boston University, n.d. Accessed Oct. 2015.

    Chang, Jenny. “97 Supply Chain Statistics You Must Know: 2020 / 2021 Market Share Analysis & Data.” FinancesOnline, 2021. Web.

    COBIT 5: Enabling Information. ISACA, 2013. Web.

    CSC (Computer Sciences Corporation), Big Data Infographic, 2012. Web.

    DAMA International. DAMA-DMBOK Guide. 1st ed., Technics Publications, 2009. Digital.

    DAMA International. “DAMA Guide to the Data Management Body of Knowledge (DAMA-DMBOK2 Guide).” 2nd ed., 2017. Accessed June 2017.

    Davenport, Thomas H. "Analytics in Sports: The New Science of Winning." International Institute for Analytics, 2014. Web.

    Department of Homeland Security. Enterprise Data Management Policy. Department of Homeland Security, 25 Aug. 2014. Web.

    Enterprise Data Management Data Governance Plan. US Federal Student Aid, Feb. 2007. Accessed Oct. 2015.

    Experian. “10 signs you are sitting on a pile of data debt.” Experian, 2020. Accessed 25 June 2021.

    Fasulo, Phoebe. “6 Data Management Trends in Financial Services.” SecurityScorecard, 3 June 2021. Web.

    Georgia DCH Medicaid Enterprise – Data Management Strategy. Georgia Department of Community Health, Feb. 2015. Accessed Oct. 2015.

    Hadavi, Cyrus. “Use Exponential Growth of Data to Improve Supply Chain Operations.” Forbes, 5 Oct. 2021. Web.

    Harbert, Tam. “Tapping the power of unstructured data.” MIT Sloan, 1 Feb. 2021. Web.

    Hoberman, Steve, and George McGeachie. Data Modeling Made Simple with PowerDesigner. Technics Pub, 2011. Print.

    “Information Management Strategy.” Information Management – Alberta. Service Alberta, Nov.-Dec. 2013. Web.

    Jackson, Brian, et al. “2021 Tech Trends.” Info-Tech Research Group, 2021. Web.

    Jarvis, David, et al. “The hyperquantified athlete: Technology, measurement, and the business of sports.” Deloitte Insights, 7 Dec. 2020. Web.

    Bibliography

    Johnson, Bruce. “Leveraging Subject Area Models.” EIMInsight Magazine, vol. 3, no. 4, April 2009. Accessed Sept. 2015.

    Lewis, Larry. "How to Use Big Data to Improve Supply Chain Visibility." Talking Logistics, 14 Sep. 2014. Web.

    McAfee, Andrew, and Erik Brynjolfsson. “Big Data: The Management Revolution,” Harvard Business Review, vol. 90, no. 10, 2012, pp. 60-68.

    Meyer-Cuno, Doug. “Is A Vision Statement Important?” Forbes, 24 Feb. 2021. Web.

    MIT. “Big Data: The Management Revolution.” MIT Center for Digital Business, 29 May 2014. Accessed April 2014.

    "Open Framework, Information Management Strategy & Collaborative Governance.” MIKE2 Methodology RSS, n.d. Accessed Aug. 2015.

    PwC. “Asset Management 2020: A Brave New World.” PwC, 2014. Accessed April 2014.

    Riley, Jenn. Understanding Metadata: What is Metadata, and What is it For: A Primer. NISO, 1 Jan. 2017. Web.

    Russom, Philip. "TDWI Best Practices Report: Managing Big Data." TDWI, 2013. Accessed Oct. 2015.

    Schneider, Joan, and Julie Hall. “Why Most Product Launches Fail.” Harvard Business Review, April 2011. Web.

    Sheridan, Kelly. "2015 Trends: The Growth of Information Governance | Insurance & Technology." InformationWeek. UBM Tech, 10 Dec. 2014. Accessed Nov. 2015.

    "Sports Business Analytics and Tickets: Case Studies from the Pros." SloanSportsConference. Live Analytics – Ticketmaster, Mar. 2013. Accessed Aug. 2015.

    Srinivasan, Ramya. “Three Analytics Breakthroughs That Will Define Business in 2021.” Forbes, 4 May 2021. Web.

    Statista. “Amount of data created, consumed, and stored 2010-2020.” Statista, June 2021. Web.

    “Understanding the future of operations: Accenture Global Operations Megatrends research.” Accenture Consulting, 2015. Web.

    Vardhan, Harsh. “Why So Many Product Ideas Fail?” Medium, 26, Sept. 2020. Web.

    Master the Public Cloud IaaS Acquisition Models

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    • Parent Category Name: Vendor Management
    • Parent Category Link: /vendor-management

    Understanding the differences in IaaS platform agreements, purchasing options, associated value, and risks. What are your options for:

    • Upfront or monthly payments
    • Commitment discounts
    • Support options
    • Migration planning and support

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    IaaS platforms offer similar technical features, but they vary widely on their procurement model. By fully understanding the procurement differences and options, you will be able to purchase wisely, save money both long and short term, and mitigate investment risk.

    Most vendors have similar processes and options to buy. Finding a transparent explanation and summary of each platform in a side-by-side review is difficult.

    • Are vendor reps being straight forward?
    • What are the licensing requirements?
    • What discounts or incentives can I negotiate?
    • How much do I have to commit to and for how long?

    Impact and Result

    This project will provide several benefits for both IT and the business. It includes:

    • Best IaaS platform to support current and future procurement requirements.
    • Right-sized cloud commitment tailored to the organization’s budget.
    • Predictable and controllable spend model.
    • Flexible and reliable IT infrastructure that supports the lines of business.
    • Reduced financial and legal risk.

    Master the Public Cloud IaaS Acquisition Models Research & Tools

    Start here – read the Executive Brief

    Read our concise Executive Brief to learn how the public cloud IaaS procurement models compare. Review Info-Tech’s methodology and understand the top three platforms, features, and benefits to support and inform the IaaS vendor choice.

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

    1. Educate

    Learn the IaaS basics, terminologies, purchasing options, licensing requirements, hybrid options, support, and organization requirements through a checklist process.

    • Master the Public Cloud IaaS Acquisition Models – Phase 1: Educate
    • Public Cloud Procurement Checklist
    • Microsoft Public Cloud Licensing Guide

    2. Evaluate

    Review and understand the features, downsides, and differences between the big three players.

    • Master the Public Cloud IaaS Acquisition Models – Phase 2: Evaluate
    • Public Cloud Procurement Comparison Summary

    3. Execute

    Decide on a primary vendor that meets requirements, engage with a reseller, negotiate pricing incentives, migration costs, review, and execute the agreement.

    • Master the Public Cloud IaaS Acquisition Models – Phase 3: Execute
    • Public Cloud Acquisition Executive Summary Template

    Infographic

    Build an Extensible Data Warehouse Foundation

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    • Parent Category Name: Big Data
    • Parent Category Link: /big-data
    • Data warehouse implementation is a costly and complex undertaking, and can end up not serving the business' needs appropriately.
    • Too heavy a focus on technology creates a data warehouse that isn’t sustainable and ends up with poor adoption.
    • Emerging data sources and technologies add complexity to how the appropriate data is made available to business users.

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    • A data warehouse is a project; but successful data warehousing is a program. An effective data warehouse requires planning beyond the technology implementation.
    • Governance, not technology needs to be the core support system for enabling a data warehouse program.
    • Understand business processes at the operational, tactical, and ad hoc levels to ensure a fit-for-purpose DW is built.

    Impact and Result

    • Leverage an approach that focuses on constructing a data warehouse foundation that is able to address a combination of operational, tactical, and ad hoc business needs.
    • Invest time and effort to put together pre-project governance to inform and provide guidance to your data warehouse implementation.
    • Develop “Rosetta Stone” views of your data assets to facilitate data modeling.
    • Select the most suitable architecture pattern to ensure the data warehouse is “built right” at the very beginning.

    Build an Extensible Data Warehouse Foundation Research & Tools

    Start here – read the Executive Brief

    Read our concise Executive Brief to find out why the data warehouse is becoming an important tool for driving business value, review Info-Tech’s methodology, and understand the four ways we can support you in completing this project.

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

    1. Prepare for the data warehouse foundation project

    Begin the data warehouse foundation by defining the project and governance teams, as well as reviewing supporting data management practices.

    • Build an Extensible Data Warehouse Foundation – Phase 1: Prepare for the Data Warehouse Foundation Project
    • Data Warehouse Foundation Project Plan Template
    • Data Warehouse Work Breakdown Structure Template
    • Data (Warehouse) Architect
    • Data Integration Specialist
    • Business Intelligence Specialist
    • Director of Data Warehousing/Business Intelligence
    • Data Warehouse Program Charter Template
    • Data Warehouse Steering Committee Charter Template

    2. Establish the business drivers and data warehouse strategy

    Using the business activities as a guide, develop a data model, data architecture, and technology plan for a data warehouse foundation.

    • Build an Extensible Data Warehouse Foundation – Phase 2: Establish the Business Drivers and Data Warehouse Strategy
    • Business Data Catalog
    • Data Classification Inventory Tool
    • Data Warehouse Architecture Planning Tool
    • Master Data Mapping Tool

    3. Plan for data warehouse governance

    Start developing a data warehouse program by defining how users will interact with the new data warehouse environment.

    • Build an Extensible Data Warehouse Foundation – Phase 3: Plan for Data Warehouse Governance
    • Data Warehouse Standard Operating Procedures Template
    • Data Warehouse Service Level Agreement
    [infographic]

    Workshop: Build an Extensible Data Warehouse Foundation

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

    1 Prepare for the Data Warehouse Foundation Project

    The Purpose

    Identify the members of the foundation project team.

    Define overarching statements and define success factors/risks.

    Outline basic project governance.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Defined membership, roles, and responsibilities involved in the foundation project.

    Establishment of a steering committee as a starting point for the data warehouse program.

    Activities

    1.1 Identify foundation project team and create a RACI chart.

    1.2 Understand what a data warehouse can and cannot enable.

    1.3 Define critical success factors, key performance metrics, and project risks.

    1.4 Develop rough timelines for foundation project completion.

    1.5 Define the current and future states for key data management practices.

    Outputs

    Job Descriptions and RACI

    Data Warehouse Steering Committee Charter

    Data Warehouse Foundation Project Plan

    Work Breakdown Structure

    2 Establish the Business Drivers and Data Warehouse Strategy

    The Purpose

    Define the information needs of the business and its key processes.

    Create the components that will inform an appropriate data model.

    Design a data warehouse architecture model.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Clear definition of business needs that will directly inform the data and architecture models.

    Activities

    2.1 Understand the most fundamental needs of the business.

    2.2 Define the data warehouse vision, mission, purpose, and goals.

    2.3 Detail the most important operational, tactical, and ad hoc activities the data warehouse should support.

    2.4 Link the processes that will be central to the data warehouse foundation.

    2.5 Walk through the four-column model and business entity modeling as a starting point for data modeling.

    2.6 Create data models using the business data glossary and data classification.

    2.7 Identify master data elements to define dimensions.

    2.8 Design lookup tables based on reference data.

    2.9 Create a fit-for-purpose data warehousing model.

    Outputs

    Data Warehouse Program Charter

    Data Warehouse Vision and Mission

    Documentation of Business Processes

    Business Entity Map

    Business Data Glossary

    Data Classification Scheme

    Data Warehouse Architecture Model

    3 Plan for Data Warehouse Governance

    The Purpose

    Create a plan for governing your data warehouse efficiently and effectively.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Documentation of current standard operating procedures.

    Identified members of a data warehouse center of excellence.

    Activities

    3.1 Develop a technology capability map to visualize your desired state.

    3.2 Establish a data warehouse center of excellence.

    3.3 Create a data warehouse foundation roadmap.

    3.4 Define data warehouse service level agreements.

    3.5 Create standard operating procedures.

    Outputs

    Technology Capability Map

    Project Roadmap

    Service Level Agreement

    Data Warehouse Standard Operating Procedure Workbook

    Tech Trend Update: If Biosecurity Then Autonomous Edge

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    • Parent Category Name: Innovation
    • Parent Category Link: /innovation

    COVID-19 has created new risks to physical encounters among workers and customers. New biosecurity processes and ways to effectively enforce them – in the least intrusive way possible – are required to resume these activities.

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    New biosecurity standards will be imposed on many industries, and the autonomous edge will be part of the solution to manage that new reality.

    Impact and Result

    There are some key considerations for businesses considering new biosecurity measures:

    1. If prevention, then ID-based access control
    2. If intervention, then alerts based on data
    3. If investigation, then contact tracing

    Tech Trend Update: If Biosecurity Then Autonomous Edge Research & Tools

    Tech Trend Update: If Biosecurity Then Autonomous Edge

    Understand how new biosecurity requirements could affect your business and why AI at the edge could be part of the solution.

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

    • Tech Trend Update: If Biosecurity Then Autonomous Edge Storyboard
    [infographic]

    Optimize Social Media Strategy by Service

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    • Parent Category Name: Marketing Solutions
    • Parent Category Link: /marketing-solutions
    • Many organizations are jumping the gun on service selection and missing valuable opportunities to tap into conversations their consumers are having about them.
    • Companies are struggling to harness real benefits from social media because they dive into content and engagement strategy without spending the appropriate amount of time on social media service selection.
    • After organizations have selected the appropriate social media services, clients fail to understand best practices for participating in conversations and therefore are unable to optimize their success on each service.

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    • Conventional wisdom dictates that you should pick the social network where you have the greatest subscriber base to reach, but this is irrelevant. Organizations need to consider all the social media services available when selecting services, to ensure they are optimizing their social media strategy and interacting with the right people.
    • In today’s social media landscape there is a wide variety of social media services to choose from. Services range from hot micro-blogging services, like Twitter, to more niche social multimedia services, like Flickr or Vimeo.
    • Each department should manage its set of relevant services regardless of platform. For example a marketing manager should manage all social media services in marketing, rather than have one person manage all Twitter feeds, one person manage all Facebook pages, etc.
    • The services your organization selects shouldn’t operate as islands. Consider not only how the services will fit with each other, but also how they will fit with existing channels. Use a market coverage model to ensure the services you select are complementing each other.
    • The landscape for social media services changes rapidly. It is essential to conduct an audit of services to maintain an optimal mix of services. Conduct the audit semi-annually for best effect.

    Impact and Result

    • Learn about the importance of choosing the correct services to ensure you are reaching your consumers and not wasting time playing with the wrong people.
    • Understand the business use cases for each service and best practices for using them.
    • Leverage different social media services to create a market coverage model that balances social media services with your products/services and business objectives.
    • Identify the risks associated with specific platforms and ensure IT works to mitigate them.
    • Create a plan for conducting a Social Media Service Audit to stay on top of changing trends.

    Optimize Social Media Strategy by Service Research & Tools

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

    1. Create the right social media service mix

    Understand the different social media services, their unique value propositions for customer interaction, and the content and timing best practices for each.

    • Storyboard: Optimize Social Media Strategy by Service
    • Social Media Service Selection Tool

    2. Execute a plan for social service selection and management

    Leverage different social media services to create a market coverage model and assign responsibilities.

    3. Perform a semi-annual social media service audit

    Conduct an audit to stay on top of changing trends.

    • Social Media Services Audit Template
    [infographic]

    Diagnose and Optimize Your Lead Gen Engine

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    • Parent Category Name: Marketing Solutions
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    88% of marketing professionals are unsatisfied with their ability to convert leads (Convince & Convert), but poor lead conversion is just a symptom of much deeper problems.

    Globally, B2B SaaS marketers without a well-running lead gen engine will experience:

    • A low volume of quality leads from their website.
    • A low conversion rate from their website visitors.
    • A long lead conversion time compared to competitors.
    • A low volume of organic website visitors.

    If treated without a root cause analysis, these symptoms often result in higher-than-average marketing spend and wasted resources. Without an accurate lead gen engine diagnostic tool and a strategy to fix the misfires, marketers will continue to waste valuable time and resources.

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    The lead gen engine is foundational in building profitable long-term customer relationships. It is the process through which marketers build awareness, trust, and loyalty. Without the ability to continually diagnose lead gen engine flaws, marketers will fail to optimize new customer relationship creation and long-term satisfaction and loyalty.

    Impact and Result

    With a targeted set of diagnostic tools and an optimization strategy, you will:

    • Uncover the critical weakness in your lead generation engine.
    • Develop a best-in-class lead gen engine optimization strategy that builds relationships, creates awareness, and establishes trust and loyalty with prospects.
    • Build profitable long-term customer relationships.

    Organizations who activate the findings from their lead generation diagnostic and optimization strategy will decrease the time and budget spent on lead generation by 25% to 50%. They will quickly uncover inefficiencies in their lead gen engine and develop a proven lead generation optimization strategy based on the diagnostic findings.

    Diagnose and Optimize Your Lead Gen Engine Research & Tools

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

    1. Diagnose and Optimize Your Lead Gen Engine Deck – A deck to help you diagnose what’s not working in your lead gen engine so that you can remedy issues and get back on track, building new customer relationships and driving loyalty.

    Organizations who activate the findings from their lead generation diagnostic and optimization strategy will decrease the time and budget spent on lead generation by 25% to 50%. They will quickly uncover inefficiencies in their lead gen engine and develop a proven lead generation optimization strategy based on the diagnostic findings.

    • Diagnose and Optimize Your Lead Gen Engine Storyboard

    2. Lead Gen Engine Diagnostic Tool – An easy-to-use diagnostic tool that will help you pinpoint weakness within your lead gen engine.

    The diagnostic tool allows digital marketers to quickly and easily diagnose weakness within your lead gen engine.

    • Lead Gen Engine Diagnostic Tool

    3. Lead Gen Engine Optimization Strategy Template – A step-by-step document that walks you through how to properly optimize the performance of your lead gen engine.

    Develop a best-in-class lead gen engine optimization strategy that builds relationships, creates awareness, and establishes trust and loyalty with prospects.

    • Lead Gen Engine Optimization Strategy Template

    Infographic

    Further reading

    Diagnose and Optimize Your Lead Gen Engine

    Quickly and easily pinpoint any weakness in your lead gen engine so that you stop wasting money and effort on ineffective advertising and marketing.

    EXECUTIVE BRIEF

    Analyst Perspective

    Quickly and easily pinpoint any weakness in your lead gen engine so that you stop wasting money and effort on ineffective advertising and marketing.

    The image contains a photo of Terra Higginson.

    Senior digital marketing leaders are accountable for building relationships, creating awareness, and developing trust and loyalty with website visitors, thereby delivering high-quality, high-value leads that Sales can easily convert to wins. Unfortunately, many marketing leaders report that their website visitors are low-quality and either disengage quickly or, when they engage further with lead gen engine components, they just don’t convert. These marketing leaders urgently need to diagnose what’s not working in three key areas in their lead gen engine to quickly remedy the issue and get back on track, building new customer relationships and driving loyalty. This blueprint will provide you with a tool to quickly and easily diagnose weakness within your lead gen engine. You can use the results to create a strategy that builds relationships, creates awareness, and establishes trust and loyalty with prospects.

    Terra Higginson

    Marketing Research Director

    SoftwareReviews

    Executive Summary

    Your Challenge

    Globally, business-to-business (B2B) software-as-a-service (SaaS) marketers without a well-running lead gen engine will experience:

    • A low volume of quality leads from their website.
    • A low conversion rate from their website visitors.
    • A long lead conversion time compared to competitors.
    • A low volume of organic website visitors.

    88% of marketing professionals are unsatisfied with their ability to convert leads (Convince & Convert), but poor lead conversion is just a symptom of a much larger problem with the lead gen engine. Without an accurate lead gen engine diagnostic tool and a strategy to fix the leaks, marketers will continue to waste valuable time and resources.

    Common Obstacles

    Even though lead generation is a critical element of marketing success, marketers struggle to fix the problems with their lead gen engine due to:

    • A lack of resources.
    • A lack of budget.
    • A lack of experience in implementing effective lead generation strategies.

    Most marketers spend too much on acquiring leads and not enough on converting and keeping them. For every $92 spent acquiring customers, only $1 is spent converting them (Econsultancy, cited in Outgrow). Marketers are increasingly under pressure to deliver high-quality leads to sales but work under tight budgets with inadequate or inexperienced staff who don’t understand the importance of optimizing the lead generation process.

    SoftwareReviews’ Approach

    With a targeted set of diagnostic tools and an optimization strategy, you will:

    • Uncover the critical weakness in your lead generation engine.
    • Develop a best-in-class lead gen engine optimization strategy that builds relationships, creates awareness, and establishes trust and loyalty with prospects.
    • Build profitable long-term customer relationships.

    Organizations who activate the findings from their lead generation diagnostic and optimization strategy will decrease the time and budget spent on lead generation by 25% to 50%. They will quickly uncover inefficiencies in their lead gen engine and develop a proven lead generation optimization strategy based on the diagnostic findings.

    SoftwareReviews Insight

    The lead gen engine is foundational in building profitable long-term customer relationships. It is the process through which marketers build awareness, trust, and loyalty. Without the ability to continually diagnose lead gen engine flaws, marketers will fail to optimize new customer relationship creation and long-term satisfaction and loyalty.

    Your Challenge

    88% of marketing professionals are unsatisfied with their ability to convert leads, but poor lead conversion is just a symptom of much deeper problems.

    Globally, B2B SaaS marketers without a well-running lead gen engine will experience:

    • A low volume of organic website visitors.
    • A low volume of quality leads from their website.
    • A low conversion rate from their website visitors.
    • A longer lead conversion time than competitors in the same space.

    If treated without a root-cause analysis, these symptoms often result in higher-than-average marketing spend and wasted resources. Without an accurate lead gen engine diagnostic tool and a strategy to fix the misfires, marketers will continue to waste valuable time and resources.

    88% of marketers are unsatisfied with lead conversion (Convince & Convert).

    The image contains a diagram that demonstrates a flowchart of the areas where visitors fail to convert. It incorporates observations, benchmarks, and uses a flowchart to diagnose the root causes.

    Benchmarks

    Compare your lead gen engine metrics to industry benchmarks.

    For every 10,000 people that visit your website, 210 will become leads.

    For every 210 leads, 101 will become marketing qualified leads (MQLs).

    For every 101 MQLs, 47 will become sales qualified leads (SQLs).

    For every 47 SQLs, 23 will become opportunities.

    For every 23 opportunities, nine will become customers.

    .9% to 2.1%

    36% to 48%

    28% to 46%

    39% to 48%

    32% to 40%

    Leads Benchmark

    MQL Benchmark

    SQL Benchmark

    Opportunity Benchmark

    Closing Benchmark

    The percentage of website visitors that convert to leads.

    The percentage of leads that convert to marketing qualified leads.

    The percentage of MQLs that convert to sales qualified leads.

    The percentage of SQLs that convert to opportunities.

    The percentage of opportunities that are closed.

    Midmarket B2B SaaS Industry

    Source: “B2B SaaS Marketing KPIs,” First Page Sage, 2021

    Common obstacles

    Why do most organizations improperly diagnose a misfiring lead gen engine?

    Lack of Clear Starting Point

    The lead gen engine is complex, with many moving parts, and marketers and marketing ops are often overwhelmed about where to begin diagnosis.

    Lack of Benchmarks

    Marketers often call out metrics such as increasing website visitors, contact-to-lead conversions, numbers of qualified leads delivered to Sales, etc., without a proven benchmark to compare their results against.

    Lack of Alignment Between Marketing and Sales

    Definitions of a contact, a marketing qualified lead, a sales qualified lead, and a marketing influenced win often vary.

    Lack of Measurement Tools

    Integration gaps between the website, marketing automation, sales enablement, and analytics exist within some 70% of enterprises. The elements of the marketing (and sales) tech stack change constantly. It’s hard to keep up.

    Lack of Understanding of Marketing ROI

    This drives many marketers to push the “more” button – more assets, more emails, more ad spend – without first focusing on optimization and effectiveness.

    Lack of Resources

    Marketers have an endless list of to-dos that drive them to produce daily results. Especially among software startups and mid-sized companies, there are just not enough staff with the right skills to diagnose and fix today’s sophisticated lead gen engines.

    Implications of poor diagnostics

    Without proper lead gen engine diagnostics, marketing performs poorly

    • The lead gen engine builds relationships and trust. When a broken lead gen engine goes unoptimized, customer relationships are at risk.
    • When the lead gen engine isn’t working well, customer acquisition costs rise as more expensive sales resources are charged with prospect qualification.
    • Without a well-functioning lead gen engine, marketers lack the foundation they need to create awareness among prospects – growth suffers.
    • Marketers will throw money at content or ads to generate more leads without any real understanding of engine leakage and misfires – your cost per lead climbs and reduces marketing profitability.

    Most marketers are spending too much on acquiring leads and not enough on converting and keeping them. For every $92 spent acquiring customers, only $1 is spent converting them.

    Source: Econsultancy, cited in Outgrow

    Lead gen engine optimization increases the efficiency of your marketing efforts and has a 223% ROI.

    Source: WordStream

    Benefits of lead gen engine diagnostics

    Diagnosing your lead gen engine delivers key benefits:

    • Pinpoint weakness quickly. A quick and accurate lead gen engine diagnostic tool saves Marketing 50% of the effort spent uncovering the reason for low conversion and low-quality leads.
    • Optimize more easily. Marketing executives will save 70% of the time spent creating a lead gen optimization marketing strategy based upon the diagnostic findings.
    • Maximize marketing ROI. Build toward and maintain the golden 3:1 LTV:CAC (lifetime value to customer acquisition cost) ratio for B2B SaaS marketing.
    • Stop wasting money on ineffective advertising and marketing. Up to 75% of your marketing budget is being inefficiently spent if you are running on a broken lead gen engine.

    “It’s much easier to double your business by doubling your conversion rate than by doubling your traffic. Correct targeting and testing methods can increase conversion rates up to 300 percent.” – Jeff Eisenberg, IterateStudio

    Source: Lift Division

    True benefits of fixing the lead gen engine

    These numbers add up to a significant increase in marketing influenced wins.

    175%
    Buyer Personas Increase Revenue
    Source: Illumin8

    202%
    Personalized CTAs Increase Conversions
    Source: HubSpot

    50%
    Lead Magnets Increase Conversions
    Source: ClickyDrip

    79%
    Lead Scoring Increases Conversions
    Source: Bloominari

    50%
    Lead Nurturing Increases Conversions
    Source: KevinTPayne.com

    80%
    Personalized Landing Pages Increase Conversions
    Source: HubSpot

    Who benefits from an optimized lead gen engine?

    This Research Is Designed for:

    • Senior digital marketing leaders who are:
      • Looking to increase conversions.
      • Looking to increase the quality of leads.
      • Looking to increase the value of leads.

    This Research Will Help You:

    • Diagnose issues with your lead gen engine.
    • Create a lead gen optimization strategy and a roadmap.

    This Research Will Also Assist:

    • Digital marketing leaders and product marketing leaders who are:
      • Looking to decrease the effort needed by Sales to close leads.
      • Looking to increase leadership’s faith in Marketing’s ability to generate high-quality leads and conversions.

    This Research Will Help Them:

    • Align the Sales and Marketing teams.
    • Receive the necessary buy-in from management to increase marketing spend and headcount.
    • Avoid product failure.
    The image contains a screenshot of the thought model that is titled: Diagnose and Optimize your Lead Gen Engine. The image contains the screenshot of the previous image shown on Where Lead Gen Engines Fails, and includes new information. The flowchart connects to a box that says: STOP, Your engine is broken. It then explains phase 1, the diagnostic, and then phase 2 Optimization strategy.

    SoftwareReviews’ approach

    1. Diagnose Misfires in the Lead Gen Engine

      2. Identifying any areas of weakness within your lead gen engine is a fundamental first step in improving conversions, ROI, and lead quality.

    2. Create a Lead Gen Optimization Strategy

      3. Optimize your lead gen strategy with an easily customizable template that will provide your roadmap for future growth.

    The SoftwareReviews Methodology to Diagnose and Optimize Your Lead Gen Engine

    1. Lead Gen Engine Diagnostic

    2. Lead Gen Engine Optimization Strategy

    Phase Steps

    1. Select lead gen engine optimization steering committee & working team
    2. Gather baseline metrics
    3. Run the lead gen engine diagnostic
    4. Identify low-scoring areas & prioritize lead gen engine fixes
    1. Define the roadmap
    2. Create lead gen engine optimization strategy
    3. Present strategy to steering committee

    Phase Outcomes

    • Identify weakness within the lead gen engine.
    • Prioritize the most important fixes within the lead gen engine.
    • Create a best-in-class lead gen engine optimization strategy and roadmap that builds relationships, creates awareness, and develops trust and loyalty with website visitors.
    • Increase leadership’s faith in Marketing’s ability to generate high-quality leads and conversions.

    Insight Summary

    The lead gen engine is the foundation of marketing

    The lead gen engine is critical to building relationships. It is the foundation upon which marketers build awareness, trust, and loyalty.

    Misalignment between Sales and Marketing is costly

    Digital marketing leaders need to ensure agreement with Sales on the definition of a marketing qualified lead (MQL), as it is the most essential element of stakeholder alignment.

    Prioritization is necessary for today’s marketer

    By prioritizing the fixes within the lead gen engine that have the highest impact, a marketing leader will be able to focus their optimization efforts in the right place.

    Stop, your engine is broken

    Any advertising or effort expended while running marketing on a broken lead gen engine is time and money wasted. It is only once the lead gen engine is fixed that marketers will see the true results of their efforts.

    Tactical insight

    Without a well-functioning lead gen engine, marketers risk wasting valuable time and money because they aren’t creating relationships with prospects that will increase the quality of leads, conversion rate, and lifetime value.

    Tactical insight

    The foundational lead relationship must be built at the marketing level, or else Sales will be entirely responsible for creating these relationships with low-quality leads, risking product failure.

    Blueprint Deliverable:

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

    Lead Gen Engine Diagnostic

    An efficient and easy-to-use diagnostic tool that uncovers weakness in your lead gen engine.

    The image contains a screenshot of the Lead Gen Engine Diagnostic is shown.

    Key Deliverable:

    Lead Gen Engine Optimization Strategy Template

    The image contains a screenshot of the Lead Gen Engine Optimization Strategy.

    A comprehensive strategy for optimizing conversions and increasing the quality of leads.

    SoftwareReviews Offers Various Levels of Support to Meet Your Needs

    Included within Advisory Membership:

    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.”

    Optional add-ons:

    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.”

    Guided Implementation

    What does a typical GI on lead gen engine diagnostics look like?

    Diagnose Your Lead Gen Engine

    Call #1: Scope requirements, objectives, and specific challenges with your lead gen engine.

    Call #2: Gather baseline metrics and discuss the steering committee and working team.

    Call #3: Review results from baseline metrics and answer questions.

    Call #4: Discuss the lead gen engine diagnostic tool and your steering committee.

    Call #5: Review results from the diagnostic tool and answer questions.

    Develop Your Lead Gen Engine Optimization Strategy

    Call #6: Identify components to include in the lead gen engine optimization strategy.

    Call #7: Discuss the roadmap for continued optimization.

    Call #8: Review final lead gen engine optimization strategy.

    Call #9: (optional) Follow-up quarterly to check in on progress and answer questions.

    A Guided Implementation (GI) is series of calls with a SoftwareReviews Advisory analyst to help implement our best practices in your organization. For guidance on marketing applications, we can arrange a discussion with an Info-Tech analyst. Your engagement managers will work with you to schedule analyst calls.

    Workshop Overview

    Day 1

    Day 2

    Activities

    Complete Lead Gen Engine Diagnostic

    1.1 Identify the previously selected lead gen engine steering committee and working team.

    1.2 Share the baseline metrics that were gathered in preparation for the workshop.

    1.3 Run the lead gen engine diagnostic.

    1.4 Identify low-scoring areas and prioritize lead gen engine fixes.

    Create Lead Gen Engine Optimization Strategy

    2.1 Define the roadmap.

    2.2 Create a lead gen engine optimization strategy.

    2.3 Present the strategy to the steering committee.

    Deliverables

    1. Lead gen engine diagnostic scorecard

    1. Lead gen engine optimization strategy

    Contact your account representative for more information.

    workshops@infotech.com1-888-670-8889

    Phase 1

    Lead Gen Engine Diagnostic

    Phase 1

    Phase 2

    1.1 Select lead gen engine steering committee & working team

    1.2 Gather baseline metrics

    1.3 Run the lead gen engine diagnostic

    1.4 Identify & prioritize low-scoring areas

    2.1 Define the roadmap

    2.2 Create lead gen engine optimization strategy

    2.3 Present strategy to steering committee

    This phase will walk you through the following activities:

    The diagnostic tool will allow you to quickly and easily identify the areas of weakness in the lead gen engine by answering some simple questions. The steps include:

    • Select the lead gen engine optimization committee and team.
    • Gather baseline metrics.
    • Run the lead gen engine diagnostic.
    • Identify and prioritize low-scoring areas.

    This phase involves the following participants:

    • Marketing lead
    • Lead gen engine steering committee

    Step 1.1

    Identify Lead Gen Engine Optimization Steering Committee & Working Team

    Activities

    1.1.1 Identify the lead gen engine optimization steering committee and document in the Lead Gen Engine Optimization Strategy Template

    1.1.2 Identify the lead gen engine optimization working team document in the Lead Gen Engine Optimization Strategy Template

    This step will walk you through the following activities:

    Identify the lead gen engine optimization steering committee.

    This step involves the following participants:

    • Marketing director
    • Leadership

    Outcomes of this step

    An understanding of who will be responsible and who will be accountable for accomplishing the lead gen engine diagnostic and optimization strategy.

    1.1.1 Identify the lead gen engine optimization steering committee

    1-2 hours

    1. The marketing lead should meet with leadership to determine who will make up the steering committee for the lead gen engine optimization.
    2. Document the steering committee members in the Lead Gen Engine Optimization Strategy Template slide entitled “The Steering Committee.”

    Input

    Output

    • Stakeholders and leaders across the various functions outlined on the next slide
    • List of the lead gen engine optimization strategy steering committee members

    Materials

    Participants

    • Lead Gen Engine Optimization Strategy Template
    • Marketing director
    • Executive leadership

    Download the Lead Gen Engine Optimization Strategy Template

    Lead gen engine optimization steering committee

    Consider the skills and knowledge required for the diagnostic and the implementation of the strategy. Constructing a cross-functional steering committee will be essential for the optimization of the lead gen engine. At least one stakeholder from each relevant department should be included in the steering committee.

    Required Skills/Knowledge

    Suggested Functions

    • Target Buyer
    • Product Roadmap
    • Brand
    • Competitors
    • Campaigns/Lead Gen
    • Sales Enablement
    • Media/Analysts
    • Customer Satisfaction
    • Data Analytics
    • Ad Campaigns
    • Competitive Intelligence
    • Product Marketing
    • Product Management
    • Creative Director
    • Competitive Intelligence
    • Field Marketing
    • Sales
    • PR/AR/Corporate Comms
    • Customer Success
    • Analytics Executive
    • Campaign Manager

    For small and mid-sized businesses (SMB), because employees wear many different hats, assign people that have the requisite skills and knowledge, not the role title.

    The image contains examples of small and mid-sized businesses, and the different employee recommendations.

    1.1.2 Identify the lead gen engine optimization working team

    1-2 hours

    1. The marketing director should meet with leadership to determine who will make up the working team for the lead gen engine optimization.
    2. Finalize selection of team members and fill out the slide entitled “The Working Team” in the Lead Gen Engine Optimization Strategy Template.

    Input

    Output

    • Executives and analysts responsible for execution of tasks across Marketing, Product, Sales, and IT
    • The lead gen engine optimization working team

    Materials

    Participants

    • The Lead Gen Engine Optimization Strategy Template
    • Marketing director
    • Executive leadership

    Download the Lead Gen Engine Optimization Strategy Template

    Lead gen engine working team

    Consider the working skills required for the diagnostic and implementation of the strategy and assign the working team.

    Required Skills/Knowledge

    Suggested Titles

    • SEO
    • Inbound Marketing
    • Paid Advertising
    • Website Development
    • Content Creation
    • Lead Scoring
    • Landing Pages
    • A/B Testing
    • Email Campaigns
    • Marketing and Sales Automation
    • SEO Analyst
    • Content Marketing Manager
    • Product Marketing Manager
    • Website Manager
    • Website Developer
    • Sales Manager
    • PR
    • Customer Success Manager
    • Analytics Executive
    • Campaign Manager

    Step 1.2

    Gather Baseline Metrics

    Activities

    1.2.1 Gather baseline metrics and document in the Lead Gen Engine Optimization Strategy Template

    This step will walk you through the following activities:

    Gather baseline metrics.

    This step involves the following participants:

    • Marketing director
    • Analytics lead

    Outcomes of this step

    Understand and document baseline marketing metrics.

    1.2.1 Gather baseline metrics and document in the Lead Gen Engine Optimization Strategy Template

    1-2 hours

    1. Use the example on the next slide to learn about the B2B SaaS industry-standard baseline metrics.
    2. Meet with the analytics lead to analyze and record the data within the “Baseline Metrics” slide of the Lead Gen Engine Optimization Strategy Template. The baseline metrics will include:
      • Unique monthly website visitors
      • Visitor to lead conversion rate
      • Lead to MQL conversion rate
      • Customer acquisition cost (CAC)
      • Lifetime customer value to customer acquisition cost (LTV to CAC) ratio
      • Campaign ROI

    Recording the baseline data allows you to measure the impact your lead gen engine optimization strategy has over the baseline.

    Input

    		Output
    • Marketing and analytics data
    • Documentation of baseline marketing metrics

    Materials

    Participants

    • The lead gen engine optimization strategy
    • Marketing director
    • Analytics lead

    B2B SaaS baseline metrics

    Industry standard metrics for B2B SaaS in 2022

    Unique Monthly Visitors

    Industry standard is 5% to 10% growth month over month.

    Visitor to Lead Conversion

    Industry standard is between 0.9% to 2.1%.

    Lead to MQL Conversion

    Industry standard is between 36% to 48%.

    CAC

    Industry standard is a cost of $400 to $850 per customer acquired.

    LTV to CAC Ratio

    Industry standard is an LTV:CAC ratio between 3 to 6.

    Campaign ROI

    Email: 201%

    Pay-Per-Click (PPC): 36%

    LinkedIn Ads: 94%

    Source: “B2B SaaS Marketing KPIs,” First Page Sage, 2021

    Update the Lead Gen Optimization Strategy Template with your company’s baseline metrics.

    Download the Lead Gen Engine Optimization Strategy Template

    Step 1.3

    Run the Lead Gen Engine Diagnostic

    Activities

    1.3.1 Gather steering committee and working team to complete the Lead Gen Engine Diagnostic Tool

    This step will walk you through the following activities:

    Gather the steering committee and answer the questions within the Lead Gen Engine Diagnostic Tool.

    This step involves the following participants:

    • Lead gen engine optimization working team
    • Lead gen engine optimization steering committee

    Outcomes of this step

    Lead gen engine diagnostic and scorecard

    1.3.1 Gather the committee and team to complete the Lead Gen Engine Diagnostic Tool

    2-3 hours

    1. Schedule a two-hour meeting with the steering committee and working team to complete the Lead Gen Engine Diagnostic Tool. To ensure the alignment of all departments and the quality of results, all steering committee members must participate.
    2. Answer the questions within the tool and then review your company’s results in the Results tab.

    Input

    Output

    • Marketing and analytics data
    • Diagnostic scorecard for the lead gen engine

    Materials

    Participants

    • Lead Gen Engine Diagnostic Tool
    • Marketing director
    • Analytics lead

    Download the Lead Gen Engine Diagnostic Tool

    Step 1.4

    Identify & Prioritize Low-Scoring Areas

    Activities

    1.4.1 Identify and prioritize low-scoring areas from the diagnostic scorecard

    This step will walk you through the following activities:

    Identify and prioritize the low-scoring areas from the diagnostic scorecard.

    This step involves the following participants:

    • Marketing director

    Outcomes of this step

    A prioritized list of the lead gen engine problems to include in the Lead Gen Engine Optimization Strategy Template

    1.4.1 Identify and prioritize low-scoring areas from the diagnostic scorecard

    1 hour

    1. Transfer the results from the Lead Gen Engine Diagnostic Scorecard Results tab to the Lead Gen Engine Optimization Strategy Template slide entitled “Lead Gen Engine Diagnostic Scorecard.”
      • Results between 0 and 2 should be listed as high-priority fixes on the “Lead Gen Engine Diagnostic Scorecard” slide. You will use these areas for your strategy.
      • Results between 2 and 3 should be listed as medium-priority fixes on “Lead Gen Engine Diagnostic Scorecard” slide. You will use these areas for your strategy.
      • Results between 3 and 4 are within the industry standard and will require no fixes or only small adjustments.

    Input

    Output

    • Marketing and analytics data
    • Documentation of baseline marketing metrics

    Materials

    Participants

    • Lead Gen Engine Optimization Strategy Template
    • Marketing director
    • Analytics lead

    Download the Lead Gen Engine Diagnostic Tool

    Phase 2

    Lead Gen Engine Optimization Strategy

    Phase 1

    Phase 2

    1.1 Select lead gen engine steering committee & working team

    1.2 Gather baseline metrics

    1.3 Run the lead gen engine diagnostic

    1.4 Identify & prioritize low-scoring areas

    2.1 Define the roadmap

    2.2 Create lead gen engine optimization strategy

    2.3 Present strategy to steering committee

    This phase will walk you through the following activities:

    Create a best-in-class lead gen optimization strategy and roadmap based on the weaknesses found in the diagnostic tool. The steps include:

    • Define the roadmap.
    • Create a lead gen engine optimization strategy.
    • Present the strategy to the steering committee.

    This phase involves the following participants:

    • Marketing director

    Step 2.1

    Define the Roadmap

    Activities

    2.1.1 Create the roadmap for the lead gen optimization strategy

    This step will walk you through the following activities:

    Create the optimization roadmap for your lead gen engine strategy.

    This step involves the following participants:

    • Marketing director

    Outcomes of this step

    Strategy roadmap

    2.1.1 Create the roadmap for the lead gen optimization strategy

    1 hour

    1. Copy the results from "The Lead Gen Engine Diagnostic Scorecard" slide to the "Value, Resources & Roadmap Matrix" slide in the Lead Gen Engine Optimization Strategy Template. Adjust the Roadmap Quarter column after evaluating the internal resources of your company and expected value generated.
    2. Using these results, create your strategy roadmap by updating the slide entitled “The Strategy Roadmap” in the Lead Gen Engine Optimization Strategy Template.

    Input

    Output

    • Diagnostic scorecard
    • Strategy roadmap

    Materials

    Participants

    • Lead Gen Engine Optimization Strategy Template
    • Marketing Director

    Download the Lead Gen Engine Optimization Strategy Template

    Step 2.2

    Create the Lead Gen Engine Optimization Strategy

    Activities

    2.2.1 Customize your lead gen engine optimization strategy using the template

    This step will walk you through the following activities:

    Create a lead gen engine optimization strategy based on the results of your diagnostic scorecard.

    This step involves the following participants:

    Marketing director

    Outcomes of this step

    A leadership-facing lead gen optimization strategy

    2.2.1 Customize your lead gen engine optimization strategy using the template

    2-3 hours

    Review the strategy template:

    1. Use "The Strategy Roadmap" slide to organize the remaining slides from the Q1, Q2, and Q3 sections.
      1. Fixes listed in "The Strategy Roadmap" under Q1 should be placed within the Q1 section.
      2. Fixes listed in "The Strategy Roadmap" under Q2 should be placed within the Q2 section.
      3. Fixes listed in "The Strategy Roadmap" under Q3 should be placed within the Q3 section.

    Input

    Output

    • The strategy roadmap
    • Your new lead gen engine optimization strategy

    Materials

    Participants

    • Lead Gen Engine Optimization Strategy Template
    • Marketing director

    Download the Lead Gen Engine Optimization Strategy Template

    Step 2.3

    Present the strategy to the steering committee

    Activities

    2.3.1 Present the findings of the diagnostic and the lead gen optimization strategy to the steering committee.

    This step will walk you through the following activities:

    Get executive buy-in on the lead gen engine optimization strategy.

    This step involves the following participants:

    • Marketing director
    • Steering committee

    Outcomes of this step

    • Buy-in from leadership on the strategy

    2.3.1 Present findings of diagnostic and lead gen optimization strategy to steering committee

    1-2 hours

    1. Schedule a presentation to present the findings of the diagnostic, the lead gen engine optimization strategy, and the roadmap to the steering committee.
    InputOutput
    • Your company’s lead gen engine optimization strategy
    • Official outline of strategy and buy-in from executive leadership

    Materials

    Participants

    • Lead Gen Engine Optimization Strategy Template
    • Marketing director
    • Executive leadership
    • Steering committee

    Download the Lead Gen Engine Optimization Strategy Template

    Related SoftwareReviews Research

    Create a Buyer Persona and Journey

    Make it easier to market, sell, and achieve product-market fit with deeper buyer understanding.

    • Reduce time and treasure wasted chasing the wrong prospects.
    • Improve product-market fit.
    • Increase open and click-through rates in your lead gen engine.
    • Perform more effective sales discovery and increase eventual win rates.

    Optimize Lead Generation With Lead Scoring

    In today’s competitive environment, optimizing Sales’ resources by giving them qualified leads is key to B2B marketing success.

    • Lead scoring is a must-have capability for high-tech marketers.
    • Without lead scoring, marketers will see increased costs of lead generation and decreased SQL-to-opportunity conversion rates.
    • Lead scoring increases sales productivity and shortens sales cycles.

    Build a More Effective Go-to-Market Strategy

    Creating a compelling go-to-market strategy and keeping it current is a critical software company function – as important as financial strategy, sales operations, and even corporate business development – given its huge impact on the many drivers of sustainable growth.

    • Align stakeholders on a common vision and execution plan.
    • Build a foundation of buyer and competitive understanding.
    • Deliver a team-aligned launch plan that enables commercial success.

    Bibliography

    “11 Lead Magnet Statistics That Might Surprise You.” ClickyDrip, 28 Dec. 2020. Accessed April 2022.

    “45 Conversion Rate Optimization Statistics Every Marketer Should Know.” Outgrow, n.d. Accessed April 2022.

    Bailyn, Evan. “B2B SaaS Funnel Conversion Benchmarks.” First Page Sage, 24 Feb. 2021. Accessed April 2022.

    Bailyn, Evan. “B2B SaaS Marketing KPIs: Behind the Numbers.” First Page Sage, 1 Sept. 2021. Accessed April 2022.

    Conversion Optimization.” Lift Division, n.d. Accessed April 2022.

    Corson, Sean. “LTV:CAC Ratio [2022 Guide] | Benchmarks, Formula, Tactics.” Daasity, 3 Nov. 2021. Accessed April 2022.

    Dudley, Carrie. “What are personas?” Illumin8, 26 Jan. 2018. Accessed April 2022.

    Godin, Seth. “Permission Marketing.” Accenture, Oct. 2009. Accessed April 2022.

    Lebo, T. “Lead Conversion Statistics All B2B Marketers Need to Know.” Convince & Convert, n.d. Accessed April 2022.

    Lister, Mary. “33 CRO & Landing Page Optimization Stats to Fuel Your Strategy.” WordStream, 24 Nov. 2021. [Accessed April 2022].

    Nacach, Jamie. “How to Determine How Much Money to Spend on Lead Generation Software Per Month.” Bloominari, 18 Sept. 2018. Accessed April 2022.

    Needle, Flori. “11 Stats That Make a Case for Landing Pages.” HubSpot, 10 June 2021. Accessed April 2022.

    Payne, Kevin. “10 Effective Lead Nurturing Tactics to Boost Your Sales.” Kevintpayne.com, n.d. Accessed April 2022.

    Tam, Edwin. “ROI in Marketing: Lifetime Value (LTV) & Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC).” Construct Digital, 19 Jan. 2016. Accessed April 2022.

    Assess Your IT Financial Management Maturity Effectively

    • Buy Link or Shortcode: {j2store}315|cart{/j2store}
    • member rating overall impact: N/A
    • member rating average dollars saved: N/A
    • member rating average days saved: N/A
    • Parent Category Name: Cost & Budget Management
    • Parent Category Link: /cost-and-budget-management

    Organizations wishing to mature their IT financial management (ITFM) maturity often face the following obstacles:

    • Unfamiliarity: Lack of knowledge and understanding related to ITFM maturity.
    • Shortsightedness: Randomly reacting to changing circumstances.
    • Exchange: Inability to consistently drive dialogues.
    • Perception: IT is perceived as a cost center instead of a trustworthy strategic partner.

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    No matter where you currently stand in your ITFM practice, there is always room for improvement. Hence, a maturity assessment should be viewed as a self-improvement tool that is only valuable if you are willing to act on it.

    Impact and Result

    A mature ITFM practice leads to many benefits.

    • Foundation: Improved governance, skill sets, processes, and tools.
    • Data: An appropriate taxonomy/data model alongside accurate data for high-quality reporting and insights.
    • Language: A common vocabulary across the organization.
    • Organization Culture: Improved communication and collaboration between IT and business partners.

    Assess Your IT Financial Management Maturity Effectively Research & Tools

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

    1. Assess Your IT Financial Management Maturity Effectively Storyboard – A framework and step-by-step methodology to assess your ITFM maturity.

    This research seeks to support IT leaders and ITFM practitioners in evaluating and improving their current maturity. It will help document both current and target states as well as prioritize focus areas for improvement.

    • Assess Your IT Financial Management Maturity Effectively Storyboard

    2. IT Financial Management Maturity Assessment Tool – A structured tool to help you assess your ITFM maturity.

    This Excel workbook guides IT finance practitioners to effectively assess their IT financial management practice. Incorporate the visual outputs into your final executive presentation document. Key activities include context setting, completing the assessment, and prioritizing focus areas based on results.

    • IT Financial Management Maturity Assessment Tool

    3. IT Financial Management Maturity Assessment Report Template – A report summarizing your ITFM maturity assessment results to help you communicate with stakeholders.

    Use this template to document your final ITFM maturity outputs, including the current and target states and your identified priorities.

    • IT Financial Management Maturity Assessment Report Template
    [infographic]

    Further reading

    Assess Your IT Financial Management Maturity Effectively

    Influence your organization’s strategic direction.

    Analyst Perspective

    Make better informed data-driven business decisions.

    Technology has been evolving throughout the years, increasing complexity and investments, while putting more stress on operations and people involved. As an IT leader, you are now entrusted to run your outfit as a business, sit at the executive table as a true partner, and be involved in making decisions that best suit your organization. Therefore, you have an obligation to fulfill the needs of your end customers and live up to their expectations, which is not an easy task.

    IT financial management (ITFM) helps you generate value to your organization’s clientele by bringing necessary trade-offs to light, while driving effective dialogues with your business partners and leadership team.

    This research will focus on Info-Tech’s approach to ITFM maturity, aiming for a state of continuous improvement, where an organization can learn and grow as it adapts to change. As the ITFM practice matures, IT and business leaders will be able to better understand one another and together make better business decisions, driven by data.

    This client advisory presentation and accompanying tool seek to support IT leaders and ITFM practitioners in evaluating and improving their current maturity. It will help document both current and target states as well as prioritize focus areas for improvement.

    Photo of Bilal Alberto Saab, Research Director, IT Financial Management, Info-Tech Research Group. Bilal Alberto Saab
    Research Director, IT Financial Management
    Info-Tech Research Group

    Executive Summary

    The value of ITFM is undermined

    ITFM is often discarded and not given enough importance and relevance due to the operational nature of IT, and the specialized skillset of its people, leading to several problems and challenges, such as:

    • Unfamiliarity: Lack of knowledge and understanding related to ITFM maturity.
    • Shortsightedness: Randomly reacting to changing circumstances.
    • Exchange: Inability to consistently drive dialogues.
    • Perception: IT is perceived as a cost center instead of a trustworthy strategic partner.

    Constructive dialogues with business partners are not the norm

    Business-driven conversations around financials (spending, cost, revenue) are a rarity in IT due to several factors, including:

    • Foundation: Weak governance, inadequate skillset, and less than perfect processes and tools.
    • Data: Lack of adequate taxonomy/data model, alongside inaccurate data leading to poor reporting and insights.
    • Language: Lack of a common vocabulary across the organization.
    • Organization culture: No alignment, alongside minimal communication and collaboration between IT and business partners.

    Follow Info-Tech’s approach to move up the ITFM maturity ladder

    Mature your ITFM practice by activating the means to make informed business decisions.

    Info-Tech’s methodology helps you move the dial by focusing on three maturity focus areas:

    • Build an ITFM Foundation
    • Manage and Monitor IT Spending
    • Bridge the Language Barrier

    Info-Tech Insight

    Influence your organization’s strategic direction by maturing your ITFM practice.

    What is ITFM?

    ITFM is not just about finance.

    • ITFM has evolved from traditional budgeting, accounting, and cost optimization; however, it is much more than those activities alone.
    • It starts with understanding the financial implications of technology by adopting different perspectives to become adept in communicating with various stakeholders, including finance, business partners, IT managers, and your CEO.
    • Armed with this knowledge, ITFM helps you address a variety of questions, such as:
      • How are technology funds being spent?
      • Which projects is IT prioritizing and why?
      • What are the resources needed to speed IT delivery?
      • What’s the value of IT within the organization?
    • ITFM’s main objective is thus to improve decision-making capabilities by facilitating communication between IT leaders and stakeholders, while enabling a customer focus attitude throughout the organization.

    “ITFM embeds technology in financial management practices. Through cost, demand, and value, ITFM brings technology and business together, forging the necessary relationships and starting the right conversations to enable the best decisions for the organization.”
    – Monica Braun, Research Director, Info-Tech Research Group

    Your challenge

    IT leaders struggle to articulate and communicate business value.

    • IT spending is often questioned by different stakeholders, such as business partners and various IT business units. These questions, usually resulting from shifts in business needs, may revolve around investments, expenditures, services, and speed to market, among others. While IT may have an idea about its spending habits, aligning it to the business strategy may prove difficult.
    • IT staff often does not have access to, or knowledge of, the business model and its intricacies. In an operational environment, the focus tends to be on technical issues rather than overall value.
    • People tend to fear what they do not know. Some business managers may not be comfortable with technology. They do not recognize the implications and ramifications of certain implementations or understand the related terminology, which puts a strain on any conversation.

    “Value is not the numbers you visualize on a chart, it’s the dialogue this data generates with your business partners and leadership team.”
    – Dave Kish, Practice Lead, Info-Tech Research Group

    Technology is constantly evolving

    Increasing IT spending and decision-making complexity.

    Timeline of IT technology evolution, starting with 'Timesharing' in the 1980s to 'All Things Digital' in the 2020s. 'IT Spend Growth' grows from start to finish.

    Common obstacles

    IT leaders are not able to have constructive dialogues with their stakeholders.

    • The way IT funds are spent has changed significantly, moving from the purchase of discrete hardware and software tools to implementing data lakes, cloud solutions, the metaverse and blockchain. This implies larger investments and more critical decisions. Conversations around interoperability, integration, and service-based solutions that focus more on big-picture architecture than day-to-day operations have become the norm.
    • Speed to market is now a survival criterion for most organizations, requiring IT to shift rapidly based on changing priorities and customer expectations. This leads to the need for greater financial oversight, with the CFO as the gatekeeper. Today’s IT leaders need to possess both business and financial management savvy to justify their spending with various stakeholders.
    • Any IT budget increase is tied to expectations of greater value. Hence, the compelling demands for IT to prove its worth to the business. Promoting value comes in two ways: 1) objectively, based on data, KPIs, and return on investment; and 2) subjectively, based on stakeholder satisfaction, alongside relationships. Building trust, credibility, and confidence can go a long way.

    In a technology-driven world, advances come at a price. With greater spending required, more complex and difficult conversations arise.

    Constructive dialogues are key

    You don’t know what you don’t know.

    • IT, being historically focused on operations, has become a hub for technically savvy personnel. On the downside, technology departments are often alien to business, causing problems such as:
      • IT staff have no knowledge of the business model and lack customer focus.
      • Business is not comfortable with technology and related jargon.
    • The lack of two-way communication and business alignment is hence an important ramification. If the business does not understand technology, and IT does not speak in business terms, where does that lead us?
    • Poor data quality and governance practices, alongside overly manual processes can only exasperate the situation.

    IT Spending Survey

    79% of respondents believe that decisions taking too long to make is either a significant or somewhat of a challenge (Flexera 2022 Tech Spend Pulse; N=501).

    81% of respondents believe that ensuring spend efficiency (avoiding waste) is either a challenge or somewhat of a challenge (Flexera 2022 Tech Spend Pulse; N=501).

    ITFM is trailing behind

    IT leaders must learn to speak business.

    In today’s world, where organizations are driving customer experience through technology investments, having a seat at the table means IT leaders must be well versed in business language and practice, including solid financial management skills.

    However, IT staff across all industries aren’t very confident in how well IT is doing in managing its finances. This becomes evident after looking at three core processes:

    • Demonstrating IT’s value to the business.
    • Accounting of costs and budgets.
    • Optimizing costs to gain the best return on investment.

    Recent data from 4,137 respondents to Info-Tech’s IT Management & Governance Diagnostic shows that while most IT staff feel that these three financial management processes are important, notably fewer feel that IT management is effective at executing on them.

    IT leadership’s capabilities around fundamental cost data capture appear to be lagging, not to mention the essential value-added capabilities around optimizing costs and demonstrating IT’s contribution to business value.

    Bar charts comparing percentages of people who 'Agree process is important' and 'Agree process is effective' for three processes: Business Value, Cost & Budget Management, and Cost Optimization. In all instances, the importance outweighed the perceived effectiveness.
    Source: Info-Tech Research Group, IT Management & Governance Diagnostic, 2023.

    Info-Tech’s approach

    We take a holistic approach to ITFM and support you throughout your maturity journey.

    Visualization of the IT maturity levels with three goals at the bottom, 'Build am ITFM Foundation', 'Manage & Monitor IT Spending', and 'Bridge the Language Barrier'. The 5 levels, from bottom to top, are 'Nascent - Level 1, Inability to consistently deliver financial planning services', 'Cost Operator - Level 2, Rudimentary financial planning capabilities', 'Trusted Coordinator - Level 3, Enablement of business through cost-effective supply of technology', 'Value Optimizer - Level 4, Effective impact on business performance', and 'Strategic Partner - Level 5, Influence on the organization's strategic direction'.

    The Info-Tech difference:

    • Info-Tech has a methodology and set of tools that will help assess your ITFM maturity and take the first step in developing an improvement plan. We have identified three maturity focus areas:
      • Build an ITFM Foundation
      • Manage and Monitor IT Spending
      • Bridge the Language Barrier
        •
    • No matter where you currently stand in your ITFM practice, there is always room for improvement. Hence, a maturity assessment should be viewed as a self-improvement tool, which is only valuable if you are willing to act on it.

    Note: See Appendix A for maturity level definitions and descriptions.

    Climb the maturity ladder

    By growing along three maturity focus areas.

    A diagram with '3 Maturity Focus Areas' and '9 Maturity Levers' within them. The first area is 'Build an ITFM Foundation' with levers 'Establish your Team', 'Set up your Governance Structure', and 'Adopt ITFM Processes & Tools'. The second area is 'Manage & Monitor IT Spending', with levers 'Standardize your Taxonomy & Data Model', 'Identify, Gather & Prepare your Data', and 'Analyze your Findings and Develop your Reports'. The third area is 'Bridge the Language Barrier' with levers 'Communicate your IT Spending', 'Educate the Masses', and 'Influence your Organization's Culture'.

    Info-Tech identified three maturity focus areas, each containing three levers.

    Identify where you stand across the nine maturity levers, detect the gaps, and determine your priorities as a first step to develop an improvement plan.

    Note: See Appendix B for maturity level definitions and descriptions per lever.

    Key project deliverables

    Each step of this activity is accompanied by supporting deliverables to help you accomplish your goals.

    IT Financial Management Maturity Assessment Report Template

    A template of an ITFM maturity assessment report that can be customized based on your own results.

    IT Financial Management Maturity Assessment Tool

    A workbook including an ITFM maturity survey, generating a summary of your current state, target state, and priorities.

    Measure the value of this activity

    Reach your 12-month maturity target.

    • Determine your 12-month maturity target, identify your gaps, and set your priorities.
    • Use the ITFM maturity assessment to kickstart your improvement plan by developing actionable initiatives.
    • Implement your initiatives and monitor your progress to reach your 12-month target.

    Sample of a result page from the ITFM maturity assessment.

    Build your improvement plan and implement your initiatives to move the dial and climb the maturity ladder.

    Sample of a result page from the ITFM maturity assessment with a graph.

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

    DIY Toolkit

    Guided Implementation

    Workshop

    Consulting
    "Our team has already made this critical project a priority, and we have the time and capability, but some guidance along the way would be helpful." "Our team knows that we need to fix a process, but we need assistance to determine where to focus. Some check-ins along the way would help keep us on track." "We need to hit the ground running and get this project kicked off immediately. Our team has the ability to take this over once we get a framework and strategy in place." "Our team does not have the time or the knowledge to take this project on. We need assistance through the entirety of this project."

    Diagnostics and consistent frameworks used throughout all four options

    Step 1

    Prepare for the ITFM maturity assessment

    Content Overview

    1. Identify your stakeholders
    2. Set the context
    3. Determine the methodology
    4. Identify assessment takers

    This step involves the following participants:

    • CIO/IT director
    • CFO/finance director
    • IT finance lead
    • IT audit lead
    • Other IT management

    1. Prepare to take the ITFM maturity assessment

    3 hours

    Input: Understanding your context, objectives, and methodology

    Output: ITFM maturity assessment stakeholders and their objectives, ITFM maturity assessment methodology, ITFM maturity assessment takers

    Materials: 1a. Prepare for Assessment tab in the ITFM Maturity Assessment Tool

    Participants: CIO/IT director, CFO/finance director, IT finance lead, IT audit lead, Other IT management

    1. Identify your stakeholders and document it in the ITFM Maturity Assessment Tool (see next slides). We recommend having representatives from different business units across the organization, most notably IT, IT finance, finance, and IT audit.
    2. Set the context with your stakeholders and document it in the ITFM Maturity Assessment Tool. Discuss the reason behind taking the ITFM maturity assessment among the various stakeholders. Why do each of your stakeholders want to take the assessment? What are their main objectives? What would they like to achieve?
    3. Determine the methodology and document it in the ITFM Maturity Assessment Tool. Discuss how you want to go about taking the assessment with your stakeholders. Do you want to have representatives from each business unit take the assessment individually, then share and discuss their findings? Do you prefer forming a working group with representatives from each business unit and go through the assessment together? Or does any of your stakeholders have a different suggestion? You will have to consider the effort, skillset, and knowledge required.
    4. Identify the assessment takers and document it in the ITFM Maturity Assessment Tool. Determine who will be taking the assessment (specific names of stakeholders). Consider their availability, knowledge, and skills.

    Download the IT Financial Management Maturity Assessment Tool

    TEMPLATE & EXAMPLE

    Document your stakeholders, objectives, and methodology

    Excel Workbook: ITFM Maturity Assessment Tool – Prepare for Assessment worksheet

    Refer to the example and guidelines below on how to document stakeholders, objectives, and methodology (table range: columns B to G and rows 8 to 15).

    Example table from the ITFM Maturity Assessment Tool re: 'Maturity Assessment Stakeholders'.

    Column ID Input Type Guidelines
    B Formula Automatic calculation, no entry required.
    C Text Enter the full name of each stakeholder on a separate row.
    D Text Enter the job title related to each stakeholder.
    E Text Enter the objective(s) related to each stakeholder.
    F Text Enter the agreed upon methodology.
    G Text Enter any notes or comments per stakeholder (optional).

    Review the following in the Excel workbook as per guidelines:

    1. Navigate to the 1a. Prepare for Assessment tab.
    2. Enter the full names and job titles of the ITFM maturity assessment stakeholders.
    3. Document the maturity assessment objective of each of your stakeholders.
    4. Document the agreed-upon methodology.
      5.

    Download the IT Financial Management Maturity Assessment Tool

    TEMPLATE & EXAMPLE

    Document your assessment takers

    Excel Workbook: ITFM Maturity Assessment Tool – Prepare for Assessment worksheet

    Refer to the example and guidelines below on how to document assessment takers (table range: columns B to E and rows 18 to 25).

    Example table from the ITFM Maturity Assessment Tool re: 'Maturity Assessment Takers'.

    Column ID Input Type Guidelines
    B Formula Automatic calculation, no entry required.
    C Text Enter the full name of each assessment taker on a separate row.
    D Text Enter the job title related to each stakeholder to identify which party is being represented per assessment taker.
    E Text Enter any notes or comments per stakeholder (optional).

    Review the following in the Excel workbook as per guidelines:

    1. Navigate to the 1a. Prepare for Assessment tab.
    2. Enter the full name of each assessment taker, along with the job title of the stakeholder they are representing.
      3.

    Download the IT Financial Management Maturity Assessment Tool

    Step 2

    Take the ITFM maturity assessment

    Content Overview

    1. Complete the survey
    2. Review your assessment results
    3. Determine your priorities

    This step involves the following participants:

    • CIO/IT director
    • CFO/finance director
    • IT finance lead
    • IT audit lead
    • Other IT management

    2. Take the ITFM maturity assessment

    3 hours

    Input: Understanding of your ITFM current state and 12-month target state, ITFM maturity assessment results

    Output: ITFM current- and target-state maturity levels, average scores, and variance, ITFM current- and target-state average scores, variance, and priority by maturity focus area and maturity lever

    Materials: 1b. Glossary, 2a. Assess ITFM Foundation, 2b. Assess Mngt. & Monitoring, 2c. Assess Language, and 3. Assessment Summary tabs in the ITFM Maturity Assessment Tool

    Participants: CIO/IT director, CFO/finance director, IT finance lead, IT audit lead, Other IT management

    1. Complete the survey: select the current and target state of each statement – refer to the glossary as needed for definitions of key terms – in the ITFM Maturity Assessment Tool (see next slides). There are three tabs (one per maturity focus area) with three tables each (nine maturity levers). Review and discuss statements with all assessment takers: consider variations, differing opinions, and reach an agreement on each statement inputs.
    2. Review assessment results: navigate to the Assessment Summary tab in the ITFM maturity assessment tool (see next slides) to view your results. Review and discuss with all assessment takers: consider any shocking output and adjust survey input if necessary.
    3. Determine your priorities: decide on the priority (Low/Medium/High) by maturity focus area and/or maturity lever. Rank your maturity focus area priorities from 1 to 3 and your maturity lever priorities from 1 to 9. Consider the feasibility in terms of timeframe, effort, and skillset required, positive and negative impacts on business and technology, likelihood of failure, and necessary approvals. Document your priorities in the ITFM maturity assessment tool (see next slides).
      Review and discuss priorities with all assessment takers: consider variations, differing opinions, and reach an agreement on each priority.

    Download the IT Financial Management Maturity Assessment Tool

    TEMPLATE & EXAMPLE

    Complete the survey

    Excel workbook: ITFM Maturity Assessment Tool – Survey worksheets

    Refer to the example and guidelines below on how to complete the survey.

    Example table from the ITFM Maturity Assessment Tool re: Survey worksheets.

    Column ID Input Type Guidelines
    B Formula Automatic calculation, no entry required.
    C Formula Automatic calculation, no entry required: ITFM maturity statement to assess.
    D, E Dropdown Select the maturity levels of your current and target states. One of five maturity levels for each statement, from “1. Nonexistent” (lowest maturity) to “5. Advanced” (highest maturity).
    F, G, H Formula Automatic calculation, no entry required: scores associated with your current and target state selection, along with related variance (column G – column F).
    I Text Enter any notes or comments per ITFM maturity statement (optional).

    Review the following in the Excel workbook as per guidelines:

    1. Navigate to the survey tabs: 2a. Assess ITFM Foundation, 2b. Assess Management and Monitoring, and 2c. Assess Language.
    2. Select the appropriate current and target maturity levels.
    3. Add any notes or comments per ITFM maturity statement where necessary or helpful.
      4.

    Download the IT Financial Management Maturity Assessment Tool

    TEMPLATE & EXAMPLE

    Review your overall result

    Excel Workbook: ITFM Maturity Assessment Tool – Assessment Summary worksheet

    Refer to the example and guidelines below on how to review your results.

    Example table from the ITFM Maturity Assessment Tool re: Assessment Summary worksheet.

    Column ID Input Type Guidelines
    K Formula Automatic calculation, no entry required.
    L Formula Automatic calculation, no entry required: Current State, Target State, and Variance entries. Please ignore the current state benchmark, it’s a placeholder for future reference.
    M Formula Automatic calculation, no entry required: average overall maturity score for your Current State and Target State entries, along with related Variance.
    N, O Formula Automatic calculation, no entry required: maturity level and related name based on the overall average score (column M), where level 1 corresponds to an average score less than or equal to 1.49, level 2 corresponds to an average score between 1.5 and 2.49 (inclusive), level 3 corresponds to an average score between 2.5 and 3.49 (inclusive), level 4 corresponds to an average score between 3.5 and 4.49 (inclusive), and level 5 corresponds to an average score between 4.5 and 5 (inclusive).
    P, Q Formula Automatic calculation, no entry required: maturity definition and related description based on the maturity level (column N).

    Review the following in the Excel workbook as per guidelines:

    1. Navigate to tab 3. Assessment Summary.
    2. Review your overall current state and target state result along with the corresponding variance.
      3.

    Download the IT Financial Management Maturity Assessment Tool

    TEMPLATE & EXAMPLE

    Set your priorities

    Excel Workbook: ITFM Maturity Assessment Tool – Assessment Summary worksheet

    Refer to the example and guidelines below on how to review your results per maturity focus area and maturity lever, then prioritize accordingly.

    Example table from the ITFM Maturity Assessment Tool re: Assessment Summary worksheet.

    Column ID Input Type Guidelines
    B Formula Automatic calculation, no entry required.
    C Formula Automatic calculation, no entry required: ITFM maturity focus area or lever, depending on the table.
    D Placeholder Ignore this column because it’s a placeholder for future reference.
    E, F, G Formula Automatic calculation, no entry required: average score related to the current state and target state, along with the corresponding variance per maturity focus area or lever (depending on the table).
    H Formula Automatic calculation, no entry required: preliminary priority based on the average variance (column G), where Low corresponds to an average variance between 0 and 0.5 (inclusive), Medium corresponds to an average variance between 0.51 and 0.99 (inclusive), and High corresponds to an average variance greater than or equal to 1.
    J Dropdown Select your final priority (Low, Medium, or High) per ITFM maturity focus area or lever, depending on the table.
    K Whole Number Enter the appropriate rank based on your priorities; do not use the same number more than once. A whole number between 1 and 3 to rank ITFM maturity focus areas, and between 1 and 9 to rank ITFM maturity levers, depending on the table.

    Review the following in the Excel workbook as per guidelines:

    1. Navigate to tab 3. Assessment Summary.
    2. Review your current-state and target-state result along with the corresponding variance per maturity focus area and maturity lever.
    3. Select the appropriate priority for each maturity focus area and maturity lever.
    4. Enter a unique rank for each maturity focus area (1 to 3).
    5. Enter a unique rank for each maturity lever (1 to 9).
      6.

    Download the IT Financial Management Maturity Assessment Tool

    Step 3

    Communicate your ITFM maturity results

    Content Overview

    1. Review your assessment charts
    2. Customize the assessment report
    3. Communicate your results

    This step involves the following participants:

    • CIO/IT director
    • CFO/finance director
    • IT finance lead
    • IT audit lead
    • Other IT management

    3. Communicate your ITFM maturity results

    3 hours

    Input: ITFM maturity assessment results

    Output: Customized ITFM maturity assessment report

    Materials: 3. Assessment Summary tab in the ITFM Maturity Assessment Tool, ITFM Maturity Assessment Report Template

    Participants: CIO/IT director, CFO/finance director, IT finance lead, IT audit lead, Other IT management

    1. Review assessment charts: navigate to the Assessment Summary tab in the ITFM Maturity Assessment Tool (see next slides) to view your results and related charts.
    2. Edit the report template: complete the template based on your results and priorities to develop your customized ITFM maturity assessment report (see next slide).
    3. Communicate results: communicate and deliberate the assessment results with assessment takers at a first stage, and with your stakeholders at a second stage. The objective is to agree on next steps, including developing an improvement plan.

    Download the IT Financial Management Maturity Assessment Tool

    TEMPLATE & EXAMPLE

    Review assessment charts

    Excel Workbook: ITFM Maturity Assessment Tool – Assessment Summary worksheet

    Refer to the example below on charts depicting different views of the maturity assessment results across the three focus areas and nine levers.

    Samples of different tabs from the ITFM Maturity Assessment Tool: 'Assessment Summary tab: From cell B49 to cell M100' and 'Assessment Summary tab: From cell K13 to cell Q34'.

    From the Excel workbook, after completing your potential initiatives and filling all related entries in the Outline Initiatives tab:

    1. Navigate to tab 3. Assessment Summary.
    2. Review each of the charts.
    3. Navigate back to the survey tabs to examine, drill down, and amend individual entries as you deem necessary.
      4.

    Download the IT Financial Management Maturity Assessment Tool

    TEMPLATE & EXAMPLE

    Customize your report

    PowerPoint presentation: ITFM Maturity Assessment Report Template

    Refer to the example below on slides depicting different views of the maturity assessment results across the three maturity focus areas and nine maturity levers.

    Samples of different slides from the ITFM Maturity Assessment Report Template, detailed below.

    Slide 6: Edit levels based on your assessment results. Copy and paste the appropriate maturity level definition and description from slide 4.

    Slide 7: Copy related charts from the assessment summary tab in the Excel workbook and remove the chart title. You can use the “Outer Offset: Bottom” shadow under shape effects on the chart.

    Slide 8: Copy related charts from the assessment summary tab in the Excel workbook and remove the chart title and legend. You can use the “Outer Offset: Center” shadow under shape effects on the chart.

    From the ITFM Maturity Assessment Report Template:

    1. Edit the report based on your results found in the assessment summary tab of the Excel workbook (see previous slide).
    2. Review slides 6 to 8 and bring necessary adjustments.
      3.

    Download the IT Financial Management Maturity Assessment Report Template

    Make informed business decisions

    Take a holistic approach to ITFM.

    • A thorough understanding of your technology spending in relation to business needs and drivers is essential to make informed decisions. As a trusted partner, you cannot have effective conversations around budgets and cost optimization without a solid foundation.
    • It is important to realize that ITFM is not a one-time exercise, but a continuous, sustainable process to educate (teach, mentor, and train), increase transparency, and assign responsibility.
    • Move up the ITFM maturity ladder by improving across three maturity focus areas:
      • Build an ITFM Foundation
      • Manage and Monitor IT Spending
      • Bridge the Language Barrier

    What’s Next?

    Communicate your maturity results with stakeholders and develop an actionable ITFM improvement plan.

    And remember, having informed discussions with your business partners and stakeholders, where technology helps propel your organization forward, is priceless!

    IT Financial Management Team

    Photo of Dave Kish, Practice Lead, ITFM Practice, Info-Tech Research Group. Dave Kish
    Practice Lead, ITFM Practice
    Info-Tech Research Group
    Photo of Jennifer Perrier, Principal Research Director, ITFM Practice, Info-Tech Research Group. Jennifer Perrier
    Principal Research Director, ITFM Practice
    Info-Tech Research Group
    Photo of Angie Reynolds, Principal Research Director, ITFM Practice, Info-Tech Research Group. Angie Reynolds
    Principal Research Director, ITFM Practice
    Info-Tech Research Group
    Photo of Monica Braun, Research Director, ITFM Practice, Info-Tech Research Group. Monica Braun
    Research Director, ITFM Practice
    Info-Tech Research Group
    Photo of Rex Ding, Research Specialist, ITFM Practice, Info-Tech Research Group. Rex Ding
    Research Specialist, ITFM Practice
    Info-Tech Research Group
    Photo of Aman Kumari, Research Specialist, ITFM Practice, Info-Tech Research Group. Aman Kumari
    Research Specialist, ITFM Practice
    Info-Tech Research Group

    Research Contributors and Experts

    Photo of Amy Byalick, Vice President, IT Finance, Info-Tech Research Group. Amy Byalick
    Vice President, IT Finance
    Info-Tech Research Group     		Amy Byalick is an IT Finance practitioner with 15 years of experience supporting CIOs and IT leaders elevating the IT financial storytelling and unlocking insights. Amy is currently working at Johnson Controls as the VP, IT Finance, previously working at PepsiCo, AmerisourceBergen, and Jacobs.
    Photo of Carol Carr, Technical Counselor, Executive Services, Info-Tech Research Group. Carol Carr
    Technical Counselor, Executive Services
    Info-Tech Research Group
    Photo of Scott Fairholm, Executive Counselor, Executive Services, Info-Tech Research Group. Scott Fairholm
    Executive Counselor, Executive Services
    Info-Tech Research Group
    Photo of Gokul Rajan, Executive Counselor, Executive Services, Info-Tech Research Group. Gokul Rajan
    Executive Counselor, Executive Services
    Info-Tech Research Group
    Photo of Allison Kinnaird, Practice Lead, Infrastructure & Operations, Info-Tech Research Group. Allison Kinnaird
    Practice Lead, Infrastructure & Operations
    Info-Tech Research Group
    Photo of Isabelle Hertanto, Practice Lead, Security & Privacy, Info-Tech Research Group. Isabelle Hertanto
    Practice Lead, Security & Privacy
    Info-Tech Research Group

    Related Info-Tech Research

    Sample of the IT spending transparency research. Achieve IT Spending Transparency

    Mature your ITFM practice by activating the means to make informed business decisions.

    Sample of the IT cost optimization roadmap research. Build Your IT Cost Optimization Roadmap

    Develop an IT cost optimization strategy based on your specific circumstances and timeline.

    Bibliography

    Eby, Kate. “The Complete Guide to Organizational Maturity: Models, Levels, and Assessments.” Smartsheet, 8 June 2022. Web.

    “Financial Management Maturity Model.” National Audit Office, n.d. Accessed 28 Apr. 2023.

    “ITFM/TBM Program Maturity Guide.” Nicus Software, n.d. Accessed 28 Apr. 2023.

    Jouravlev, Roman. "Service Financial Management: ITIL 4 Practice Guide." Axelos, 2020.

    McCarthy, Seamus. “Financial Management Maturity Model: A Good Practice Guide.” Office of the Comptroller & Auditor General, 26 June 2018. Web.

    “Principles for Effective Risk Data Aggregation and Risk Reporting.“ Bank for International Settlements, Jan. 2013. Web.

    “Role & Influence of the Technology Decision-Maker 2022.” Foundry, 2022. Web.

    Stackpole, Beth. “State of the CIO, 2022: Focus turns to IT fundamentals.” CIO, 21 March 2022. Web.

    “Tech Spend Pulse.” Flexera, 2022. Web.

    Appendix A

    Definition and Description
    Per Maturity Level

    ITFM maturity levels and definitions

    Maturity Level

    Definition

    Description
    Nascent
    Level 1     		Inability to consistently deliver financial planning services ITFM practices are almost inexistent. Only the most basic financial tasks and activities are being performed on an ad hoc basis to fulfill the Finance department’s requests.
    Cost Operator
    Level 2     		Rudimentary financial planning capabilities. ITFM activities revolve around minimizing the IT budget as much as possible. ITFM practices are not well defined, and IT’s financial view is limited to day-to-day technical operations.
    IT is only involved in low complexity decision making, where financial conversations center on general ledger items and IT spending.
    Trusted Coordinator
    Level 3     		Enablement of business through cost-effective supply of technology. ITFM activities revolve around becoming a proficient and cost-effective technology supplier to business partners.
    ITFM practices are in place, with moderate coordination and adherence to execution. Various IT business units coordinate to produce a consolidated financial view focused on business services.
    IT is involved in moderate complexity decision making, as a technology subject matter expert, where financial conversations center on IT spending in relation to technology services or solutions provided to business partners.
    Value Optimizer
    Level 4     		Effective impact on business performance. ITFM activities revolve around optimizing existing technology investments to improve both IT and business performance.
    ITFM practices are well managed, established, documented, repeatable, and integrated as necessary across the organization. IT’s financial view tie technology investments to lines of business, business products, and business capabilities.
    Business partners are well informed on the technology mix and drive related discussion. IT is trusted to contribute to complex decision making around existing investments to cost-effectively plan initiatives, as well as enhance business performance.
    Strategic Partner
    Level 5     		Influence on the organization’s strategic direction. ITFM activities revolve around predicting the outcome of new or potential technology investments to continuously optimize business performance.
    ITFM practices are fully optimized, reviewed, and improved in a continuous and sustainable manner, and related execution is tracked by gathering qualitative and quantitative feedback. IT’s financial view is holistic and fully integrated with the business, with an outlook on innovation, growth, and strategic transformation.
    Business and IT leaders know the financial ramifications of every business and technology investment decision. IT is trusted to contribute to strategic decision making around potential and future investments to grow and transform the business.

    Appendix B

    Maturity Level Definitions and Descriptions
    Per Lever

    Establish your ITFM team

    Maturity focus area: Build an ITFM foundation.

    Maturity Level

    Definition

    Description

    Nascent
    Level 1    		Inability to provide any type of financial insight.ITFM tasks, activities, and functions are not being met in any way, shape, or form.
    Cost Operator
    Level 2    		Ability to provide basic financial insights.There is no dedicated ITFM team.


    Basic ITFM tasks, activities, and functions are being performed on an ad hoc basis, such as high-level budget reporting.

    Trusted Coordinator
    Level 3    		Ability to provide basic business insights.A dedicated team is fulfilling essential ITFM tasks, activities, and functions.


    ITFM team can combine and analyze financial and technology data to produce necessary reports.

    Value Optimizer
    Level 4    		Ability to provide valuable business driven insights.A dedicated ITFM team with well-defined roles and responsibilities can provide effective advice to IT leaders, in a timely fashion, and positively influence IT decisions.
    Strategic Partner
    Level 5    		Ability to influence both technology and business decisions.A dedicated and highly specialized ITFM team is trusted and valued by both IT and Business leaders.


    Insights provided by the ITFM team can influence and shape the organization’s strategy.

    Set up your governance structure

    Maturity focus area: Build an ITFM foundation

    Maturity Level

    Definition

    Description

    Nascent
    Level 1    		Inability to ensure any adherence to rules and regulations.ITFM frameworks, guidelines, policies, and procedures are not developed nor documented.
    Cost Operator
    Level 2    		Ability to ensure basic adherence to rules and regulations.Basic ITFM frameworks, guidelines, policies, and procedures are in place, developed on an ad hoc basis, with no apparent coherence or complete documentation.
    Trusted Coordinator
    Level 3    		Ability to ensure compliance to rules and regulations, as well as accountability across ITFM processes.Essential ITFM frameworks, guidelines, policies, and procedures are in place, coherent, and documented, aiming to (a) comply with rules and regulations, and (b) provide clear accountability.
    Value Optimizer
    Level 4    		Ability to ensure compliance to rules and regulations, as well as structure, transparency, and business alignment across ITFM processes.ITFM frameworks, guidelines, policies, and procedures are well defined, coherent, documented, and regularly reviewed, aiming to (a) comply with rules and regulations, (b) provide clear accountability, and (c) maintain business alignment.
    Strategic Partner
    Level 5    		Ability to:
    • Ensure compliance to rules and regulations, as well as ITFM processes are transparent, structured, focused on business objectives, and support decision making.
    • Reinforce and shape the organization culture.
    		ITFM frameworks, guidelines, policies, and procedures are complete, well defined, coherent, documented, continuously reviewed, and improved, aiming to (a) comply with rules and regulations, (b) provide clear accountability, (c) maintain business alignment, and (d) facilitate the decision-making process.


    Enforcement of the ITFM governance structure can influence the organization culture.

    Adopt ITFM processes and tools

    Maturity focus area: Build an ITFM foundation.

    Maturity Level

    Definition

    Description

    Nascent
    Level 1    		Inability to deliver IT financial planning and performance output.ITFM processes and tools are not developed nor documented.
    Cost Operator
    Level 2    		Ability to deliver basic IT financial planning output.Basic ITFM processes and tools are in place, developed on an ad hoc basis, with no apparent coherence or complete documentation.
    Trusted Coordinator
    Level 3    		Ability to deliver accurate IT financial output and basic IT performance output in a consistent cadence.Essential ITFM processes and tools are in place, coherent, and documented, aiming to (a) maintain integrity across activities, tasks, methodologies, data, and reports; (b) deliver IT financial planning and performance output needed by stakeholders; and (c) provide clear accountability. ITFM tools and processes are adopted by the ITFM team and some IT business units but are not fully integrated.
    Value Optimizer
    Level 4    		Ability to deliver accurate IT financial planning and performance output at the needed level of detail to stakeholders in a consistent cadence.ITFM processes and tools are complete, well defined, coherent, documented, continuously reviewed, and improved, aiming to (a) maintain integrity across activities, tasks, methodologies, data, and reports; (b) deliver IT financial planning and performance output needed by stakeholders; (c) provide clear accountability; and (d) facilitate decision-making. ITFM tools and processes are adopted by IT and business partners but are not fully integrated.
    Strategic Partner
    Level 5    		Ability to:
    • Deliver accurate IT financial planning and performance output at the needed level of detail to stakeholders.
    • Leverage IT financial planning and performance output in real time and when needed by stakeholders.
    		ITFM processes and tools are complete, well defined, coherent, documented, continuously reviewed, and improved, aiming to (a) maintain integrity across activities, tasks, methodologies, data, and reports; (b) deliver IT financial planning and performance output needed by stakeholders; (c) provide clear accountability; and (d) facilitate decision making.


    ITFM processes and tools are automated to the full extent needed by the organization, utilized to their full potential, and integrated into a single enterprise platform, providing a holistic view of IT spending and IT performance.

    Standardize your taxonomy and data model

    Maturity focus area: Manage and monitor IT spending.

    Maturity Level

    Definition

    Description

    Nascent
    Level 1    		Inability to provide transparency across technology spending.ITFM taxonomy and data model are not developed nor documented.
    Cost Operator
    Level 2    		Ability to provide transparency and support IT financial planning data, analysis, and reporting needs of finance stakeholders.ITFM taxonomy and data model are in place, developed on an ad hoc basis, with no apparent coherence or complete documentation, to comply with, and meet the needs of finance stakeholders.
    Trusted Coordinator
    Level 3    		Ability to provide transparency and support IT financial planning and performance data, analysis, and reporting needs of IT and finance stakeholders.ITFM taxonomy and data model are in place, coherent, and documented to meet the needs of IT and finance stakeholders.
    Value Optimizer
    Level 4    		Ability to provide transparency and support IT financial planning and performance data, analysis, and reporting needs of IT, finance, business, and executive stakeholders.ITFM taxonomy and data model are complete, well defined, coherent, documented, continuously reviewed, and improved, aiming to provide (a) a holistic view of IT spending and IT performance, (b) visibility and transparency, (c) flexibility, and (d) valuable insights to facilitate data driven decision making.


    ITFM taxonomy and data model are standardized to meet the needs of IT, finance, business, and executive stakeholders, but not flexible enough to be adjusted in a timely fashion as needed.

    Strategic Partner
    Level 5    		Ability to:
    • Provide transparency and support IT financial planning and performance data, analysis, and reporting needs of IT, finance, business, and executive stakeholders.
    • Change to meet evolving needs.
    		ITFM taxonomy and data model are complete, well defined, coherent, documented, continuously reviewed, and improved, aiming to provide (a) a holistic view of IT spending and IT performance, (b) visibility and transparency, (c) flexibility, and (d) valuable insights to facilitate data driven decision making.


    ITFM taxonomy and data model are standardized and meet the changing needs of IT, finance, business, and executive stakeholders.

    Identify, gather, and prepare your data

    Maturity focus area: Manage and monitor IT spending.

    Maturity Level

    Definition

    Description

    Nascent
    Level 1    		Inability to provide accurate and complete across technology spending.ITFM data needs and requirements are not understood.
    Cost Operator
    Level 2    		Ability to provide accurate, but incomplete IT financial planning data to meet the needs of finance stakeholders.Technology spending data is extracted, transformed, and loaded on an ad hoc basis to meet the needs of finance stakeholders.
    Trusted Coordinator
    Level 3    		Ability to provide accurate and complete IT financial planning data to meet the needs of IT and finance stakeholders, but IT performance data remain incomplete.IT financial planning data is extracted, transformed, and loaded in a regular cadence to meet the needs of IT and finance stakeholders.


    IT financial planning data is (a) complete and accurate, as defined in related control documents (guideline, policies, procedures, etc.), (b) regularly validated for inconsistencies, and (c) sourced from the organization’s system of record.

    Value Optimizer
    Level 4    		Ability to provide accurate and complete IT financial planning and performance data to meet the needs of IT, finance, business, and executive stakeholders.ITFM data needs and requirements are understood.


    ITFM data is extracted, transformed, and loaded in a regular cadence to meet the needs of IT, finance, business, and executive stakeholders.


    IT financial planning and performance data are (a) complete and accurate, as defined in related control documents (guideline, policies, procedures, etc.), (b) regularly validated for inconsistencies, and (c) sourced from the organization’s system of record.

    Strategic Partner
    Level 5    		Ability to provide accurate and complete IT financial planning and performance data real time and when needed by IT, finance, business, and executive stakeholders.ITFM data needs and requirements are understood.


    IT financial planning and performance data are (a) complete and accurate, as defined in related control documents (guideline, policies, procedures, etc.), (b) regularly validated for inconsistencies, (c) available and refreshed as needed, and (d) sourced from the organization’s system of record.

    Analyze your findings and develop your reports

    Maturity focus area: Manage and monitor IT spending.

    Maturity Level

    Definition

    Description

    Nascent
    Level 1    		Inability to provide any type of financial insight.ITFM analysis and reports are not developed nor documented.
    Cost Operator
    Level 2    		Ability to provide basic financial insights.IT financial planning analysis is conducted on an ad hoc basis to meet the needs of finance stakeholders.
    Trusted Coordinator
    Level 3    		Ability to provide basic financial planning and performance insights to meet the needs of IT and finance stakeholders.IT financial planning and performance analysis are methodical and rigorous, as defined in related control documents (guideline, policies, procedures, etc.).


    IT financial planning and performance reports are accurate, precise, and methodical, as defined in related control documents (guideline, policies, procedures, etc.).

    Value Optimizer
    Level 4    		Ability to provide practical insights and useful recommendations as needed by IT, finance, business, and executive stakeholders to facilitate business decision making around technology investments.ITFM analysis and reports support business decision making around technology investments.


    IT financial planning and performance analysis are methodical and rigorous, as defined in related control documents (guideline, policies, procedures, etc.).


    IT financial planning and performance reports are (a) accurate, precise, and methodical, as defined in related control documents (guideline, policies, procedures, etc.), (b) fit for purpose, and (c) regularly validated for inconsistencies.

    Strategic Partner
    Level 5    		Ability to provide practical insights and useful recommendations as needed by IT, finance, business, and executive stakeholders to facilitate strategic decision making.ITFM analysis and reports support strategic decision making.


    IT financial planning and performance analysis are methodical and rigorous, as defined in related control documents (guideline, policies, procedures, etc.), and consider multiple point of views (hypotheses, interpretations, opinions, etc.).


    IT financial planning and performance reports are (a) accurate, precise, and methodical, as defined in related control documents (guideline, policies, procedures, etc.), (b) fit for purpose, (c) comprehensive, and (d) regularly validated for inconsistencies.

    Communicate your IT spending

    Maturity focus area: Bridge the language barrier.

    Maturity Level

    Definition

    Description

    Nascent
    Level 1    		Inability of organization stakeholders to communicate and understand each other.The organization stakeholders including IT, finance, business, and executives do not understand one another, and cannot speak the same language.
    Cost Operator
    Level 2    		Ability to understand business and finance requirements.IT understands and meets business and financial planning requirements but does not communicate in a similar language.


    IT cannot influence finance or business decision making.

    Trusted Coordinator
    Level 3    		Ability to understand the needs of different stakeholders including IT, finance, business, and executives and take part in decision making around technology spending.The organization stakeholders including IT, finance, business, and executives understand each other’s needs, but do not communicate in a common language.


    IT leaders provide insights as technology subject matter experts, where conversations center on IT spending in relation to technology services or solutions provided to business partners.


    IT can influence technology decisions around its own budget.

    Value Optimizer
    Level 4    		Ability to communicate in a common vocabulary across the organization and take part in business decision making around technology investments.The organization stakeholders including IT, finance, business, and executives communicate in a common vocabulary and understand one another.


    IT and business leaders, along with their respective teams, collaborate frequently across various initiatives.


    IT leaders provide valuable insight to support and influence business decision making around existing technology investments.

    Strategic Partner
    Level 5    		Ability to communicate in a common vocabulary across the organization and take part in strategic decision making.The organization stakeholders including IT, finance, business, and executives communicate in a common vocabulary and understand one another.


    IT and business leaders, along with their respective teams, collaborate frequently across various initiatives.


    IT leaders provide valuable insight to facilitate decision making around potential and future investments to grow and transform the business, thus influencing the organization’s overall strategic direction.

    Educate the masses

    Maturity focus area: Bridge the language barrier.

    Maturity Level

    Definition

    Description

    Nascent
    Level 1    		Inability of organization stakeholders to acquire knowledge.Educational resources are inexistent.
    Cost Operator
    Level 2    		Ability to acquire financial knowledge and understand financial concepts.IT leaders have access to educational resources to gain the financial knowledge necessary to perform their duties.
    Trusted Coordinator
    Level 3    		Ability to acquire financial and business knowledge and understand related concepts.IT leaders and their respective teams have access to educational resources to gain the financial and business knowledge necessary to perform their duties.


    ITFM team has access to the necessary educational resources to keep up with changing financial regulations and technology developments.

    Value Optimizer
    Level 4    		Ability to acquire knowledge, across technology, business, and finance as needed by different organization stakeholders, and the leadership understand concepts across these various domains.Stakeholders including IT, finance, business, and executives have access to various educational resources to gain knowledge in different domains as needed.


    IT leaders have a good understanding of business and financial concepts.


    Business leaders have a good understanding of technology concepts.

    Strategic Partner
    Level 5    		Ability to acquire knowledge, and understand concepts across technology, business, and finance as needed by different organization stakeholders.The organization promotes continuous learning through well designed programs including training, mentorship, and academic courses. Thus, stakeholders including IT, finance, business, and executives have access to various educational resources to gain knowledge in different domains as needed.


    IT leaders and their respective teams have a good understanding of business and financial concepts.


    Business leaders and their respective teams have a good understanding of technology concepts.

    Influence your organization’s culture

    Maturity focus area: Bridge the language barrier.

    Maturity Level

    Definition

    Description

    Nascent
    Level 1    		Inability to provide and foster an environment of collaboration and continuous improvement.Stakeholders including IT, finance, business, and executives operate in silos, and collaboration between different teams is inexistent.
    Cost Operator
    Level 2    		Ability to provide an environment of cooperation to meet the needs of IT, finance, and business leaders.IT, finance, and business leaders cooperate to meet financial planning requirements as necessary to perform their duties.
    Trusted Coordinator
    Level 3    		Ability to provide and foster an environment of collaboration across the organization.IT, finance, and business collaborate on various initiatives.

    ITFM employees are trusted and supported by their stakeholders (IT, finance, and business).

    Value Optimizer
    Level 4    		Ability to provide and foster an environment of collaboration and continuous improvement, where employees across the organization feel trusted, supported, empowered, and valued.Stakeholders including IT, finance, business, and executives support and promote continuous improvement, transparency practices, and collaboration across the organization.


    Employees are trusted, supported, empowered, and valued.

    Strategic Partner
    Level 5    		Ability to provide and foster an environment of collaboration and continuous improvement, where leaders are willing to change, and employees across the organization feel trusted, supported, empowered, and valued.Stakeholders including IT, finance, business, and executives support and promote continuous improvement, transparency practices, and collaboration across the organization.


    The organization’s leadership is adaptable and open to change.


    Employees are trusted, supported, empowered, and valued.

    Architect Your Big Data Environment

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    • Parent Category Name: Big Data
    • Parent Category Link: /big-data
    • Organizations may understand the transformative potential of a big data initiative, but they struggle to make the transition from the awareness of its importance to identifying a concrete use case for a pilot project.
    • The big data ecosystem is crowded and confusing, and a lack of understanding of it may cause paralysis for organizations.

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    • Don’t panic, and make use of the resources you already have. The skills, tools, and infrastructure for big data can break any budget quickly, but before making rash decisions, start with the resources you have in-house.
    • Big data as a service (BDaaS) is making big waves. BDaaS removes many of the hurdles associated with implementing a big data strategy and vastly lowers the barrier of entry.

    Impact and Result

    • Follow Info-Tech’s methodology for understanding the types of modern approaches to big data tools, and then determining which approach style makes the most sense for your organization.
    • Based on your big data use case, create a plan for getting started with big data tools that takes into account the backing of the use case, the organization’s priorities, and resourcing available.
    • Put a repeatable framework in place for creating a comprehensive big data tool environment that will help you decide on the necessary tools to help you realize the value from your big data use case and scale for the future.

    Architect Your Big Data Environment Research & Tools

    Start here – read the Executive Brief

    Read our concise Executive Brief to find out why you should find your optimal approach to big data tools, review Info-Tech’s methodology, and understand the ways we can support you in completing this project.

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

    1. Plant the foundations of your big data tool architecture

    Identify your big data use case and your current data-related capabilities.

    • Architect Your Big Data Environment – Phase 1: Plant the Foundations of Your Big Data Tool Architecture
    • Big Data Execution Plan Presentation
    • Big Data Architecture Planning Tool

    2. Weigh your big data architecture decision criteria

    Determine your capacity for big data tools, as well as the level of customizability and security needed for your solution to help justify your implementation style decision.

    • Architect Your Big Data Environment – Phase 2: Weigh Your Big Data Architecture Decision Criteria

    3. Determine your approach to implementing big data tools

    Analyze the three big data implementation styles, select your approach, and complete the execution plan for your big data initiative.

    • Architect Your Big Data Environment – Phase 3: Determine Your Approach To Implementing Big Data Tools
    [infographic]

    Domino – Maintain, Commit to, or Vacate?

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    • Parent Category Name: Strategy and Organizational Design
    • Parent Category Link: /strategy-and-organizational-design

    If you have a Domino/Notes footprint that is embedded within your business units and business processes and is taxing your support organization, you may have met resistance from the business and been asked to help the organization migrate away from the Lotus Notes platform. The Lotus Notes platform was long used by technology and businesses and a multipurpose solution that, over the years, became embedded within core business applications and processes.

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    For organizations that are struggling to understand their options for the Domino platform, the depth of business process usage is typically the biggest operational obstacle. Migrating off the Domino platform is a difficult option for most organizations due to business process and application complexity. In addition, migrating clients have to resolve the challenges with more than one replaceable solution.

    Impact and Result

    The most common tactic is for the organization to better understand their Domino migration options and adopt an application rationalization strategy for the Domino applications entrenched within the business. Options include retiring, replatforming, migrating, or staying with your Domino platform.

    Domino – Maintain, Commit to, or Vacate? Research & Tools

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

    1. Domino – Maintain, Commit to, or Vacate? – A brief deck that outlines key migration options for HCL Domino platforms.

    This blueprint will help you assess the fit, purpose, and price of Domino options; develop strategies for overcoming potential challenges; and determine the future of Domino for your organization.

    • Domino – Maintain, Commit to, or Vacate? Storyboard

    2. Application Rationalization Tool – A tool to understand your business-developed applications, their importance to business process, and the potential underlying financial impact.

    Use this tool to input the outcomes of your various application assessments.

    • Application Rationalization Tool
    [infographic]

    Further reading

    Domino – Maintain, Commit to, or Vacate?

    Lotus Domino still lives, and you have options for migrating away from or remaining with the platform.

    Executive Summary

    Info-Tech Insight

    “HCL announced that they have somewhere in the region of 15,000 Domino customers worldwide, and also claimed that that number is growing. They also said that 42% of their customers are already on v11 of Domino, and that in the year or so since that version was released, it’s been downloaded 78,000 times. All of which suggests that the Domino platform is, in fact, alive and well.”
    – Nigel Cheshire in Team Studio

    Your Challenge

    You have a Domino/Notes footprint embedded within your business units and business processes. This is taxing your support organization; you are meeting resistance from the business, and you are now asked to help the organization migrate away from the Lotus Notes platform. The Lotus Notes platform was long used by technology and businesses as a multipurpose solution that, over the years, became embedded within core business applications and processes.

    Common Obstacles

    For organizations that are struggling to understand their options for the Domino platform, the depth of business process usage is typically the biggest operational obstacle. Migrating off the Domino platform is a difficult option for most organizations due to business process and application complexity. In addition, migrating clients have to resolve the challenges with more than one replaceable solution.

    Info-Tech Approach

    The most common tactic is for the organization to better understand their Domino migration options and adopt an application rationalization strategy for the Domino applications entrenched within the business. Options include retiring, replatforming, migrating, or staying with your Domino platform.

    Review

    Is “Lotus” Domino still alive?

    Problem statement

    The number of member engagements with customers regarding the Domino platform has, as you might imagine, dwindled in the past couple of years. While many members have exited the platform, there are still many members and organizations that have entered a long exit program, but with how embedded Domino is in business processes, the migration has slowed and been met with resistance. Some organizations had replatformed the applications but found that the replacement target state was inadequate and introduced friction because the new solution was not a low-code/business-user-driven environment. This resulted in returning the Domino platform to production and working through a strategy to maintain the environment.

    This research is designed for:

    • IT strategic direction decision-makers
    • IT managers responsible for an existing Domino platform
    • Organizations evaluating migration options for mission-critical applications running on Domino

    This research will help you:

    1. Evaluate migration options.
    2. Assess the fit and purpose.
    3. Consider strategies for overcoming potential challenges.
    4. Determine the future of this platform for your organization.

    The “everything may work” scenario

    Adopt and expand

    Believe it or not, Domino and Notes are still options to consider when determining a migration strategy. With HCL still committed to the platform, there are options organizations should seek to better understand rather than assuming SharePoint will solve all. In our research, we consider:

    Importance to current business processes

    • Importance of use
    • Complexity in migrations
    • Choosing a new platform

    Available tools to facilitate

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

    Info-Tech Insight

    With multiple options to consider, take the time to clearly understand the application rationalization process within your decision making.

    • Archive/retire
    • Application migration
    • Application replatform
    • Stay right where you are

    Eliminate your bias – consider the advantages

    “There is a lot of bias toward Domino; decisions are being made by individuals who know very little about Domino and more importantly, they do not know how it impacts business environment.”

    – Rob Salerno, Founder & CTO, Rivet Technology Partners

    Domino advantages include:

    Modern Cloud & Application

    • No-code/low-code technology

    Business-Managed Application

    • Business written and supported
    • Embrace the business support model
    • Enterprise class application

    Leverage the Application Taxonomy & Build

    • A rapid application development platform
    • Develop skill with HCL training

    HCL Domino is a supported and developed platform

    Why consider HCL?

    • Consider scheduling a Roadmap Session with HCL. This is an opportunity to leverage any value in the mission and brand of your organization to gain insights or support from HCL.
    • Existing Domino customers are not the only entities seeking certainty with the platform. Software solution providers that support enterprise IT infrastructure ecosystems (backup, for example) will also be seeking clarity for the future of the platform. HCL will be managing these relationships through the channel/partner management programs, but our observations indicate that Domino integrations are scarce.
    • HCL Domino should be well positioned feature-wise to support low-code/NoSQL demands for enterprises and citizen developers.

    Visualize Your Application Roadmap

    1. Focus on the application portfolio and crafting a roadmap for rationalization.
      • The process is intended to help you determine each application’s functional and technical adequacy for the business process that it supports.
    2. Document your findings on respective application capability heatmaps.
      • This drives your organization to a determination of application dispositions and provides a tool to output various dispositions for you as a roadmap.
    3. Sort the application portfolio into a disposition status (keep, replatform, retire, consolidate, etc.)
      • This information will be an input into any cloud migration or modernization as well as consolidation of the infrastructure, licenses, and support for them.

    Our external support perspective

    by Darin Stahl

    Member Feedback

    • Some members who have remaining Domino applications in production – while the retire, replatform, consolidate, or stay strategy is playing out – have concerns about the challenges with ongoing support and resources required for the platform. In those cases, some have engaged external services providers to augment staff or take over as managed services.
    • While there could be existing support resources (in house or on retainer), the member might consider approaching an external provider who could help backstop the single resource or even provide some help with the exit strategies. At this point, the conversation would be helpful in any case. One of our members engaged an external provider in a Statement of Work for IBM Domino Administration focused on one-time events, Tier 1/Tier 2 support, and custom ad hoc requests.
    • The augmentation with the managed services enabled the member to shift key internal resources to a focus on executing the exit strategies (replatform, retire, consolidate), since the business knowledge was key to that success.
    • The member also very aggressively governed the Domino environment support needs to truly technical issues/maintenance of known and supported functionality rather than coding new features (and increasing risk and cost in a migration down the road) – in short, freezing new features and functionality unless required for legal compliance or health and safety.
    • There obviously are other providers, but at this point Info-Tech no longer maintains a market view or scan of those related to Domino due to low member demand.

    Domino database assessments

    Consider the database.

    • Domino database assessments should be informed through the lens of a multi-value database, like jBase, or an object system.
    • The assessment of the databases, often led by relational database subject matter experts grounded in normalized databases, can be a struggle since Notes databases must be denormalized.
    Key/Value Column

    Use case: Heavily accessed, rarely updated, large amounts of data
    Data Model: Values are stored in a hash table of keys.
    Fast access to small data values, but querying is slow
    Processor friendly
    Based on amazon's Dynamo paper
    Example: Project Voldemort used by LinkedIn

    		 this is a Key/Value example

    Use case: High availability, multiple data centers
    Data Model: Storage blocks of data are contained in columns
    Handles size well
    Based on Google's BigTable
    Example: Hadoop/Hbase used by Facebook and Yahoo

    		 This is a Column Example
    Document Graph

    Use case: Rapid development, Web and programmer friendly
    Data Model: Stores documents made up of tagged elements. Uses Key/Value collections
    Better query abilities than Key/Value databases.
    Inspired by Lotus Notes.
    Example: CouchDB used by BBC

    		 This is a Document Example

    Use case: Best at dealing with complexity and relationships/networks
    Data model: Nodes and relationships.
    Data is processed quickly
    Inspired by Euler and graph theory
    Can easily evolve schemas
    Example: Neo4j

    		 This is a Graph Example

    Understand your options

    Archive/Retire

    Store the application data in a long-term repository with the means to locate and read it for regulatory and compliance purposes.

    Migrate

    Migrate to a new version of the application, facilitating the process of moving software applications from one computing environment to another.

    Replatform

    Replatforming is an option for transitioning an existing Domino application to a new modern platform (i.e. cloud) to leverage the benefits of a modern deployment model.

    Stay

    Review the current Domino platform roadmap and understand HCL’s support model. Keep the application within the Domino platform.

    Archive/retire

    Retire the application, storing the application data in a long-term repository.

    Abstract

    The most common approach is to build the required functionality in whatever new application/solution is selected, then archive the old data in PDFs and documents.

    Typically this involves archiving the data and leveraging Microsoft SharePoint and the new collaborative solutions, likely in conjunction with other software-as-a-service (SaaS) solutions.

    Advantages

    • Reduce support cost.
    • Consolidate applications.
    • Reduce risk.
    • Reduce compliance and security concerns.
    • Improve business processes.

    Considerations

    • Application transformation
    • eDiscovery costs
    • Legal implications
    • Compliance implications
    • Business process dependencies

    Info-Tech Insights

    Be aware of the costs associated with archiving. The more you archive, the more it will cost you.

    Application migration

    Migrate to a new version of the application

    Abstract

    An application migration is the managed process of migrating or moving applications (software) from one infrastructure environment to another.

    This can include migrating applications from one data center to another data center, from a data center to a cloud provider, or from a company’s on-premises system to a cloud provider’s infrastructure.

    Advantages

    • Reduce hardware costs.
    • Leverage cloud technologies.
    • Improve scalability.
    • Improve disaster recovery.
    • Improve application security.

    Considerations

    • Data extraction, starting from the document databases in NSF format and including security settings about users and groups granted to read and write single documents, which is a powerful feature of Lotus Domino documents.
    • File extraction, starting from the document databases in NSF format, which can contain attachments and RTF documents and embedded files.
    • Design of the final relational database structure; this activity should be carried out without taking into account the original structure of the data in Domino files or the data conversion and loading, from the extracted format to the final model.
    • Design and development of the target-state custom applications based on the new data model and the new selected development platform.

    Application replatform

    Transition an existing Domino application to a new modern platform

    Abstract

    This type of arrangement is typically part of an application migration or transformation. In this model, client can “replatform” the application into an off-premises hosted provider platform. This would yield many benefits of cloud but in a different scaling capacity as experienced with commodity workloads (e.g. Windows, Linux) and the associated application.

    Two challenges are particularly significant when migrating or replatforming Domino applications:

    • The application functionality/value must be reproduced/replaced with not one but many applications, either through custom coding or a commercial-off-the-shelf/SaaS solution.
    • Notes “databases” are not relational databases and will not migrate simply to an SQL database while retaining the same business value. Notes databases are essentially NoSQL repositories and are difficult to normalize.

    Advantages

    • Leverage cloud technologies.
    • Improve scalability.
    • Align to a SharePoint platform.
    • Improve disaster recovery.
    • Improve application security.

    Considerations

    • Application replatform resource effort
    • Network bandwidth
    • New platform terms and conditions
    • Secure connectivity and communication
    • New platform security and compliance
    • Degree of complexity

    Info-Tech Insights

    There is a difference between a migration and a replatform application strategy. Determine which solution aligns to the application requirements.

    Stay with HCL

    Stay with HCL, understanding its future commitment to the platform.

    Abstract

    Following the announced acquisition of IBM Domino and up until around December 2019, HCL had published no future roadmap for the platform. The public-facing information/website at the time stated that HCL acquired “the product family and key lab services to deliver professional services.” Again, there was no mention or emphasis on upcoming new features for the platform. The product offering on their website at the time stated that HCL would leverage its services expertise to advise clients and push applications into four buckets:

    1. Replatform
    2. Retire
    3. Move to cloud
    4. Modernize

    That public-facing messaging changed with release 11.0, which had references to IBM rebranded to HCL for the Notes and Domino product – along with fixes already inflight. More information can be found on HCL’s FAQ page.

    Advantages

    • Known environment
    • Domino is a supported platform
    • Domino is a developed platform
    • No-code/low-code optimization
    • Business developed applications
    • Rapid application framework

    This is the HCL Domino Logo

    Understand your tools

    Many tools are available to help evaluate or migrate your Domino Platform. Here are a few common tools for you to consider.

    Notes Archiving & Notes to SharePoint

    Summary of Vendor

    “SWING Software delivers content transformation and archiving software to over 1,000 organizations worldwide. Our solutions uniquely combine key collaborative platforms and standard document formats, making document production, publishing, and archiving processes more efficient.”*

    Tools

    Lotus Notes Data Migration and Archiving: Preserve historical data outside of Notes and Domino

    Lotus Note Migration: Replacing Lotus Notes. Boost your migration by detaching historical data from Lotus Notes and Domino.

    Headquarters

    Croatia

    Best fit

    • Application archive and retire
    • Migration to SharePoint

    This is an image of the SwingSoftware Logo

    * swingsoftware.com

    Domino Migration to SharePoint

    Summary of Vendor

    “Providing leading solutions, resources, and expertise to help your organization transform its collaborative environment.”*

    Tools

    Notes Domino Migration Solutions: Rivit’s industry-leading solutions and hardened migration practice will help you eliminate Notes Domino once and for all.

    Rivive Me: Migrate Notes Domino applications to an enterprise web application

    Headquarters

    Canada

    Best fit

    • Application Archive & Retire
    • Migration to SharePoint

    This is an image of the RiVit Logo

    * rivit.ca

    Lotus Notes to M365

    Summary of Vendor

    “More than 300 organizations across 40+ countries trust skybow to build no-code/no-compromise business applications & processes, and skybow’s community of customers, partners, and experts grows every day.”*

    Tools

    SkyBow Studio: The low-code platform fully integrated into Microsoft 365

    Headquarters:

    Switzerland

    Best fit

    • Application Archive & Retire
    • Migration to SharePoint

    This is an image of the SkyBow Logo

    * skybow.com | About skybow

    Notes to SharePoint Migration

    Summary of Vendor

    “CIMtrek is a global software company headquartered in the UK. Our mission is to develop user-friendly, cost-effective technology solutions and services to help companies modernize their HCL Domino/Notes® application landscape and support their legacy COBOL applications.”*

    Tools

    CIMtrek SharePoint Migrator: Reduce the time and cost of migrating your IBM® Lotus Notes® applications to Office 365, SharePoint online, and SharePoint on premises.

    Headquarters

    United Kingdom

    Best fit

    • Application replatform
    • Migration to SharePoint

    This is an image of the CIMtrek Logo

    * cimtrek.com | About CIMtrek

    Domino replatform/Rapid application selection framework

    Summary of Vendor

    “4WS.Platform is a rapid application development tool used to quickly create multi-channel applications including web and mobile applications.”*

    Tools

    4WS.Platform is available in two editions: Community and Enterprise.
    The Platform Enterprise Edition, allows access with an optional support pack.

    4WS.Platform’s technical support provides support services to the users through support contracts and agreements.

    The platform is a subscription support services for companies using the product which will allow customers to benefit from the knowledge of 4WS.Platform’s technical experts.

    Headquarters

    Italy

    Best fit

    • Application replatform

    This is an image of the 4WS PLATFORM Logo

    * 4wsplatform.org

    Activity

    Understand your Domino options

    Application Rationalization Exercise

    Info-Tech Insight

    Application rationalization is the perfect exercise to fully understand your business-developed applications, their importance to business process, and the potential underlying financial impact.

    This activity involves the following participants:

    • IT strategic direction decision-makers.
    • IT managers responsible for an existing Domino platform
    • Organizations evaluating platforms for mission-critical applications.

    Outcomes of this step:

    • Completed Application Rationalization Tool

    Application rationalization exercise

    Use this Application Rationalization Tool to input the outcomes of your various application assessments

    In the Application Entry tab:

    • Input your application inventory or subset of apps you intend to rationalize, along with some basic information for your apps.

    In the Business Value & TCO Comparison tab, determine rationalization priorities.

    • Input your business value scores and total cost of ownership (TCO) of applications.
    • Review the results of this analysis to determine which apps should require additional analysis and which dispositions should be prioritized.

    In the Disposition Selection tab:

    • Add to or adapt our list of dispositions as appropriate.

    In the Rationalization Inputs tab:

    • Add or adapt the disposition criteria of your application rationalization framework as appropriate.
    • Input the results of your various assessments for each application.

    In the Disposition Settings tab:

    • Add or adapt settings that generate recommended dispositions based on your rationalization inputs.

    In the Disposition Recommendations tab:

    • Review and compare the rationalization results and confirm if dispositions are appropriate for your strategy.

    In the Timeline Considerations tab:

    • Enter the estimated timeline for when you execute your dispositions.

    In the Portfolio Roadmap tab:

    • Review and present your roadmap and rationalization results.

    Follow the instructions to generate recommended dispositions and populate an application portfolio roadmap.

    This image depicts a scatter plot graph where the X axis is labeled Business Value, and the Y Axis is labeled Cost. On the graph, the following datapoints are displayed: SF; HRIS; ERP; ALM; B; A; C; ODP; SAS

    Info-Tech Insight

    Watch out for misleading scores that result from poorly designed criteria weightings.

    Related Info-Tech Research

    Build an Application Rationalization Framework

    Manage your application portfolio to minimize risk and maximize value.

    Embrace Business-Managed Applications

    Empower the business to implement their own applications with a trusted business-IT relationship.

    Satisfy Digital End Users With Low- and No-Code

    Extend IT, automation, and digital capabilities to the business with the right tools, good governance, and trusted organizational relationships.

    Maximize the Benefits from Enterprise Applications with a Center of Excellence

    Optimize your organization’s enterprise application capabilities with a refined and scalable methodology.

    Drive Successful Sourcing Outcomes With a Robust RFP Process

    Leverage your vendor sourcing process to get better results.

    Research Authors

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

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

    Darin is a Principal Research Advisor within the Infrastructure practice, leveraging 38+ years of experience. His areas of focus include IT operations management, service desk, infrastructure outsourcing, managed services, cloud infrastructure, DRP/BCP, printer management, managed print services, application performance monitoring, managed FTP, and non-commodity servers (zSeries, mainframe, IBM i, AIX, Power PC).

    Troy Cheeseman, Practice Lead, Info-Tech Research Group

    Troy Cheeseman, Practice Lead,
    Info-Tech Research Group

    Troy has over 24 years of experience and has championed large enterprise-wide technology transformation programs, remote/home office collaboration and remote work strategies, BCP, IT DRP, IT operations and expense management programs, international right placement initiatives, and large technology transformation initiatives (M&A). Additionally, he has deep experience working with IT solution providers and technology (cloud) startups.

    Research Contributors

    Rob Salerno, Founder & CTO, Rivit Technology Partners

    Rob Salerno, Founder & CTO, Rivit Technology Partners

    Rob is the Founder and Chief Technology Strategist for Rivit Technology Partners. Rivit is a system integrator that delivers unique IT solutions. Rivit is known for its REVIVE migration strategy which helps companies leave legacy platforms (such as Domino) or move between versions of software. Rivit is the developer of the DCOM Application Archiving solution.

    Bibliography

    Cheshire, Nigel. “Domino v12 Launch Keeps HCL Product Strategy On Track.” Team Studio, 19 July 2021. Web.

    “Is LowCode/NoCode the best platform for you?” Rivit Technology Partners, 15 July 2021. Web.

    McCracken, Harry. “Lotus: Farewell to a Once-Great Tech Brand.” TIME, 20 Nov. 2012. Web.

    Sharwood, Simon. “Lotus Notes refuses to die, again, as HCL debuts Domino 12.” The Register, 8 June 2021. Web.

    Woodie, Alex. “Domino 12 Comes to IBM i.” IT Jungle, 16 Aug. 2021. Web.

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    Build Your Enterprise Innovation Program

    • Buy Link or Shortcode: {j2store}104|cart{/j2store}
    • member rating overall impact: 10.0/10 Overall Impact
    • member rating average dollars saved: $100,000 Average $ Saved
    • member rating average days saved: 10 Average Days Saved
    • Parent Category Name: Innovation
    • Parent Category Link: /innovation
    • You don’t know where to start when it comes to building an innovation program for your organization.
    • You need to create a culture of innovation in your business, department, or team.
    • Past innovation efforts have been met with resistance and cynicism.
    • You don’t know what processes you need to support business-led innovation.

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    Innovation is about people, not ideas or processes. Innovation does not require a formal process, a dedicated innovation team, or a large budget; the most important success factor for innovation is culture. Companies that facilitate innovative behaviors like growth mindset, collaboration, and taking smart risks are most likely to see the benefits of innovation.

    Impact and Result

    • Outperform your peers by 30% by adopting an innovative approach to your business.
    • Move quickly to launch your innovation practice and beat the competition.
    • Develop the skills and capabilities you need to sustain innovation over the long term.

    Build Your Enterprise Innovation Program Research & Tools

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

    1. Build Your Enterprise Innovation Program Storyboard – A step-by-step process to create the innovation culture, processes, and tools you need for business-led innovation.

    This storyboard includes three phases and nine activities that will help you define your purpose, align your people, and build your practice.

    • Build Your Enterprise Innovation Program – Phases 1-3

    2. Innovation Program Template – An executive communication deck summarizing the outputs from this research.

    Use this template in conjunction with the activities in the main storyboard to create and communicate your innovation program. This template uses sample data from a fictional retailer, Acme Corp, to illustrate an ideal innovation program summary.

    • Innovation Program Template

    3. Job Description – Chief Innovation Officer

    This job description can be used to hire your Chief Innovation Officer. There are many other job descriptions available on the Info-Tech website and referenced within the storyboard.

    • Chief Innovation Officer

    4. Innovation Ideation Session Template – Use this template to facilitate innovation sessions with the business.

    Use this framework to facilitate an ideation session with members of the business. Instructions for how to customize the information and facilitate each section is included within the deck.

    • Innovation Ideation Session Template

    5. Initiative Prioritization Workbook – Use this spreadsheet template to easily and transparently prioritize initiatives for pilot.

    This spreadsheet provides an analytical and transparent method to prioritize initiatives based on weighted criteria relevant to your business.

    • Initiative Prioritization Workbook

    Infographic

    Workshop: Build Your Enterprise Innovation Program

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

    1 Define Your Ambitions

    The Purpose

    Define your innovation ambitions.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Gain a better understanding of why you are innovating and what your organization will gain from an innovation program.

    Activities

    1.1 Understand your innovation mandate.

    1.2 Define your innovation ambitions.

    1.3 Determine value proposition & metrics.

    Outputs

    Complete the "Our purpose" section of the Innovation Program Template

    Complete "Vision and guiding principles" section

    Complete "Scope and value proposition" section

    Success metrics

    2 Align Your People

    The Purpose

    Build a culture, operating model, and team that support innovation.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Develop a plan to address culture gaps and identify and implement your operating model.

    Activities

    2.1 Foster a culture of innovation.

    2.2 Define your operating model.

    Outputs

    Complete "Building an innovative culture" section

    Complete "Operating model" section

    3 Develop Your Capabilities

    The Purpose

    Create the capability to facilitate innovation.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Create a resourcing plan and prioritization templates to make your innovation program successful.

    Activities

    3.1 Build core innovation capabilities.

    3.2 Develop prioritization criteria.

    Outputs

    Team structure and resourcing requirements

    Prioritization spreadsheet template

    4 Build Your Program

    The Purpose

    Finalize your program and complete the final deliverable.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Walk away with a complete plan for your innovation program.

    Activities

    4.1 Define your methodology to pilot projects.

    4.2 Conduct a program retrospective.

    Outputs

    Complete "Operating model" section in the template

    Notable wins and goals

    Further reading

    Build Your Enterprise Innovation Program

    Transform your business by adopting the culture and practices that drive innovation.

    Analyst Perspective

    Innovation is not about ideas, it's about people.

    Many organizations stumble when implementing innovation programs. Innovation is challenging to get right, and even more challenging to sustain over the long term.

    One of the common stumbling blocks we see comes from organizations focusing more on the ideas and the process than on the culture and the people needed to make innovation a way of life. However, the most successful innovators are the ones which have adopted a culture of innovation and reinforce innovative behaviors across their organization. Organizational cultures which promote growth mindset, trust, collaboration, learning, and a willingness to fail are much more likely to produce successful innovators.

    This research is not just about culture, but culture is the starting point for innovation. My hope is that organizations will go beyond the processes and methodologies laid out here and use this research to dramatically improve their organization's performance.

    Kim Rodriguez

    Kim Osborne Rodriguez
    Research Director, CIO Advisory
    Info-Tech Research Group

    Executive Summary

    Your Challenge

    As a leader in your organization, you need to:

    • Understand your organization's innovation goals.
    • Create an innovation program or structure.
    • Develop a culture of innovation across your team or organization.
    • Demonstrate an ability to innovate and grow the business.

    Common Obstacles

    In the past, you might have experienced one or more of the following:

    • Innovation initiatives lose momentum.
    • Cynicism and distrust hamper innovation.
    • Innovation efforts are unfocused or don't provide the anticipated value.
    • Bureaucracy has created a bottleneck that stifles innovation.

    Info-Tech's Approach

    This blueprint will help you:

    • Understand the different types of innovation.
    • Develop a clear vision, scope, and focus.
    • Create organizational culture and behaviors aligned with your innovation ambitions.
    • Adopt an operational model and methodologies best suited for your culture, goals, and budget.
    • Successfully run a pilot program.

    Info-Tech Insight

    There is no single right way to approach innovation. Begin with an understanding of your innovation ambitions, your existing culture, and the resources available to you, then adopt the innovation operating model that is best suited to your situation.

    Note: This research is written for the individual who is leading the development of the innovation. This role is referred to as the Chief Innovation Officer (CINO) throughout this research but could be the CIO, CTO, IT director, or another business leader.

    Why is innovation so challenging?

    Most organizations want to be innovative, but very few succeed.

    • Bureaucracy slows innovation: Innovation requires speed – it is important to fail fast and early so you can iterate to improve the final solution. Small, agile organizations like startups tend to be more risk tolerant and can move more quickly to iterate on new ideas compared to larger organizations.
    • Change is uncomfortable: Most people are profoundly uncomfortable with failure, risk, and unknowns – three critical components of innovation. Humans are wired to think efficiently rather than innovatively, which leads to confirmation bias and lack of ingenuity.
    • You will likely fail: Innovation initiatives rarely succeed on the first try – Harvard Business Review estimates between 70% and 90% of innovation efforts fail. Organizations which are more tolerant of failure tend to be significantly more innovative than those which are not (Review of Financial Studies, 2014).

    Based on a survey of global innovation trends and practices:

    75%

    Three-quarters of companies say innovation is a top-three priority.
    Source: BCG, 2021

    30%

    But only 30% of executives say their organizations are doing it well.
    Source: BCG, 2019

    The biggest obstacles to innovation are cultural

    The biggest obstacles to innovation in large companies

    Based on a survey of 270 business leaders.
    Source: Harvard Business Review, 2018

    A bar graph from the Harvard Business Review

    The most common challenges business leaders experience relate to people and culture. Success is based on people, not ideas.

    Politics, turf wars, and a lack of alignment: territorial departments, competition for resources, and unclear roles are holding back the innovation efforts of 55% of respondents.

    FIX IT
    Senior leadership needs to be clear on the innovation goals and how business units are expected to contribute to them.

    Cultural issues: many large companies have a culture that rewards operational excellence and disincentivizes risk. A history of failed innovation attempts may result in significant resistance to new change efforts.

    FIX IT
    Cultural change takes time. Ensure you are rewarding collaboration and risk-taking, and hire people with fresh new perspectives.

    Inability to act on signals crucial to the future of the business: only 18% of respondents indicated their organization was unaware of disruptions, but 42% said they struggled with acting on leading indicators of change.

    FIX IT
    Build the ability to quickly run pilots or partner with startups and incubators to test out new ideas without lengthy review and approval processes.
    Source: Harvard Business Review, 2018

    Build Your Enterprise Innovation Program

    Define your purpose, assess your culture, and build a practice that delivers true innovation.

    An image summarizing how to define your purpose, align your people, and Build your Practice.
    1 Source: Boston Consulting Group, 2021
    2 Source: Boston Consulting Group, 2019
    3 Source: Harvard Business Review, 2018

    Use this research to outperform your peers

    A seven-year review showed that the most innovative companies outperformed the market by upwards of 30%.

    A line graph showing the Normalized Market Capitalization for 2020.

    Innovators are defined as companies that were listed on Fast Company World's 50 Most Innovative Companies for 2+ years.

    Innovation is critical to business success.

    A 25-year study by Business Development Canada and Statistics Canada showed that innovation was more important to business success than management, human resources, marketing, or finance.

    Executive brief case study

    INDUSTRY: Healthcare
    SOURCE: Interview

    Culture is critical

    This Info-Tech member is a nonprofit, community-based mental health organization located in the US. It serves about 25,000 patients per year in community, school, and clinic settings.

    This organization takes its innovation culture very seriously and has developed methodologies to assess individual and team innovation readiness as well as innovation types, which it uses to determine everyone's role in the innovation process. These assessments look at knowledge of and trust in the organization, its innovation profile, and its openness to change. Innovation enthusiasts are involved early in the process when it's important to dream big, while more pragmatic perspectives are incorporated later to improve the final solution.

    Results

    The organization has developed many innovative approaches to delivering healthcare. Notably, they have reimagined patient scheduling and reduced wait times to the extent that some patients can be seen the same day. They are also working to improve access to mental health care despite a shortage of professionals.

    Developing an Innovative Culture

    • Innovation Readiness Assessment
    • Coaching Specific to Innovation Profile
    • Innovation Enthusiasts Involved Early
    • Innovation Pragmatists Involved Later
    • High Success Rate of Innovation

    Define innovation roles and responsibilities

    A table showing key innovation roles and responsibilities.

    Info-Tech's methodology for building your enterprise innovation program

    1. Define Your Purpose

    2. Align Your People

    3. Build Your Practice

    Phase Steps

    1. Understand your mandate
    2. Define your innovation ambitions
    3. Determine value proposition and metrics
    1. Foster a culture of innovation
    2. Define your operating model
    3. Build core innovation capabilities
    1. Build your ideation and prioritization methodologies
    2. Define your pilot project methodology
    3. Conduct a program retrospective

    Phase Outcomes

    Understand where the mandate for innovation comes from, and what the drivers are for pursuing innovation. Define what innovation means to your organization, and set the vision, mission, and guiding principles. Articulate the value proposition and key metrics for measuring success.

    Understand what it takes to build an innovative culture, and what types of innovation structure are most suited to your innovation goals. Define an innovation methodology and build your core innovation capabilities and team.

    Gather ideas and understand how to assess and prioritize initiatives based on standardized metrics. Develop criteria for tracking and measuring the success of pilot projects and conduct a program retrospective.

    Innovation program taxonomy

    This research uses the following common terms:

    Innovation Operating Model
    The operating model describes how the innovation program delivers value to the organization, including how the program is structured, the steps from idea generation to enterprise launch, and the methodologies used.
    Examples: Innovation Hub, Grassroots Innovation.

    Innovation Methodology
    Methodologies describe the ways the operating model is carried out, and the approaches used in the innovation practice.
    Examples: Design Thinking, Weighted Criteria Scoring

    Chief Innovation Officer
    This research is written for the person or team leading the innovation program – this might be a CINO, CIO, or other leader in the organization.

    Innovation Team
    The innovation team may vary depending on the operating model, but generally consists of the individuals involved in facilitating innovation across the organization. This may be, but does not have to be, a dedicated innovation department.

    Innovation Program
    The program for generating ideas, running pilot projects, and building a business case to implement across the enterprise.

    Pilot Project
    A way of testing and validating a specific concept in the real world through a minimum viable product or small-scale implementation. The pilot projects are part of the overall pilot program.

    Insight summary

    Innovation is about people, not ideas or processes
    Innovation does not require a formal process, a dedicated innovation team, or a large budget; the most important success factor for innovation is culture. Companies that facilitate innovative behaviors like growth mindset, collaboration, and the ability to take smart risk are most likely to see the benefits of innovation.

    Very few are doing innovation well
    Only 30% of companies consider themselves innovative, and there's a good reason: innovation involves unknowns, risk, and failure – three situations that people and organizations typically do their best to avoid. Counter this by removing the barriers to innovation.

    Culture is the greatest barrier to innovation
    In a survey of 270 business leaders, the top three most common obstacles were politics, turf wars, and alignment; culture issues; and inability to act on signals crucial to the business (Harvard Business Review, 2018). If you don't have a supportive culture, your ability to innovate will be significantly reduced.

    Innovation is a means to an end
    It is not the end itself. Don't get caught up in innovation for the sake of innovation – make sure you are getting the benefits from your investments. Measurable success factors are critical for maintaining the long-term success of your innovation engine.

    Tackle wicked problems
    Innovative approaches are better at solving complex problems than traditional practices. Organizations that prioritize innovation during a crisis tend to outperform their peers by over 30% and improve their market position (McKinsey, 2020).

    Innovate or die
    Innovation is critical to business growth. A 25-year study showed that innovation was more important to business success than management, human resources, marketing, or finance (Statistics Canada, 2006).

    Blueprint deliverables

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

    Sample Job Descriptions and Organization Charts

    Determine the skills, knowledge, and structure you need to make innovation happen.

    Sample Job Descriptions and Organization Charts

    Ideation Session Template

    Facilitate an ideation session with your staff to identify areas for innovation.

    Ideation Session Template

    Initiative Prioritization Workbook

    Evaluate ideas to identify those which are most likely to provide value.

    Prioritization Workbook

    Key deliverable:

    Enterprise Innovation Program Summary

    Communicate how you plan to innovate with a report summarizing the outputs from this research.

    Enterprise Innovation Program Summary

    Measure the value of this research

    US businesses spend over half a trillion dollars on innovation annually. What are they getting for it?

    • The top innovators(1) typically spend 5-15% of their budgets on innovation (including R&D).
    • This research helps organizations develop a successful innovation program, which delivers value to the organization in the form of new products, services, and methods.
    • Leverage this research to:
      • Get your innovation program off the ground quickly.
      • Increase internal knowledge and expertise.
      • Generate buy-in and excitement about innovation.
      • Develop the skills and capabilities you need to drive innovation over the long term.
      • Validate your innovation concept.
      • Streamline and integrate innovation across the organization.

    (1) based on BCG's 50 Most Innovative Companies 2022

    30%

    The most innovative companies outperform the market by 30%.
    Source: McKinsey & Company, 2020

    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 guided implementation (GI) on this topic look like?

    Phase 0 Phase 1 Phase 2 Phase 3 Finish

    Call #1: Scope requirements, objectives, and your specific challenges.

    Call #2: Understand your mandate.
    (Activity 1.1)

    Call #3: Innovation vision, guiding principles, value proposition, and scope.
    (Activities 1.2 and 1.3)

    Call #4: Foster a culture of innovation. (Activity 2.1)

    Call #5: Define your methodology. (Activity 2.2)

    Call #6: Build core innovation capabilities. (Activity 2.3)

    Call #7: Build your ideation and pilot programs. (Activities 3.1 and 3.2)

    Call #8: Identify success metrics and notable wins. (Activity 3.3)

    Call #9: Summarize results and plan next steps.

    A 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 three to six months.

    Workshop overview

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

    Session 1 Session 2 Session 3 Session 4

    Wrap Up

    Activities

    Define Your Ambitions

    Align Your People

    Develop Your Capabilities

    Build Your Program

    Next Steps and
    Wrap Up (offsite)

    1. Understand your innovation mandate (complete activity prior to workshop)
    2. Define your innovation ambitions
    3. Determine value proposition and metrics
    1. Foster a culture of innovation
    2. Define your operating model
    1. Build core innovation capabilities
    2. Develop prioritization criteria
    1. Define your methodology to pilot projects
    2. Conduct a program retrospective
    1. Complete in-progress deliverables from previous four days
    2. Set up review time for workshop deliverables and to discuss next steps

    Deliverables

    1. Our purpose
    2. Message from the CEO
    3. Vision and guiding principles
    4. Scope and value proposition
    5. Success metrics
    1. Building an innovative culture
    2. Operating model
    1. Core capabilities and structure
    2. Idea evaluation prioritization criteria
    1. Program retrospective
    2. Notable wins
    3. Executive summary
    4. Next steps
    1. Completed enterprise innovation program
    2. An engaged and inspired team

    Phase 1: Define Your Purpose

    Develop a better understanding of the drivers for innovation and what success looks like.

    Purpose

    People

    Practice
    1. Understand your mandate
    2. Define your innovation ambitions
    3. Determine value proposition and metrics
    1. Foster a culture of innovation
    2. Define your operating model
    3. Build core innovation capabilities
    1. Build your ideation and prioritization methodologies
    2. Define your pilot project methodology
    3. Conduct a program retrospective

    This phase will walk you through the following activities:

    • Understand your innovation mandate, including its drivers, scope, and focus.
    • Define what innovation means to your organization.
    • Develop an innovation vision and guiding principles.
    • Articulate the value proposition and proposed metrics for evaluating program success.

    This phase involves the following participants:

    • CINO
    • Business executives

    Case study

    INDUSTRY: Transportation
    SOURCE: Interview

    ArcBest
    ArcBest is a multibillion-dollar shipping and logistics company which leverages innovative technologies to provide reliable and integrated services to its customers.

    An Innovative Culture Starts at the Top
    ArcBest's innovative culture has buy-in and support from the highest level of the company. Michael Newcity, ArcBest's CEO, is dedicated to finding better ways of serving their customers and supports innovation across the company by dedicating funding and resources toward piloting and scaling new initiatives.
    Having a clear purpose and mandate for innovation at all levels of the organization has resulted in extensive grassroots innovation and the development of a formalized innovation program.

    Results
    ArcBest has a legacy of innovation, going back to its early days when it developed a business intelligence solution before anything else existed on the market. It continues to innovate today and is now partnering with start-ups to further expand its innovation capabilities.

    "We don't micromanage or process-manage incremental innovation. We hire really smart people who are inspired to create new things and we let them run – let them create – and we celebrate it.
    Our dedication to innovation comes from the top – I am both the President and the Chief Innovation Officer, and innovation is one of my top priorities."

    Michael Newcity

    Michael Newcity
    President and Chief Innovation Officer ArcBest

    1.1 Understand your innovation mandate

    Before you can act, you need to understand the following:

    • Where is the drive for innovation coming from?
      The source of your mandate dictates the scope of your innovation practice – in general, innovating outside the scope of your mandate (i.e. trying to innovate on products when you don't have buy-in from the product team) will not be successful.
    • What is meant by "innovation"?
      There are many different definitions for innovation. Before pursuing innovation at your organization, you need to understand how it is defined. Use the definition in this section as a starting point, and craft your own definition of innovation.
    • What kind of innovation are you targeting?
      Innovation can be internal or external, emergent or deliberate, and incremental or radically transformative. Understanding what kind of innovation you want is the starting point for your innovation practice.

    The source of your mandate dictates the scope of your influence

    You can only influence what you can control.

    Unless your mandate comes from the CEO or Board of Directors, driving enterprise-wide innovation is very difficult. If you do not have buy-in from senior business leaders, use lighthouse projects and a smaller innovation practice to prove the value of innovation before taking on enterprise innovation.

    In order to execute on a mandate to build innovation, you don't just need buy-in. You need support in the form of resources and funding, as well as strong leadership who can influence culture and the authority to change policies and practices that inhibit innovation.

    For more resources on building relationships in your organization, refer to Info-Tech's Become a Transformational CIO blueprint.

    What is "innovation"?

    Innovation is often easier to recognize than define.

    Align on a useful definition of innovation for your organization before you embark on a journey of becoming more innovative.

    Innovation is the practice of developing new methods, products or services which provide value to an organization.

    Practice
    This does not have to be a formal process – innovation is a means to an end, not the end itself.

    New
    What does "new" mean to you?

    • New application of an existing method
    • Developing a completely original product
    • Adopting a service from another industry

    Value
    What does value mean to you? Look to your business strategy to understand what goals the organization is trying to achieve, then determine how "value" will be measured.

    Info-Tech Insight

    Some innovations are incremental, while some are radically transformative. Decide what kind of innovation you want to cultivate before developing your strategy.

    We can categorize innovation in three ways

    Evaluate your goals with respect to innovation: focus, strategy, and potential to transform.

    Focus: Where will you innovate?

    Focus

    Strategy: To what extent will you guide innovation efforts?

    Strategy

    Potential: How radical will your innovations be?

    Potential

    What are your ambitions?

    1. Develop a better understanding of what type of innovation you are trying to achieve by plotting out your goals on the categories on the left.
    2. All categories are independent of one another, so your goals may fall anywhere on the scales for each category.
    3. Understanding your innovation ambitions helps establish the operating model best suited for your innovation practice.
    4. In general, innovation which is more external, deliberate, and radical tends to be more centralized.

    Activity 1.1 Understand your innovation mandate

    1 hour

    1. Schedule a 30-minute discussion with the person (i.e. CEO) or group (i.e. Board of Directors) ultimately requesting the shift toward innovation. If there is no external party, then conduct this assessment yourself.
    2. Facilitate a discussion that addresses the following questions:
    • What is meant by "innovation"?
    • What are they hoping to achieve through innovation?
    • What is the innovation scope? Are any areas off-limits (i.e. org structure, new products, certain markets)?
    • What is the budget (i.e. people, money) they are willing to commit to innovation?
    • What type of innovation are they pursuing?
    1. Record this information and complete the "Our Purpose" section of the Innovation Program Template.

    Download the Innovation Program Template.

    Input

    • Knowledge of the key decision maker/sponsor for innovation

    Output

    • Understanding of the mandate for innovation, including definition, value, scope, budget, and type of innovation

    Materials

    • Innovation Program Template

    Participants

    • CINO
    • CEO, CTO, or Board of Directors (whoever is requesting/sponsoring the pursuit of innovation)

    1.2 Define your innovation ambitions

    Articulate your future state through a vision and guiding principles.

    • Vision and purpose make up the foundation on which all other design aspects will be based. These aspects should not be taken lightly, but rather they should be the force that aligns everyone to work toward a common outcome. It is incumbent on leaders to make them part of the DNA of the organization – to drive organization, structure, culture, and talent strategy.
    • Your vision statement is a future-focused statement that summarizes what you hope to achieve. It should be inspirational, ambitious, and concise.
    • Your guiding principles outline the guardrails for your innovation practice. What will your focus be? How will you approach innovation? What is off-limits?
    • Define the scope and focus for your innovation efforts. This includes what you can innovate on and what is off limits.

    Your vision statement is your North Star

    Articulate an ambitious, inspirational, and concise vision statement for your innovation efforts.

    A strong vision statement:

    • Is future-focused and outlines what you want to become and what you want to achieve.
    • Provides focus and direction.
    • Is ambitious, focused, and concise.
    • Answers: What problems are we solving? Who and what are we changing?

    Examples:

    • "We create radical new technologies to solve some of the world's hardest problems." – Google X, the Moonshot Factory
    • "To be the most innovative enterprise in the world." – 3M
    • "To use our imagination to bring happiness to millions of people." – Disney

    "Good business leaders create a vision, articulate the vision, passionately own the vision, and relentlessly drive it to completion." – Jack Welch, Former Chairman and CEO of GE

    Your guiding principles are the guardrails for creativity

    Strong guiding principles give your team the freedom and direction to innovate.

    Strong guiding principles:

    • Focus on the approach, i.e. how things are done, as opposed to what needs to be done.
    • Are specific to the organization.
    • Inform and direct decision making with actionable statements. Avoid truisms, general statements, and observations.
    • Are long-lasting and based on values, not solutions.
    • Are succinct and easily digestible.
    • Can be measured and verified.
    • Answers: How do we approach innovation? What are our core values

    Craft your guiding principles using these examples

    Encourage experimentation and risk-taking
    Innovation often requires trying new things, even if they might fail. We encourage experimentation and learn from failure, so that new ideas can be tested and refined.

    Foster collaboration and cross-functional teams
    Innovation often comes from the intersection of different perspectives and skill sets.

    Customer-centric
    Focus on creating value for the end user. This means understanding their needs and pain points, and using that knowledge to develop new methods, products, or services.

    Embrace diversity and inclusivity
    Innovation comes from a variety of perspectives, backgrounds, and experiences. We actively seek out and encourage diversity and inclusivity among our team members.

    Foster a culture of learning and continuous improvement
    Innovation requires continuous learning, development, and growth. We facilitate a culture that encourages learning and development, and that seeks feedback and uses it to improve.

    Flexible and adaptable
    We adapt to changes in the market, customer needs, and new technologies, so that it can continue to innovate and create value over time.

    Data-driven
    We use performance metrics and data to guide our innovation efforts.

    Transparency
    We are open and transparent in our processes and let the business needs guide our innovation efforts. We do not lead innovation, we facilitate it.

    Activity 1.2 Craft your vision statement and guiding principles

    1-2 hours

    1. Gather your innovation team and key program sponsors. Review the guidelines for creating vision statements and guiding principles, as well as your mandate and focus for innovation.
    2. As a group, discuss what you hope to achieve through your innovation efforts.
    3. Separately, have each person write down their ideas for a vision statement. Bring the group back together and share ideas. Group the concepts together and construct a single statement which outlines your aspirational vision.
    4. As a group, review the example guiding principles.
    5. Separately, have each person write down three to five guiding principles. Bring the group back together and share ideas. Group similar concepts together and consolidate duplicate ideas. From this list, construct six to eight guiding principles.
    6. Document your vision and guiding principles in the appropriate sections of the Innovation Program Template.

    Input

    • Understanding of your innovation mandate
    • Business vision, mission, and values
    • Sample vision statements and guiding principles

    Output

    • Vision statement
    • Guiding principles

    Materials

    • In person: Whiteboard/flip charts, sticky notes, pens, and notepads
    • Virtual: Consider using a shared document, virtual whiteboard, or online facilitation tool like MURAL
    • Innovation Program Template

    Participants

    • CINO
    • Innovation sponsors
    • Business leaders
    • Innovation team

    1.3 Determine your value proposition and metrics

    Justify the existence of the innovation program with a strong value proposition.

    • The value proposition for developing an innovation program will be different for each organization, depending on what the organization hopes to achieve. Consider your mandate for innovation as well as the type of innovation you are pursuing when crafting the value proposition.
    • Some of the reasons organizations may pursue innovation:
      • Business growth: Respond to market disruption; create new customers; take advantage of opportunities.
      • Branding: Create market differentiation; increase customer satisfaction and retention; adapt to customer needs.
      • Profitability: Improve products, services, or operations to increase competitiveness and profitability; develop more efficient processes.
      • Culture: Foster a culture of creativity and experimentation within the organization, encouraging employees to think outside the box.
      • Positive impact: Address social challenges such as poverty and climate change.

    Develop a strong value proposition for your innovation program

    Demonstrate the value to the business.

    A strong value proposition not only articulates the value that the business will derive from the innovation program but also provides a clear focus, helps to communicate the innovation goals, and ultimately drives the success of the program.

    Focus
    Prioritize and focus innovation efforts to create solutions that provide real value to the organization

    Communicate
    Communicate the mandate and benefits of innovation in a clear and compelling way and inspire people to think differently

    Measure Success
    Measure the success of your program by evaluating outcomes based on the value proposition

    Track appropriate success metrics for your innovation program

    Your success metrics should link back to your organizational goals and your innovation program's value proposition.

    Revenue Growth: Increase in revenue generated by new products or services.

    Market Share: Percentage of total market that the business captures as a result of innovation.

    Customer Satisfaction: Reviews, customer surveys, or willingness to recommend the company.

    Employee Engagement: Engagement surveys, performance, employee retention, or turnover.

    Innovation Output: The number of new products, services, or processes that have been developed.

    Return on Investment: Financial return on the resources invested in the innovation process.

    Social Impact: Number of people positively impacted, net reduction in emissions, etc.

    Time to Launch: The time it takes for a new product or service to go from idea to launch.

    Info-Tech Insight

    The total impact of innovation is often intangible and extremely difficult to capture in performance metrics. Focus on developing a few key metrics rather than trying to capture the full value of innovation.

    How much does innovation cost?

    Company Industry Revenue(2)
    (USD billions)     		R&D Spend
    (USD billions)     		R&D Spend
    (% of revenue)
    Apple Technology $394.30 $26.25 6.70%
    Microsoft Technology $203.10 $25.54 12.50%
    Amazon.com Retail $502.20 $67.71 13.40%
    Alphabet Technology $282.10 $37.94 13.40%
    Tesla Manufacturing $74.90 $3.01 4.00%
    Samsung Technology $244.39 (2021)(3) $19.0 (2021) 7.90%
    Moderna Pharmaceuticals $23.39 $2.73 11.70%
    Huawei Technology $99.9 (2021)4 Not reported -
    Sony Technology $83.80 Not reported -
    IBM Technology $60.50 $1.61 2.70%
    Meta Software $118.10 $32.61 27.60%
    Nike Commercial goods $49.10 Not reported -
    Walmart Retail $600.10 Not reported -
    Dell Technology $105.30 $2.60 2.50%
    Nvidia Technology $28.60 $6.85 23.90%


    The top innovators(1) in the world spend 5% to 15% of their revenue on innovation.

    Innovation requires a dedicated investment of time, money, and resources in order to be successful. The most innovative companies, based on Boston Consulting Group's ranking of the 50 most innovative companies in the world, spend significant portions of their revenue on research and development.

    Note: This data uses research and development as a proxy for innovation spending, which may overestimate the total spend on what this research considers true innovation.

    (1) Based on Boston Consulting Group's ranking of the 50 most innovative companies in the world, 2022
    (2) Macrotrends, based on the 12 months ending Sept 30, 2022
    (3) Statista
    (4) CNBC, 2022

    Activity 1.3 Develop your value proposition and performance metrics

    1 hour

    1. Review your mandate and vision statement. Write down your innovation goals and desired outcomes from pursuing innovation, prioritize the desired outcomes, and select the top five.
    2. For each desired outcome, develop one to two metrics which could be used to track its success. Some outcomes are difficult to track, so get creative when it comes to developing metrics. If you get stuck, think about what would differentiate a great outcome from an unsuccessful one.
    3. Once you have developed a list of three to five key metrics, read over the list and ensure that the metrics you have developed don't negatively influence your innovation. For example, a metric of the number of successful launches may drive people toward launching before a product is ready.
    4. For each metric, develop a goal. For example, you may target 1% revenue growth over the next fiscal year or 20% energy use reduction.
    5. Document your value proposition and key performance metrics in the appropriate sections of the Innovation Program Template.

    Input

    • Understanding of your innovation mandate
    • Vision statement

    Output

    • Value proposition
    • Performance metrics

    Materials

    • Innovation Program Template

    Participants

    • CINO

    Phase 2: Align Your People

    Create a culture that fosters innovative behaviors and puts processes in place to support them.

    Purpose

    People

    Practice

    1. Understand your mandate
    2. Define your innovation ambitions
    3. Determine value proposition and metrics
    1. Foster a culture of innovation
    2. Define your operating model
    3. Build core innovation capabilities
    1. Build your ideation and prioritization methodologies
    2. Define your pilot project methodology
    3. Conduct a program retrospective

    This phase will walk you through the following activities:

    • Understand the key aspects of innovative cultures, and the behaviors associated with innovation.
    • Assess your culture and identify gaps.
    • Define your innovation operating model based on your organizational culture and the focus for innovation.
    • Build your core innovation capabilities, including an innovation core team (if required based on your operating model).

    This phase involves the following participants:

    • CINO
    • Innovation team

    2.1 Foster a culture of innovation

    Culture is the most important driver of innovation – and the most challenging to get right.

    • Fostering a culture of innovation requires a broad approach which considers the perspectives of individuals, teams, leadership, and the overall organization.
    • If you do not have support from leadership, it is very difficult to change organizational culture. It may be more effective to start with an innovation pilot or lighthouse project in order to gain support before addressing your culture.
    • Rather than looking to change outcomes, focus on the behaviors which lead to innovation – such as growth mindset and willingness to fail. If these aren't in place, your ability to innovate will be limited.
    • This section focuses on the specific behaviors associated with increased innovation. For additional resources on implementing these changes, refer to Info-Tech's other research:

    Info-Tech's Fix Your IT Culture can help you promote innovative behaviors

    Refer to Improve IT Team Effectiveness to address team challenges

    Build a culture of innovation

    Focus on behaviors, not outcomes.

    The following behaviors and key indicators either stifle or foster innovation.

    Stifles Innovation Key Indicators Fosters Innovation Key Indicators
    Fixed mindset "It is what it is" Growth mindset "I wonder if there's a better way"
    Performance focused "It's working fine" Learning focused "What can we learn from this?"
    Fear of reprisal "I'll get in trouble" Psychological safety "I can disagree"
    Apathy "We've always done it this way" Curiosity "I wonder what would happen if…"
    Cynicism "It will never work" Trust "You have good judgement"
    Punishing failure "Who did this?" Willingness to fail "It's okay to make mistakes"
    Individualism "How does this benefit me?" Collaboration "How does this benefit us?"
    Homogeneity "We never disagree" Diversity and inclusion "We appreciate different views"
    Excessive bureaucracy "We need approval" Autonomy "I can do this"
    Risk avoidance "We can't try that" Appropriate risk-taking "How can we do this safely?"

    Ensure you are not inadvertently stifling innovation.
    Review the following to ensure that the desired behaviors are promoted:

    • Hiring practices
    • Performance evaluation metrics
    • Rewards and incentives
    • Corporate policies
    • Governance structures
    • Leadership behavior

    Case study

    INDUSTRY: Commercial Real Estate and Retail
    SOURCE: Interview

    How not to approach innovation.

    This anonymous national organization owned commercial properties across the country and had the goal of becoming the most innovative real estate and retail company in the market.

    The organization pursued innovation in the digital solutions space across its commercial and retail properties. Within this space, there were significant differences in risk tolerance across teams, which resulted in the more risk-tolerant teams excluding the risk-averse members from discussions in order to circumvent corporate policies on risk tolerance. This resulted in an adversarial and siloed culture where each group believed they knew better than the other, and the more risk-averse teams felt like they were policing the actions of the risk-tolerant group.

    Results

    Morale plummeted, and many of the organization's top people left. Unfortunately, one of the solutions did not meet regulatory requirements, and the company faced negative media coverage and legal action. There was significant reputational damage as a result.

    Lessons Learned

    Considering differences in risk tolerance and risk appetite is critical when pursuing innovation. While everyone doesn't have to agree, leadership needs to understand the different perspectives and ensure that no one party is dominating the conversation over the others. An understanding of corporate risk tolerance and risk appetite is necessary to drive innovation.

    All perspectives have a place in innovation. More risk tolerant perspectives should be involved early in the ideas-generation phase, and risk-averse perspectives should be considered later when ideas are being refined.

    Speed should not override safety or circumvent corporate policies.

    Understand your risk tolerance and risk appetite

    Evaluate and align the appetite for risk.

    • It is important to understand the organization's risk tolerance as well as the desire for risk. Consider the following risk categories when investigating the organization's views on risk:
      • Financial risk: the potential for financial or property loss.
      • Operational risk: the potential for disruptions to operations.
      • Reputational risk: the potential for negative impact to brand or reputation.
      • Compliance risk: the potential for loss due to non-compliance with laws and regulations.
    • Greater risk tolerance typically enables greater innovation. Understand the varying levels of risk tolerance across your organization, and how these differences might impact innovation efforts.

    An arrow showing the directions of risk tolerance.

    It is more important to match the level of risk tolerance to the degree of innovation required. Not all innovation needs to be (or can feasibly be) disruptive.
    Many factors impact risk tolerance including:

    • Regulation
    • Organization size
    • Country
    • Industry
    • Personal experience
    • Type of risk

    Use Info-Tech's Security Risk Management research to better understand risk tolerance

    Activity 2.1 Assess your innovation culture

    1-3 hours

    1. Review the behaviors which support and stifle innovation and give each behavior a score from 1 (stifling innovation) to 5 (fostering innovation). Any behaviors which fall below a 4 on this scale should be prioritized in your efforts to create an innovative culture.
    2. Review the following policies and practices to determine how they may be contributing to the behaviors you see in your organization:
      1. Hiring practices
      2. Performance evaluation metrics
      3. Rewards, recognition, and incentives
      4. Corporate policies
      5. Governance structures
      6. Leadership behavior
    3. Identify three concrete actions you can take to correct any behaviors which are stifling innovation. Examples might be revising a policy which punishes failure or changing performance incentives to reward appropriate risk taking.
    4. Summarize your findings in the appropriate section of the Innovation Program Template.

    Input

    • Innovation behaviors

    Output

    • Understanding of your organization's culture
    • Concrete actions you can take to promote innovation

    Materials

    • List of innovative behaviors
    • Relevant policies and documents to review
    • Innovation Program Template

    Participants

    • CINO

    2.2 Define your innovation model

    Set up your innovation practice for success using proven models and methodologies.

    • There are many ways to approach innovation, from highly distributed forms where it's just part of everyone's job to very centralized and arm's-length innovation hubs or even outsourced innovation via startups. You can combine different approaches to create your own approach.
    • You may or may not have a formal innovation team, but if you do, their role is to facilitate innovation – not lead it. Innovation is most effective when it is led by the business.
    • There are many tools and methodologies you can use to facilitate innovation. Choose the one (or combination) that best suits your needs.

    Select the right model

    There is no one right way to pursue innovation, but some methods are better than others for specific situations and goals. Consider your existing culture, your innovation goals, and your budget when selecting the right methodology for your innovation.

    Model Description Advantages Disadvantages Good when…
    Grassroots Innovation Innovation is the responsibility of everyone, and there is no centralized innovation team. Ideas are piloted and scaled by the person/team which produces it.
    • Can be used in any organization or team
    • Can support low or high degree of structure
    • Low funding requirement
    • Requires a strong innovation culture
    • Often does not produce results since people don't have time to focus on innovation
    • Innovation culture is strong
    • Funding is limited
    • Goal is internal, incremental innovation
    Community of Practice Innovation is led by a cross-divisional Community of Practice (CoP) which includes representation from across the business. Champions consult with their practice areas and bring ideas forward.
    • Bringing people together can help stimulate and share ideas
    • Low funding requirement
    • Able to support many types of innovation
    • Some people may feel left out if they can't be involved
    • May not produce results if people are too busy to dedicate time to innovate
    • Innovation culture is present
    • Funding is limited
    • Goal is incremental or disruptive innovation
    Innovation Enablement
    *Most often recommended*     		A dedicated innovation team with funding set aside to support pilots with a high degree of autonomy, with the role of facilitating business-led innovation.
    • Most flexible of all options
    • Supports business-led innovation
    • Can deliver results quickly
    • Can enable a higher degree of innovation
    • Requires dedicated staff and funding
    • Innovation culture is present
    • Funding is available
    • Goal is internal or external, incremental or radical innovation
    Center of Excellence Dedicated team responsible for leading innovation on behalf of the organization. Generally, has business relationship managers who gather ideas and liaise with the business.
    • Can deliver results quickly
    • Can offer a fresh perspective
    • Can enable a higher degree of innovation
    • Requires dedicated staff and funding
    • Is typically separate from the business
    • Results may not align with the business needs or have adequate input
    • Innovation culture is weak
    • Funding is significant
    • Goal is external, disruptive innovation
    Innovation Hub An arm's length innovation team is responsible for all or much of the innovation and may not interact much with the core business.
    • Can deliver results quickly
    • Can be extremely innovative
    • Expensive
    • Results may not align with the business needs or have adequate/any input
    • Innovation culture is weak
    • Funding is very significant
    • Goal is external, radical innovation
    Outsourced Innovation Innovation is outsourced to an external organization which is not linked to the primary organization. This can take the form of working with or investing in startups.
    • Can lead to more innovative ideas than internal innovation
    • Investments can become a diverse revenue stream if startups are successful
    • Innovation does not rely on culture
    • Higher risk of failure
    • Less control over goals or focus
    • Results may not align with the business needs or have any input from users
    • Innovation does not rely on culture
    • Funding is significant
    • Goal is external or internal, radical innovation

    Use the right methodologies to support different stages of your innovation process

    A chart showing methodologies to support different stages of the integration process.

    Adapted from Niklaus Gerber via Medium, 2022

    Methodologies are most useful when they are aligned with the goals of the innovation organization.

    For example, design thinking tends to be excellent for earlier innovation planning, while Agile can allow for faster implementation and launch of initiatives later in the process.

    Consider combining two or more methodologies to create a custom approach that best suits your organization's capabilities and goals.

    Sample methodologies

    A robust innovation methodology ensures that the process for developing, prioritizing, selecting, implementing, and measuring initiatives is aligned with the results you are hoping to achieve.

    Different types of problems (drivers for innovation) may necessitate different methodologies, or a combination of methodologies.

    Hackathon: An event which brings people together to solve a well-defined problem.

    Design Thinking: Creative approach that focuses on understanding the needs of users.

    Lean Startup: Emphasizes rapid experimentation in order to validate business hypotheses.

    Design Sprint: Five-day process for answering business questions via design, prototyping, and testing.

    Agile: Iterative design process that emphasizes project management and retrospectives.

    Three Horizons: Framework that looks at opportunities on three different time horizons.

    Innovation Ambition Matrix: Helps organizations categorize projects as part of the core offering, an adjacent offering, or completely new.

    Global Innovation Management: A process of identifying, developing and implementing new ideas, products, services, or processes using alternative thinking.

    Blue Ocean Strategy: A methodology that helps organizations identify untapped market space and create new markets via unique value propositions.

    Activity 2.2 Design your innovation model

    1-2 hours

    1. Think about the following factors which influence the design of your innovation practice:
      1. Existing organizational culture
      2. Available funding to support innovation
      3. Type of innovation you are targeting
    2. Review the innovation approaches, and identify which approach is most suitable for your situation. Note why this approach was selected.
    3. Review the innovation methodologies and research those of interest. Select two to five methodologies to use for your innovation practice.
    4. Document your decisions in the Innovation Program Template.

    Input

    • Understanding of your mandate and existing culture

    Output

    • Innovation approach
    • Selected methodologies

    Materials

    • Innovation Program Template

    Participants

    • CINO
    • Innovation team

    2.3 Build your core innovation capabilities

    Develop the skills, knowledge, and experience to facilitate successful innovation.

    • Depending on the approach you selected in step 2.2, you may or may not require a dedicated innovation team. If you do, use the job descriptions and sample organization charts to build it. If not, focus on developing key capabilities which are needed to facilitate innovation.
    • Diversity is key for successful innovation – ensure your team (formal or otherwise) includes diverse perspectives and backgrounds.
    • Use your guiding principles when hiring and training your team.
    • Focus on three core roles: evangelists, enablers, and experts.

    Focus on three key roles when building your innovation team

    Types of roles will depend on the purpose and size of the innovation team.

    You don't need to grow them all internally. Consider partnering with vendors and other organizations to build capabilities.

    Evangelists

    Visionaries who inspire, support, and facilitate innovation across the business. Their responsibilities are to drive the culture of innovation.

    Key skills and knowledge:

    • Strong communication skills
    • Relationship-building
    • Consensus-building
    • Collaboration
    • Growth mindset

    Sample titles:

    • CINO
    • Chief Transformation Officer
    • Chief Digital Officer
    • Innovation Lead
    • Business Relationship Manager

    Enablers

    Translate ideas into tangible business initiatives, including assisting with business cases and developing performance metrics.

    Key skills and knowledge:

    • Critical thinking skills
    • Business knowledge
    • Facilitation skills
    • Consensus-building
    • Relationship-building

    Sample titles:

    • Product Owner
    • Design Thinking Lead
    • Data Scientist
    • Business Analyst
    • Human Factors Engineer
    • Digital Marketing Specialist

    Experts

    Provide expertise in product design, delivery and management, and responsible for supporting and executing on pilot projects.

    Key skills and knowledge:

    • Project management skills
    • Technical expertise
    • Familiarity with emerging technologies
    • Analytical skills
    • Problem-solving skills

    Sample titles:

    • Product Manager
    • Scrum Master/Agile Coach
    • Product Engineer/DevOps
    • Product Designer
    • Emerging tech experts

    Sample innovation team structure (large enterprise)

    Visualize the whole value delivery process end-to-end to help identify the types of roles, resources, and capabilities required. These capabilities can be sourced internally (i.e. grow and hire internally) or through collaboration with centers of excellence, commercial partners, etc.

    A flow chart of a sample innovation team structure.

    Streamline your process by downloading Info-Tech's job description templates:

    Activity 2.3 Build your innovation team

    2-3 hours

    1. Review your work from the previous activities as well as the organizational structure and the job description templates.
    2. Start a list with two columns: currently have and needed. Start listing some of the key roles and capabilities from earlier in this step, categorizing them appropriately.
    3. If you are using an organizational structure for your innovation process, start to frame out the structure and roles for your team.
    4. Develop a list of roles you need to hire, and the key capabilities you need from candidates. Using the job descriptions, write job postings for each role.
    5. Record your work in the appropriate section of the Innovation Program Template.

    Input

    • Previous work
    • Info-Tech job description templates

    Output

    • List of capabilities required
    • Org chart
    • Job postings for required roles

    Materials

    • Note-taking capability
    • Innovation Program Template

    Participants

    • CINO

    Related Info-Tech Research

    Fix Your IT Culture

    • Promote psychological safety and growth mindset within your organization.
    • Develop the organizational behaviors that lead to innovation.

    Improve IT Team Effectiveness

    • Address behaviors, processes, and cultural factors which impact team effectiveness.
    • Grow the team's ability to address challenges and navigate volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous environments.

    Master Organizational Change Management Practices

    • Transformation and change are increasingly becoming the new normal. While this normality may help make people more open to change in general, specific changes still need to be planned, communicated, and managed. Agility and continuous improvement are good but can degenerate into volatility if change isn't managed properly.

    Phase 3: Build Your Practice

    Define your innovation process, streamline pilot projects, and scale for success.

    Purpose

    People

    Practice

    1. Understand your mandate
    2. Define your innovation ambitions
    3. Determine value proposition and metrics
    1. Foster a culture of innovation
    2. Define your operating model
    3. Build core innovation capabilities
    1. Build your ideation and prioritization methodologies
    2. Define your pilot project methodology
    3. Conduct a program retrospective

    This phase will walk you through the following activities:

    • Build the methodologies needed to elicit ideas from the business.
    • Develop criteria to evaluate and prioritize ideas for piloting.
    • Define your pilot program methodologies and processes, including criteria to assess and compare the success of pilot projects.
    • Conduct an end-of-year program retrospective to evaluate the success of your innovation program.

    This phase involves the following participants:

    • CINO
    • Innovation team

    Case study

    INDUSTRY: Government
    SOURCE: Interview

    Confidential US government agency

    The business applications group at this government agency strongly believes that innovation is key to progress and has instituted a formal innovation program as part of their agile operations. The group uses a Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) with 2-week sprints and a 12-week program cycle.

    To support innovation across the business unit, the last sprint of each cycle is dedicated toward innovation and teams do not commit to any other during these two weeks. At the end of each innovation sprint, ideas are presented to leadership and the valuable ones were either implemented initially or were given time in the next cycle of sprints for further development. This has resulted in a more innovative culture across the practice.

    Results

    There have been several successful innovations since this process began. Notably, the agency had previously purchased a robotic process automation platform which was only being used for a few specific applications. One team used their innovation sprint to expand the use cases for this solution and save nearly 10,000 hours of effort.

    Standard 12-week Program Cycle
    An image of a standard 12-week program

    Design your innovation operating model to maximize value and learning opportunities

    Pilots are an iterative process which brings together innovators and business teams to test and evaluate ideas.

    Your operating model should include several steps including ideation, validation, evaluation and prioritization, piloting, and a retrospective which follows the pilot. Use the example on this slide when designing your own innovation operating model.

    An image of the design process for innovation operation model.

    3.1 Build your ideation and prioritization methodologies

    Engage the business to generate ideas, then prioritize based on value to the business.

    • There are many ways of generating ideas, from informal discussion to formal ideation sessions or submission forms. Whatever you decide to use, make sure that you're getting the right information to evaluate ideas for prioritization.
    • Use quantitative and qualitative metrics to evaluate ideas generated during the ideation process.
      • Quantitative metrics might include potential return on investment (ROI) or effort and resources required to implement.
      • Qualitative metrics might include alignment with the organizational strategy or the level of risk associated with the idea.

    Engage the business to generate ideas

    There are many ways of generating innovative ideas. Pick the methods that best suit your organization and goals.

    Design Thinking
    A structured approach that encourages participants to think creatively about the needs of the end user.

    An image including the following words: Empathize, Define; Ideate; Test.

    Ideation Workshop
    A formal session that is used to understand a problem then generate potential solutions. Workshops can incorporate the other methodologies (such as brainstorming, design thinking, or mind mapping) to generate ideas.

    • Define the problem
    • Generate ideas
    • Capture ideas
    • Evaluate and prioritize
    • Assign next steps

    Crowdsourcing
    An informal method of gathering ideas from a large group of people. This can be a great way to generate many ideas but may lack focus.

    Value Proposition Canvas
    A visual tool which helps to identify customer (or user) needs and design products and services that meet those needs.

    an image of the Value Proposition Canvas

    Evaluate ideas and focus on those with the greatest value

    Evaluation should be transparent and use both quantitative and qualitative metrics. The exact metrics used will depend on your organization and goals.

    It is important to include qualitative metrics as these dimensions are better suited to evaluating highly innovative ideas and can capture important criteria like alignment with overall strategy and feasibility.

    Develop 5 to 10 criteria that you can use to evaluate and prioritize ideas. Some criteria may be a pass/fail (for example, minimum ROI) and some may be comparative.

    Evaluate
    The first step is to evaluate ideas to determine if they meet the minimum criteria. This might include quantitative criteria like ROI as well as qualitative criteria like strategic alignment and feasibility.

    Prioritize
    Ideas that pass the initial evaluation should be prioritized based on additional criteria which might include quantitative criteria such as potential market size and cost to implement, and qualitative criteria such as risk, impact, and creativity.

    Quantitative Metrics

    Quantitative metrics are objective and easily comparable between initiatives, providing a transparent and data-driven process for evaluation and prioritization.
    Examples:

    • Potential market size
    • ROI
    • Net present value
    • Payback period
    • Number of users impacted
    • Customer acquisition cost
    • Customer lifetime value
    • Breakeven analysis
    • Effort required to implement
    • Cost to implement

    Qualitative Metrics

    Qualitative metrics are less easily comparable but are equally important when it comes to evaluating ideas. These should be developed based on your organization strategy and innovation goals.
    Examples:

    • Strategy alignment
    • Impact on users
    • Uncertainty and risk
    • Innovation potential
    • Culture impact
    • Feasibility
    • Creativity and originality
    • Type of innovation

    Activity 3.1 Develop prioritization metrics

    1-3 hours

    1. Review your mandate, purpose, innovation goals and the sample prioritization and evaluation metrics.
    2. Write down a list of your goals and their associated metrics, then prioritize which are the most important.
    3. Determine which metrics will be used to evaluate ideas before they move on to the prioritization stage, and which metrics will be used to compare initiatives in order to determine which will receive further investment.
    4. For each evaluation metric, determine the minimum threshold required for an idea to move forward. For each prioritization metric identify the definition and how it will be evaluated. Qualitative metrics may require more precise definitions than quantitative metrics.
    5. Enter your metrics into the Initiative Prioritization Template.

    Input

    • Innovation mandate
    • Innovation goals
    • Sample metrics

    Output

    • Evaluation and prioritization metrics for ideas

    Materials

    • Whiteboard/Flip charts
    • Innovation Program Template

    Participants

    • Innovation leader

    Download the Initiative Prioritization Template

    3.2 Build your program to pilot initiatives

    Test and refine ideas through real-world pilot projects.

    • The purpose of your pilot is to test and refine ideas in the real world. In order to compare pilot projects, it's important to track key performance indicators throughout the pilot. Measurements should be useful and comparable.
    • Innovation facilitators are responsible for supporting pilot projects, including designing the pilot, setting up metrics, tracking outcomes, and facilitating retrospectives.
    • Pilots generally follow an Agile methodology where ideas may be refined as the pilot proceeds, and the process iterates until either the idea is discarded or it has been refined into an initiative which can be scaled.
    • Expect that most pilots will fail the first time, and many will fail completely. This is not a loss; lessons learned from the retrospective can be used to improve the process and later pilots.

    Use pilot projects to test and refine initiatives before scaling to the rest of the organization

    "Learning is as powerful as the outcome." – Brett Trelfa, CIO, Arkansas Blue Cross

    1. Clearly define the goals and objectives of the pilot project. Goals and objectives ensure that the pilot stays on track and can be measured.
    2. Your pilot group should include a variety of participants with diverse perspectives and skill sets, in order to gather unique insights.
    3. Continuously track the progress of the pilot project. Regularly identify areas of improvement and implement changes as necessary to refine ideas.
    4. Regularly elicit feedback from participants and iterate in order to improve the final innovation. Not all pilots will be successful, but every failure can help refine future solutions.
    5. Consider scalability. If the pilot project is successful, it should be scalable and the lessons learned should be implemented in the larger organization.

    Sample pilot metrics

    Metrics are used to validate and test pilot projects to ensure they deliver value. This is an important step before scaling to the rest of the organization.

    Adoption: How many end users have adopted the pilot solution?

    Utilization: Is the solution getting utilized?

    Support Requests: How many support requests have there been since the pilot was initiated?

    Value: Is the pilot delivering on the value that it proposed? For example, time savings.

    Feasibility: Has the feasibility of the solution changed since it was first proposed?

    Satisfaction: Focus groups or surveys can provide feedback on user/customer satisfaction.

    A/B Testing: Compare different methods, products or services.

    Info-Tech Insight

    Ensure standard core metrics are used across all pilot projects so that outcomes can be compared. Additional metrics may be used to refine and test hypotheses through the pilot process.

    Activity 3.2 Build your program to pilot initiatives

    1-2 hours

    1. Gather the innovation team and review your mandate, purpose, goals, and the sample innovation operating model and metrics.
    2. As a group, brainstorm the steps needed from idea generation to business case. Use sticky notes if in person, or a collaboration tool if remote.
    3. Determine the metrics that will be used to evaluate ideas at each decision step (for example, prior to piloting). Outline what the different decisions might be (for example, proceed, refine or discard) and what happens as a result of each decision.
    4. Document your final steps and metrics in the Innovation Program Template.

    Input

    • Innovation mandate
    • Innovation goals
    • Sample metrics

    Output

    • Pilot project methodology
    • Pilot project metrics

    Materials

    • Innovation Program Template
    • Sticky notes (in person) or digital collaboration tool (if remote)

    Participants

    • Innovation leader
    • Innovation team

    3.3 Conduct a program retrospective

    Generate value from your successful pilots by scaling ideas across the organization.

    • The final step in the innovation process is to scale ideas to the enterprise in order to realize the full potential.
    • Keeping track of notable wins is important for showing the value of the innovation program. Track performance of initiatives that come out of the innovation program, including their financial, cultural, market, and brand impacts.
    • Track the success of the innovation program itself by evaluating the number of ideas generated, the number of pilots run and the success of the pilots. Keep in mind that many failed pilots is not a failure of the program if the lessons learned were valuable.
    • Complete an innovation program retrospective every 6 to 12 months in order to adjust and make any changes if necessary to improve your process.

    Retrospectives should be objective, constructive, and action-oriented

    A retrospective is a review of your innovation program with the aim of identifying lessons learned, areas for improvement, and opportunities for growth.

    During a retrospective, the team will reflect on past experiences and use that information to inform future decision making and improve outcomes.

    The goal of a retrospective is to learn from the past and use that knowledge to improve in the future.

    Objective

    Ensure that the retrospective is based on facts and objective data, rather than personal opinions or biases.

    Constructive

    Ensure that the retrospective is a positive and constructive experience, with a focus on finding solutions rather than dwelling on problems.

    Action-Oriented

    The retrospective should result in a clear action plan with specific steps to improve future initiatives.

    Activity 3.3 Conduct a program retrospective

    1-2 hours

    1. Post a large piece of paper on the wall with a timeline from the last year. Include dates and a few key events, but not much more. Have participants place sticky notes in the spots to describe notable wins or milestones that they were proud of. This can be done as part of a formal meeting or asynchronously outside of meetings.
    2. Bring the innovation team together and review the poster with notable wins. Do any themes emerge? How does the team feel the program is doing? Are there any changes needed?
    3. Consider the metrics you use to track your innovation program success. Did the scaled projects meet their targets? Is there anything that could be refined about the innovation process?
    4. Evaluate the outcomes of your innovation program. Did it meet the targets set for it? Did the goals and innovation ambitions come to fruition?
    5. Complete this step every 6 to 12 months to assess the success of your program.
    6. Complete the "Notable Wins" section of the Innovation Program Template.

    Input

    • Innovation mandate
    • Innovation goals
    • Sample metrics

    Output

    • Notable wins
    • Action items for refining the innovation process

    Materials

    • Innovation Program Template
    • Sticky notes (in person) or digital collaboration tool (if remote)

    Participants

    • CIO
    • Innovation team
    • Others who have participated in the innovation process

    Related Info-Tech Research

    Adopt Design Thinking in Your Organization

    • A user's perspective while interacting with the products and services is very different from the organization's internal perspective while implementing and provisioning those. A design-based organization balances the two perspectives to drive user-satisfaction over end-to-end journeys.

    Prototype With an Innovation Design Sprint

    • Build and test a prototype in four days using Info-Tech's Innovation Design Sprint Methodology.
    • Create an environment for co-creation between IT and the business.

    Fund Innovation With a Minimum Viable Business Case

    • Our approach guides you through effectively designing a solution, de-risking a project through impact reduction techniques, building and pitching the case for your project, and applying the business case as a mechanism to ensure that benefits are realized.

    Summary of Accomplishment

    Congratulations on launching your innovation program!

    You have now completed your innovation strategy, covering the following topics:

    • Executive Summary
    • Our Purpose
    • Scope and Value Proposition
    • Guiding Principles
    • Building an Innovative Culture
    • Program Structure
    • Success Metrics
    • Notable Wins

    If you would like additional support, have our analysts guide you through an Info-Tech workshop or Guided Implementation.

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

    Related Info-Tech Research

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    Research Contributors and Experts

    Kim Osborne Rodriguez

    Kim Osborne Rodriguez
    Research Director, CIO Advisory
    Info-Tech Research Group

    Kim is a professional engineer and Registered Communications Distribution Designer with over a decade of experience in management and engineering consulting spanning healthcare, higher education, and commercial sectors. She has worked on some of the largest hospital construction projects in Canada, from early visioning and IT strategy through to design, specifications, and construction administration. She brings a practical and evidence-based approach, with a track record of supporting successful projects.
    Kim holds a Bachelor's degree in Mechatronics Engineering from University of Waterloo.

    Joanne Lee

    Joanne Lee
    Principal Research Director, CIO Advisory
    Info-Tech Research Group

    Joanne is an executive with over 25 years of experience in digital technology and management consulting across both public and private entities from solution delivery to organizational redesign across Canada and globally.
    Prior to joining Info-Tech Research Group, Joanne was a management consultant within KPMG's CIO management consulting services and the Western Canadas Digital Health Practice lead. She has held several executive roles in the industry with the most recent position as Chief Program Officer for a large $450M EHR implementation. Her expertise spans cloud strategy, organizational design, data and analytics, governance, process redesign, transformation, and PPM. She is passionate about connecting people, concepts, and capital.
    Joanne holds a Master's in Business and Health Policy from the University of Toronto and a Bachelor of Science (Nursing) from the University of British Columbia.

    Jack Hakimian

    Jack Hakimian
    Senior Vice President
    Info-Tech Research Group

    Jack has more than 25 years of technology and management consulting experience. He has served multi-billion-dollar organizations in multiple industries including Financial Services and Telecommunications. Jack also served a number of large public sector institutions.
    He is a frequent speaker and panelist at technology and innovation conferences and events and holds a Master's degree in Computer Engineering as well as an MBA from the ESCP-EAP European School of Management.

    Michael Tweedie

    Michael Tweedie
    Practice Lead, CIO Strategy
    Info-Tech Research Group

    Mike Tweedie brings over 25 years as a technology executive. He's led several large transformation projects across core infrastructure, application, and IT services as the head of Technology at ADP Canada. He was also the Head of Engineering and Service Offerings for a large French IT services firm, focused on cloud adoption and complex ERP deployment and management.
    Mike holds a Bachelor's degree in Architecture from Ryerson University.

    Mike Schembri

    Mike Schembri
    Senior Executive Advisor
    Info-Tech Research Group

    Mike is the former CIO of Fuji Xerox Australia and has 20+ years' experience serving IT and wider business leadership roles. Mike has led technical and broader business service operations teams to value and growth successfully in organizations ranging from small tech startups through global IT vendors, professional service firms, and manufacturers.
    Mike has passion for strategy and leadership and loves working with individuals/teams and seeing them grow.

    John Leidl

    John Leidl
    Senior Director, Member Services
    Info-Tech Research Group

    With over 35 years of IT experience, including senior-level VP Technology and CTO leadership positions, John has a breadth of knowledge in technology innovation, business alignment, IT operations, and business transformation. John's experience extends from start-ups to corporate enterprise and spans higher education, financial services, digital marketing, and arts/entertainment.

    Joe Riley

    Joe Riley
    Senior Workshop Director
    Info-Tech Research Group

    Joe ensures our members get the most value out of their Info-Tech memberships by scoping client needs, current state and desired business outcomes, and then drawing upon his extensive experience, certifications, and degrees (MBA, MS Ops/Org Mgt, BS Eng/Sci, ITIL, PMP, Security+, etc.) to facilitate our client's achievement of desired and aspirational business outcomes. A true advocate of ITSM, Joe approaches technology and technology practices as a tool and enabler of people, core business, and competitive advantage activities.

    Denis Goulet

    Denis Goulet
    Senior Workshop Director
    Info-Tech Research Group

    Denis is a transformational leader and experienced strategist who has worked with 100+ organizations to develop their digital, technology, and governance strategies.
    He has held positions as CIO, Chief Administrative Office (City Manager), General Manager, Vice President of Engineering, and Management Consultant, specializing in enterprise and technology strategy.

    Cole Cioran

    Cole Cioran
    Managing Partner
    Info-Tech Research Group

    I knew I wanted to build great applications that would delight their users. I did that over and over. Along the way I also discovered that it takes great teams to deliver great applications. Technology only solves problems when people, processes, and organizations change as well. This helped me go from writing software to advising some of the largest organizations in the world on how to how to build a digital delivery umbrella of Product, Agile, and DevOps and create exceptional products and services powered by technology.

    Carlene McCubbin

    Carlene McCubbin
    Research Lead, CIO Practice
    Info-Tech Research Group

    During her tenure at Info-Tech, Carlene has led the development of Info-Tech's Organization and Leadership practice and worked with multiple clients to leverage the methodologies by creating custom programs to fit each organization's needs.
    Before joining Info-Tech, Carlene received her Master of Communications Management from McGill University, where she studied development of internal and external communications, government relations, and change management.

    Isabelle Hertanto

    Isabelle Hertanto
    Principal Research Director
    Info-Tech Research Group

    Isabelle Hertanto has over 15 years of experience delivering specialized IT services to the security and intelligence community. As a former federal officer for Public Safety Canada, Isabelle trained and led teams on data exploitation and digital surveillance operations in support of Canadian national security investigations. Since transitioning into the private sector, Isabelle has held senior management and consulting roles across a variety of industry sectors, including retail, construction, energy, healthcare, and the broader Canadian public sector.

    Hans Eckman

    Hans Eckman
    Principal Research Director
    Info-Tech Research Group

    Hans Eckman is a business transformation leader helping organizations connect business strategy and innovation to operational excellence. He supports Info-Tech members in SDLC optimization, Agile and DevOps implementation, CoE/CoP creation, innovation program development, application delivery, and leadership development. Hans is based out of Atlanta, Georgia.

    Valence Howden

    Valence Howden
    Principal Research Director
    Info-Tech Research Group

    With 30 years of IT experience in the public and private sector, Valence has developed experience in many Information Management and Technology domains, with a particular focus in the areas of Service Management, Enterprise and IT Governance, Development and Execution of Strategy, Risk Management, Metrics Design and Process Design, and Implementation and Improvement. Prior to joining Info-Tech, he served in technical and client-facing roles at Bell Canada and CGI Group Inc., as well as managing the design, integration, and implementation of services and processes in the Ontario Public Sector.

    Clayton Gillett

    Clayton Gillett
    Managing Partner
    Info-Tech Research Group

    Clayton Gillett is a Managing Partner for Info-Tech, providing technology management advisory services to healthcare clients. Clayton joined Info-Tech with more than 28 years of experience in health care information technology. He has held senior IT leadership roles at Group Health Cooperative of Puget Sound and OCHIN, as well as advisory or consulting roles at ECG Management Consultants and Gartner.

    Donna Bales

    Donna Bales
    Principal Research Director
    Info-Tech Research Group

    Donna Bales is a Principal Research Director in the CIO Practice at Info-Tech Research Group specializing in research and advisory services in IT risk, governance, and compliance. She brings over 25 years of experience in strategic consulting and product development and has a history of success in leading complex, multi-stakeholder industry initiatives.

    Igor Ikonnikov

    Igor Ikonnikov
    Research Director
    Info-Tech Research Group

    Igor Ikonnikov is a Research and Advisory Director in the Data and Analytics practice. Igor has extensive experience in strategy formation and execution in the information management domain, including master data management, data governance, knowledge management, enterprise content management, big data, and analytics.
    Igor has an MBA from the Ted Rogers School of Management (Toronto, Canada) with a specialization in Management of Technology and Innovation.

    Research Contributors and Experts

    Michael Newcity

    Michael Newcity
    Chief Innovation Officer
    ArcBest

    Kevin Yoder

    Kevin Yoder
    Vice President, Innovation
    ArcBest

    Gary Boyd

    Gary Boyd
    Vice President, Information Systems & Digital Transformation
    Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield

    Brett Trelfa

    Brett Trelfa
    Chief Information Officer
    Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield

    Kristen Wilson-Jones

    Kristen Wilson-Jones
    Chief Technology & Product Officer
    Medcurio

    Note: additional contributors did not wish to be identified

    Bibliography

    Altringer, Beth. "A New Model for Innovation in Big Companies" Harvard Business Review. 19 Nov. 2013. Accessed 30 Jan. 2023. https://hbr.org/2013/11/a-new-model-for-innovation-in-big-companies
    Arpajian, Scott. "Five Reasons Why Innovation Fails" Forbes Magazine. 4 June 2019. Accessed 31 Jan. 2023. https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2019/06/04/five-reasons-why-innovation-fails/?sh=234e618914c6
    Baldwin, John & Gellatly, Guy. "Innovation Capabilities: The Knowledge Capital Behind the Survival and Growth of Firms" Statistics Canada. Sept. 2006. Accessed 30 Jan. 2023. https://www.bdc.ca/fr/documents/other/innovation_capabilities_en.pdf
    Bar Am, Jordan et al. "Innovation in a Crisis: Why it is More Critical Than Ever" McKinsey & Company, 17 June 2020. Accessed 12 Jan. 2023. <https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/strategy-and-corporate-finance/our-insights/innovation-in-a-crisis-why-it-is-more-critical-than-ever >
    Boston Consulting Group, "Most Innovative Companies 2021" BCG, April 2021. Accessed 30 Jan. 2023. https://web-assets.bcg.com/d5/ef/ea7099b64b89860fd1aa3ec4ff34/bcg-most-innovative-companies-2021-apr-2021-r.pdf
    Boston Consulting Group, "Most Innovative Companies 2022" BGC, 15 Sept. 2022. Accessed 6 Feb. 2023. https://www.bcg.com/en-ca/publications/2022/innovation-in-climate-and-sustainability-will-lead-to-green-growth
    Christensen, Clayton M. The Innovator's Dilemma: When New Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail. Harvard Business Review Press, 2016.
    Gerber, Niklaus. "What is innovation? A beginner's guide into different models, terminologies and methodologies" Medium. 20 Sept 2022. Accessed 7 Feb. 2023. https://world.hey.com/niklaus/what-is-innovation-a-beginner-s-guide-into-different-models-terminologies-and-methodologies-dd4a3147
    Google X, Homepage. Accessed 6 Feb. 2023. https://x.company/
    Harnoss, Johann D. & Baeza, Ramón. "Overcoming the Four Big Barriers to Innovation Success" Boston Consulting Group, 24 Sept. 2019. Accessed 30 Jan 2023. https://www.bcg.com/en-ca/publications/2019/overcoming-four-big-barriers-to-innovation-success
    Jaruzelski, Barry et al. "Global Innovation 1000 Study" Pricewaterhouse Cooper, 30 Oct. 2018. Accessed 13 Jan. 2023. <https://www.strategyand.pwc.com/gx/en/insights/innovation1000.html>
    Kharpal, Arjun. "Huawei posts first-ever yearly revenue decline as U.S. sanctions continue to bite, but profit surges" CNBC. 28 March 2022. Accessed 7 Feb. 2023. https://www.cnbc.com/2022/03/28/huawei-annual-results-2021-revenue-declines-but-profit-surges.html
    Kirsner, Scott. "The Biggest Obstacles to Innovation in Large Companies" Harvard Business Review, 30 July 2018. Accessed 12 Jan. 2023. <https://hbr.org/2018/07/the-biggest-obstacles-to-innovation-in-large-companies>
    Macrotrends. "Apple Revenue 2010-2022" Macrotrends. Accessed 23 Jan. 2023. https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/AAPL/apple/revenue
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    Macrotrends. "Sony Revenue 2010-2022" Macrotrends. Accessed 23 Jan. 2023. https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/SONY/sony/revenue
    Macrotrends. "IBM Revenue 2010-2022" Macrotrends. Accessed 23 Jan. 2023. https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/IBM/ibm/revenue
    Macrotrends. "Meta Platforms Revenue 2010-2022" Macrotrends. Accessed 23 Jan. 2023. https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/META/meta-platforms/revenue
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    Macrotrends. "Walmart Revenue 2010-2022" Macrotrends. Accessed 23 Jan. 2023. https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/WMT/walmart/revenue
    Macrotrends. "Dell Revenue 2010-2022" Macrotrends. Accessed 23 Jan. 2023. https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/DELL/dell/revenue
    Macrotrends. "NVIDIA Revenue 2010-2022" Macrotrends. Accessed 23 Jan. 2023. https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/NVDA/nvidia/revenue
    Sloan, Paul. "How to Develop a Vision for Innovation" Innovation Management, 10 Aug. 2009. Accessed 7 Feb. 2023. https://innovationmanagement.se/2009/08/10/how-to-develop-a-vision-for-innovation/
    Statista. "Samsung Electronics' global revenue from 2005 to 2021" Statista. Accessed 7 Feb. 2023. https://www.statista.com/statistics/236607/global-revenue-of-samsung-electronics-since-2005/
    Tichy, Noel & Ram Charan. "Speed, Simplicity, Self-Confidence: An Interview with Jack Welch" Harvard Business Review, 2 March 2020. Accessed 7 Feb. 2023. https://hbr.org/1989/09/speed-simplicity-self-confidence-an-interview-with-jack-welch
    Weick, Karl and Kathleen Sutcliffe. Managing the Unexpected: Sustained Performance in a Complex World, Third Edition. John Wiley & Sons, 2015.
    Xuan Tian, Tracy Yue Wang, Tolerance for Failure and Corporate Innovation, The Review of Financial Studies, Volume 27, Issue 1, 2014, Pages 211–255, Accessed https://doi.org/10.1093/rfs/hhr130

    Drive Digital Transformation With Platform Strategies

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    • Parent Category Name: IT Strategy
    • Parent Category Link: /it-strategy
    • Enterprise is grappling with the challenges of existing business models and strategies not leading to desired outcomes.
    • Enterprise is struggling to remain competitive.
    • Enterprise wants to understand how to leverage platform strategies and a digital platform.

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    To remain competitive enterprises must renew and refresh their business model strategies and design/develop digital platforms – this requires enterprises to:

    • Understand how digital-native enterprises are using platform business models and associated strategies.
    • Understand their core assets and strengths and how these can be leveraged for transformation.
    • Understand the core characteristics and components of a digital platform so that they can design digital platform(s) for their enterprise.
    • Ask if the client’s digital transformation (DX) strategy is aligned with a digital platform enablement strategy.
    • Ask if the enterprise has paid attention to the structure, culture, principles, and practices of platform teams.

    Impact and Result

    Organizations that implement this project will gain benefits in five ways:

    • Awareness and understanding of various platform strategies.
    • Application of specific platform strategies within the context of the enterprise.
    • Awareness of their existing business mode, core assets, value proposition, and strengths.
    • Alignment between DX themes and platform enablement themes so enterprises can develop roadmaps that gauge successful DX.
    • Design of a digital platform, including characteristics, components, and team characteristics, culture, principles, and practices.

    Drive Digital Transformation With Platform Strategies Research & Tools

    Start here – read the Executive Brief

    Read our concise Executive Brief to find out why you should consider the platform business model and a digital platform to remain competitive.

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

    1. Set goals for your platform business model

    Understand the platform business model and strategies and then set your platform business model goals.

    • Drive Digital Transformation With Platform Strategies – Phase 1: Set Goals for Your Platform Business Model
    • Business Platform Playbook

    2. Configure digital platform

    Define design goals for your digital platform. Align your DX strategy with digital platform capabilities and understand key components of the digital platform.

    • Drive Digital Transformation With Platform Strategies – Phase 2: Configure Your Digital Platform
    • Digital Platform Playbook
    [infographic]

    Workshop: Drive Digital Transformation With Platform Strategies

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

    1 Understand Platform Business Model and Strategies

    The Purpose

    Understand existing business model, value proposition, and key assets.

    Understand platform business model and strategies.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Understanding the current assets helps with knowing what can be leveraged in the new business model/transformation.

    Understanding the platform strategies can help the enterprise renew/refresh their business model.

    Activities

    1.1 Document the current business model along with value proposition and key assets (that provide competitive advantage).

    1.2 Transformation narrative.

    1.3 Platform model canvas.

    1.4 Document the platform strategies in the context of the enterprise.

    Outputs

    Documentation of current business model along with value proposition and key assets (that provide competitive advantage).

    Documentation of the selected platform strategies.

    2 Planning for Platform Business Model

    The Purpose

    Understand transformation approaches.

    Understand various layers of platforms.

    Ask fundamental and evolutionary questions about the platform.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Understanding of the transformational model so that the enterprise can realize the differences.

    Understanding of the organization’s strengths and weaknesses for a DX.

    Extraction of strategic themes to plan and develop a digital platform roadmap.

    Activities

    2.1 Discuss and document decision about DX approach and next steps.

    2.2 Discuss and document high-level strategic themes for platform business model and associated roadmap.

    Outputs

    Documented decision about DX approach and next steps.

    Documented high-level strategic themes for platform business model and associated roadmap.

    3 Digital Platform Strategy

    The Purpose

    Understand the design goals for the digital platform.

    Understand gaps between the platform’s capabilities and the DX strategy.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Design goals set for the digital platform that are visible to all stakeholders.

    Gap analysis performed between enterprise’s digital strategy and platform capabilities; this helps understand the current situation and thus informs strategies and roadmaps.

    Activities

    3.1 Discuss and document design goals for digital platform.

    3.2 Discuss DX themes and platform capabilities – document the gaps.

    3.3 Discuss gaps and strategies along with timelines.

    Outputs

    Documented design goals for digital platform.

    Documented DX themes and platform capabilities.

    DX themes and platform capabilities map.

    4 Digital Platform Design: Key Components

    The Purpose

    Understanding of key components of a digital platform, including technology and teams.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Understanding of the key components of a digital platform and designing the platform.

    Understanding of the team structure, culture, and practices needed for successful platform engineering teams.

    Activities

    4.1 Confirmation and discussion on existing UX/UI and API strategies.

    4.2 Understanding of microservices architecture and filling of microservices canvas.

    4.3 Real-time stream processing data pipeline and tool map.

    4.4 High-level architectural view.

    4.5 Discussion on platform engineering teams, including culture, structure, principles, and practices.

    Outputs

    Filled microservices canvas.

    Documented real-time stream processing data pipeline and tool map.

    Documented high-level architectural view.

    Manage End-User Devices

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    • Parent Category Name: End-User Computing Devices
    • Parent Category Link: /end-user-computing-devices
    • Desktop and mobile device management teams use separate tools and different processes.
    • People at all levels of IT are involved in device management.
    • Vendors are pushing unified endpoint management (UEM) products, and teams struggling with device management are hoping that UEM is their savior.
    • The number and variety of devices will only increase with the continued advance of mobility and emergence of the Internet of Things (IoT).

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    • Many problems can be solved by fixing roles, responsibilities, and process. Standardize so you can optimize.
    • UEM is not a silver bullet. Your current solution can image computers in less than 4 hours if you use lean images.
    • Done with, not done to. Getting input from the business will improve adoption, avoid frustration, and save everyone time.

    Impact and Result

    • Define the benefits that you want to achieve and optimize based on those benefits.
    • Take an evolutionary, rather than revolutionary, approach to merging end-user support teams. Process and tool unity comes first.
    • Define the roles and responsibilities involved in end-user device management, and create a training plan to ensure everyone can execute their responsibilities.
    • Stop using device management practices from the era of Windows XP. Create a plan for lean images and app packages.

    Manage End-User Devices Research & Tools

    Start here – read the Executive Brief

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

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

    1. Identify the business and IT benefits of optimizing endpoint management

    Get your desktop and mobile device support teams out of firefighting mode by identifying the real problem.

    • Manage End-User Devices – Phase 1: Identify the Business and IT Benefits
    • End-User Device Management Standard Operating Procedure
    • End-User Device Management Executive Presentation

    2. Improve supporting teams and processes

    Improve the day-to-day operations of your desktop and mobile device support teams through role definition, training, and process standardization.

    • Manage End-User Devices – Phase 2: Improve Supporting Teams and Processes
    • End-User Device Management Workflow Library (Visio)
    • End-User Device Management Workflow Library (PDF)

    3. Improve supporting technologies

    Stop using management tools and techniques from the Windows XP era. Save yourself, and your technicians, from needless pain.

    • Manage End-User Devices – Phase 3: Improve Supporting Technologies
    [infographic]

    Workshop: Manage End-User Devices

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

    1 Identify the Business and IT Benefits of Optimizing End-User Device Management

    The Purpose

    Identify how unified endpoint management (UEM) can improve the lives of the end user and of IT.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Cutting through the vendor hype and aligning with business needs.

    Activities

    1.1 Identify benefits you can provide to stakeholders.

    1.2 Identify business and IT goals in order to prioritize benefits.

    1.3 Identify how to achieve benefits.

    1.4 Define goals based on desired benefits.

    Outputs

    Executive presentation

    2 Improve the Teams and Processes That Support End-User Device Management

    The Purpose

    Ensure that your teams have a consistent approach to end-user device management.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Developed a standard approach to roles and responsibilities, to training, and to device management processes.

    Activities

    2.1 Align roles to your environment.

    2.2 Assign architect-, engineer-, and administrator-level responsibilities.

    2.3 Rationalize your responsibility matrix.

    2.4 Ensure you have the necessary skills.

    2.5 Define Tier 2 processes, including patch deployment, emergency patch deployment, device deployment, app deployment, and app packaging.

    Outputs

    List of roles involved in end-user device management

    Responsibility matrix for end-user device management

    End-user device management training plan

    End-user device management standard operating procedure

    Workflows and checklists of end-user device management processes

    3 Improve the Technologies That Support End-User Device Management

    The Purpose

    Modernize the toolset used by IT to manage end-user devices.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Saving time and resources for many standard device management processes.

    Activities

    3.1 Define the core image for each device/OS.

    3.2 Define app packages.

    3.3 Gather action items for improving the support technologies.

    3.4 Create a roadmap for improving end-user device management.

    3.5 Create a communication plan for improving end-user device management.

    Outputs

    Core image outline

    Application package outline

    End-user device management roadmap

    End-user device management communication plan

    Next-Generation InfraOps

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    • Parent Category Name: Operations Management
    • Parent Category Link: /i-and-o-process-management
    • Traditional IT capabilities, activities, organizational structures, and culture need to adjust to leverage the value of cloud, optimize spend, and manage risk.
    • Different stakeholders across previously separate teams rely on one another more than ever, but rules of engagement do not yet exist.

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    • By defining your end goals and framing solutions based on the type of visibility and features you need, you can enable speed and reliability without losing control of the work.

    Impact and Result

    • Understand the xOps spectrum and what approaches benefit your organization.
    • Make sense of the architectural approaches and enablement tools available to you.
    • Evolve from just improving your current operations to a continuous virtuous cycle of development and deployment.

    Next-Generation InfraOps Research & Tools

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

    1. Next-Generation InfraOps Storyboard – A deck that will help you use Ops methodologies to build a virtuous cycle.

    This storyboard will help you understand the spectrum of different Agile xOps working modes and how best to leverage them and build an architecture and toolset that support rapid continuous IT operations

    • Next-Generation InfraOps Storyboard
    [infographic]

    Further reading

    Next-Generation InfraOps

    Embrace the spectrum of Ops methodologies to build a virtuous cycle.

    Executive summary

    Your Challenge

    IT Operations continue to be challenged by increasing needs for scale and speed, often in the face of constrained resources and time. For most, Agile methodologies have become a foundational part of tackling this problem. Since then, we've seen Agile evolve into DevOps, which started a trend into different categories of "xOps" that are too many to count. How does one make sense of the xOps spectrum? What is InfraOps and where does it fit in?

    Common Obstacles

    Ultimately, all these methodologies and approaches are there to serve the same purpose: increase effectiveness through automation and improve governance through visibility. The key is to understand what tools and methodologies will deliver actual benefits to your IT operation and to the organization as a whole.

    Info-Tech's Approach

    By defining your end goals and framing solutions based on the type of visibility and features you need, you can enable speed and reliability without losing control of the work.

    1. Understand the xOps spectrum and what approaches will benefit your organization.
    2. Make sense of the architectural approaches and enablement tools available to you.
    3. Evolve from just improving your current operations to a continuous virtuous cycle of development and deployment.

    Info-Tech Insight

    InfraOps, when applied well, should be the embodiment of the governance policies as expressed by standards in architecture and automation.

    Project overview

    Understand the xOps spectrum

    There are as many different types of "xOps" as there are business models and IT teams. To pick the approaches that deliver the best value to your organization and that align to your way of operating, it's important to understand the different major categories in the spectrum and how they do or don't apply to your IT approach.

    How to optimize the Ops in DevOps

    InfraOps is one of the major methodologies to address a key problem in IT at cloud scale: eliminating friction and error from your deliveries and outputs. The good news is there are architectures, tools, and frameworks you can easily leverage to make adopting this approach easier.

    Evolve to integration and build a virtuous cycle

    Ultimately your DevOps and InfraOps approaches should embody your governance needs via architecture and process. As time goes on, however, both your IT footprint and your business environment will shift. Build your tools, telemetry, and governance to anticipate and adapt to change and build a virtuous cycle between development needs and IT Operations tools and governance.

    The xOps spectrum

    This is an image of the xOps spectrum. The three main parts are: Code Acceleration (left), Governance(middle), and Infrastructure Acceleration (right)

    xOps categories

    There is no definitive list of x's in the xOps spectrum. Different organizations and teams will divide and define these in different ways. In many cases, the definitions and domains of various xOps will overlap.

    Some of the commonly adopted and defined xOps models are listed here.

    Shift left? Shift right?

    Cutting through the jargon

    • Shifting left is about focusing on the code and development aspects of a delivery cycle.
    • Shifting right is about remembering that infrastructure and tools still do matter.

    Info-Tech Insight

    Shifting left or right isn't an either/or choice. They're more like opposite sides of the same coin. Like the different xOps approaches, usually more than one shift approach will apply to your IT Operations.

    IT Operations in the left-right spectrum

    Shifting from executing and deploying to defining the guardrails and standards

    This is an image of the left-right spectrum for your XOps position

    Take a middle-out approach

    InfraOps and DevOps aren't enemies; they're opposite sides of the same coin.

    • InfraOps is about the automation and standardization of execution. It's an essential element in any fully automated CI/CD pipeline.
    • Like DevOps, InfraOps is built on similar values (the pillars of DevOps).
    • It builds on the principle of Lean to focus on removing friction, or turn-and-type activities, from the pipeline/process.
    • In InfraOps, one of the key methods for removing friction is through automation of the interstitia between different phases of a DevOps or CI/CD cycle.

    Optimize the Ops in DevOps

    Focus on eliminating friction

    This is an image of an approach to optimizing the ops in DevOps.

    With the shift from execution to governing and validating, the role of deployment falls downstream of IT Operations.

    IT Operations needs to move to a mindset that focuses on creating the guardrails, enforced standards, and compliance rules that need to be used downstream, then apply those standards using automation and tooling to remove friction and error from the interstitia (the white spaces between chevrons) of the various phases.

    InfraOps tools

    Four quadrants in the shape of a human head, in the boxes are the following: Hyperconverged Infrastructure; Composable Infrastructure; Infrastructure as code and; Automation and Orchestration

    Info-Tech Insight

    Your tools can be broken into two categories:

    • Infrastructure Architecture
      • HCI vs. CI
    • Automation Tooling
      • IaC and A&O

    Keep in mind that while your infrastructure architecture is usually an either/or choice, your automation approach should use any and all tooling that helps.

    Infrastructure approach

    • Hyperconverged

    • Composable

    Hyperconverged Infrastructure (HCI)

    Hyperconvergence is the next phase of convergence, virtualizing servers, networks, and storage on a single server/storage appliance. Capacity scales as more appliances are added to a cluster or stack.
    The disruptive departure:

    • Even though servers, networks, and storage were each on their own convergence paths, the three remained separate management domains (or silos). Even single-SKU converged infrastructures like VCE Vblocks are still composed of distinct server, network, and storage devices.
    • In hyperconvergence, the silos collapse into single-software managed devices. This has been disruptive for both the vendors of technology solutions (especially storage) and for infrastructure management.
    • Large storage array vendors are challenged by hyperconvergence alternatives. IT departments need to adapt IT skills and roles away from individual management silos and to more holistic service management.

    A comparison between converged and hyperconverged systems.

    Info-Tech Insight

    HCI follows convergence trends of the past ten years but is also a departure from how IT infrastructure has traditionally been provisioned and managed.

    HCI is at the same time a logical progression of infrastructure convergence and a disruptive departure.

    Hyperconverged (HCI) – SWOT

    HCI can be the foundation block for a fully software defined data center, a prerequisite for private cloud.

    Strengths

    • Potentially lower TCO through further infrastructure consolidation, reducing CapEx and OpEx expenditures through facilities optimization and cost consolidation.
    • Operations in particular can be streamlined, since storage, network connections, and processors/memory are all managed as abstractions via a single control pane.
    • HCI comes with built-in automation and analytics that lead to quicker issue resolution.

    Opportunities

    • Increased business agility by paving the way for a fully software defined infrastructure stack and cloud automation.
    • Shift IT human assets from hardware asset maintainers and controllers to service delivery managers.
    • Better able to compete with external IT service alternatives.
    • Move toward a hybrid cloud service offering where the service catalog contains both internal and external offerings.

    Key attributes of a cloud are automation, resource elasticity, and self-service. This kind of agility is impossible if physical infrastructure needs intervention.

    Info-Tech Insight

    Virtualization alone does not a private cloud make, but complete stack virtualization (software defined) running on a hands-off preconfigured HCI appliance (or group of appliances) provides a solid foundation for building cloud services.

    Hyperconverged (HCI) – SWOT

    Silo-busting and private cloud sound great, but are your people and processes able to manage the change?

    Weaknesses

    • HCI typically scales out linearly (CPU & storage). This does not suit traditional scale-up applications such as high-performance databases and large-capacity data warehouses.
    • Infrastructure stacks are perceived as more flexible for variable growth across segments. For example, if storage is growing but processing is not, storage can scale separately from processing.

    Threats

    • HCI will be disruptive to roles within IT. Internal pushback is a real threat if necessary changes in skills and roles are not addressed.
    • HCI is not a simple component replacement but an adoption of a different kind of infrastructure. Different places in the lifecycles for each of storage, network, and processing devices could make HCI a solution where there is no immediate problem.

    In traditional infrastructure, performance and capacity are managed as distinct though complementary jobs. An all-in-one approach may not work.

    Composable Infrastructure (CI)

    • Composable infrastructure in many ways represents the opposite of an HCI approach. Its focus is on further disaggregating resources and components used to build systems.
      • Unlike traditional cloud virtual systems, composable infrastructure provides virtual bare metal resources, allowing tightly coupled resources like CPU, RAM, and GPU – or any device/card/module – to be released back and forth into the resource pool as required by a given workload.
      • This is enabled by the use of high-speed, low-latency PCI Express (PCI-e) and Compute Express Link (CXL) fabrics that allow these resources to be decoupled.
      • It also supports the ability to present other fabric types critical for building out enterprise systems (e.g. Ethernet, InfiniBand).
    • Accordingly, CI systems are also based on next-generation network architecture that supports moving critical functions to the network layer, which enables more efficient use of the application-layer resources.

    Composable Infrastructure (CI)

    • CI may also leverage network-resident data/infrastructure processing units (DPUs/IPUs), which offload many network, security, and storage functions.
      • As new devices and functions become available, they can be added into the catalog of resources/functions available in a CI pool.

    Use Case Example: Composable AI flow

    Data Ingestion > Data Cleaning/Tagging > Training > Conclusion

    • At each phase of the process, resources, including specialized hardware like memory and GPU cores, can be dynamically allocated and reallocated to the workload on demand

    Composable Infrastructure (CI)

    Use cases and considerations

    Where it's useful

    • Enable even more efficient allocation/utilization of resources for workloads.
    • Very large memory or shared memory requirements can benefit greatly.
    • Decouple purchasing decisions for underlying resources.
    • Leverage the fabric to make it easier to incrementally upgrade underlying resources as required.
    • Build "the Impossible Server."

    Considerations

    • Requires significant footprint/scale to justify in many cases
    • Not necessarily good value for environments that aren't very volatile and heterogeneous in terms of deployment requirements
    • May not be best value for environments where resource-stranding is not a significant issue

    Info-Tech Insight

    Many organizations using a traditional approach report resource stranding as having an impact of 20% or more on efficiency. When focusing specifically on the stranding of memory in workloads, the number can often approach 40%.

    The CI ecosystem

    This is an image of the CI ecosystem.

    • The CI ecosystem has many players, large and small!
    • Note that the CI ecosystem is dependent on a large ecosystem of underlying enablers and component builders to support the required technologies.

    Understanding the differences

    This image shows the similarities and differences between traditional, cloud, hyperconverged, and composable.

    Automation approach

    • Infrastructure as Code
    • Automation & Orchestration
    • Metaorchestration

    Infrastructure as Code (IaC)

    Infrastructure as code (IaC) is the process of managing and provisioning computer data centers through machine-readable definition files rather than physical hardware configuration or interactive configuration tools.

    Before IaC, IT personnel would have to manually change configurations to manage their infrastructure. Maybe they would use throwaway scripts to automate some tasks, but that was the extent of it.

    With IaC, your infrastructure's configuration takes the form of a code file, making it easy to edit, copy, and distribute.

    Info-Tech Insight
    IaC is a critical tool in enabling key benefits!

    • Reduced costs
    • Increased scalability, flexibility, and speed
    • Better consistency and version control
    • Reduced deployment errors

    Infrastructure as Code (IaC)

    1. IaC uses a high-level descriptive coding language to automate the provisioning of IT infrastructure. This eliminates the need to manually provision and manage servers, OS, database connections, storage, and other elements every time we want to develop, test, or deploy an application.
    2. IaC allows us to define the computer systems on which code needs to run. Most commonly, we use a framework like Chef, Ansible, Puppet, etc., to define their infrastructure. These automation and orchestration tools focus on the provisioning and configuring of base compute infrastructure.
    3. IaC is also an essential DevOps practice. It enables teams to rapidly create and version infrastructure in the same way they version source code and to track these versions so as to avoid inconsistency among IT environments that can lead to serious issues during deployment.
    • Idempotence is a principle of IaC. This means a deployment command always sets the target environment into the same configuration, regardless of the environment's starting state.
      • Idempotency is achieved by either automatically configuring an existing target or discarding the existing target and recreating a fresh environment.

    Automation/Orchestration

    Orchestration describes the automated arrangement, coordination, and management of complex computer systems, middleware, and services.

    This usage of orchestration is often discussed in the context of service-oriented architecture, virtualization, provisioning, converged infrastructure, and dynamic data center topics. Orchestration in this sense is about aligning the business request with the applications, data, and infrastructure.

    It defines the policies and service levels through automated workflows,
    provisioning, and change management. This creates an application-aligned infrastructure that can be scaled up or down based on the needs of each application.

    As the requirement for more resources or a new application is triggered, automated tools now can perform tasks that previously could only be done by multiple administrators operating on their individual pieces of the physical stack.

    Orchestration also provides centralized management of the resource pool, including billing, metering, and chargeback for consumption. For example, orchestration reduces the time and effort for deploying multiple instances of a single application.

    Info-Tech Insight

    Automation and orchestration tools can be key components of an effective governance toolkit too! Remember to understand what data can be pulled from your various tools and leveraged for other purposes such as cost management and portfolio roadmapping.

    Automation/Orchestration

    There are a wide variety of orchestration and automation tools and technologies.

    Configuration Management

    Configuration Management

    		The logos for companies which fall in each of the categories in the column to the left of the image.

    CI/CD
    Orchestration

    Container
    Orchestration

    Cloud-Specific
    Orchestration

    PaaS
    Orchestration

    Info-Tech Insight

    Automation and orchestration tools and software offerings are plentiful, and many of them have a different focus on where in the application delivery ecosystem they provide automation functionality.

    Often there are different tools for different deployment and service models as well as for different functional phases for each service model.

    Automation/Orchestration

    Every tool focuses on different aspects or functions of the deployment of resources and applications.

    • Resources
      • Compute
      • Storage
      • Network
    • Extended Services
      • Platforms
      • Infrastructure Services
      • Web Services
    • Application Assets
      • Images
      • Templates
      • Containers
      • Code

    Info-Tech Insight

    Let the large ecosystem of tools be your ally. Leverage the right tools where needed and then address the complexity of tools using a master orchestration scheme.

    Metaorchestration

    A Flow chart for the approach to metaorchestration.

    Additionally, most tools do not cover all aspects required for most automation implementations, especially in hybrid cloud scenarios.

    As such, often multiple tools must be deployed, which can lead to fragmentation and loss of unified controls.

    Many enterprises address this fragmentation using a cloud management platform approach.

    One method of achieving this is to establish a higher layer of orchestration – an "orchestrator of orchestrators," or metaorchestration.

    In complex scenarios, this can be a challenge that requires customization and development.

    InfraOps tools ecosystem

    Toolkit Pros Cons Tips
    HCI Easy scale out Shift in skills required Good for enabling automation and hybridization with current-gen public cloud services
    CI Maximal workload resource efficiency Investment in new fabrics and technologies Useful for very dynamic or highly scalable workloads like AI
    IaC Error reduction and standardization Managing drift in standards and requirements Leverage a standards and exception process to keep track of drift
    A&O Key enabler of DevOps automation within phases Usually requires multiple toolsets/frameworks Use the right tools and stitch together at the metaorchestration layer
    Metaorchestration Reduces the complexity of a diverse A&O and IaC toolkit Requires understanding of the entire ecosystems of tools used Key layer of visibility and control for governance

    Build a virtuous cycle

    Remember, the goal is to increase speed AND reliability. That's why we focus on removing friction from our delivery pipelines.

    • The first step is to identify the points of friction in your cycle and understand the intensity and frequency of these friction points.
    • Depending on your delivery and project management methodology, you'll have a different posture of the different tools that make sense for your pipeline.
    • For example, if you are focused on delivering raw resources for sysadmins and/or you're in a Waterfall methodology where the friction points are large but infrequent, hyperconverged is likely to delivery good value, whereas tools like IaC and orchestration may not be as necessary.

    Info-Tech Insight

    Remember that, especially in modern and rapid methodologies, your IT footprint can drift unexpectedly. This means you need a real feedback mechanism on where the friction moves to next.

    This is particularly important in more Agile methodologies.

    Activity: Map your IT operations delivery

    Identify your high-friction interstitial points

    • Using the table below, or a table modified to your delivery phases, map out the activities and tasks that are not standardized and automated.
    • For the incoming and outgoing sections, think about what resources and activities need to be (or could be) created, destroyed, or repurposed to efficiently manage each cycle and the spaces between cycles.
    Plan Code Test Deploy Monitor
    Incoming Friction
    In-Cycle Friction
    Outgoing Friction

    Info-Tech Insight

    Map your ops groups to the delivery cycles in your pipeline. How many delivery cycles do you have or need?

    Good InfraOps is a reflection of governance policies, expressed by standards in architecture and automation.

    Related Info-Tech Research

    Evaluate Hyperconverged Infrastructure for Your Infrastructure Roadmap

    • This Info-Tech note covers evaluation of HCI platforms.

    Design Your Cloud Operations

    • This Info-Tech blueprint covers organization of operations teams for various deployment and Agile modes.

    Bibliography

    Banks, Ethan, host. "Choosing Your Next Infrastructure." Datanauts, episode 094, Packet Pushers, 26 July 2017. Podcast.
    "Composable Infrastructure Solutions." Hewlett Packard Canada, n.d. Web.
    "Composable Infrastructure Technology." Liqid Inc., n.d. Web.
    "DataOps architecture design." Azure Architecture Center, Microsoft Learn, n.d. Web.
    Tan, Pei Send. "Differences: DevOps, ITOps, MLOps, DataOps, ModelOps, AIOps, SecOps, DevSecOps." Medium, 5 July 2021. Web.

    Skills Development on the Mainframe Platform

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    Mainframes remain a critical part of an organization’s infrastructure and will need to support these platforms for the foreseeable future. Despite the importance, it can be a challenge for organizations to find qualified resources to support them. Meanwhile, companies are unsure of where to find help to train and develop their teams on mainframe technologies and are at risk of a skills gap within their teams.

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    • Mainframes continue to have wide usage, particularly in enterprise organizations. The complexity of moving or replatforming many of these applications means these platforms will be around for a long time still.
    • Companies need to be proactive about developing their teams to support their mainframe systems.

    Impact and Result

    • Companies can protect their assets by cultivating a pipeline of qualified resources to support their mainframe infrastructure.
    • There is a robust training ecosystem headed by large, reputable organizations to help develop and support companies' resources. You don’t have to do it alone.

    Skills Development on the Mainframe Platform Research & Tools

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

    1. Skills Development on the Mainframe Platform Storyboard – An overview of the solutions available to support your mainframe training and skills development needs.

    Your mainframes are not going to disappear overnight. These systems often support the most critical operations in your organization. You need to ensure you have the right qualified resources to support your platforms.

    • Skills Development on the Mainframe Platform Storyboard
    [infographic]

    There should never be only one.

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    Today, we're talking about a concept that’s both incredibly simple and dangerously overlooked: the single point of failure, or SPOF for short.

    Imagine you’ve built an impenetrable fortress. It has high walls, a deep moat, and strong gates. But the entire fortress can only be accessed through a single wooden bridge. That bridge is your single point of failure. If it collapses or is destroyed, your magnificent fortress is completely cut off. It doesn't matter how strong the rest of it is; that one weak link renders the entire system useless.

    In your work, your team, and your processes and technology, these single bridges are everywhere. A SPOF is any part of a system that, if it stops working, will cause the entire system to shut down. It’s the one critical component, the one indispensable person, or the one vital process that everything else depends on.

    When you identify and fix these weak points you aren't being pessimistic; you're fixing the very foundation of something that can withstand shocks and surprises. It’s about creating truly resilient systems and teams, not just seemingly strong ones. So, let’s explore where these risks hide and what you can do about them.

    When People Become the Problem

    For those of you who know me, saying something like this feels at odds with who I am. And yet, it's one of the most common and riskiest areas in any organization. Human single points of failure don't happen because of malicious intent. They typically grow out of good intentions, hard work, and necessity. But the result is the same: a fragile system completely dependent on an individual.

    The Rise of the Hero

    We all know a colleague like this. The “hero” is the one person who has all the answers. When a critical system goes down at 3 AM, they're the only one who can fix it. They understand the labyrinthine codebase nobody else dares to touch. They have the historical context for every major decision made in the last decade. On the surface, this person is invaluable. Management loves them because they solve problems. The team relies on them because they’re a walking encyclopedia.

    But here’s the inconvenient truth: your hero is your biggest liability.

    This isn’t their fault. They likely became the hero by stepping up when no one else would or could. The hero may actually feel like they are the only ones qualified to handle the issue because “management” does not take the necessary actions to train other people. Or “management” places other priorities. Be aware, this is a perception thing. The manager is very likely to be very concerned about the well-being of their employee. (I'm taking "black companies", akin to black sites, out of the equation for a moment and concentrating on generally healthy workplaces.) The hero will likely feel a strong bond to their environment. Also, every hero is different. There is a single point of failure, but not a single type of person. Every person has a different driver.

    I watched a YouTube video by a famous entrepreneur the other day. And she said something that triggered a response in me, because it sows the seeds of the hero. She said, Would you rather have an employee who just fixes it, handles it, and deals with it? Or an employee that talks about it? Obviously, the large majority will take the person behind door number 1. I would too. But then you need to step up as a manager, as an owner, as an executive, and enforce knowledge sharing.

    If you channel all critical knowledge and capabilities through one person, if you let this person become your go-to specialist for everything, you've created a massive SPOF. What happens when your hero gets sick, takes a well deserved two week vacation to a place with no internet, or leaves the company for a new opportunity? The system grinds to a halt. A minor issue becomes a major crisis because the only person who can fix it is unavailable.

    This overreliance doesn't just create a risk; it stifles growth. Other team members don't get the opportunity to learn and develop new skills because the hero is always there to swoop in and save the day. The answer? I guess that depends on your situation and what your ability is to keep this person happy without alienating the rest of the team. The answer may lie in the options discussed later in the article around KPIs.

    The Knowledge Hoarders

    A step beyond the individual hero is the team that acts as a collective SPOF. This is the team that “protects” its know how. They might use complex, undocumented tools, speak in a language of acronyms only they understand, or resist any attempts to standardize their processes. They've built a silo around their work, making themselves indispensable as a unit.

    Unlike the hero, this often comes from a place of perceived self preservation. If they are the only ones who understand how something works, their jobs are secure, right? But this behavior is incredibly damaging to the organization's resilience. Not to mention that it is just plain wrong. The team becomes inundated with requests for new features, but also for help in solving incidents. The result in numerous instances is that the team succeeds in neither. Next the manager is called to the senior management because the business is complaining that things don't progress as expected. 

    This team thus has become a bottleneck. Any other team that needs to interact with their system is completely at their mercy. Progress slows to a crawl, dependent on their availability and willingness to cooperate. Preservation has turned into survival.  

    The real root cause at the heart of both the hero and the knowledge hoarding team is a failure of knowledge management. When information isn't shared, documented, and made accessible, you are actively choosing to create single points of failure. We'll dive deeper into building a robust knowledge sharing culture in a future article, but for now, recognize that knowledge kept in one person's or team's head is a disaster waiting to happen.

    When Your Technology is a House of Cards

    People aren't the only source of fragility. The way you build and manage your technology stacks can easily create critical SPOFs that leave you vulnerable. These are often less obvious at first, but they can cause dangerous failures when they finally break.

    The Danger of the Single Node

    Let's start with the most straightforward technical SPOF: the single node setup. Imagine you have a critical application like maybe your company's main website or an internal database. If you run that entire application on one single server (a single “node”), you've created a classic SPOF.

    It’s like a restaurant with only one chef. If that chef goes home, the kitchen closes. It doesn't matter how many waiters or tables you have. If that single server experiences a hardware failure, a software crash, or even just needs to be rebooted for an update, your entire service goes offline. There is no failover. The service is simply down until that one machine is fixed, patched or rebooted.

    You need to set up your systems so that when one node goes down, the other takes over. This is not just something for large enterprises. SMEs must do the same. I've had numerous calls from business owners who did something to their web server or system and now “it doesn't work!” Not only are they down, now they have to call me and I then must arrange for subject matter experts to fix it immediately. Typically at a cost much larger than if they had set up their system with active, warm or even cold standbys. 

    The Mystery of Closed Technologies

    Another major risk comes from an overreliance on closed, proprietary technologies. This happens when you build a core part of your business on a piece of software or hardware that you don't control and can't inspect. It’s a “black box.” You know what it’s supposed to do, but you have no idea how it does it, and you can’t fix it if it breaks. When something goes wrong, you are completely at the mercy of the company that created it. You have to submit a support ticket and wait.

    This is actually relatable to the next chapter, please follow along and take the advice there.

    The Trap of Vendor Lock In

    Closely related to closed technology is the concept of vendor lock-in. This is a subtle but powerful SPOF. It happens when you become so deeply integrated with a single vendor's ecosystem that the cost and effort of switching to a competitor are impossibly high. Your vendor effectively becomes a strategic single point of failure. Your ability to innovate, control costs, and pivot your strategy is now tied to the decisions of another company.

    This may even run afoul of legal standards. In Europe, we have the DORA and NIS2 regulations. DORA specifically mandates that companies have exit plans for their systems, starting with their critical and important functions. Functions refers to business services, to be clear. 

    But we get there so easily. The native functions of AWS, Azure and Google Cloud, just to name a few, are very enticing to use. They offer convenience, low code, and performance on tap. It's just that, once you integrate deeply with them, you are taken, hook, line, and sinker. And then you have people like me, or worse, your regulator, who demands “What is your exit plan?”

    Your Resilience Playbook: Practical Steps to Eliminate SPOFs

    Identifying your single points of failure is the first step. The real work is in systematically eliminating them. This isn't about a single, massive project; it's about building new habits and principles into your daily work. Here's a playbook I think you can start using today.

    Mitigate People-Based Risks

    The cure for depending on one person is to create a culture where knowledge is fluid and shared by default. Your goal is to move from individual heroics to collective resilience.

    • Mandate real vacations. This might sound strange, but one of the best ways to reveal and fix a “hero” problem is to make sure your hero takes a real, disconnected vacation. This isn't a punishment; it's a benefit to them and a necessary stress test for the team. It forces others to step up and document their processes in preparation. The first time will be painful, but it gets easier each time as the team builds its own knowledge.

    • Adopt the “teach, don't just do” rule. Coach your senior experts to see their role as multipliers. When someone asks them a question, their first instinct should be to show, not just to do. This can be a five minute screen sharing session, grabbing a colleague to pair program on a fix, or taking ten minutes to write down the answer in a shared knowledge base so it never has to be asked again.

      Many companies have knowledge sharing solutions in place. Take a moment to actually use them. Prepare for when new people come into the company. Have a place where they can get into the groove and learn the heart beat of the company. There is a reason why the Madonna song is so captivating to so many people. Getting into the groove elevates you. And the same thing happens in your company. 

    • Rotate responsibilities and run "game days". Actively move people around. Let a developer handle support tickets for a week to understand common customer issues. Have your infrastructure expert sit with the product team. Also, create “game days” where you simulate a crisis. For example: "Okay team, our lead developer is 'on vacation' today. Let's practice a full deployment without them.” This makes learning safe and proactive.

    • Celebrate team success, not individual firefighting. Shift your praise and recognition. Instead of publicly thanking a single person for working all night to resolve a problem, celebrate the team that built a system so resilient it didn't break in the first place. Reward the team that wrote excellent documentation that allowed a junior member to solve a complex issue. Culture follows what you celebrate. At the same time, if the team does not pony up, definitely praise the person and follow up with the team to fix this.

    • Host internal demos and tech talks. Create a regular, informal forum where people can share what they're working on. This could be a “brown bag lunch” session or a Friday afternoon demo. It demystifies what other teams are doing, breaks down silos, and encourages people to ask questions in a low pressure environment.

    • Remunerate sharing. Make sharing knowledge a bonus-eligible key performance indicator. The more sharing an expert does, with their peers acknowledging this, the more the expert earns. You can easily incorporate this into your peer feedback system. 

    • Run DRP exercises without your top engineers: This is taking a leap of faith, and I would never recommend this until all of the above are in place and proven. 

    Building Resilient Technical Systems

    The core principle here is to assume failure will happen and to design for it. A resilient system isn't one where parts never fail, but one where the system as a whole keeps working even when they do.

    • Embrace the rule of three. This is a simple but powerful guideline. For critical data, aim to have three copies on two different types of media, with one copy stored off-site (or in a different cloud region). For critical services, aim for at least three instances running in different availability zones. This simple rule protects you from a wide range of common failures.

    • Automate everything you can. Every manual process is a potential SPOF. It relies on a person remembering a series of steps perfectly, often under pressure. Automate your testing, your deployments, your server setup, and your backup procedures. Scripts are consistent and repeatable; tired humans at 3 AM are not.

    • Use health checks and smart monitoring. It's not enough to have a backup server; you need to know that it's healthy and ready to take over. Implement automated health checks that constantly monitor your primary and redundant systems. Your monitoring should alert you the moment a backup component fails, not just when the primary one does.

    • Practice chaos engineering. Don't wait for a real failure to test your resilience. Intentionally introduce failures in a controlled environment. This is known as chaos engineering. Start small. What happens if you turn off a non-critical service during work hours? Does the system handle it gracefully? Does the team know how to respond? This turns a potential crisis into a planned, educational drill.

    Avoiding Technology and Vendor Traps

    Your resilience also depends on the choices you make about the technology and partners you rely on. The goal is to maintain control over your destiny.

    • Build abstraction layers. Instead of having your application code talk directly to a specific vendor's service, create an intermediary layer that you control. This “abstraction layer” acts as a buffer. If you ever need to switch vendors, you only have to update your abstraction layer, not your entire application. It’s more work up front but gives you immense flexibility later.

    • Make “ease of exit” a key requirement. When you evaluate a new technology or vendor, make portability a primary concern. Ask tough questions: How do we get our data out? What is the process for migrating to a competitor? Is the technology based on open standards? Run a small proof of concept to test how hard it would be to leave before you commit fully.

    • Consider a multi-vendor strategy. For your most critical dependencies, like cloud hosting, avoid going all in on a single provider if you can. Using services from two or more vendors is an advanced strategy, but it provides the ultimate protection against a massive, platform wide outage or unfavorable changes in pricing or terms.

    It's a journey, not a destination

    You will never be “ready.” Building resilience by eliminating single points of failure isn't a one time project you can check off a list. It’s a continuous process. New SPOFs will emerge as your systems evolve, people change roles, and your business grows.

    The key is to make this thinking a part of your culture. Make “What's the bus factor for this project?” a regular question in your planning meetings. Make redundancy and documentation a non negotiable requirement for new systems. By constantly looking for the one thing that can bring everything down, you can build teams and technology that don't just survive shocks—they eat them for breakfast.

    Human Resources Management

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    Talent is the differentiator; availability is not.

    Build Your Security Operations Program From the Ground Up

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    • Parent Category Name: Security Processes & Operations
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    • Analysts cannot monitor and track events coming from multiple tools because they have no visibility into the threat environment.
    • Incident management takes away time from problem management because processes are ad hoc and the continuous monitoring, collection, and analysis of massive volumes of security event data is responsive rather than tactical.
    • Organizations are struggling to defend against and prevent threats while juggling business, compliance, and consumer obligations.

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    • Security operations is no longer a center but a process. The need for a physical security hub has evolved into the virtual fusion of prevention, detection, analysis, and response efforts. When all four functions operate as a unified process, your organization will be able to proactively combat changes in the threat landscape.
    • Raw data without correlation is a waste of time, money, and effort. A SIEM on its own will not provide this contextualization and needs configuration. Prevention, detection, analysis, and response processes must contextualize threat data and supplement one another – true value will only be realized once all four functions operate as a unified process.
    • If you are not communicating, then you are not secure. Collaboration eliminates siloed decisions by connecting people, processes, and technologies. You leave less room for error, consume fewer resources, and improve operational efficiency with a transparent security operations process.

    Impact and Result

    • A centralized security operations process actively transforms security events and threat information into actionable intelligence, driving security prevention, detection, analysis, and response processes that address the increasing sophistication of cyberthreats while guiding continuous improvement.
    • This blueprint will walk through the steps of developing a flexible and systematic security operations program relevant to your organization.

    Build Your Security Operations Program From the Ground Up Research & Tools

    Start here – read the Executive Brief

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

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

    1. Establish your foundation

    Determine how to establish the foundation of your security operations.

    • Build Your Security Operations Program From the Ground Up – Phase 1: Establish Your Foundation
    • Information Security Pressure Analysis Tool

    2. Assess your current state

    Assess the maturity of your prevention, detection, analysis, and response processes.

    • Build Your Security Operations Program From the Ground Up – Phase 2: Assess Your Current State
    • Security Operations Roadmap Tool

    3. Design your target state

    Design a target state and improve your governance and policy solutions.

    • Build Your Security Operations Program From the Ground Up – Phase 3: Design Your Target State
    • Security Operations Policy

    4. Develop an implementation roadmap

    Make your case to the board and develop a roadmap for your prioritized security initiatives.

    • Build Your Security Operations Program From the Ground Up – Phase 4: Develop an Implementation Roadmap
    • In-House vs. Outsourcing Decision-Making Tool
    • Security Operations MSSP RFP Template
    • Security Operations Project Charter Template
    • Security Operations RACI Tool
    • Security Operations Metrics Summary Document
    [infographic]

    Workshop: Build Your Security Operations Program From the Ground Up

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

    1 Establish Your Foundation

    The Purpose

    Identify security obligations and the security operations program’s pressure posture.

    Assess current people, process, and technology capabilities.

    Determine foundational controls and complete system and asset inventory.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Identified the foundational elements needed for planning before a security operations program can be built

    Activities

    1.1 Define your security obligations and assess your security pressure posture.

    1.2 Determine current knowledge and skill gaps.

    1.3 Shine a spotlight on services worth monitoring.

    1.4 Assess and document your information system environment.

    Outputs

    Customized security pressure posture

    Current knowledge and skills gaps

    Log register of essential services

    Asset management inventory

    2 Assess Current Security Operations Processes

    The Purpose

    Identify the maturity level of existing security operations program processes.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Current maturity assessment of security operations processes

    Activities

    2.1 Assess the current maturity level of the existing security operations program processes.

    Outputs

    Current maturity assessment

    3 Design a Target State

    The Purpose

    Design your optimized target state.

    Improve your security operations processes with governance and policy solutions.

    Identify and prioritize gap initiatives.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    A comprehensive list of initiatives to reach ideal target state

    Optimized security operations with repeatable and standardized policies

    Activities

    3.1 Complete standardized policy templates.

    3.2 Map out your ideal target state.

    3.3 Identify gap initiatives.

    Outputs

    Security operations policies

    Gap analysis between current and target states

    List of prioritized initiatives

    4 Develop an Implementation Roadmap

    The Purpose

    Formalize project strategy with a project charter.

    Determine your sourcing strategy for in-house or outsourced security operations processes.

    Assign responsibilities and complete an implementation roadmap.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    An overarching and documented strategy and vision for your security operations

    A thorough rationale for in-house or outsourced security operations processes

    Assigned and documented responsibilities for key projects

    Activities

    4.1 Complete a security operations project charter.

    4.2 Determine in-house vs. outsourcing rationale.

    4.3 Identify dependencies of your initiatives and prioritize initiatives in phases of implementation.

    4.4 Complete a security operations roadmap.

    Outputs

    Security operations project charter

    In-house vs. outsourcing rationale

    Initiatives organized according to phases of development

    Planned and achievable security operations roadmap

    Choose Your Mobile Platform and Tools

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    • Organizations see the value of mobile applications in improving productivity and reach of day-to-day business and IT operations. This motivates leaders to begin the planning of their first application.
    • However, organizations often lack the critical foundational knowledge and skills to deliver and maintain high quality and valuable applications that meet business and user priorities and technical requirements.
    • Mobile technologies and trends are continually evolving and maturing. It is hard to predict which trends will make a significant impact and to prepare current mobile investments to harness their value of these trends.

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    • Mobile applications can stress the stability, reliability, and overall quality of your enterprise systems and services. They will also increase your security risks because of the exposure of your enterprise technology assets to unsecured networks and devices.
    • High costs of entry may restrict what built-in features your users can have in their mobile experience. Workarounds may not be sufficient to offset the costs of certain built-in feature needs.
    • Many operating models do not enable or encourage the collaboration required to fully understand user needs and behaviors and evaluate mobile opportunities and underlying operational systems from multiple perspectives.

    Impact and Result

    • Establish the right expectations. Understand your mobile users by learning their needs, challenges, and behaviors. Discuss the current state of your systems and your high priority non-functional requirements to determine what to expect from your mobile applications.
    • Choose the right mobile platform approach and shortlist your mobile delivery solutions. Obtain a thorough view of the business and technical complexities of your mobile opportunities, including current mobile delivery capabilities and system compatibilities.
    • Create your mobile roadmap. Describe the gradual rollout of your mobile technologies through minimal valuable products (MVPs).

    Choose Your Mobile Platform and Tools Research & Tools

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

    1. Choose Your Mobile Platform and Tools Storyboard

    This blueprint helps you develop an approach to understand the mobile experience your stakeholders want your users to have and select the appropriate platform and delivery tools to meet these expectations.

    • Choose Your Mobile Platform and Tools Storyboard

    2. Mobile Application Delivery Communication Template – Clearly communicate the goal and approach of your mobile application implementation in a language your audience understands.

    This template narrates a story to describe the need and expectations of your low- and no-code initiative to get buy-in from stakeholders and interested parties.

    • Mobile Application Delivery Communication Template

    Infographic

    Workshop: Choose Your Mobile Platform and Tools

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

    1 Choose Your Platform and Delivery Solution

    The Purpose

    Choose the right mobile platform.

    Shortlist your mobile delivery solution and desired features and services.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    A chosen mobile platform that meets user and enterprise needs.

    Candidate mobile delivery solutions that meet your delivery needs and capacity of your teams.

    Activities

    1.1 Select your platform approach.

    1.2 Shortlist your mobile delivery solution.

    1.3 Build your feature and service lists.

    Outputs

    Desired mobile platform approach.

    Shortlisted mobile delivery solutions.

    Desired list of vendor features and services.

    2 Create Your Roadmap

    The Purpose

    Design the mobile application minimal viable product (MVP).

    Create your mobile roadmap.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    An achievable and valuable mobile application that is scalable for future growth.

    Clear intent of business outcome delivery and completing mobile delivery activities.

    Activities

    2.1 Define your MVP release.

    2.2 Build your roadmap.

    Outputs

    MVP design.

    Mobile delivery roadmap.

    3 Set the Mobile Context

    The Purpose

    Understand your user’s environment needs, behaviors, and challenges.

    Define stakeholder expectations and ensure alignment with the holistic business strategy.

    Identify your mobile application opportunities.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Thorough understanding of your mobile user and opportunities where mobile applications can help.

    Level set stakeholder expectations and establish targeted objectives.

    Prioritized list of mobile opportunities.

    Activities

    3.1 Generate user personas with empathy maps.

    3.2 Build your mobile application canvas.

    3.3 Build your mobile backlog.

    Outputs

    User personas.

    Mobile objectives and metrics.

    Mobile opportunity backlog.

    4 Identify Your Technical Needs

    The Purpose

    Define the mobile experience you want to deliver and the features to enable it.

    Understand the state of your current system to support mobile.

    Identify your definition of mobile application quality.

    List the concerns with mobile delivery.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Clear understanding of the desired mobile experience.

    Potential issues and risks with enabling mobile on top of existing systems.

    Grounded understanding of mobile application quality.

    Holistic readiness assessment to proceed with mobile delivery.

    Activities

    4.1 Discuss your mobile needs.

    4.2 Conduct a technical assessment.

    4.3 Define mobile application quality.

    4.4 Verify your decision to deliver mobile applications.

    Outputs

    List of mobile features to enable the desired mobile experience.

    System current assessment.

    Mobile application quality definition.

    Verification to proceed with mobile delivery.

    Further reading

    Choose Your Mobile Platform and Tools

    Maximize the value of your mobile investments by prioritizing technology decisions on user experience, business priorities, and system quality.

    EXECUTIVE BRIEF

    Analyst Perspective

    Mobile is the way of working.

    Workers require access to enterprise products, data, and services anywhere at anytime on any device. Give them the device-specific features, offline access, desktop-like interfaces, and automation capabilities they need to be productive.

    To be successful, you need to instill a collaborative business-IT partnership. Only through this partnership will you be able to select the right mobile platform and tools to balance desired outcomes with enterprise security, performance, integration, quality, and other delivery capacity concerns.

    This is a picture of Andrew Kum-Seun Senior Research Analyst, Application Delivery and Application Management Info-Tech Research Group

    Andrew Kum-Seun
    Senior Research Analyst,
    Application Delivery and Application Management
    Info-Tech Research Group

    Executive Summary

    Your Challenge

    • Organizations see the value of mobile applications in improving productivity and reach of day-to-day business and IT operations. This motivates leaders to begin the planning of their first application.
    • However, organizations often lack the critical foundational knowledge and skills to deliver and maintain high quality and valuable applications that meet business and user priorities and technical requirements.
    • Mobile technologies and trends are continually evolving and maturing. It is hard to predict which trends will make a significant impact and to prepare current mobile investments to harness the value of these trends.

    Common Obstacles

    • Mobile applications can stress the stability, reliability and overall quality of your enterprise systems and services. They will also increase your security risks because of the exposure of your enterprise technology assets to unsecured networks and devices.
    • High costs of entry may restrict what native features your users can have in their mobile experience. Workarounds may not be sufficient to offset the costs of certain native feature needs.
    • Many operating models do not enable or encourage the collaboration required to fully understand user needs and behaviors and evaluate mobile opportunities and underlying operational systems from multiple perspectives.

    Info-Tech's Approach

    • Establish the right expectations. Understand your mobile users by learning their needs, challenges, and behaviors. Discuss the current state of your systems and your high priority non-functional requirements to determine what to expect from your mobile applications.
    • Choose the right mobile platform approach and shortlist your mobile delivery solutions. Obtain a thorough view of the business and technical complexities of your mobile opportunities, including current mobile delivery capabilities and system compatibilities.
    • Create your mobile roadmap. Describe the gradual rollout of your mobile technologies through minimal valuable products (MVPs).

    Insight Summary

    Overarching Info-Tech Insight

    Treat your mobile applications as digital products. Digital products are continuously modernized to ensure they are fit-for-purpose, secured, accessible, and immersive. A successful mobile experience involves more than just the software and supporting system. It involves good training and onboarding, efficient delivery turnaround, and a clear and rational vision and strategy.

    Phase 1: Set the Mobile Context

    • Build applications your users need and desire – Design the right mobile application that enables your users to address their frustrations and productivity challenges.
    • Maximize return on your technology investments – Build your mobile applications with existing web APIs, infrastructure, and services as much as possible.
    • Prioritize mobile security, performance and integration requirements – Understand the unique security, performance, and integration influences has on your desired mobile user experience. Find the right balance of functional and non-functional requirements through business and IT collaboration.

    Phase 2: Define Your Mobile Approach

    • Start with a mobile web platform - Minimize disruptions to your existing delivery process and technical stack by building against common web standards. Select a hybrid platform or cross-platform if you need device hardware access or have complicated non-functional requirements.
    • Focus your mobile solution decision on vendor support and functional complexity – Verify that your solution is not only compatible with the architecture, data, and policies of existing business systems, but satisfies IT's concerns with access to restricted technology and data, and with IT's ability to manage and operate your applications.
    • Anticipate changes, defects & failures in your roadmap - Quickly shift your mobile roadmaps according to user feedback, delivery challenges, value, and stability.

    Mobile is how the business works today

    Mobile adoption continues to grow in part due to the need to be a mobile workforce, and the shift in customer behaviors. This reality pushed the industry to transform business processes and technologies to better support the mobile way of working.

    Mobile Builds Interests
    61%
    Mobile devices drove 61% of visits to U.S. websites
    Source: Perficient, 2021

    Mobile Maintains Engagement
    54%
    Mobile devices generated 54.4% of global website traffic in Q4 2021.
    Source: Statista, 2022

    Mobile Drives Productivity
    82%
    According to 82% of IT executives, smartphones are highly important to employee productivity
    Source: Samsung and Oxford Economics, 2022

    Mobile applications enable and drive your digital business strategy

    Organizations know the criticality of mobile applications in meeting key business and digital transformation goals, and they are making significant investments. Over half (58%) of organizations say their main strategy for driving application adoption is enabling mobile access to critical enterprise systems (Enterprise CIO, 2016). The strategic positioning and planning of mobile applications are key for success.

    Mobile Can Motivate, Support and Drive Progress in Key Activities Underpinning Digital Transformation Goals

    Goal: Enhance Customer Experience

    • A shift from paper to digital communications
    • Seamless, omni-channel client experiences across devices
    • Create Digital interactive documents with sections that customers can customize to better understand their communications

    Goal: Increase Workflow Throughput & Efficiency

    • Digitized processes and use of data to improve process efficiency
    • Modern IT platforms
    • Automation through robotic process automation (RPA) where possible
    • Use of AI and machine learning for intelligent automation

    Source: Broadridge, 2022

    To learn more, visit Info-Tech's Define Your Digital Business Strategy blueprint.

    Well developed mobile applications bring unique opportunities to drive more value

    Role

    Opportunities With Mobile Applications

    Expected Value

    Stationary Worker

    Design flowcharts and diagrams, while abandoning paper and desktop applications in favor of easy-to-use, drawing tablet applications.

    Multitask by checking the application to verify information given by a vendor during their presentation or pitch.

    • Reduce materials cost to complete administrative responsibilities.
    • Digitally and automatically store and archive frequently used documents.

    Roaming Worker
    (Engineer)

    Replace physical copies of service and repair manuals with digital copies, and access them with mobile applications.

    Scan or input product bar code to determine whether a replacement part is available or needs to be ordered.

    • Readily access and update corporate data anywhere at anytime.
    • Expand employee responsibilities with minimal skills impact.

    Roaming Worker
    (Nurse)

    Log patient information according to HIPAA standards and complete diagnostics live to propose medication for a patient.

    Receive messages from senior staff about patients and scheduling while on-call.

    • Quickly and accurately complete tasks and update patient data at site.
    • Be readily accessible to address urgent issues.

    Info-Tech Insight

    If you build it, they may not come. Design and build the applications your user wants and needs, and ensure users are properly onboarded and trained. Learn how your applications are leveraged, capture feedback from the user and system dashboards, and plan for enhancements, fixes, and modernizations.

    Workers expect IT to deliver against their high mobile expectations

    Workers want sophisticated mobile applications like what they see their peers and competitors use.

    Why is IT considering building their own applications?

    • Complex and Unique Workflows: Canned templates and shells are viewed as incompatible to the workflows required to complete worker responsibilities outside the office, with the same level of access to corporate data as on premise.
    • Supporting Bring Your Own Device (BYOD): Developing your own mobile applications around your security protocols and standards can help mitigate the risks with personal devices that are already in your workforce.
    • Long-Term Architecture Misalignment: Outsourcing mobile development risks the mobile application misaligned with your quality standards or incompatible with other enterprise and third-party systems.

    Continuously meeting aggressive user expectations will not be easy

    Value Quickly Wears Off
    39.9% of users uninstall an application because it is not in use.
    40%
    Source: n=2,000, CleverTap, 2021

    Low Tolerance to Waiting
    Keeping a user waiting for 3 seconds is enough to dissatisfy 43% of users.
    43%
    Source: AppSamurai, 2018

    Quick Fixes Are Paramount
    44% of defects are found by users
    44%
    Source: Perfecto Mobile, 2014

    Mobile emphasizes the importance of good security, performance, and integration

    Today's mobile workers are looking for new ways to get more work done quickly. They want access to enterprise solutions and data directly on their mobile devices, which can reside on multiple legacy systems and in the cloud and third-party infrastructure. This presents significant performance, integration, and security risks.

    Cloud Solutions: Can I use my existing APIs?. Solutions in Corporate Networks: Do my legacy systems have the capacity to support mobile?; How do I integrate solutions and data from multiple sources into a single view?; Third Party Solutions: Will I have a significant performance bottleneck?; Single View on Mobile Devices: How is corporate data stored on the device?; What new technology dependencies must I account for in my architecture and operational support capabilities?

    Accept change as the norm

    IT is challenged with keeping up with disruptive technologies, such as mobile, which are arriving and changing faster and faster.

    What is the issue? Mobile priorities, concepts, and technologies do not remain static. For example, current Google's Pixels benefit from at least three versions of Android updates and at least three years of monthly security patches after their release (NextPit, 2022). Keeping up to date with anything mobile is difficult if you do not have the right delivery and product management practices in place.

    What is the impact on IT? Those who fail to prepare for changing requirements and technologies will quickly run into maintainability, extensibility, and flexibility issues. Mobile applications will quickly become stale and misaligned with the maturity of other enterprise infrastructure and applications.

    Continuously look at the trends, vendor roadmaps, and your user's feedback to envision where your mobile applications should be. Learning from your past attempts gives you insights on the opportunities and impacts changes will have on your people, process, and technology.

    How do I address this issue? A well-defined mobile vision and roadmap ensures your initiatives are aligned with your holistic business and technology strategies, the right problem is being solved, and resources are available to deliver high priority changes.

    To learn more, visit Info-Tech's Deliver on Your Digital Product Vision blueprint.

    Address the difficulties in managing enterprise mobile technologies

    Adaptability During Development

    Teams must be ready to alter their mobile approach when new insights and issues arise during and after the delivery of your mobile application and its updates.

    High Cybersecurity Standards

    Cybersecurity should be a top priority given the high security exposure of mobiles and the sensitive data mobile applications need to operate. Role-based access, back-up systems, advanced scanning, and protection software and encryption should all be implemented.

    Integration with Other Systems

    Your application will likely be integrated with other systems to expand service offerings and optimize performance and user experience. Your enterprise integration strategy ensures all systems connect against a common pattern with compatible technologies.

    Finding the Right Mobile Developers

    Enterprise mobile delivery requires a broad skillset to build valuable applications against extensive non-functional requirements in complex and integration environments. The right resources are even harder to find when native applications are preferred over web-based ones.

    Source: Radoslaw Szeja, Netguru, 2022.

    Build and manage the right experience by treating mobile as digital products

    Digital products are continuously modernized to ensure they are fit-for-purpose, secured, insightful, accessible, and interoperable. A good experience involves more than just technology.

    First, deliver the experience end users want and expect by designing the application against digital application principles.

    Business Value

    Continuous modernization

    • Fit for purpose
    • User-centric
    • Adaptable
    • Accessible
    • Private and secured
    • Informative and insightful
    • Seamless application connection
    • Relationship and network building

    To learn more, visit Info-Tech's Modernize Your Applications blueprint.

    Then, deliver a long-lasting experience by supporting your applications with key governance and management capabilities.

    • Product Strategy and Roadmap
    • External Relationships
    • User Adoption and Organizational Change Management
    • Funding
    • Knowledge Management
    • Stakeholder Management
    • Product Governance
    • Maintenance & Enhancement
    • User Support
    • Managing and Governing Data
    • Requirements Analysis and Design
    • Research & Development

    To learn more, visit Info-Tech's Make the Case for Product Delivery blueprint.

    Choose Your Mobile Platform and Tools

    Maximize the value of your mobile investments by prioritizing technology decisions on user experience, business priorities, and system quality.

    WORKFLOW

    1. Capture Your User Personas and Journey workflow: Trigger: Step 1; Step 2; Step 3; Step 4; Outcome
    2. Select Your Platform Nine datapoints are arranged on a graph where the x axis s labeled: User Centric Needs; and the Y axis is labeled: Enterprise-centric needs. The datapoints are, in order from left to right, top to bottom: Hybrid; Cross- Platform; Native; Web; Hybrid or Cross- Platform; Cros-s Platform; Web; Web; Hybrid or Cross- Platform.
    3. Shortlist Your Solutions A quadrant analysis is depicted. the top data is labeled Complex Mobile Features; the right side is labeled Organization-Managed Stack; the bottom is labeled Simple Mobile Features; and the left side is labeled Vendor-Managed Stack. The quadrants are labeled the following, in order from left to right, top to bottom. Vendor- Hosted Mobile Platform; Custom Native Development Solutions; Commercial-Off-the-Shelf Solutions; Custom Web Development Solutions. In the middle of the graph are the following, in order from top to bottom: Cross-Platform Development Solutions; Hybrid Development Solutions

    Strategic Perspective
    Business and Product Strategies

    1. End-User Perspective

    End User Needs

    • Productivity
    • Innovation
    • Transformation

    Native User Experience

    • Anytime, Anywhere
    • Visually Pleasing & Fulfilling
    • Personalized & Insightful
    • Hands-Off & Automated
    • Integrated Ecosystem

    2. Platform Perspective

    Technical Requirements

    Security

    Performance

    Integration

    Mobile Platform

    3. Solution Perspective

    Vendor Support

    Services

    Stack Mgmt.

    Quality & Risk

    Mobile Delivery Solutions

    Make user experience (UX) the standard

    User experience (UX) focuses on a user's emotions, beliefs, and physical and psychological responses that occur before, during, or after interacting with a service or product.

    For a mobile application to be meaningful, the functions, aesthetics and content must be:

    • Usable
      • Users can intuitively navigate through your mobile application and complete their desired tasks.
    • Desirable
      • The application elements are used to evoke positive emotions and appreciation.
    • Accessible
      • Users can easily use your mobile application, including those with disabilities.
    • Valuable
      • Users find the content useful, and it fulfills a need.

    Enable a greater experience with UX-driven thinking

    Designing for a high-quality experience requires more than just focusing on the UI. It also requires the merging of multiple business, technical, and social disciplines in order to create an immersive, practical, and receptive application. The image on the right explains the disciplines involved in UX. This is critical for ensuring users have a strong desire to use the mobile application, it is adequately supported technically, and it supports business objectives.

    To learn more, visit Info-Tech's Implement and Mature Your User Experience Design Practice blueprint.

    A Venn diagram is depicted, demonstrating the inputs that lead to an interactive design, with interactive elements, usability, and accessibility. This work by Mark Roden is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.

    Source: Marky Roden, Xomino, 2018

    Define the mobile experience your end users want

    • Anytime, Anywhere
      • The user can access, update and analyze data and corporate products and services whenever they want, in all networks, and on any device.
    • Hands-Off and Automated
      • The application can perform various workflows and tasks without the user's involvement and notify the user when specific triggers are hit.
    • Personalized and Insightful
      • Content presentation and subject are tailored for the user based on specific inputs from the user, device hardware, or predicted actions.
    • Integrated Ecosystem
      • The application supports a seamless experience across various third-party and enterprise applications and services the user needs.
    • Visually Pleasing and Fulfilling
      • The UI is intuitive and aesthetically gratifying, with little security and performance trade-offs to use the full breadth of its functions and services.

    Each mobile platform has its own take on the mobile native experience. The choice ultimately depends on whether the costs and effort are worth the anticipated value.

    Mobile value is dependent on the platform you choose

    What is a platform?

    "A platform is a set of software and a surrounding ecosystem of resources that helps you to grow your business. A platform enables growth through connection: its value comes not only from its own features, but from its ability to connect external tools, teams, data, and processes." (Source: Emilie Nøss Wangen, 2021) In the mobile context, applications in a platform execute and communicate through a loosely-coupled API architecture, whether the supporting system is managed and supported by your organization or by third-party providers.

    Web

    Mobile web applications are deployed and executed within the mobile web browser. They are often developed with a combination of web and scripting languages, such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Web often takes two forms on mobile:

    • Progressive Web Applications (PWA)
    • Mobile Web Sites

    Hybrid

    Hybrid applications are developed with web technologies but are deployed as native applications. The code is wrapped using a framework so that it runs locally within a native container. It uses the device's browser runtime engine to support more sophisticated designs and features than to the web approach.

    Cross-Platform

    Cross-platform applications are developed within a distinct programming or scripting environment that uses its own scripting language (often like web languages) and APIs. The solution compiles the code into device-specific builds for native deployment.

    Native

    Native applications are developed and deployed to specific devices and OSs using platform-specific software development kits (SDKs) provided by the operating system vendors. The programming language and framework are dictated by the targeted device, such as Java for Android.

    Start mobile development on a mobile web platform

    Start with what you have: begin with a mobile web platform to minimize impacts to your existing delivery skill sets and technical stack while addressing business needs. Resort to a hybrid first. Then consider a cross-platform application if you require device access or need to meet specific non-functional requirements.

    Why choose a mobile web platform?

    Pros

    The latest versions of the most popular web languages (HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript) abstract away from the granular, physical components of the application, simplifying the development process. HTML5 offer some mobile features (e.g. geolocation, accelerometer) that can meet your desired experience without the need for native development skills. Native look-and-feel, high performance, and full device access are just a few tradeoffs of going with web languages.

    Cons

    Native mobile platforms depend on device-specific code which follows specific frameworks and leverages unique programming libraries, such as Objective C for iOS and Java for Android. Each language requires a high level of expertise in the coding structure and hardware of specific devices. This requires resources with specific skillsets and different tools to support development and testing.

    Other Notable Benefits with Web Languages

    • Modern browsers in most mobile devices can execute and render many mobile features developed in web languages, allowing for greater portability and sophistication of code across multiple devices. However, this flexibility comes at the cost of performance since the browser's runtime engine will not perform as well as a native engine.
    • Web languages are well known by developers, minimizing skills and resourcing impacts. Consequently, changes can be quickly accommodated and updated uniformly across all end users.

    Select your mobile platform

    Drive your mobile platform selection against user-centric needs (e.g. device access, aesthetics) and enterprise-centric needs (e.g. security, system performance).

    When does a platform makes sense to use?

    Web

    • Desire to maximize current web technologies investments (people, process, and technologies).
    • Use cases do not require significant computational resources on the device or are tightly constrained by non-functional requirements.
    • Limited budget to acquire mobile development resources.
    • Access to device hardware is not a high priority.

    Hybrid / Cross-Platform

    • The need to quickly spin up native-like applications for multiple platforms and devices.
    • Desire to leverage existing web development skills, but also a need for device access and meeting specific non-functional requirements.
    • Vendor support is needed for the entire mobile delivery process.

    Native

    • Developers are experts in the target programming language and with the device's hardware.
    • Strong need for high performance, security, and device-specific access and customizations.
    • Application use cases require significant computing resources.

    Nine datapoints are arranged on a graph where the x axis s labeled: User Centric Needs; and the Y axis is labeled: Enterprise-centric needs. The datapoints are, in order from left to right, top to bottom: Hybrid; Cross- Platform; Native; Web; Hybrid or Cross- Platform; Cros-s Platform; Web; Web; Hybrid or Cross- Platform.

    Understand the common attributes of a mobile delivery solution

    • Source Code Management – Built-in or having the ability to integrate with code management solutions for branching, merging, and versioning. Debugging and coding assistance capabilities may be available.
    • Single Code Base – Capable of programming in a standard coding and scripting language for deployment into several platforms and devices. This code base is aligned to a common industry framework (e.g. AngularJS, Java) or a vendor-defined one.
    • Out-of-the-Box Connectors & Plug-ins – Pre-built APIs enhance the solution's capabilities with third-party tools and systems to deliver and manage high quality and valuable mobile applications.
    • Emulators – Ability to virtualize an application's execution on a target platform and device.
    • Support for Native Features – Supports plug-ins and APIs for access to device-specific features.

    What are mobile delivery solutions?

    A mobile delivery solution provides the tools, resources, and support to enable or build your mobile application. It can provide pre-built applications, vendor supported components to allow some configurations, or resources for full stack customizations. Solutions can be barebone software development kits (SDKs), or comprehensive suites offering features to support the entire software delivery lifecycle, such as:

    • Mobile application management
    • Testing and publishing to app stores
    • Content management
    • Cloud hosting
    • Application performance management

    Info-Tech Insight

    Mobile enablement and development capabilities are already embedded in many common productivity tools and enterprise applications, such as Microsoft PowerApps and ERP modules. They can serve as a starting point in the initial rollout of new management and governance practices without the need to acquire new tools.

    Select your mobile delivery solutions

    1. Set the scope of your framework.
    • The initial context of this framework is based on the mobile functions needed to support your desired mobile experience and on the current state of your enterprise and 3rd party systems.
  • Define the decision factors for your solution selection.
    • Review the decision factors that will influence the selection of your mobile delivery solution for each mobile opportunity:
    • Stack Management – Who will be hosting and supporting your mobile application stack?
    • Workflows Complexity & Native Experience – How complex is your desired mobile experience and how will native device features be leveraged?
  • Select your solution type.
    • Mobile delivery solutions are broadly defined in the following groups:
    • Commercial-Off-The-Shelf (COTS) – Pre-built mobile applications requiring little to no configurations or implementation effort.
    • Vendor Hosted Mobile Platform – Back-end and mid-tier infrastructure and operational support are managed by a vendor.
    • Cross-Platform Development – Frameworks that transform a single code base into platform-specific builds.
    • Hybrid Development – Tools that wrap a single code base into a locally deployable build.
    • Custom Web Development – Environment enabling full stack development for mobile web applications.
    • Custom Native Development – Environment enabling full stack development for mobile native applications.
    • A quadrant analysis is depicted. the top data is labeled Complex Mobile Features; the right side is labeled Organization-Managed Stack; the bottom is labeled Simple Mobile Features; and the left side is labeled Vendor-Managed Stack. The quadrants are labeled the following, in order from left to right, top to bottom. Vendor- Hosted Mobile Platform; Custom Native Development Solutions; Commercial-Off-the-Shelf Solutions; Custom Web Development Solutions. In the middle of the graph are the following, in order from top to bottom: Cross-Platform Development Solutions; Hybrid Development Solutions

    Optimize your software delivery process

    Mobile brings new delivery and management challenges that are often difficult for organizations that are tied to legacy systems, hindered by rigid and slow delivery lifecycles, and are unable to adopt leading-edge technologies. Many of these challenges stem from the fact that mobile is a significant shift from desktop development:

    • Mobile devices and operating systems are heavily fragmented, especially in the Android space.
    • Test coverage is significantly expanded to include physical environments and multiple network connections.
    • Mobile devices do not have the same performance capabilities and memory storage as their desktop counterparts.
    • The user interface must be strategically designed to accommodate the limited screen size.
    • Mobile applications are highly susceptible to security breaches.
    • Mobile users often expect quick turnaround time on fixes and enhancements due to continuously changing technology, business priorities, and user needs.

    To learn more, visit Info-Tech's Modernize Your SDLC blueprint.

    How should the process change?

    • Cross-functional collaboration – Bringing business and IT together at the most opportune times to clarify user needs and business priorities, and set realistic expectations given technology and capacity constraints. The appropriate tactics and techniques are used to improve decision making and delivery effectiveness according to the type of work.
    • Iterative delivery – Frequent delivery of progressive changes minimizes the risk of low-quality features by containing and simplifying scope, and enables responsive turnarounds of fixes, enhancements, and priority changes.
    • Feedback loops –Mobile application owners constantly review, update and refine their backlog of mobile features and changes to reflect user feedback and system performance metrics. Delivery teams proactively prepare the application for future scaling based on lessons and feedback learned from earlier releases.

    Achieve mobile success with MVPs

    By delivering mobile capabilities in small iterations, teams recognize value sooner and reduce accumulated risk. Both benefits are realized as the iteration enters validation testing and release.

    This image depicts a graph of the learn-build-measure cycle over time, adapted from Managing the Development of Large Software Systems, Dr. Winston W. Royce, 1970

    An MVP focuses on a small set of functions, involves minimal possible effort to deliver a working and valuable solution, and is designed to satisfy a specific user group. Its purpose is to:

    • Maximize learning.
    • Evaluate the value and acceptance of mobile applications.
    • Inform the building of a mobile delivery practice.

    The build-measure-learn loop suggests mobile delivery teams should perpetually take an idea and develop, test, and validate it with the mobile development solution, then expand on the MVP using the lessons learned and evolving ideas. In this sense the MVP is just the first iteration in the loop.

    Gauge the value with the right metrics

    Metrics are a powerful way to drive behavior change in your organization. But metrics are highly prone to creating unexpected outcomes so they must be used with great care. Use metrics judiciously to avoid gaming or ambivalent behavior, productivity loss, and unintended consequences.

    To learn more, visit Info-Tech's Select and Use SDLC Metrics Effectively blueprint.

    What should I measure?

    1. Mobile Application Engagement, Retention and User Satisfaction
      1. The activeness of users on the applications, the number of returning users, and the happiness of the users.
      2. Example: Number of tasks completed, number of active and returning users, session length and intervals, user satisfaction
    2. Value Driven from Mobile Applications
      1. The business value that the user directly or indirectly receives with the mobile application.
      2. Example: Mobile application revenue, business operational costs, worker productivity, business reputation and image
    3. Delivery Throughput and Quality
      1. The health and quality of your mobile applications throughout their lifespan and the speed to deliver working applications that meet stakeholder expectations.
      2. Example: Frequency of release, lead time, request turnaround, escaped defects, test coverage.

    Use Info-Tech's diagnostic to evaluate the reception of your mobile applications

    Info-Tech's Application Portfolio Assessment (APA) Diagnostic is a canned end-user satisfaction survey used to evaluate your application portfolio health to support data-driven decisions.

    This image contains a screenshot from Info-Tech's Application Portfolio Assessment (APA) Diagnostic

    USE THE PROGRAM DIAGNOSTIC TO:

    • Assess the importance and satisfaction of enterprise applications.
    • Solicit feedback from your end users on applications being used.
    • Understand the strengths and weaknesses of your current applications.
    • Perform a high-level application rationalization initiative.

    INTEGRATE DIAGNOSTIC RESULTS TO:

    • Target which applications to analyze in greater detail.
    • Expand on the initial application rationalization results with a more comprehensive and business-value-focused criteria.

    Grow your mobile delivery practice

    Level 1: Mobile Delivery Foundations

    You understand the opportunities and impacts mobile has on your business operations and its disruptive nature on your enterprise systems. Your software delivery lifecycle was optimized to incorporate the specific practices and requirements needed for mobile. A mobile platform was selected based on stakeholder needs that are weighed against current skillsets, high priority non-functional requirements, the available capacity and scalability of your stack, and alignment to your current delivery process.

    Level 2: Scaled Mobile Delivery

    New features and mobile use cases are regularly emerging in the industry. Ensuring your mobile platform and delivery process can easily scale to incorporate constantly changing mobile features and technologies is key. This can help minimize the impact these changes will have on your mobile stack and the resulting experience.

    Achieving this state requires three competencies: mobile security, performance optimization, and integration practices.

    Level 3: Leading-Edge Mobile Delivery

    Many of today's mobile trends involve, in one form or another, hardware components on the mobile device (e.g., NFC receivers, GPS, cameras). You understand the scope of native features available on your end user's mobile device and the required steps and capabilities to enable and leverage them.

    Hit a home run with your stakeholders

    Use a data-driven approach to select the right tooling vendor for your needs – fast.

    Awareness Education & Discovery Evaluation Selection

    Negotiation & Configuration

    1.1 Proactively Lead Technology Optimization & Prioritization 2.1 Understand Marketplace Capabilities & Trends 3.1 Gather & Prioritize Requirements & Establish Key Success Metrics 4.1 Create a Weighted Selection Decision Model 5.1 Initiate Price Negotiation with Top Two Venders
    1.2 Scope & Define the Selection Process for Each Selection Request Action 2.2 Discover Alternate Solutions & Conduct Market Education 3.2 Conduct a Data Driven Comparison of Vendor Features & Capabilities 4.2 Conduct Investigative Interviews Focused on Mission Critical Priorities with Top 2-4 Vendors 5.2 Negotiate Contract Terms & Product Configuration

    1.3 Conduct an Accelerated Business Needs Assessment

    		2.3 Evaluate Enterprise Architecture & Application Portfolio Narrow the Field to Four Top Contenders 4.3 Validate Key Issues with Deep Technical Assessments, Trial Configuration & Reference Checks 5.3 Finalize Budget Approval & Project
    1.4 Align Stakeholder Calendars to Reduce Elapsed Time & Asynchronous Evaluation 2.4 Validate the Business Case 5.4 Invest in Training & Onboarding Assistance

    Investing time improving your software selection methodology has big returns.

    Info-Tech Insight

    Not all software selection projects are created equal – some are very small, some span the entire enterprise. To ensure that IT is using the right framework, understand the cost and complexity profile of the application you're looking to select. Info-Tech's Rapid Application Selection Framework approach is best for commodity and mid-tier enterprise applications; selecting complex applications is better handled by the methodology in Info-Tech's Implement a Proactive and Consistent Vendor Selection Process.

    Pitch your mobile delivery approach with Info-Tech's template

    Communicate the justification of your approach to mobile applications with Info-Tech's Mobile Application Delivery Communication Template:

    • Level set your mobile application goals and objectives by weighing end user expectations with technical requirements.
    • Define the high priority opportunities for mobile applications.
    • Educate decision makers of the limitations and challenges of delivering specific mobile experiences with the various mobile platform options.
    • Describe your framework to select the right mobile platform and delivery tools.
    • Lay out your mobile delivery roadmap and initiatives.

    INFO-TECH DELIVERABLE

    This is a screenshot from Info-Tech's Mobile Application Delivery Communication Template

    Info-Tech's methodology for mobile platform and delivery solution selection

    1. Set the Mobile Context

    2. Define Your Mobile Approach

    Phase Steps

    Step 1.1 Build Your Mobile Backlog

    Step 1.2 Identify Your Technical Needs

    Step 1.3 Define Your Non-Functional Requirements

    Step 2.1 Choose Your Platform Approach

    Step 2.2 Shortlist Your Mobile Delivery Solution

    Step 2.3 Create a Roadmap for Mobile Delivery

    Phase Outcomes

    • User personas
    • Mobile objectives and metrics
    • Mobile opportunity backlog
    • List of mobile features to enable the desired mobile experience
    • System current assessment
    • Mobile application quality definition
    • Readiness for mobile delivery
    • Desired mobile platform approach
    • Shortlisted mobile delivery solutions
    • Desired list of vendor features and services
    • MVP design
    • Mobile delivery roadmap

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

    DIY Toolkit

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

    Guided Implementation

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

    Workshop

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

    Consulting

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

    Diagnostics and consistent frameworks used throughout all four options

    Guided Implementation

    What does a typical GI on this topic look like?

    Phase 1 Phase 2

    Call #1: Understand the case and motivators for mobile applications.

    Call #2: Discuss the end user and desired mobile experience.

    Call #5: Discuss the desired mobile platform.

    Call #8: Discuss your mobile MVP.

    Call #3: Review technical complexities and non-functional requirements.

    Call #6: Shortlist mobile delivery solutions and desired features.

    Call #9: Review your mobile delivery roadmap.

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

    A typical GI is 6 to 9 calls over the course of 2 to 3 months.

    Workshop Overview

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

    Module 1 Module 2 Module 3 Module 4 Post-Workshop
    Activities Set the Mobile Context Identify Your Technical Needs Choose Your Platform & Delivery Solution Create Your Roadmap Next Steps andWrap-Up (offsite)

    1.1 Generate user personas with empathy maps

    1.2 Build your mobile application canvas

    1.3 Build your mobile backlog

    2.1 Discuss your mobile needs

    2.2 Conduct a technical assessment

    2.3 Define mobile application quality

    2.4 Verify your decision to deliver mobile applications

    3.1 Select your platform approach

    3.2 Shortlist your mobile delivery solution

    3.3 Build your feature and service lists

    4.1 Define your MVP release

    4.2 Build your roadmap

    5.1 Complete in-progress deliverables from previous four days.

    5.2 Set up review time for workshop deliverables and to discuss next steps.

    Deliverables

    • User personas
    • Mobile objectives and metrics
    • Mobile opportunity backlog
    • List of mobile features to enable the desired mobile experience
    • System current assessment
    • Mobile application quality definition
    • Verification to proceed with mobile delivery
    • Desired mobile platform approach
    • Shortlisted mobile delivery solutions
    • Desired list of vendor features and services
    • MVP design
    • Mobile delivery roadmap
    • Completed workshop output deliverable
    • Next steps

    Phase 1

    Set the Mobile Context

    Choose Your Mobile Platform and Tools

    This phase will walk you through the following steps:

    • Step 1.1 – Build Your Mobile Backlog
    • Step 1.2 – Identify Your Technical Needs
    • Step 1.3 – Define Your Non-Functional Requirements

    This phase involves the following participants:

    • Applications Manager
    • Product and Platform Owners
    • Software Delivery Teams
    • Business and IT Leaders

    Step 1.1

    Build Your Mobile Backlog

    Activities

    1.1.1 Generate user personas with empathy maps

    1.1.2 Build your mobile application canvas

    1.1.3 Build your mobile backlog

    Set the Mobile Context

    This step involves the following participants:

    • Applications Manager
    • Product and Platform Owners
    • Software Delivery Teams
    • Business and IT Leaders

    Outcomes of this step

    • User personas
    • Mobile objectives and metrics
    • Mobile opportunity backlog

    Users expect your organization to support their mobile way of working

    Today, users expect sophisticated and personalized features, immersive interactions, and cross-platform capabilities from their mobile applications and be able to access information and services anytime, anywhere and on any device. These demands are pushing organizations to become more user-driven, placing greater importance on user experience (UX) with enterprise-grade technologies.

    How has technologies evolved to easily enable mobile capabilities?

    • Desktop-Like Features
      • Native-like features, such as geolocation and local caching, are supported through web language or third-party plugins and extensions.
    • Extendable & Scalable
      • Plug-and-play architecture is designed to allow software delivery teams to explore new use cases and mobile capabilities with out-of-the-box connectors and/or customizable REST APIs.
    • Low Barrier to Entry
      • Low- and no-code development tools, full-stack solutions, and plug-and-play architectures allow non-technical users to easily build and implement applications without direct IT involvement.
    • Templates & Shells
      • Vendors provide UI templates and application shells that contain pre-built native features and multiple aesthetic layouts in a publishing-friendly and configurable way.
    • Personalized Content
      • Content can be uniquely tailored to a user's preference or be automatically generated based on the user's profile or activity history.
    • Hands-Off Operations
      • Many mobile solutions operate in a as-a-service model where the underlying and integrated technologies are managed by the vendor and abstracted away.

    Make user experience (UX) the standard

    User experience (UX) focuses on a user's emotions, beliefs, and physical and psychological responses that occur before, during, or after interacting with a service or product.

    For a mobile application to be a meaningful experience, the functions, aesthetics and content must be:

    • Usable
      • Users can intuitively navigate through your mobile application and complete their desired tasks.
    • Desirable
      • The application elements are used to evoke positive emotions and appreciation.
    • Accessible
      • Users can easily use your mobile application, including those with disabilities.
    • Valuable
      • Users find the content useful, and it fulfills a need.

    Enable a greater experience with UX-driven thinking

    Designing for a high-quality experience requires more than just focusing on the UI. It also requires the merging of multiple business, technical, and social disciplines in order to create an immersive, practical, and receptive application. The image on the right explains the disciplines involved in UX. This is critical for ensuring users have a strong desire to use the mobile application, it is adequately supported technically, and it supports business objectives.

    To learn more, visit Info-Tech's Implement and Mature Your User Experience Design Practice blueprint.

    A Venn diagram is depicted, demonstrating the inputs that lead to an interactive design, with interactive elements, usability, and accessibility. This work by Mark Roden is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.

    Source: Marky Roden, Xomino, 2018

    UX-driven mobile apps bring together a compelling UI with valuable functionality

    Info-Tech Insight

    Organizations often over-rotate on the UI. Receptive and satisfying applications require more than just pretty pictures, bold colors, and flashy animations. UX-driven mobile applications require the seamless merging of enticing design elements and valuable functions that are specifically tailored to the behaviors of the users. Take a deep look at how each design element and function is used and perceived by the user, and how your application can sufficiently support user needs.

    UI-Function Balance to Achieve Highly Satisfying Mobile Applications

    An application's UI and function both contribute to UX, but they do so in different ways.

    • The UI generates the visual, audio, and vocal cues to draw the attention of users to key areas of the application while stimulating the user's emotions.
    • Functions give users the means to satisfy their needs effortlessly.

    Finding the right balance of UI and function is dependent on the organization's understanding of user emotions, needs, and tendencies. However, these factors are often left out of an application's design. Having the right UX competencies is key in assuring user behaviors are appropriately accommodated early in the delivery process.

    To learn more, visit Info-Tech's Modernize Your Corporate Website to Drive Business Value blueprint.

    Focus your efforts on all items that drive high user experience and satisfaction

    UX-driven mobile applications involve all interaction points and system components working together to create an immersive experience while being actively supported by delivery and operations teams. Many organizations commonly focus on visual and content design to improve the experience, but this is only a small fraction of the total UX design. Look beyond the surface to effectively enhance your application's overall UX.

    Typical Focus of Mobile UX

    Aesthetics
    What Are the Colors & Fonts?

    Relevance & Modern
    Will Users Receive Up to Date Content and Trending Features?

    UI Design
    Where Are the Interaction Points?

    Content Layout
    How Is Content Organized?

    Critical Areas of Mobile UX That Are Often Ignored

    Web Infrastructure
    How Will Your Application Be Operationally Supported?

    Human Behavior
    What Do the Users Feel About Your Application?

    Coding Language
    What Is the Best Language to Use?

    Cross-Platform Compatibility
    How Does It Work in a Browser Versus Each Mobile Platform?

    Application Quality
    How are Functional and Non-Functional Needs Balanced?

    Adoption & Retention
    How Do I Promote Adoption and Maintain User Engagement?

    Application Support
    How Will My Requests and Issues Be Handled?

    Use personas to envision who will be using your mobile application

    What Are Personas?

    Personas are detailed descriptions of the targeted audience of your mobile application. It represents a type of user in a particular scenario. Effective personas:

    • Express and focus on the major needs and expectations of the most important user groups.
    • Give a clear picture of the typical user's behavior.
    • Aid in uncovering critical features and functionalities.
    • Describe real people with backgrounds, goals, and values.

    Why Are Personas Important to UX?

    They are important because they help:

    • Focus the development of mobile application features on the immediate needs of the intended audience.
    • Detail the level of customization needed to ensure content is valuable to and resonates with the user.
    • Describe how users may behave when certain audio and visual stimulus are triggered from the mobile application.
    • Outline the special design considerations required to meet user accessibility needs.

    Key Elements of a Persona:

    • Professional and Technical Skills and Experiences (e.g., knowledge of mobile applications, area of expertise)
    • Persona Group (e.g., executives)
    • Technological Environment of User (e.g., devices, browsers, network connection)
    • Demographics (e.g., nationality, age, language spoken)
    • Typical Behaviors and Tendencies (e.g., goes to different website when cannot find information in 20 seconds)
    • Purpose of Using the Mobile Application (e.g., search for information, submit registration form)

    Create empathy maps to gain a deeper understanding of stakeholder personas

    Empathy mapping draws out the characteristics, motivations, and mannerisms of a potential end user.

    This image contains an image of an empathy map from XPLANE, 2017. it includes the following list: 1. Who are we empathizing with; 2. What do they need to DO; 3. What do they SEE; 4. What do they SAY?; 5. What do they DO; 6. What do they HEAR; 7. What do they THINK and FEEL.

    Source: XPLANE, 2017

    Empathy mapping focuses on identifying the problems, ambitions, and frustrations they are looking to resolve and describes their motivations for wanting to resolve them. This analysis helps your teams:

    • Better understand the reason behind the struggles, frustrations and motivators through a user's perspective.
    • Verify the accuracy of assertions made about the user.
    • Pinpoint the specific problem the mobile application will be designed to solve and the constraints to its successful adoption and on-going use.
    • Read more about empathy mapping and download the empathy map PDF template here.

    To learn more, visit Info-Tech's Use Experience Design to Drive Empathy with the Business blueprint.

    1.1.1 Generate user personas with empathy maps

    1-3 hours

    1. Download the Empathy Map Canvas and draw the map on a whiteboard or project it on the screen.
    2. Choose an end user to be the focus of your empathy map. Using sticky notes, fill out the sections of the empathy map in the following order:
      1. Start by filling out the goals section. State who the subject of the empathy map will be and what activity or task you would like them to do.
        1. Focus on activities and tasks that may benefit from mobile.
      2. Next, complete the outer sections in clockwise order (see, say, do, hear). The purpose of this is to think in terms of what the subject of your empathy map is observing, sensing, and experiencing.
        1. Indicate the mobile devices and OS users will likely use and the environments they will likely be in (e.g., places with poor connections)
        2. Discuss accessibility needs and how user prefer to consume content.
      3. Last, complete the inner circle of the empathy map (pains and gains). Since you spent the last step of the exercise thinking about the external influences on your stakeholder, you can think about how those stimuli affect their emotions.
    3. Document your end user persona into Info-Tech's Mobile Application Delivery Communication Template.

    Input

    		Output
    • List of potential mobile application users
    • User personas
    Materials Participants
    • Whiteboard/Flip Charts
    • Mobile Application Delivery Communication Template
    • Applications Manager
    • Product and Platform Owners
    • Software Delivery Teams
    • Business and IT Leaders

    1.1.1 cont'd

    This image contains an image of an empathy map from XPLANE, 2017. it includes the following list: 1. Who are we empathizing with; 2. What do they need to DO; 3. What do they SEE; 4. What do they SAY?; 5. What do they DO; 6. What do they HEAR; 7. What do they THINK and FEEL.

    Download the Empathy Map Canvas

    Many business priorities are driving mobile

    Mobile Applications

    • Product Roadmap
      • Upcoming enterprise technology releases and updates offer mobile capabilities to expand its access to a broader userbase.
    • Cost Optimization
      • Maximizing business value in processes and technologies through disciplined and strategic cost and spending reduction practices with mobile applications.
    • Competitive Differentiation
      • Developing and optimizing your organization's distinct products and services quickly with mobile applications.
    • Digital Transformation
      • Transitioning processes, data and systems to a digital environment to broaden access to enterprise data and services anywhere at anytime.
    • Operational Efficiency
      • Improving software delivery and business process throughput by increasing worker productivity with mobile applications.
    • Other Business Priorities
      • New corporate products and services, business model changes, application rationalization and other priorities may require modernization, innovation and a mobile way of working.

    Focus on the mobile business and end user problem, not the solution

    People are naturally solution-focused. The onus isn't on them to express their needs in the form of a problem statement!

    When refining your mobile problem statement, attempt to answer the following four questions:

    • Who is impacted?
    • What is the (user or organizational) challenge that needs to be addressed?
    • Where does it happen?
    • Why does it matter?

    There are many ways of writing problem statements, a clear approach follows the format:

    • "Our (who) has the problem that (what) when (where). Our solution should (why)."
    • Example: "Our system analysts has the problem that new tickets take too long to update when working on user requests. Our approach should enable the analyst to focus on working with customers and not on administration."

    Adapted from: "Design Problem Statements – What and How to Frame Them"

    How to write a vision statement

    It's ok to dream a little!

    When thinking about a vision statement, think about:

    • Who is it for?
    • What does the customer need?
    • What can we do for them?
    • And why is this special?

    There are different statement templates available to help form your vision statements. Some include:

    1. For [our target customer], who [customer's need], the [product] is a [product category or description] that [unique benefits and selling points]. Unlike [competitors or current methods], our product [main differentiators]. (Crossing the Chasm)
    2. "We believe (in) a [noun: world, time, state, etc.] where [persona] can [verb: do, make, offer, etc.], for/by/with [benefit/goal].
    3. To [verb: empower, unlock, enable, create, etc.] [persona] to [benefit, goal, future state].
    4. Our vision is to [verb: build, design, provide], the [goal, future state], to [verb: help, enable, make it easier to...] [persona]."

    (Numbers 2-4 from: How to define a product vision)

    Info-Tech Best Practice

    A vision shouldn't be so far out that it doesn't feel real and so short term that it gets bogged down in minutiae and implementation details. Finding that right balance will take some trial and error and will be different depending on your organization.

    Ensure mobile supports ongoing value delivery and stakeholder expectations

    Success hinges on your team's ability to deliver business value. Well-developed mobile applications instill stakeholder confidence in ongoing business value delivery and stakeholder buy-in, provided proper expectations are set and met.

    Business value defines the success criteria of an organization, and it is interpreted from four perspectives:

    • Profit Generation – The revenue generated from a business capability with mobile applications.
    • Cost Reduction – The cost reduction when performing business capabilities with mobile applications.
    • Service Enablement – The productivity and efficiency gains of internal business operations with mobile applications.
    • Customer and Market Reach – Metrics measuring the improved reach and insights of the business in existing or new markets.

    See our Build a Value Measurement Framework blueprint for more information about business value definition.

    This image contains a quadrant analysis with the following labels: Left - Improved Capabilities; Top - Outward; Right - Financial Benefit; Bottom - Inward. the quadrants are labeled the following, in order from left to right, top to bottom. Customer and Market Reach; Profit Generation; Service Enhancement; Cost Reduction

    Set realistic mobile goals

    Mobile applications enables the exploration of new and different ways to improve worker productivity and deliver business value. However, the realities of mobile applications may limit your ability to meet some of your objectives:

    • On the day of installation, the average retention rate for public-facing applications was 25.3%. By day 30, the retention rate drops to 5.7%. (Source: Statista, 2020)
    • 63% of 3,335 most popular Android mobile applications on the Google Play Store contained open-source components with known security vulnerabilities and other pervasive security concerns including exposing sensitive data (Source: Synopsys, 2021)
    • 62% of users would delete the application because of performance issues, such as crashes, freezes and other errors (Source: Intersog, 2021).

    These realities are not guaranteed to occur or impede your ability to deliver valuable mobile applications, but they can lead to unachievable expectations. Ensure your stakeholders are not oversold on advertised benefits and hold you accountable for unrealistic objectives. Recognize that the organization must also change how it works and operates to see the full benefit and adoption of mobile applications and overcome the known and unknown challenges and hurdles that often come with mobile delivery.

    Benchmarks present enticing opportunities, but should be used to set reasonable expectations

    66%
    Improve Market Reach
    66% of the global population uses a mobile device
    Source: DataReportal, 2021

    20%
    Connected Workers are More Productive
    Nearly 20 percent of mobile professionals estimate they miss more than three hours of working time a week not being able to get connected to the internet
    Source: iPass, 2017

    80%
    Increase Brand Recognition
    80% of smartphone users are more likely to purchase from companies whose mobile sites of apps help them easily find answers to their questions
    Source: Google, 2018

    Gauge the value with the right metrics

    Metrics are a powerful way to drive behavior change in your organization. But metrics are highly prone to creating unexpected outcomes so they must be used with great care. Use metrics judiciously to avoid gaming or ambivalent behavior, productivity loss, and unintended consequences.

    To learn more, visit Info-Tech's Select and Use SDLC Metrics Effectively blueprint.

    What should I measure?

    1. Mobile Application Engagement, Retention and User Satisfaction
      • The activeness of users on the applications, the number of returning users, and the happiness of the users.
      • Example: Number of tasks completed, number of active and returning users, session length and intervals, user satisfaction
    2. Value Driven from Mobile Applications
      • The business value that the user directly or indirectly receives with the mobile application.
      • Example: Mobile application revenue, business operational costs, worker productivity, business reputation and image
    3. Delivery Throughput and Quality
      • The health and quality of your mobile applications throughout their lifespan and the speed to deliver working applications that meet stakeholder expectations.
      • Example: Frequency of release, lead time, request turnaround, escaped defects, test coverage.

    Use Info-Tech's diagnostic to evaluate the reception of your mobile applications

    Info-Tech's Application Portfolio Assessment (APA) Diagnostic is a canned end user satisfaction survey used to evaluate your application portfolio health to support data-driven decisions.

    This image contains a screenshot from Info-Tech's Application Portfolio Assessment (APA) Diagnostic

    USE THE PROGRAM DIAGNOSTIC TO:

    • Assess the importance and satisfaction of enterprise applications.
    • Solicit feedback from your end users on applications being used.
    • Understand the strengths and weaknesses of your current applications.
    • Perform a high-level application rationalization initiative.

    INTEGRATE DIAGNOSTIC RESULTS TO:

    • Target which applications to analyze in greater detail.
    • Expand on the initial application rationalization results with a more comprehensive and business-value-focused criteria.

    Use a canvas to define key elements of your mobile initiative

    Mobile Application Initiative Name

    Owner:
    Parent Initiative:
    Updated:

    NAME
    LINK
    October 05, 2022

    Problem Statement

    Vision

    The problem or need mobile applications are addressing

    Vision, unique value proposition, elevator pitch, or positioning statement

    Business Goals & Metrics

    Capabilities, Processes & Application Systems

    List of business objectives or goals for the mobile application initiative.

    List of business capabilities, processes and application systems related to this initiative.

    Personas/Customers/Users

    Stakeholders

    List of groups who consume the mobile application

    List of key resources, stakeholders, and teams needed to support the process, systems and services

    To learn more, visit Info-Tech's Deliver on Your Digital Product Vision blueprint.

    1.1.2 Build your mobile application canvas

    1-3 hours

    1. Complete the following fields to build your mobile application canvas:
      • Mobile application initiative name
      • Mobile application owner
      • Parent initiative name
      • Problem that mobile applications are intending to solve and your vision. See the outcome from the previous exercise.
      • Mobile application business goals and metrics.
      • Capabilities, processes and application systems involved
      • Primary customers/users (For additional help with your product personas, download and complete to Deliver on Your Digital Product Vision.)
    2. Stakeholders
    3. Document your findings and discussions into Info-Tech's Mobile Application Delivery Communication Template.

    Download the Mobile Application Delivery Communication Template

    Input

    		Output
    • User personas
    • Business strategy
    • Problem and vision statements
    • Mobile objectives and metrics
    • Mobile application canvas
    MaterialsParticipants
    • Whiteboard/Flip Charts
    • Mobile Application Delivery Communication Template
    • Applications Manager
    • Product and Platform Owners
    • Software Delivery Teams
    • Business and IT Leaders

    1.1.2 cont'd

    Mobile Application Initiative Name

    Owner:
    Parent Initiative:
    Updated:

    NAME
    LINK
    October 05, 2022

    Problem Statement

    Vision

    [Problem Statement]

    [Vision]

    Business Goals & Metrics

    Capabilities, Processes & Application Systems

    [Business Goal 1, Metric]
    [Business Goal 2, Metric]
    [Business Goal 3, Metric]

    [Business Capability]
    [Business Process]
    [Application System]

    Personas/Customers/Users

    Stakeholders

    [User 1]
    [User 2]
    [User 3]

    [Stakeholder 1]
    [Stakeholder 2]
    [Stakeholder 3]

    Create your mobile backlog

    Your backlog gives you a holistic understanding of the demand for mobile applications across your organization.

    Opportunities
    Trends
    MVP

    External Sources

    Internal Sources

    • Market Trends Analysis
    • Competitive Analysis
    • Regulations & Industry Standards
    • Customer & Reputation Analysis
    • Application Rationalization
    • Capability & Value Stream Analysis
    • Business Requests & Incidents
    • Discovery & Mining Capabilities

    A mobile application minimum viable product (MVP) focuses on a small set of functions, involves minimal possible effort to deliver a working and valuable solution, and is designed to satisfy a specific user group. Its purpose is to maximize learning, evaluate value and acceptance, and inform the development of a full-fledged mobile delivery practice.

    Find your mobile opportunities

    Modern mobile technologies enable users to access, analyze and change data anywhere with native device features, which opens the door to enhanced processes and new value sources.

    Examples of Mobile Opportunities:

    • Mobile Payment
      • Cost alternative to credit card transaction fees.
      • Loyalty systems are updated upon payment without need of a physical card.
      • Quicker completion of transactions.
    • Inventory Management
      • Update inventory database when shipments arrive or deliveries are made.
      • Inform retailers and consumers of current stock on website.
      • Alert staff of expired or outdated products.
    • Quick and Small Data Transfer
      • Embed tags into posters to transfer URIs, which sends users to sites containing product or location information.
      • Replace entry tags, fobs, or smart cards at doors.
      • Exchange contact details.
    • Location Sensitive Information
      • Proactively send promotions and other information (e.g. coupons, event details) to users within a defined area.
      • Inform employees of nearby prospective clients.
    • Supply Chain Management
      • Track the movement and location of goods and delivery trucks.
      • Direct drivers to the most optimal route.
      • Location-sensitive billing apps such as train and bus ticket purchases.
    • Education and Learning
      • Educate users about real-world objects and places with augmented books and by pushing relevant learning materials.
      • Visualize theories and other text with dynamic 3D objects.
    • Augmented Reality (AR)
      • Provide information about the user's surroundings and the objects in the environment through the mobile device.
      • Interactive and immersive experiences with the inclusion of virtual reality.
    • Architecture and Planning
      • Visualize historic buildings or the layout of structural projects and development plans.
      • Develop a digital tour with location-based audio initiated with location-based services or a camera.
    • Navigation
      • Provide directions to users to navigate and provide contextual travelling instructions.
      • Push traffic notifications and route changes to travelling users.
    • Tracking User Movement
      • Predict the future location of users based on historic information and traffic modelling.
      • Proactively push information to users before they reach their destination.

    1.1.3 Build your mobile backlog

    1-3 hours

    1. As a group, discuss the use and value mobile already has within your organization for each persona.
      1. What are some of the apps being used?
      2. What enterprise systems and applications are already exposed to the web and accessible by mobile devices?
      3. How critical is mobile to business operations, marketing campaigns, etc.?
    2. Discuss how mobile can bring additional business value to other areas of your organization for each persona.
      1. Can mobile enhance your customer reach? Do your customers care that your services are offered through mobile?
      2. Are employees asking for better access to enterprise systems in order to improve their productivity?
    3. Write your mobile opportunities in the following form: As a [end user persona], I want to [process or capability to enable with mobile applications], so that [organizational benefit]. Prioritize each opportunity against feasibility, desirability, and viability.
    4. Document your findings and discussions into Info-Tech's Mobile Application Delivery Communication Template.

    Input

    		Output
    • Problem and vision statements
    • Mobile objectives and metrics
    • Mobile application canvas
    • Mobile opportunities backlog
    MaterialsParticipants
    • Whiteboard/Flip Charts
    • Mobile Application Delivery Communication Template
    • Applications Manager
    • Product and Platform Owners
    • Software Delivery Teams
    • Business and IT Leaders

    Manage your mobile backlog

    Your backlog stores and organizes your mobile opportunities at various stages of readiness. It must be continuously refined to address new requests, maintenance and changing priorities.

    3 – IDEAS
    Composed of raw, vague, and potentially large ideas that have yet to go through any formal valuation.

    2 – QUALIFIED
    Researched and qualified opportunities awaiting refinement.

    1 READY
    Discrete, refined opportunities that are ready to be placed in your team's delivery plans.

    Adapted from Essential Scrum

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

    • Detailed Appropriately: opportunities are broken down and refined as necessary
    • Emergent: The backlog grows and evolves over time as opportunities are added and removed.
    • Estimated: The effort an opportunity requires is estimated at each tier.
    • Prioritized: The opportunity's value and priority are determined at each tier.

    (Source Perforce, 2018)

    See our Deliver on Your Digital Product Vision for more information on backlog practices.

    Step 1.2

    Identify Your Technical Needs

    Activities

    1.2.1 Discuss your mobile needs

    1.2.2 Conduct a technical assessment

    Set the Mobile Context

    This step involves the following participants:

    • Applications Manager
    • Product and Platform Owners
    • Software Delivery Teams
    • Business and IT Leaders

    Outcomes of this step

    • List of mobile features to enable the desired mobile experience
    • System current assessment

    Describe your desired mobile experiences with journey maps

    A journey map tells the story of the user's experience with an existing or prospective product or service, starting with a trigger, through the process of engagement, to create an outcome. Journey maps can focus on a particular part of the user's or the entire experience with your organization's products or services. All types of maps capture key interactions and motivations of the user in chronological order.

    Why are journey maps an important for mobile application delivery?

    Everyone has their own preferred method for completing their tasks on mobile devices – often, what differentiates one persona from another has to do with how users privately behave. Understand that the activities performed outside of IT's purview develop context for your persona's pain points and position IT to meet their needs with the appropriate solution.

    To learn more, visit Info-Tech's Use Experience Design to Drive Empathy with the Business blueprint.

    Two charts are depicted, the first shows the path from Trigger, through steps 1-4, to the outcome, and the Activities and Touchpoints for each. The second chart shows the Expectation analysis, showing which steps are must-haves, nice-to-haves, and hidden-needs.

    Pinpoint specific mobile needs in your journey map

    Realize that mobile applications may not precisely fit with your personas workflow or align to their expectations due to device and system limitations and restrictions. Flag the mobile opportunities that require significant modifications to underlying systems.

    Consider these workflow scenarios that can influence your persona's desire for mobile:

    Workflow Scenarios Ask Yourself The Key Questions Technology Constraints or Restrictions to Consider Examples of Mobile Opportunities

    Data View – Data is queried, prepared and presented to make informed decisions, but it cannot be edited.

    Where is the data located and can it be easily gathered and prepared?

    Is the data sensitive and can it be locally stored?

    What is the level of detail in my view?

    Multi-factor authentication required.

    Highly sensitive data requires encryption in transit and at rest.

    Minor calculations and preparation needed before data view.

    Generate a status report.

    View social media channels.

    View contact information.

    Data Collection – Data is inputted directly into the application and updates back-end system or integrated 3rd party services.

    Do I need special permission to add, delete and overwrite data?

    How much data can I edit?

    Is the data automatically gathered?

    Bandwidth restrictions.

    Multi-factor authentication required.

    Native device access required (e.g., camera).

    Multiple types and formats of gathered data.

    Manual and automatic data gathering

    Book appointments with clients.

    Update inventory.

    Tracking movement of company assets.

    Data Analysis & Modification – Data is evaluated, manipulated and transformed through the application, back-end system or 3rd party service.

    How complex are my calculations?

    Can computations be offloaded?

    What resources are needed to complete the analysis?

    Memory and processing limitations on device.

    Inability to configure device and enterprise hardware to support system resource demand.

    Scope and precision of analysis and modifications.

    Evaluate and propose trends.

    Gauge user sentiment.

    Propose next steps and directions.

    Define the mobile experience your end users want

    Anytime, Anywhere
    The user can access, update and analyze data, and corporate products and services whenever they want, in all networks, and on any device.

    Hands-Off & Automated
    The application can perform various workflows and tasks without the user's involvement and notify the user when specific triggers are hit.

    Personalized & Insightful
    Content presentation and subject are tailored for the user based on specific inputs from the user, device hardware or predicted actions.

    Integrated Ecosystem
    The application supports a seamless experience across various 3rd party and enterprise applications and services the user needs.

    Visually Pleasing & Fulfilling
    The UI is intuitive and aesthetically gratifying with little security and performance trade-offs to use the full breadth of its functions and services.

    Each mobile platform has its own take on the mobile native experience. The choice ultimately depends on whether the costs and effort are worth the anticipated value.

    1.2.1 Discover your mobile needs

    1-3 hours

    1. Define the workflow of a high priority opportunity in your mobile backlog. This workflow can be pertaining to an existing mobile application or a workflow that can benefit with a mobile application.
      1. Indicate the trigger that will initiate the opportunity and the desired outcome.
      2. Break down the persona's desired outcome into small pieces of value that are realized in each workflow step.
    2. Identify activities and touchpoints the persona will need to complete to finish each step in the workflow. Indicate the technology used to complete the activity or to facilitate the touchpoint.
    3. Indicate which activities and touchpoints can be satisfied, complimented or enhanced with mobile.

    Input

    		Output
    • User personas
    • Mobile application canvas
    • Desired mobile experience
    • List of mobile features
    • Journey map
    MaterialsParticipants
    • Whiteboard/Flip Charts
    • Mobile Application Delivery Communication Template
    • Applications Manager
    • Product and Platform Owners
    • Software Delivery Teams
    • Business and IT Leaders

    1.2.1 cont'd

    Workflow

    Trigger

    Conduct initial analysis

    Get planning help

    Complete and submit RFP

    Design and implement solution

    Implement changes

    Activities, Channels, and Touchpoints

    Need is recognized in CIO council meeting

    See if we have a sufficient solution internally

    Seek planning help (various channels)

    *Meet with IT shared services business analyst

    Select the appropriate vendor

    Follow action plan

    Compliance rqmt triggered by new law

    See if we have a sufficient solution internally

    *Hold in-person initial meeting with IT shared services

    *Review and approve rqmts (email)

    Seek miscellaneous support

    Implement project and manage change

    Research potential solutions in the marketplace

    Excess budget identified for utilization

    Pick a "favorite" solution

    *Negotiate and sign statement of work (email)

    Prime organization for the change

    Create action plan

    If solution is unsatisfactory, plan remediation

    Current Technology

    • Email
    • Video conferencing
    • Phone
    • Meeting transcripts and recordings
    • ERP
    • IT asset management
    • Internet browser for research
    • Virtual environment to demonstrate solutions
    • Email
    • Vendor assessment and procurement solution
    • Email
    • Video conferencing
    • Phone
    • Meeting transcripts and recordings
    • PDF documents and reader
    • Digital signature
    • Email
    • Video conferencing
    • Phone
    • Meeting transcripts and recordings
    • PDF documents and reader
    • Digital signature
    • Email
    • Video conferencing
    • Phone
    • Vendor assessment and procurement solution
    • Project management solution
    • Team collaboration solution
    • Email
    • Video conferencing
    • Phone
    • Project management solution
    • Team collaboration solution
    • Vendor's solution

    Legend:

    Bold – Touchpoint

    * – Activities or Touchpoints That Can Benefit with Mobile

    1.2.1 cont'd

    1-3 hours

    1. Analyze persona expectations. Identify the persona's must-haves, then nice-to-haves, and then hidden needs to effectively complete the workflow.
      1. Must-haves. The necessary outcomes, qualities, and features of the workflow step.
      2. Nice-to-haves. Desired outcomes, qualities, or features that your persona is able to articulate or express.
      3. Hidden needs. Outcomes, qualities, or features that your persona is not aware they have a desire for; benefits that they are pleasantly surprised to receive. These will usually be unknown for your first-iteration journey map.
    2. Indicate which persona expectations can be satisfied with mobile. Discuss what would the desired mobile experience be.
    3. Discuss feedback and experiences your team has heard from the personas they engage with regularly.
    4. Document your findings and discussions into Info-Tech's Mobile Application Delivery Communication Template.

    Download the Mobile Application Delivery Communication Template

    1.2.1 cont'd

    Example

    This image contains an example workflow for determining mobile needs.

    1.2.1 cont'd

    Template:

    Workflow

    		TriggerStep 1Step 2Step 3Step 4

    Desired Outcome

    Journey Map

    Activities & Touch-points

    <>

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    <>

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    <>

    Must-Haves

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    <>

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    <>

    <>

    Nice-to-Haves

    <>

    <>

    <>

    <>

    <>

    <>

    Hidden Needs

    <>

    <>

    <>

    <>

    <>

    <>

    Emotional Journey

    <>

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    If you need more than four steps in the workflow, duplicate this slide.

    Understand how mobile fits with your current system

    Evaluate the risks and impacts of your desired mobile features by looking at your enterprise system architecture from top to bottom. Is your mobile vision and needs compatible with your existing business capabilities and technologies?

    An architecture is usually represented by one or more architecture views that together provide a coherent description of the application system, including demonstrating the full impact mobile will have. A single, comprehensive model is often too complex to be understood and communicated in its most detailed form, and a model too high level hides the underlying complexity of an application's structure and deployment (The Open Group, TOGAF 8.1.1 - Developing Architecture Views). Obtain a complete understanding of your architecture by assessing it through multiple levels of views to reveal different sets of concerns:

    Application Architecture Views

    1. Use Case View
    • How does your business operate, and how will users interact with your mobile applications?
  • . Process View
    • What is the user workflow impacted by mobile, and how will it change?
  • Component View
    • How are my existing applications structured? What are its various components? How will mobile expand the costs of the existing technical debt?
  • Data View
    • What is the relationship of the data and information consumed, analyzed, and transmitted? Will mobile jeopardize the quality and reliability of the data?
  • Deployment View
    • In what environment are your mobile application components deployed? How will the existing systems operate with your mobile applications?
  • System View
    • How does your mobile application communicate with other internal and external systems? How will dependencies change with mobile?

    • See our Enhance Your Solution Architecture for more information.

    Ask key questions in your current system assessment

    • How do the various components of your system communicate with each other (e.g., web APIs, middleware, and point to point)?
    • What information is exchanged during the conversation?
    • How does the data flow from one component to the next? Is the data read-only or can application and users edit and modify it?
    • What are the access points to your mid- and back-tier systems (e.g., user access through web interface, corporate networks and third-party application access through APIs)?
    • Who has access to your enterprise systems?
    • Which components are managed and operated by third-party providers? What is your level of control?
    • What are the security protocols currently enforced in your system?
    • How often are your databases updated? Is it real-time or periodic extract, transfer, and load (ETL)?
    • What are the business rules?
    • Is your mobile stack dependent on other systems?
    • Is a mobile middleware, web server, or API gateway needed to help facilitate the integration between devices and your back-end support?

    1.2.2 Conduct a technical assessment

    1-3 hours

    1. Evaluate your current systems that will support the journey map of your mobile opportunities based on two categories: system quality and system management. Use the tables on the following slides and modify the questions if needed.
    2. Discuss if the current state of your system will impede your ability to succeed with mobile. Use this discussion to verify the decision to continue with mobile applications in your current state.
    3. Document your findings and discussions into Info-Tech's Mobile Application Delivery Communication Template.

    Download the Mobile Application Delivery Communication Template

    Input

    		Output
    • Journey map
    • Understanding of current system
    • Assessment of current system
    MaterialsParticipants
    • Whiteboard/Flip Charts
    • Mobile Application Delivery Communication Template
    • Applications Manager
    • Product and Platform Owners
    • Software Delivery Teams
    • Business and IT Leaders

    1.2.2 cont'd

    Current State System Quality Assessment

    Factors Definitions Survey Responses
    Fit-for-Purpose System functionalities, services and integrations are designed and implemented for the purpose of satisfying the end users' needs and technology compatibilities. 1 (Very Poor) – 2 – 3 (Fair) – 4 – 5 (Excellent)
    Response Rate The system completes computation and processing requests within acceptable timeframes. 1 (Very Poor) – 2 – 3 (Fair) – 4 – 5 (Excellent)
    Data Quality The system delivers consumable, accurate, and trustworthy data. 1 (Very Poor) – 2 – 3 (Fair) – 4 – 5 (Excellent)
    Usability The system provides functionalities, services and integrations that are rewarding, engaging, intuitive, and emotionally satisfying. 1 (Very Poor) – 2 – 3 (Fair) – 4 – 5 (Excellent)
    Reliability The system is resilient or quickly recovers from issues and defects. 1 (Very Poor) – 2 – 3 (Fair) – 4 – 5 (Excellent)
    Accessible The system is available on demand and on the end user's preferred interface and device. 1 (Very Poor) – 2 – 3 (Fair) – 4 – 5 (Excellent)
    Secured End-user activity and data is protected from unauthorized access. 1 (Very Poor) – 2 – 3 (Fair) – 4 – 5 (Excellent)
    Adaptable The system can be quickly tailored to meet changing end-user and technology needs with reusable and customizable components. 1 (Very Poor) – 2 – 3 (Fair) – 4 – 5 (Excellent)

    1.2.2 cont'd

    Current State System Management Assessment

    Factors Definitions Survey Responses
    Documentation The system is documented, accurate, and shared in the organization. 1 (Very Poor) – 2 – 3 (Fair) – 4 – 5 (Excellent)
    Measurement The system is continuously measured against clearly defined metrics tied to business value. 1 (Very Poor) – 2 – 3 (Fair) – 4 – 5 (Excellent)
    Compliance The system is compliant with regulations and industry standards. 1 (Very Poor) – 2 – 3 (Fair) – 4 – 5 (Excellent)
    Continuous Improvement The system is routinely rationalized and enhanced. 1 (Very Poor) – 2 – 3 (Fair) – 4 – 5 (Excellent)
    Architecture There is a shared overview of how the process supports business value delivery and its dependencies with technologies and other processes. 1 (Very Poor) – 2 – 3 (Fair) – 4 – 5 (Excellent)
    Ownership & Accountability The process has a clearly defined owner who is accountable for its risks and roadmap. 1 (Very Poor) – 2 – 3 (Fair) – 4 – 5 (Excellent)
    Support Resources are available to address adoption and execution challenges. 1 (Very Poor) – 2 – 3 (Fair) – 4 – 5 (Excellent)
    Organizational Change Management Communication, onboarding, and other change management capabilities are available to facilitate technology and related role and process changes. 1 (Very Poor) – 2 – 3 (Fair) – 4 – 5 (Excellent)

    Step 1.3

    Define Your Non-Functional Requirements

    Activities

    1.3.1 Define mobile application quality

    1.3.2 Verify your decision to deliver mobile applications

    Set the Mobile Context

    This step involves the following participants:

    • Applications Manager
    • Product and Platform Owners
    • Software Delivery Teams

    Outcomes of this step

    • Mobile application quality definition
    • Readiness for mobile delivery

    Build a strong foundation of mobile application quality

    Functionality and aesthetics often take front seats in mobile application delivery. Applications are then frequently modified and changed, not because they are functionally deficient or visually displeasing, but because they are difficult to maintain or scale, too slow, vulnerable or compromised. Implementing clear quality principles (i.e., non-functional requirements) and strong quality assurance practices throughout delivery are critical to minimize the potential work of future maintenance and to avoid, mitigate and manage IT risks.

    What is Mobile Application Quality?

    • Quality requirements (i.e., non-functional requirements) are properties of a system or product that dictate how it should behave at runtime and how it should be designed, implemented, and maintained.
    • These requirements should be involved in decision making around architecture, UI and functional design changes.
    • Functionality should not dictate the level of security, availability, or performance of a product, thereby risking system quality. Functionality and quality are viewed orthogonally, and trade-offs are discussed when one impacts the other.
    • Quality attributes should never be achieved in isolation as one attribute can have a negative or positive impact on another (e.g. security and availability).

    Why is Mobile Quality Assurance Critical?

    • Quality assurance (QA) is a necessity for the validation and verification of mobile delivery, whether you are delivering applications in an Agile or Waterfall fashion. Effective QA practices implemented across the software development lifecycle (SDLC) are vital, as all layers of the mobile stack need to readily able to adjust to suddenly evolving and changing business and user needs and technologies without risking system stability and breaking business standards and expectations.
    • However, investments in QA optimizations are often afterthoughts. QA is commonly viewed as a lower priority compared to other delivery capabilities (e.g., design and coding) and is typically the first item cut when delivery is under pressure.

    See our Build a Software Quality Assurance Program for more information.

    Mobile emphasizes the importance of good security, performance and integration

    Today's mobile workforce is looking for new ways to get more work done quickly. They want access to enterprise solutions and data directly on their mobile device, which can reside on multiple legacy systems and in the cloud and third-party infrastructure. This presents significant performance, integration, and security risks.

    Cloud Solutions: Can I use my existing APIs?. Solutions in Corporate Networks: Do my legacy systems have the capacity to support mobile?; How do I integrate solutions and data from multiple sources into a single view?; Third Party Solutions: Will I have a significant performance bottleneck?; Single View on Mobile Devices: How is corporate data stored on the device?; What new technology dependencies must I account for in my architecture and operational support capabilities?

    Mobile risks opening and widening existing security gaps

    New mobile technologies and the continued expansion of the enterprise environment increase the number of entry points attackers to your corporate data and networks. The ever-growing volume, velocity, and variety of new threats puts significant pressure on mobile delivery teams who are responsible for implementing mobile security measures and maintaining alignment to your security policies and those of app stores.

    Mobile attacks can come from various vectors:

    Attack Surface: Mobile Device

    Attack Surface: Network

    Attack Surface: Data Center

    Browser:
    Phishing
    Buffer Overflow
    Data Caching

    System:
    No Passcode
    Jailbroken and Rooted OS
    No/Weak Encryption
    OS Data Caching

    Phone:
    SMSishing
    Radio Frequency Attacks

    Apps:
    Configuration Manipulation
    Runtime Injection
    Improper SSL Validation

    • Packet Sniffing
    • Session Hijacking
    • Man-in-the-Middle (circumvent password verification systems)
    • Fake SSL Certificate
    • Rogue Access Points

    Web Server:
    Cross-Site Scripting (XSS)
    Brute Force Attacks
    Server Misconfigurations

    Database:
    SQL Injection
    Data Dumping

    Understand the top web security risks and vulnerabilities seen in the industry

    Recognize mobile applications are exposed to the same risks and vulnerabilities as web applications. Learn of OWASP's top 10 web security risks.

    • Broken Access Control
      • Failures typically lead to unauthorized information disclosure, modification, or destruction of all data or performing a business function outside the user's limits.
    • Cryptographic Failures
      • Improper and incorrect protection of data in transit and at rest, especially proprietary and confidential data and those that fall under privacy laws.
    • Injection
      • Execution of malicious code and injection of hostile or unfiltered data on the mobile device via the mobile application.
    • Insecure Design
      • Missing or ineffective security controls in the application design. An insecure design cannot be fixed by a perfect implementation,. Needed security controls were never created to defend against specific attacks.
    • Security Misconfiguration
      • The security settings in the application are not securely set or configured, including poor security hardening and inadequate system upgrading practices.
    • Vulnerable and Outdated Components
      • System components are vulnerable because they are unsupported, out of date, untested or not hardened against current security concerns.
    • Identification and Authentication Failures
      • Improper or poor protection against authentication-related attacks, particularly to the user's identity, authentication and session management.
    • Software and Data Integrity Failures
      • Failures related to code and infrastructure that does not protect against integrity violations, such as an application relying upon plugins, libraries, or modules from untrusted sources, repositories, and content delivery networks
    • Security Logging and Monitoring Failures
      • Insufficient logging, detection, monitoring, and active response that hinders the ability to detect, escalate, and respond to active breaches.
    • Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF)
      • SSRF flaws occur whenever a web application is fetching a remote resource without validating the user-supplied URL.

    Good mobile application performance drives satisfaction and value delivery

    Underperforming mobile applications can cause your users to be unproductive. Your mobile applications should always aim to satisfy the productivity requirements of your end users.

    Users quickly notice applications that are slow and difficult to use. Providing a seamless experience for the user is now heavily dependent on how well your application performs. Optimizing your mobile application's processing efficiency can help your users perform their jobs properly in various environment conditions.

    Productive Users Need
    Performant Mobile Applications

    Persona

    Mobile Application Use Case

    Optimized Mobile Application

    Stationary Worker

    • Design flowcharts and diagrams, while abandoning paper and desktop apps in favor of easy-to-use, drawing tablet applications.
    • Multitask by checking the application to verify information given by a vendor during their presentation or pitch.
    • Flowcharts and diagrams are updated in real time for team members to view and edit
    • Compare vendors under assessment with a quick look-up app feature

    Roaming Worker (Engineer)

    • Replace physical copies of service and repair manuals physically stored with digital copies and access them with mobile applications.
    • Scan or input product bar code to determine whether a replacement part is available or needs to be ordered.
    • Worker is capable of interacting with other features of the mobile web app while product bar code is being verified

    Enhance the performance of the entire mobile stack

    Due to frequently changing mobile hardware, users' high performance expectations and mobile network constraints, mobile delivery teams must focus on the entire mobile stack for optimizing performance.

    Fine tune your enterprise mobile applications using optimization techniques to improve performance across the full mobile stack.

    This image contains a bar graph ranking the importance of the following datapoints: Minimize render blocking resources; Configure the mobile application viewport; Determine the right image file format ; Determine above-the-fold content; Minimize browser reflow; Adopt UI techniques to improve perceived latency; Resource minification; Data compression; Asynchronous programming; Resource HTTP caching; Minimize network roundtrips for first time to render.

    Info-Tech Insight

    Some user performance expectations can be managed with clever UI design (e.g., spinning pinwheels to indicate loading in progress and directing user focus to quick loading content) and operational choices (e.g. graceful degradation and progressive enhancements).

    Create an API-centric integration strategy

    Mobile delivery teams are tasked to keep up with the changing needs of end users and accommodate the evolution of trending mobile features. Ensuring scalable APIs is critical in quickly releasing changes and ensuring availability of corporate services and resources.

    As your portfolio of mobile applications grows, and device platforms and browsers diversify, it will become increasingly complex to provide all the data and service capabilities your mobile apps need to operate. It is important that your APIs are available, reliable, reusable, and secure for multiple uses and platforms.

    Take an API-centric approach to retain control of your mobile development and ensure reliability.

    APIs are the underlying layer of your mobile applications, enabling remote access of company data and services to end users. Focusing design and development efforts on the maintainability, reliability and scalability of your APIs enables your delivery teams to:

    • Reuse tried-and-tested APIs to deliver, test and harden applications and systems quicker by standardizing on the use and structure of REST APIs.
    • Ensure a consistent experience and performance across different applications using the same API.
    • Uniformly apply security and access control to remain compliant to security protocols, industry standards and regulations.
    • Provide reliable integration points when leveraging third-party APIs and services.

    See our Build Effective Enterprise Integration on the Back of Business Process for more information.

    Guide your integration strategy with principles

    Craft your principles around good API management and integration practices

    Expose Enterprise Data And Functionality in API-Friendly Formats
    Convert complex on-premises application services into developer-friendly RESTful APIs

    Protect Information Assets Exposed Via APIs to Prevent Misuse
    Ensure that enterprise systems are protected against message-level attack and hijack

    Authorize Secure, Seamless Access for Valid Identities
    Deploy strong access control, identity federation and social login functionality

    Optimize System Performance and Manage the API Lifecycle
    Maintain the availability of backend systems for APIs, applications and end users

    Engage, Onboard, Educate and Manage Developers
    Give developers the resources they need to create applications that deliver real value

    Source: 5 Pillars of API Management, Broadcom, 2021

    Clarify your definition of mobile quality

    Quality does not mean the same thing to everyone

    Do not expect a universal definition of mobile quality. Each department, person and industry standard will have a different interpretation of quality, and they will perform certain activities and enforce policies that meet those interpretations. Misunderstanding of what is defined as a high quality mobile application within business and IT teams can lead to further confusion behind governance, testing priorities and compliance.

    Each interpretation of quality can lead to endless testing, guardrails and constraints, or lack thereof. Be clear on the priority of each interpretation and the degree of effort needed to ensure they are met.

    For example:

    Mobile Application Owner
    What does an accessible mobile application mean?

    Persona: Customer
    I can access it on mobile phones, tablets and the web browser

    Persona: Developer
    I have access to each layer of the mobile stack including the code & data

    Persona: Operations
    The mobile application is accessible 24/7 with 95% uptime

    Example: A School Board's Quality Definition

    Quality Attribute Definitions
    Usability The product is an intuitive solution. Usability is the ease with which the user accomplishes a desired task in the application system and the degree of user support the system provides. Limited training and documentation are required.
    Performance Usability and performance are closely related. A solution that is slow is not usable. The application system is able to meet timing requirements, which is dependent on stable infrastructure to support it regardless of where the application is hosted. Baseline performance metrics are defined and changes must result in improvements. Performance is validated against peak loads.
    Availability The application system is present, accessible, and ready to carry out its tasks when needed. The application is accessible from multiple devices and platforms, is available 24x7x365, and teams communicate planned downtimes and unplanned outages. IT must serve teachers international student's parents, and other users who access the application outside normal business hours. The application should never be down when it should be up. Teams must not put undue burden on end users accessing the systems. Reasonable access requirements are published.
    Security Applications handle both private and personal data, and must be able to segregate data based on permissions to protect privacy. The application system is able to protect data and information from unauthorized access. Users want it to be secure but seamless. Vendors need to understand and implement the District School Board's security requirements into their products. Teams ensure access is authorized, maintain data integrity, and enforce privacy.
    Reusability Reusability is the capability for components and subsystems to be suitable for use in other applications and in other scenarios. This attribute minimizes the duplication of components and implementation time. Teams ensure a modular design that is flexible and usable in other applications.
    Interoperability The degree to which two or more systems can usefully exchange meaningful information via interfaces in a particular context.

    Scalability

    There are two kinds of scalability:

    • Horizontal scalability (scaling out): Adding more resources to logical units, such as adding another server to a cluster of servers.
    • Vertical scalability (scaling up): Adding more resources to a physical unit, such as adding more memory to a single computer.

    Ease of maintenance and enhancements are critical. Additional care is given to custom code because of the inherent difficulty to make it scale and update.

    Modifiability The capability to manage the risks and costs of change, considering what can be changed, the likelihood of change, and when and who makes the change. Teams minimize the barriers to change, and get business buy in to keep systems current and valuable.
    Testability The ease with which software are made to demonstrate its faults through (typically execution-based) testing. It cannot be assumed that the vendor has already tested the system against District School Board's requirements. Testability applies to all applications, operating systems, and databases.
    Supportability The ability of the system to provide information helpful for identifying and resolving issues when it fails to work correctly. Supportability applies to all applications and systems within the District School Board's portfolio, whether that be custom developed applications or vendor provided solutions. Resource investments are made to better support the system.
    Cost Efficiency The application system is executed and maintained in such a way that each area of cost is reduced to what is critically needed. Cost efficiency is critical (e.g. printers cost per page, TCO, software what does downtime cost us), and everyone must understand the financial impact of their decisions.
    Self-Service End users are empowered to make configurations, troubleshoot and make changes to their application without the involvement of IT. The appropriate controls are in place to manage the access to unauthorized access to corporate systems.
    Modifiability The capability to manage the risks and costs of change, considering what can be changed, the likelihood of change, and when and who makes the change. Teams minimize the barriers to change, and get business buy in to keep systems current and valuable.
    Testability The ease with which software are made to demonstrate its faults through (typically execution-based) testing. It cannot be assumed that the vendor has already tested the system against District School Board's requirements. Testability applies to all applications, operating systems, and databases.
    Supportability The ability of the system to provide information helpful for identifying and resolving issues when it fails to work correctly. Supportability applies to all applications and systems within the District School Board's portfolio, whether that be custom developed applications or vendor provided solutions. Resource investments are made to better support the system.

    1.3.1 Define mobile application quality

    1-3 hours

    1. List 5 quality attributes that your organization sees as important for a successful mobile application.
    2. List the core personas that will support mobile delivery and that will consume the mobile application. Start with development, operations and support, and end user.
    3. Describe each quality attributes from the perspective of each persona by asking, "What does quality mean to you?".
    4. Review each description from each persona to come to an acceptable definition.
    5. Document your findings and discussions into Info-Tech's Mobile Application Delivery Communication Template.

    Download the Mobile Application Delivery Communication Template

    Input

    		Output
    • User personas
    • Mobile application canvas
    • Journey map
    • Mobile application quality definition
    MaterialsParticipants
    • Whiteboard/Flip Charts
    • Mobile Application Delivery Communication Template
    • Applications Manager
    • Product and Platform Owners
    • Software Delivery Teams
    • Business and IT Leaders

    1.3.1 cont'd

    Example: Info-Tech Guided Implementation with a Legal and Professional Services Organization

    Quality AttributeDeveloperOperations & Support TeamEnd Users

    Usability

    • Architecture and frameworks are aligned with industry best practices
    • Regular feedback through analytics and user feedback
    • Faster development and less technical debt
    • Pride in the product
    • Satisfaction that the product is serving its purpose and is actually being used by the user
    • Increased update of product use and feedback for future lifecycle
    • Standardization and positive perception of IT processes
    • Simpler to train users to adopt products and changes
    • Trust in system and ability to promote the product in a positive light
    • Trusted list of applications
    • Intuitive (easy to use, no training required)
    • Encourage collaboration and sharing ideas between end users and delivery teams
    • The information presented is correct and accurate
    • Users understand where the data came from and the algorithms behind it
    • Users learn features quickly and retain their knowledge longer, which directly correlates to decreased training costs and time
    • High uptake in use of the product
    • Seamless experience, use less energy to work with product

    Security

    • Secure by design approach
    • Testing across all layers of the application stack
    • Security analysis of our source code
    • Good approach to security requirement definition, secure access to databases, using latest libraries and using semantics in code
    • Standardized & clear practices for development
    • Making data access granular (not all or none)
    • Secure mission critical procedures which will reduce operational cost, improve compliance and mitigate risks
    • Auditable artifacts on security implementation
    • Good data classification, managed secure access, system backups and privacy protocols
    • Confidence of protection of user data
    • Encryption of sensitive data
    Availability
    • Good access to the code
    • Good access to the data
    • Good access to APIs and other integration technologies
    • Automatic alerts when something goes wrong
    • Self-repairing/recovering
    • SLAs and uptimes
    • Code documentation
    • Proactive support from the infrastructure team
    • System availability dashboard
    • Access on any end user device, including mobile and desktop
    • 24/7 uptime
    • Rapid response to reported defects or bugs
    • Business continuity

    1.3.2 Verify your decision to deliver mobile applications

    1-3 hours

    1. Review the various end user, business and technical expectations for mobile its achievability given the current state of your system and non-functional requirements.
    2. Complete the list of questions on the following slide as an indication for your readiness for mobile delivery.

    Input

    		Output
    • Mobile application canvas
    • Assessment to proceed with mobile
    MaterialsParticipants
    • Whiteboard/Flip Charts
    • Applications Manager
    • Product and Platform Owners
    • Software Delivery Teams
    • Business and IT Leaders

    1.3.2 cont'd

    Skill Sets
    Software delivery teams have skills in creating mobile applications that stakeholders are expecting in value and quality. 1 (Strongly Disagree) – 2 – 3 (Neutral) – 4 – 5 (Strongly Agree)
    Architects look for ways to reuse existing technical asset and design for future growth and maturity in mobile. 1 (Strongly Disagree) – 2 – 3 (Neutral) – 4 – 5 (Strongly Agree)
    Resources can be committed to implement and manage a mobile platform. 1 (Strongly Disagree) – 2 – 3 (Neutral) – 4 – 5 (Strongly Agree)
    Software delivery teams and resources are adaptable and flexible to requirements and system changes. 1 (Strongly Disagree) – 2 – 3 (Neutral) – 4 – 5 (Strongly Agree)
    Delivery Process
    My software delivery process can accommodate last minute and sudden changes in mobile delivery tasks. 1 (Strongly Disagree) – 2 – 3 (Neutral) – 4 – 5 (Strongly Agree)
    Business and IT requirements for the mobile are clarified through collaboration between business and IT representatives. 1 (Strongly Disagree) – 2 – 3 (Neutral) – 4 – 5 (Strongly Agree)
    Mobile will help us fill the gaps and standardize our software delivery process process. 1 (Strongly Disagree) – 2 – 3 (Neutral) – 4 – 5 (Strongly Agree)
    My testing practices can be adapted to verify and validate the mobile functional and non-functional requirements. 1 (Strongly Disagree) – 2 – 3 (Neutral) – 4 – 5 (Strongly Agree)
    Technical Stack
    My mid-tier and back-end support has the capacity to accommodate additional traffic from mobile. 1 (Strongly Disagree) – 2 – 3 (Neutral) – 4 – 5 (Strongly Agree)
    I have access to my web infrastructure and integration technologies, and I am capable of making configurations. 1 (Strongly Disagree) – 2 – 3 (Neutral) – 4 – 5 (Strongly Agree)
    My security approaches and capabilities can be enhanced address specific mobile application risks and vulnerabilities. 1 (Strongly Disagree) – 2 – 3 (Neutral) – 4 – 5 (Strongly Agree)
    I have a sound and robust integration strategy involving web APIs that gives me the flexibility to support mobile applications. 1 (Strongly Disagree) – 2 – 3 (Neutral) – 4 – 5 (Strongly Agree)

    Phase 2

    Define Your Mobile Approach

    Choose Your Mobile Platform and Tools

    This phase will walk you through the following activities:

    • Step 2.1 – Choose Your Platform Approach
    • Step 2.2 – Shortlist Your Mobile Delivery Solution
    • Step 2.3 – Create a Roadmap for Mobile Delivery

    This phase involves the following participants:

    • Applications Manager
    • Product and Platform Owners
    • Software Delivery Teams
    • Business and IT Leaders

    Step 2.1

    Choose Your Platform Approach

    Activities

    2.1.1 Select your platform approach

    Define Your Mobile Approach

    This step involves the following participants:

    • Applications Manager
    • Product and Platform Owners
    • Software Delivery Teams
    • Business and IT Leaders

    Outcomes of this step

    • Desired mobile platform approach

    Mobile value is dependent on the platform you choose

    What is a platform?

    "A platform is a set of software and a surrounding ecosystem of resources that helps you to grow your business. A platform enables growth through connection: its value comes not only from its own features, but from its ability to connect external tools, teams, data, and processes." (Source: Emilie Nøss Wangen, 2021) In the mobile context, applications in a platform execute and communicate through a loosely coupled API architecture whether the supporting system is managed and supported by your organization or by 3rd party providers.

    Web

    The mobile web often takes on one of the following two approaches:

    • Responsive websites – Content, UI and other website elements automatically adjusts itself according to the device, creating a seamless experience regardless of the device.
    • Progressive web applications (PWAs) – PWAs uses the browser's APIs and features to offer native-like experiences.

    Mobile web applications are often developed with a combination of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript languages.

    Hybrid

    Hybrid applications are developed with web technologies but are deployed as native applications. The code is wrapped using a framework so that it runs locally within a native container, and it uses the device's browser runtime engine to support more sophisticated designs and features compared to the web approach. Hybrid mobile solutions allows teams to code once and deploy to multiple platforms.

    Some notable examples:

    • Gmail
    • Instagram

    Cross-Platform

    Cross-platform applications are developed within a distinct programming or scripting environment that uses its own scripting language (often like web languages) and APIs. Then the solution will compile the code into device-specific builds for native deployment.

    Some notable examples:

    • Facebook
    • Skype
    • Slack

    Native

    Native applications are developed and deployed to specific devices and OSs using platform-specific software development kits (SDKs) provided by the operating system vendors. The programming language and framework are dictated by the targeted device, such as Java for Android.

    With this platform, developers have direct access to local device features allowing customized operations. This enables the use of local resources, such as memory and runtime engines, which will achieve a higher performance than hybrid and cross-platform applications.

    Each platform offers unique pros and cons depending on your mobile needs

    WebHybridCross-PlatformNative

    Pros

    Cons

    Pros

    Cons

    Pros

    Cons

    Pros

    Cons

    • Modern browsers support the popular of web languages (HTML, CSS, and JavaScript).
    • Ubiquitous across multiple form factors and devices.
    • Mobile can be easily integrated into traditional web development processes and technical stacks.
    • Installations are not required, and updates are immediate.
    • Sensitive data can be wiped from memory after app is closed.
    • Limited access to local device hardware and software.
    • Local caching is available for limited offline capabilities, but the scope of tasks that can be completed in this scenario is restricted.
    • The browser's runtime engine is limited in computing power.
    • Not all browsers fully support the latest versions of HTML, CSS, or JavaScript.
    • Web languages can be used to develop a complete application.
    • Code can be reused for multiple platforms, including web.
    • Access to commonly-used native features that are not available through the web platform.
    • Quick delivery and maintenance updates compared to native and cross-platform platforms.
    • Consistent internet access is needed due to its reliance heavily reliance on web technologies to operate.
    • Limited ability to support complex workflows and features.
    • Sluggish performance compared to cross-platform and native applications.
    • Certain features may not operate the same across all platforms given the code once, deploy everywhere approach.
    • More cost-effective to develop than using native development approaches to gain similar features. Platform-specific developers are not needed.
    • Common codebase to develop applications on different applications.
    • Enables more complex application functionalities and technical customizations compared to hybrid applications.
    • Code is not portable across cross-platform delivery solutions.
    • The framework is tied to the vendor solution which presents the risk of vendor lock-in.
    • Deployment is dependent on an app store and the delivery solution may not guarantee the application's acceptance into the application store.
    • Significant training and onboarding may be needed using the cross-platform framework.
    • Tight integration with the device's hardware enables high performance and greater use of hardware features.
    • Computationally-intensive and complex tasks can be completed on the device.
    • Available offline access.
    • Apps are available through easy-to-access app stores.
    • Requires additional investments, such as app stores, app-specific support, versioning, and platform-specific extensions.
    • Developers skilled in a device-specific language are difficult to acquire and costly to train.
    • Testing is required every time a new device or OS is introduced.
    • Higher development and maintenance costs are tradeoffs for native device features.

    Start mobile development on a mobile web platform

    Start with what you have: begin with a mobile web platform to minimize impacts to your existing delivery skill sets and technical stack while addressing business needs. Resort to a hybrid first and then consider a cross-platform application if you require device access or the need to meet specific non-functional requirements.

    Why choose a mobile web platform?

    Pros

    The latest versions of the most popular web languages (HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript) abstract away from the granular, physical components of the application, simplifying the development process. HTML5 offer some mobile features (e.g., geolocation, accelerometer) that can meet your desired experience without the need for native development skills. Native look-and-feel, high performance, and full device access are just a few tradeoffs of going with web languages.

    Cons

    Native mobile platforms depend on device-specific code which follows specific frameworks and leverages unique programming libraries, such as Objective C for iOS and Java for Android. Each language requires a high level of expertise in the coding structure and hardware of specific devices requiring resources with specific skillsets and different tools to support development and testing.

    Other Notable Benefits with Web Languages

    • Modern browsers in most mobile devices are capable of executing and rendering many mobile features developed in web languages, allowing for greater portability and sophistication of code across multiple devices. However, this flexibility comes at the cost of performance since the browser's runtime engine will not perform as well as a native engine.
    • Web languages are well known by developers, minimizing skills and resourcing impacts. Consequently, changes can be quickly accommodated and updated uniformly across all end users.

    Do you need a native platform?

    Consider web workarounds if you choose a web platform but require some native experiences.

    The web platform does not give you direct access or sophisticated customizations to local device hardware and services, underlying code and integrations. You may run into the situation where you need some native experiences, but the value of these features may not offset the costs to undertake a native, hybrid or cross-platform application. When developing hybrid and cross-platform applications with a mobile delivery solution, only the APIs of the commonly used device features are available. Note that some vendors may not offer a particular native feature across all devices, inhibiting your ability to achieve feature parity or exploiting device features only available in certain devices. Workarounds are then needed.

    Consider the following workarounds to address the required native experiences on the web platform:

    Native Function Description Web Workaround Impact
    Camera Takes pictures or records videos through the device's camera. Create an upload form in the web with HTML5. Break in workflow leading to poor user experience (UX).
    Geolocation Detects the geographical location of the device. Available through HTML5. Not Applicable.
    Calendar Stores the user's calendar in local memory. Integrate with calendaring system or manually upload contacts. Costly integration initiative. Poor user experience.
    Contacts Stores contact information in local memory. Integrate app with contact system or manually upload contacts. Costly integration initiative. Poor user experience.
    Near Field Communication (NFC) Communication between devices by touching them together or bringing them into proximity. Manual transfer of data. A lot of time is consumed transferring simple information.
    Native Computation Computational power and resources needed to complete tasks on the device. Resource-intensive requests are completed by back-end systems and results sent back to user. Slower application performance given network constraints.

    Info-Tech Insight

    In many cases, workarounds are available when evaluating the gaps between web and native applications. For example, not having application-level access to the camera does not negate the user option to upload a picture taken by the camera through a web form. Tradeoffs like this will come down to assessing the importance of each platform gap for your organization and whether a workaround is good enough as a native-like experience.

    Architect and configure your entire mobile stack with a plan

    • Assess your existing technology stack that will support your mobile platform. Determine if it has the capacity to handle mobile traffic and the necessary integration between devices and enterprise and 3rd party systems are robust and reliable. Reach out to your IT teams and vendors if you are missing key mobile components, such as:
    • The acquisition and provisioning of physical or virtual mobile web servers and middleware from existing vendors.
    • Cloud services [e.g., Mobile Back-end as a Service (mBaaS)] that assists in the mobilization of back-end data sources with API SDKs, orchestration of data from multiple sources, transformation of legacy APIs to mobile formats, and satisfaction of other security, integration and performance needs.
    • Configure the services of your web server or middleware to facilitate the translation, transformation, and transfer of data between your mobile front-end and back-end. If your plan involves scripts, maintenance and other ongoing costs will likely increase.
    • Leverage the APIs or adapters provided by your vendors or device manufacturers to integrate your mobile front-end and back-end support to your web server or middleware. If you are reusing a web server, the back-end integration should already be in place. Remember, APIs implement business rules to maintain the integrity of data exchange within your mobile stack.
    • See Appendix A for examples of reference architectures of mobile platforms.

    See our Enhance Your Solution Architecture for more information.

    Do Not Forget Your Security and Performance Requirements

    Security: New threats from mobile put organizations into a difficult situation beyond simply responding to them in a timely matter. Be careful not to take the benefits of security out of the mobile context. You need to make security a first-order citizen during the scoping, design, and optimization of your systems supporting mobile. It must also be balanced with other functional and non-functional requirements with the right roles taking accountability for these decisions.

    See our Strengthen the SSDLC for Enterprise Mobile Applications for more information.

    Performance: Within a distributed mobile environment, performance has a risk of diminishing due to limited device capacity, network hopping, lack of server scalability, API bottlenecks, and other device, network and infrastructure issues. Mobile web APIs suffer from the same pain points as traditional web browsing and unplanned API call management in an application will lead to slow performance.

    See our Develop Enterprise Mobile Applications With Realistic and Relevant Performance for more information.

    Enterprise platform selection requires a shift in perspective

    Your mobile platform selection must consider both user and enterprise (i.e., non-functional) needs. Use a two-step process for your analysis:

    Begin Platform Selection with a User-Centric Approach

    Organizations appealing to end users place emphasis on the user experience: the look and appeal of the user interface, and the satisfaction, ease of use, and value of its functionalities. In this approach, IT concerns and needs are not high priorities, but many functions are completed locally or isolated from mission critical corporate networks and sensitive data. Some needs include:

    • Performance: quick execution of tasks and calculations made on the device or offloaded to web servers or the cloud.
    • User Interface: cross-platform compatibility and feature-rich design and functionality. The right native experience is critical to the user adoption and satisfaction.
    • Device Access: use of local device hardware and software to complete app use cases, such as camera, calendar, and contact lists.

    Refine Platform Selection with an Enterprise-Centric Approach

    From the enterprise perspective, emphasis is on security, system performance, integration, reuse and other non-functional requirements as the primary motivations in the selection of a mobile platform. User experience is still a contributing factor because of the mobile application's need to drive value but its priority is not exclusive. Some drivers include:

    • Openness: agreed-upon industry standards and technologies that can be applied to serve enterprise needs which support business processes.
    • Integration: increase the reuse of legacy investments and existing applications and services with integration capabilities.
    • Flexibility: support for multiple data types from applications such as JSON format for mobile.
    • Capacity: maximize the utilization of your software delivery resources beyond the initial iteration of the mobile application.

    Info-Tech Insight

    Selecting a mobile platform should not solely be made on business requirements. Key technical stakeholders should be at the table in this discussion to provide insight on the implementation and ongoing costs and benefits of each platform. Both business and technical requirements should be considered when deciding on a final platform.

    Select your mobile platform

    Drive your mobile platform selection against user-centric needs (e.g. device access, aesthetics) and enterprise-centric needs (e.g. security, system performance).

    When does a platform makes sense to use?

    Web

    • Desire to maximize current web technologies investments (people, process, and technologies).
    • Use cases do not require significant computational resources on the device or are tightly constrained by non-functional requirements.
    • Limited budget to acquire mobile development resources.
    • Access to device hardware is not a high priority.

    Hybrid / Cross-Platform

    • The need to quickly spin up native-like applications for multiple platforms and devices.
    • Desire to leverage existing web development skills, but also a need for device access and meeting specific non-functional requirements.
    • Vendor support is needed for the entire mobile delivery process.

    Native

    • Developers are experts in the target programming language and with the device's hardware.
    • Strong need for high performance, security and device-specific access and customizations.
    • Application use cases requiring significant computing resources.

    Nine datapoints are arranged on a graph where the x axis s labeled: User Centric Needs; and the Y axis is labeled: Enterprise-centric needs. The datapoints are, in order from left to right, top to bottom: Hybrid; Cross- Platform; Native; Web; Hybrid or Cross- Platform; Cros-s Platform; Web; Web; Hybrid or Cross- Platform.

    2.1.1 Select your platform approach

    1-3 hours

    1. Review your mobile objectives, end user needs and non-functional requirements.
    2. Determine which mobile platform is appropriate for each mobile opportunity or use case by answering the following questions on the following slides against two factors: user-centric and enterprise-centric needs.
    3. Calculate an average score for user-centric and one for enterprise-centric. Then, map them on the matrix to indicate possible platform options. Consider all options around the plotted point.
    4. Further discuss which platforms should be the preferred choice.
    5. Document your findings and discussions into Info-Tech's Mobile Application Delivery Communication Template.

    Download the Mobile Application Delivery Communication Template

    Input

    		Output
    • Desired mobile experience
    • List of desired mobile features
    • Current state assessments
    • Mobile platform approach
    MaterialsParticipants
    • Whiteboard/Flip Charts
    • Mobile Application Delivery Communication Template
    • Applications Manager
    • Product and Platform Owners
    • Software Delivery Teams
    • Business and IT Leaders

    2.1.1 cont'd

    User-Centric Needs: Functional Requirements

    Factors Definitions Survey Responses
    Device Hardware Access The scope of access to native device hardware features. Basic features include those that are available through current web languages (e.g., geolocation) whereas comprehensive features are those that are device-specific. 1 (Basic) – 2 – 3 (Moderate) – 4 – 5 (Comprehensive)
    Customized Execution of Device Hardware The degree of changes to the execution of local device hardware to satisfy functional needs. 1 (Use as Is) – 2 – 3 (Configure) – 4 – 5 (Customize)
    Device Software Access The scope of access to software on the user's device, such as calendars and contact. 1 (Basic) – 2 – 3 (Moderate) – 4 – 5 (Comprehensive)
    Customized Execution of Device Software The degree of changes to the execution of local device software to satisfy functional needs. 1 (Use as Is) – 2 – 3 (Configure) – 4 – 5 (Customize)
    Use Case Complexity Workflow tasks and decisions are simple and straightforward. Complex computation is not needed to acquire the desired outcome. 1 (Strongly Agree) – 2 – 3 (Neutral) – 4 – 5 (Strongly Disagree)
    Computational Resources The resources needed on the device to complete desired functional needs. 1 (Low) – 2 – 3 (Moderate) – 4 – 5 (High)
    Use Case Ambiguity The mobile use case and technical requirements are well understood and documented. Changes to the mobile application is likely. 1 (Strongly Disagree) – 2 – 3 (Neutral) – 4 – 5 (Strongly Agree)
    Mobile Application Access Enterprise systems and data are accessible to the broader organization through the mobile application. This factor does not necessarily mean that anyone can access it untracked. You may still need to identify yourself or log in, etc. 1 (Strongly Disagree) – 2 – 3 (Neutral) – 4 – 5 (Strongly Agree)
    Scope of Adoption & Impact The extent to which the mobile application is leveraged in the organization. 1 (Enterprise) – 2 – 3 (Department) – 4 – 5 (Team)
    Installable The need to locally install the mobile application. 1 (Low) – 2 – 3 (Moderate) – 4 – 5 (High)
    Targeted Devices & Platforms Mobile applications are developed for a defined set of mobile platform versions and types and device. 1 (Strongly Disagree) – 2 – 3 (Neutral) – 4 – 5 (Strongly Agree)
    Output Audience The mobile application transforms an input into a valuable output for high-priority internal or external stakeholders. 1 (Strongly Disagree) – 2 – 3 (Neutral) – 4 – 5 (Strongly Agree)

    2.1.1 cont'd

    User-Centric Needs: Native User Experience Factors

    Factors Definitions Survey Responses
    Immersive Experience The need to bridge physical world with the virtual and digital environment, such as geofencing and NFC. 1 (Internally Delivered) – 2 – 3 (3rd Party Supported) – 4 – 5 (Business Implemented)
    Timeliness of Content and Updates The speed of which the mobile application (and supporting system) responds with requested information, data and updates from enterprise systems and 3rd party services. 1 (Reasonable Delayed Response) – 2 – 3 (Partially Outsourced) – 4 – 5 (Fully Outsourced)
    Application Performance The speed of which the mobile application completes tasks is critical to its success. 1 (Strongly Disagree) – 2 – 3 (Neutral) – 4 – 5 (Strongly Agree)
    Network Accessibility The needed ability to access and use the mobile application in various network conditions. 1 (Only Available When Online) – 2 – 3 (Partially Available When Online) – 4 – 5 (Available Online)
    Integrated Ecosystem The approach to integrate the mobile application with enterprise or 3rd party systems and services. 1 (Out-of-the-Box Connectors) – 2 – 3 (Configurable Connectors) – 4 – 5 (Customized Connectors)
    Desire to Have a Native Look-and-Feel The aesthetics and UI features (e.g., heavy animations) that are only available through native and cross-platform applications. 1 (Low) – 2 – 3 (Moderate) – 4 – 5 (High)
    User Tolerance to Change The degree of willingness and ableness for a user to change their way of working to maximize the value of the mobile application. 1 (Low) – 2 – 3 (Moderate) – 4 – 5 (High)
    Mission Criticality The business could not execute its main strategy if the mobile application was removed. 1 (Strongly Disagree) – 2 – 3 (Neutral) – 4 – 5 (Strongly Agree)
    Business Value The mobile application directly adds business value to the organization. 1 (Strongly Disagree) – 2 – 3 (Neutral) – 4 – 5 (Strongly Agree)
    Industry Differentiation The mobile application provides a distinctive competitive advantage or is unique to your organization. 1 (Strongly Disagree) – 2 – 3 (Neutral) – 4 – 5 (Strongly Agree)

    2.1.1 cont'd

    Enterprise-Centric Needs: Non-Functional Requirements

    Factors Definitions Survey Responses
    Legacy Compatibility The need to integrate and operate with legacy systems. 1 (Low) – 2 – 3 (Moderate) – 4 – 5 (High)
    Code Portability The need to enable the "code once and deploy everywhere" approach. 1 (High) – 2 – 3 (Moderate) – 4 – 5 (Low)
    Vendor & Technology Lock-In The tolerance to lock into a vendor mobile delivery solution or technology framework. 1 (Low) – 2 – 3 (Moderate) – 4 – 5 (High)
    Data Sensitivity The data used by the mobile application does not fall into the category of sensitive data – meaning nothing financial, medical, or personal identity (GDPR and worldwide equivalents). The disclosure, modification, or destruction of this data would cause limited harm to the organization. 1 (Strongly Disagree) – 2 – 3 (Neutral) – 4 – 5 (Strongly Agree)
    Data Policies Policies of the mobile application's data are mandated by internal departmental standards (e.g. naming standards, backup standards, data type consistency). Policies only mandated in this way usually have limited use in a production capacity. 1 (Strongly Disagree) – 2 – 3 (Neutral) – 4 – 5 (Strongly Agree)
    Security Risks Mobile applications are connected to private data sources and its intended use will be significant if underlying data is breached. 1 (Strongly Disagree) – 2 – 3 (Neutral) – 4 – 5 (Strongly Agree)
    Business Continuity & System Integrity Risks The mobile application in question does not have much significance relative to the running of mission critical processes in the organization. 1 (Strongly Disagree) – 2 – 3 (Neutral) – 4 – 5 (Strongly Agree)
    System Openness Openness of enterprise systems to enable mobile applications from the user interface to the business logic and backend integrations and database. 1 (High) – 2 – 3 (Moderate) – 4 – 5 (Low)
    Mobile Device Management The organization's policy for the use of mobile devices to access and leverage enterprise data and services. 1 (Bring-Your-Own-Device) – 2 – 3 (Hybrid) – 4 – 5 (Corporate Devices)

    2.1.1 cont'd

    Enterprise-Centric Needs: Delivery Capacity

    Factors Definitions Survey Responses
    Ease of Mobile Delivery The desire to have out-of-the-box and packaged tools to expedite mobile application delivery using web technologies. 1 (Low) – 2 – 3 (Moderate) – 4 – 5 (High)
    Solution Competency The capability for internal staff to and learn how to implement and administer mobile delivery tools and deliver valuable, high-quality applications. 1 (Low) – 2 – 3 (Moderate) – 4 – 5 (High)
    Ease of Deployment The desire to have the mobile applications delivered by the team or person without specialized resources from outside the team. 1 (Low) – 2 – 3 (Moderate) – 4 – 5 (High)
    Delivery Approach The capability to successfully deliver mobile applications given budgetary and costing, resourcing, and supporting services constraints. 1 (Low) – 2 – 3 (Moderate) – 4 – 5 (High)
    Maintenance & Operational Support The capability of the resources to responsibly maintain and operate mobile applications, including defect fixes and the addition and extension of modules to base implementations of the digital product. 1 (Low) – 2 – 3 (Moderate) – 4 – 5 (High)
    Domain Knowledge Support The availability and accessibility of subject and domain experts to guide facilitate mobile application implementation and adoption. 1 (Low) – 2 – 3 (Moderate) – 4 – 5 (High)
    Delivery Urgency The desire to have the mobile application delivered quickly. 1 (High) – 2 – 3 (Moderate) – 4 – 5 (Low)
    Reusable Components The desire to reuse UI elements and application components. 1 (High) – 2 – 3 (Moderate) – 4 – 5 (Low)

    2.1.1 cont'd

    Example:

    Score Factors (Average) Mobile Opportunity 1: Inventory Management Mobile Opportunity 2: Remote Support
    User-Centric Needs 4.25 3
    Functional Requirements 4.5 2.25
    Native User Experience Factors 4 1.75
    Enterprise-Centric Needs 4 2
    Non-Functional Requirements 3.75 3.25
    Delivery Capacity 4.25 2.75
    Possible Mobile Platform Cross-Platform Native PWA Hybrid

    Nine datapoints are arranged on a graph where the x axis s labeled: User Centric Needs; and the Y axis is labeled: Enterprise-centric needs. The datapoints are, in order from left to right, top to bottom: Hybrid; Cross- Platform; Native; Web; Hybrid or Cross- Platform; Cros-s Platform; Web; Web; Hybrid or Cross- Platform. Two yellow circles are overlaid, one containing the phrase: Remote Support - over the box containing Progressive Web Applications (PWA) or Hybrid; and a yellow circle containing the phrase Inventory MGMT, partly covering the box containing Native; and the box containing Cross-Platform.

    Build a scalable and manageable platform

    Long-term mobile success depends on the efficiency and reliability of the underlying operational platform. This platform must support the computational and performance demands in a changing business environment, whether it is composed of off-the-self or custom-developed solutions, or a single vendor or best-of-breed.

    • Application
      • The UI design and content language is standardized and consistently applied
      • All mobile configurations and components are automatically versioned
      • Controlled administration and tooling access, automation capabilities, and update delivery
      • Holistic portfolio management
    • Data
      • Automated data management to preserve data quality (e.g. removal of duplications)
      • Defined single source of truth
      • Adherence to data governance, and privacy and security policies
      • Good content management practices, governance and architecture
    • Infrastructure
      • Containers and sandboxes are available for development and testing
      • Self-healing and self-service environments
      • Automatic system scaling and load balancing
      • Comply to budgetary and licensing constraints
    • Integration
      • Backend database and system updates are efficient
      • Loosely coupled architecture to minimize system regressions and delivery effort
      • Application, system and data monitoring

    Step 2.2

    Shortlist Your Mobile Delivery Solution

    Activities

    2.2.1 Shortlist your mobile delivery solution

    2.2.2 Build your feature and service lists

    Define Your Mobile Approach

    This step involves the following participants:

    • Applications Manager
    • Product and Platform Owners
    • Software Delivery Teams
    • Business and IT Leaders

    Outcomes of this step

    • Shortlisted mobile delivery solutions
    • Desired list of vendor features and services

    Ask yourself: should I build or buy?

    Build Buy

    Multi-Source Best-of-Breed

    Vendor Add-Ons & Integrations

    Integrate various technologies that provide subset(s) of the features needed for supporting the business functions.

    Enhance an existing vendor's offerings by using their system add-ons either as upgrades, new add-ons or integrations.

    Pros

    • Flexibility in choice of tools.
    • In some cases, cost may be lower.
    • Easier to enhance with in-house teams.

    Cons

    • Introduces tool sprawl.
    • Requires resources to understand tools and how they integrate.
    • Some of the tools necessary may not be compatible with each other.

    Pros

    • Reduces tool sprawl.
    • Supports consistent tool stack.
    • Vendor support can make enhancement easier.
    • Total cost of ownership may be lower.

    Cons

    • Vendor Lock-In.
    • The processes to enhance may require tweaking to fit tool capability.

    Multi-Source Custom

    Single Source

    Integrate systems built in-house with technologies developed by external organizations.

    Buy an application/system from one vendor only.

    Pros

    • Flexibility in choice of tools.
    • In some cases, cost may be lower.
    • Easier to enhance with in-house teams.

    Cons

    • May introduce tool sprawl.
    • Requires resources to have strong technical skills
    • Some of the tools necessary may
    • not be compatible with each other.

    Pros

    • Reduces tool sprawl.
    • Supports consistent tool stack.
    • Vendor support can make enhancement easier.
    • Total cost of ownership may be lower.

    Cons

    • Vendor Lock-In.
    • The processes to enhance may require tweaking to fit tool capability.

    Weigh the pros and cons of mobile enablement versus development

    Mobile Enablement

    Mobile Development

    Description Mobile interfaces that heavily rely on enterprise or 3rd party systems to operate. Mobile does not expand the functionality of the system but complements it with enhanced access, input and consumption capabilities. Mobile applications that are custom built or configured in a way that can operate as a standalone entity, whether they are locally deployed to a user's device or virtually hosted.
    Mobile Platform Mobile web, locally installed mobile application provided by vendor Mobile web, hybrid, cross-platform, native
    Typical Audience Internal staff, trusted users Internal and external users, general public
    Examples of Tooling Flavors Enterprise applications, point solutions, robotic & process automation Mobile enterprise application platform, web development, low and no code development, software development kits (SDKs)
    Technical Skills Required Little to no mobile delivery experience and skillsets are needed, but teams must be familiar with the supporting system to understand how a mobile interface can improve the value of the system. Have good UX-driven and quality-first practices in the mobile context. In-depth coding, networking, system and UX design, data management and security skills are needed for complex designs, functions, and architectures.
    Architecture & Integration Architecture is standardized by the vendor or enterprise with UI elements that are often minimally configurable. Extensions and integrations must be done through the system rather than the mobile interface. Much of application stack and integration approach can be customized to meet the specific functional and non-functional needs. It should still leverage web and design standards and investments currently used.
    Functional Scope Functionality is limited to the what the underlying system allows the interface to do. This often is constrained to commodity web application features (e.g., reporting) or tied to minor configurations to the vendor-provided point solution Functionality is only constrained by the platform and the targeted mobile devices whether it is performance, integration, access or security related. Teams should consider feature and content parity across all products within the organization portfolio.
    Delivery Pipeline End-to-end delivery and automated pipeline is provided by the vendor to ensure parity across all interfaces. Many vendors provide cloud-based services for hosting. Otherwise, it is directly tied to the SDLC of the supporting system. End-to-end delivery and automated pipeline is directly tied to enterprise SDLC practices or through the vendor. Some vendors provide cloud-based services for hosting. Updates are manually or automatically (through a vendor) published to app stores and can be automatically pushed to corporate users through mobile application management capabilities.
    Standards & Guardrails Quality standards and technology governance are managed by the vendor or IT with limited capabilities to tailor them to be mobile specific. Quality standards and technology governance are managed by the mobile delivery teams. The degree of customizations to these standards and guardrails is dependent on the chosen platform and delivery team competencies.

    Understand the common attributes of a mobile delivery solution

    • Source Code Management – Built-in or having the ability to integrate with code management solutions for branching, merging, and versioning. Debugging and coding assistance capabilities may be available.
    • Single Code Base – Capable of programming in a standard coding and scripting language for deployment into several platforms and devices. This code base is aligned to a common industry framework (e.g., AngularJS, Java) or a vendor-defined one.
    • Out-of-the-Box Connectors & Plug-ins – Pre-built APIs enhance the solution's capabilities with 3rd party tools and systems to deliver and manage high quality and valuable mobile applications.
    • Emulators – Ability to virtualize an application's execution on a target platform and device.
    • Support for Native Features – Supports plug-ins and APIs for access to device-specific features.

    What are mobile delivery solutions?

    A mobile delivery solution gives you the tools, resources and support to enable or build your mobile application. They can provide pre-built applications, vendor supported components to allow some configurations, or resources for full stack customizations. Some solutions can be barebone software development kits (SDKs) or comprehensive suites offering features to support the entire software delivery lifecycle, such as:

    • Mobile application management
    • Testing and publishing to app stores
    • Content management
    • Cloud hosting
    • Application performance management

    Info-Tech Insight

    Mobile enablement and development capabilities are already embedded in many common productivity tools and enterprise applications, such as Microsoft PowerApps and ERP modules. They can serve as a starting point in the initial rollout of new management and governance practices without the need of acquiring new tools.

    Select your mobile delivery solutions

    1. Set the scope of your framework.
    • The initial context of this framework is based on the mobile functions needed to support your desired mobile experience and on the current state of your enterprise and 3rd party systems.
  • Define the decision factors for your solution selection.
    • Review the decision factors that will influence the selection of your mobile delivery solution for each mobile opportunity:
    • Stack Management – Who will be hosting and supporting your mobile application stack?
    • Workflows Complexity & Native Experience – How complex is your desired mobile experience and how will native device features be leveraged?
  • Select your solution type.
    • Mobile delivery solutions are broadly defined in the following groups:
    • Commercial-Off-The-Shelf (COTS) – Pre-built mobile applications requiring little to no configurations or implementation effort.
    • Vendor Hosted Mobile Platform – Back-end and mid-tier infrastructure and operational support are managed by a vendor.
    • Cross-Platform Development – Frameworks that transform a single code base into platform-specific builds.
    • Hybrid Development – Tools that wrap a single code base into a locally deployable build.
    • Custom Web Development – Environment enabling full stack development for mobile web applications.
    • Custom Native Development – Environment enabling full stack development for mobile native applications.

    • A quadrant analysis is depicted. the top data is labeled Complex Mobile Features; the right side is labeled Organization-Managed Stack; the bottom is labeled Simple Mobile Features; and the left side is labeled Vendor-Managed Stack. The quadrants are labeled the following, in order from left to right, top to bottom. Vendor- Hosted Mobile Platform; Custom Native Development Solutions; Commercial-Off-the-Shelf Solutions; Custom Web Development Solutions. In the middle of the graph are the following, in order from top to bottom: Cross-Platform Development Solutions; Hybrid Development Solutions

    Explore the various solution options

    Vendor Hosted Mobile Platform

    • Cloud Services (Mobile Backend-as-a-Service) (Amazon Amplify, Kinvey, Back4App, Google Firebase, Apache Usergrid)
    • Low Code Mobile Platforms (Outsystems, Mendix, Zoho Creator, IBM Mobile Foundation, Pega Mobile, HCL Volt MX, Appery)
    • Mobile Development via Enterprise Application (SalesForce Heroku, Oracle Application Accelerator MAX, SAP Mobile Development Kit, NetSuite Mobile)
    • Mobile Development via Business Process Automation (PowerApps, Appian, Nintex, Quickbase)

    Cross-Platform Development SDKs

    React Native, NativeScript, Xamarin Forms, .NET MAUI, Flutter, Kotlin Multiplatform Mobile, jQuery Mobile, Telerik, Temenos Quantum

    Custom Native Development Solutions

    • Native Development Languages and Environments (Swift, Java, Objective-C, Kotlin, Xcode, NetBeans, Android Studio, AppCode, Microsoft Visual Studio, Eclipse, DriodScript, Compose, Atom)
    • Mobile Application Utilities (Unity, MonoGame, Blender, 3ds Max Design, Maya, Unreal Engine, Amazon Lumberyard, Oculus)

    Commercial-Off-the-Shelf Solutions

    • No Code Mobile Platforms (Swiftic, Betty Blocks, BuildFire, Appy Pie, Plant an App, Microsoft Power Apps, AppSheet, Wix, Quixy)
    • Mobile Application Point Solutions and Enablement via Enterprise Applications

    Hybrid Development SDKs

    Cordova Project, Sencha Touch, Electron, Ionic, Capacitor, Monaca, Voltbuilder

    Custom Web Development Solutions

    Web Development Frameworks (React, Angular, Vue, Express, Django, Rails, Spring, Ember, Backbone, Bulma, Bootstrap, Tailwind CSS, Blade)

    Get the most out of your solutions by understanding their core components

    While most of the heavy lifting is handled by the vendor or framework, understanding how the mobile application is built and operates can identify where further fine-tuning is needed to increase its value and quality.

    Platform Runtime

    Automatic provisioning, configurations, and tuning of organizational and 3rd party infrastructure for high availability, performance, security and stability. This can include cloud management and non-production environments.

    Extensions

    • Mobile delivery solutions can be extended to allow:
    • Custom development of back-end code
    • Customizable integrations and hooks where needed
    • Integrations with CI/CD pipelines and administrative services
    • Integrations with existing databases and authentication services

    Platform Services

    The various services needed to support mobile delivery and enable continuous delivery, such as:

    • Configuration & Change Management – Verifies, validates, and monitors builds, deployments and changes across all components.
    • Code Generator – Transforms UI and data models into native application components that are ready to be deployed.
    • Deployment Services – Deploys application components consistently across all target environments and app stores.
    • Application Services – Manages the mobile application at runtime, including executing scheduled tasks and instrumentation.

    Application Architecture

    Fundamentally, mobile application architecture is no different than any other application architecture so much of your design standards still applies. The trick is tuning it to best meet your mobile functional and non-functional needs.

    This image contains an example of mobile application architecture.

    Source: "HCL Volt MX", HCL.

    Build your shortlist decision criteria

    The decision on which type of mobile delivery solution to use is dependent on several key questions?

    Who is the Mobile Delivery Team?

    • Is it a worker, business or IT?
    • What skills and knowledge does this person have?
    • Who is supporting mobile delivery and management?
    • Are other skills and tools needed to support, extend or mature mobile delivery adoption?

    What are the Use Cases?

    • What is the value and priority of the use cases?
    • What native features do we need?
    • Who is the audience of the output and who is impacted?
    • What systems, data and services do I need access?
    • Is it best to build it or buy it?
    • What are the quality standards?
    • How strategic is the use case?

    How Complex is the System?

    • Is the mobile application a standalone or integrated with enterprise systems?
    • What is the system's state and architecture?
    • What 3rd party services do we need integrated?
    • Are integrations out-of-the-box or custom?
    • Is the data standardized and who can edit its definition?
    • Is the system monolithic or loosely coupled?

    How Much Can We Tolerate?

    • Risks: What are the business and technical risks involved?
    • Costs: How much can we invest in implementation, training and operations?
    • Change: What organizational changes am I expecting to make? Will these changes be accepted and adopted?

    2.2.1 Shortlist your mobile delivery solution

    1-3 hours

    1. Determine which mobile delivery solutions is appropriate for each mobile opportunity or use case by answering the following questions on the following slides against two factors: complexity of mobile workflows and native features and management of the mobile stack.
      1. Take the average of the enterprise-centric and user-centric scores from step 2.1 for your complexity of mobile workflows and native features scores.
    2. Calculate an average score for the management of the mobile stack. Then, map them on the matrix to indicate possible solution options alongside your user-centric scores. Consider all options around the plotted point.
    3. Further discuss which solution should be the preferred choice and compare those options with your selected platform approach.
    4. Document your findings and discussions into Info-Tech's Mobile Application Delivery Communication Template.

    Download the Mobile Application Delivery Communication Template

    Input

    		Output
    • Current state assessment
    • Mobile platform approach
    • Shortlist of mobile delivery solution
    MaterialsParticipants
    • Whiteboard/Flip Charts
    • Mobile Application Delivery Communication Template
    • Applications Manager
    • Product and Platform Owners
    • Software Delivery Teams
    • Business and IT Leaders

    2.2.1 cont'd

    Stack Management

    Factors Definitions Survey Responses
    Cost of Delayed Delivery The expected cost if a vendor solution or update is delayed. 1 (Low) – 2 – 3 (Moderate) – 4 – 5 (High)
    Vendor Negotiation Organization's ability to negotiate favorable terms from vendors. 1 (High) – 2 – 3 (Moderate) – 4 – 5 (Low)
    Controllable Delivery Timeline Organization's desire to control when solutions and updates are delivered. 1 (Low) – 2 – 3 (Moderate) – 4 – 5 (High)
    Solution Hosting The desired approach to host the mobile application. 1 (Fully Outsourced) – 2 – 3 (Partially Outsourced) – 4 – 5 (Internally Hosted)
    Vendor Lock-In The tolerance to be locked into a specific technology stack or vendor ecosystem. 1 (Low) – 2 – 3 (Moderate) – 4 – 5 (High)
    Operational Cost Target The primary target of the mobile application's operational budget. 1 (External Resources) – 2 – 3 (Hybrid) – 4 – 5 (Internal Resources)
    Platform Management The desired approach to manage the mobile delivery solution, platform or underlying technology. 1 (Decentralized) – 2 – 3 (Federated) – 4 – 5 (Centralized)
    Skill & Competency of Mobile Delivery Team The ability of the team to create and manage valuable and high-quality mobile applications. 1 (Low) – 2 – 3 (Moderate) – 4 – 5 (High)
    Current Investment in Enterprise Technologies The need to maximize the ROI of current enterprise technologies or integrate with legacy technologies. 1 (High) – 2 – 3 (Moderate) – 4 – 5 (Low)
    Ease of Extensibility Need to have out-of-the-box connectors and plug-ins to extend the mobile delivery solution beyond its base implementation. 1 (High) – 2 – 3 (Moderate) – 4 – 5 (Low)
    Holistic Application Strategy Organizational priorities on the types of applications the portfolio should be comprised. 1 (Buy) – 2 – 3 (Hybrid) – 4 – 5 (Build)
    Control of Delivery Pipeline The desire to control the software delivery pipeline from design to development, testing, publishing and support. 1 (Low) – 2 – 3 (Moderate) – 4 – 5 (High)
    Specific Quality Requirements Software and mobile delivery is constrained to your unique quality standards (e.g., security, performance, availability) 1 (Low) – 2 – 3 (Moderate) – 4 – 5 (High)

    2.2.1 cont'd

    Example:

    Score Factors (Average) Mobile Opportunity 1: Inventory Management Mobile Opportunity 2: Remote Support
    User-Centric & Enterprise Centric Needs (From Step 2.1) 4.125 2.5
    Stack Management 2 2.5
    Desired Mobile Delivery Solution Vendor-Hosted Mobile Platform

    Commercial-Off-the-Shelf Solution

    Hybrid Development Solution

    A quadrant analysis is depicted. the top data is labeled Complex Mobile Features; the right side is labeled Organization-Managed Stack; the bottom is labeled Simple Mobile Features; and the left side is labeled Vendor-Managed Stack. The quadrants are labeled the following, in order from left to right, top to bottom. Vendor- Hosted Mobile Platform; Custom Native Development Solutions; Commercial-Off-the-Shelf Solutions; Custom Web Development Solutions. In the middle of the graph are the following, in order from top to bottom: Cross-Platform Development Solutions; Hybrid Development Solutions.

    Consider the following in your solution selection and implementation

    • Vendor lock in – Each solution has its own approach, frameworks, and data schemas to convert designs and logic into an executable build that is stable in the targeted environment. Consequently, moving application artifacts (e.g., code and designs) from one solution or environment to another may not be easily accomplished without significant modifications or the use of application modernization or migration services.
    • Conflicting priorities and viewpoints of good delivery practices – Mobile delivery solutions are very particular on how they generate applications from designs and configurations. The solution's approach may not accommodate your interpretation of high-quality code (e.g., scalability, maintainability, extensibility, security). Technical experts should be reviewing and refactoring the generated code.
    • Incompatibility with enterprise applications and systems – The true benefit of mobile delivery solutions is their ability to connect your mobile application to enterprise and 3rd party technologies and services. This capability often requires enterprise technologies and services to be architected in a way that is compatible with your delivery solution while ensuring data, security protocols and other standards and policies are consistently enforced.
    • Integration with current application development and management tools – Mobile delivery solutions should be extensions from your existing application development and management tools that provides the versioning, testing, monitoring, and deployment capabilities to sustain a valuable application portfolio. Without this integration, IT will be unable to:
      • Root cause issues found on IT dashboards or reported to help desk.
      • Rollback defective applications to a previous stable state.
      • Obtain a complete application portfolio inventory.
      • Execute comprehensive testing for high-risk applications.
      • Trace artifacts throughout the development lifecycle.
      • Generate reports of the status of releases.

    Enhance your SDLC to support mobile delivery

    What is the SDLC?

    The software development lifecycle (SDLC) is a process that ensures valuable software products are efficiently delivered to customers. It contains a repeatable set of activities needed to intake and analyze requirements to design, build, test, deploy, and maintain software products.

    How will mobile delivery influence my SDLC?

    • Cross-functional collaboration – Bringing business and IT together at the most opportune times to clarify user needs and business priorities, and set realistic expectations given technology and capacity constraints. The appropriate tactics and techniques are used to improve decision making and delivery effectiveness according to the type of work.
    • Iterative delivery – Frequent delivery of progressive changes minimizes the risk of low-quality features by containing and simplifying scope, and enables responsive turnarounds of fixes, enhancements, and priority changes.
    • Feedback loops –Mobile application owners constantly review, update and refine their backlog of mobile features and changes to reflect user feedback and system performance metrics. Delivery teams proactively prepare the application for future scaling based on lessons and feedback learned from earlier releases.

    To learn more, visit Info-Tech's Modernize Your SDLC blueprint.

    Example: Low- & No-Code Mobile Delivery Pipeline

    Low Code

    		Data Modeling & Configuration

    No Code

    Visual Interface with Complex Data Models

    		Data Modeling & Configuration

    Visual Interfaces with Simple Data Models

    GUI Designer with Customizable Components & Entities

    UI Definition & Design

    GUI Designer with Canned Templates

    Visual Workflow and Custom Scripting

    		Business Logic Rules and Workflow Specification

    Visual Workflow and Natural Language Scripting

    Out-of-the-Box Plugins & Custom Integrations

    		Integration of External Services (via 3rd Party APIs)

    Out-of-the-Box Plugins

    Automated and Manual Build & Packaging

    		Build & Package

    Automated Build & Packaging

    Automated & Manual Testing

    		Test

    Automated Testing

    One-Click Push or IT Push to App Store

    		Publish to App Store

    One-Click Push to App Store

    Use Info-Tech's research to address your delivery gaps

    Mobile success requires more than a set of good tools.

    Overcome the Common Challenges Faced with Building Mobile Applications

    Common Challenges with Digital Applications

    Suggested Solutions

    • Time & Resource Constraints
    • Buy-In From Internal Stakeholders
    • Rapidly Changing Requirements
    • Legacy Systems
    • Low-Priority for Internal Tools
    • Insufficient Data Access

    Source: DronaHQ, 2021

    Learn the differentiators of mobile delivery solutions

    • Native Program Languages – Supports languages other than web (Java, Ruby, C/C++/C#, Objective-C).
    • IDE Integration – Available plug-ins for popular development suites and editors.
    • Debugging Tools – Finding and eliminating bugs (breakpoints, single stepping, variable inspection, etc.).
    • Application Packaging via IDE – Digitally sign applications through the IDE for it to be packaged and published in app stores.
    • Automated Testing Tools – Native or integration with automated functional and unit testing tools.
    • Low- and No- Code Designer – Tools for designing graphical user interfaces and features and managing data with drag-and-drop functionalities.
    • Publishing and Deployment Capabilities – Automated deployment to mobile device management (MDM) systems, mobile application management (MAM) systems, mobile application stores, and web servers.
    • Third-Party and Open-Source Integration – Integration with proprietary and open-source third-party modules, development tools, and systems.
    • Developer Marketplace – Out-of-the-box plug-ins, templates, and integration are available through a marketplace.
    • Mobile Application Support Capabilities – Ability to gather, manage, and address application issues and defects.
    • API Gateway, Monitoring, and Management – Services that enable the creation, publishing, maintenance, monitoring, and securing of APIs through a common interface.
    • Mobile Analytics and Monitoring – View the adoption, usage, and performance of deployed mobile applications through graphical dashboards.
    • Mobile Content Management – Publish and manage mobile content through a centralized system.
    • Mobile Application Security – Supports the securing of application access and usage, data encryption, and testing of security controls.

    Define your mobile delivery vendor selection criteria

    Focus on the key vendor attributes and capabilities that enable mobile delivery scaling and growth in your organization

    Considerations in Mobile Delivery Vendor Selection
    Platform Features & Capabilities Price to Implement & Operate Platform
    Types of Mobile Applications That Can Be Developed Ease of IT Administration & Management
    User Community & Marketplace Size Security, Privacy & Access Control Capabilities
    SME in Industry Verticals & Business Functions Vendor Product Roadmap & Corporate Strategy
    Pre-Built Designs, Templates & Application Shells Scope of Device- and OS-Specific Compatibilities
    Regulatory & Industry Compliance Integration & Technology Partners
    Importing Artifacts From and Exporting to Other Solutions Platform Architecture & Underlying Technology
    End-to-End Support for the Entire Mobile SDLC Relevance to Current Mobile Trends & Practices

    Build your features list

    Incorporate different perspectives when defining the list of mandatory and desired features of your target solution.

    Appendix B contains a list of features for low- and no-code solutions that can be used as a starting point.

    Visit Info-Tech's Implement a Proactive and Consistent Vendor Selection Process blueprint.

    Mobile Developer

    • Visual, drag-and-drop models to define data models, business logic, and user interfaces.
    • One-click deployment.
    • Self-healing capabilities.
    • Vendor-managed infrastructure.
    • Active community and marketplace.
    • Pre-built templates and libraries.
    • Optical character recognition and natural language processing.
    • Knowledgebase and document management.
    • Business value, operational costs, and other KPI monitoring.
    • Business workflow automation.

    Mobile IT Professional

    • Audit and change logs.
    • Theme and template builder.
    • Template management.
    • Role-based access.
    • Regulatory compliance.
    • Consistent design and user experience across applications.
    • Application and system performance monitoring.
    • Versioning and code management.
    • Automatic application and system refactoring and recovery.
    • Exception and error handling.
    • Scalability (e.g. load balancing) and infrastructure management.
    • Real-time debugging.
    • Testing capabilities.
    • Security management.
    • Application integration management.

    2.2.2 Build your feature and service lists

    1-3 hours

    Review the key outcomes in the previous exercises to help inform the features and vendor support you require to support your mobile delivery needs:

    End user personas and desired mobile experience

    Objectives and expectations

    Desired mobile features and platform

    Mobile delivery solutions

    Brainstorm a list of features and functionalities you require from your ideal solution vendors. Prioritize these features and functionalities. See our Implement a Proactive and Consistent Vendor Selection Process blueprint for more information on vendor procurement.

    Document your findings and discussions into Info-Tech's Mobile Application Delivery Communication Template.

    Download the Mobile Application Delivery Communication Template

    Input

    		Output
    • Shortlist of mobile solutions
    • Quality definitions
    • Mobile objectives and metrics
    • List of desired features and services of mobile delivery solution vendors
    MaterialsParticipants
    • Whiteboard/Flip Charts
    • Mobile Application Delivery Communication Template
    • Applications Manager
    • Product and Platform Owners
    • Software Delivery Teams
    • Business and IT Leaders

    Hit a home run with your stakeholders

    Use a data-driven approach to select the right tooling vendor for your needs – fast.

    AwarenessEducation & DiscoveryEvaluationSelection

    Negotiation & Configuration

    1.1 Proactively Lead Technology Optimization & Prioritization2.1 Understand Marketplace Capabilities & Trends3.1 Gather & Prioritize Requirements & Establish Key Success Metrics4.1 Create a Weighted Selection Decision Model5.1 Initiate Price Negotiation with Top Two Venders
    1.2 Scope & Define the Selection Process for Each Selection Request Action2.2 Discover Alternate Solutions & Conduct Market Education3.2 Conduct a Data Driven Comparison of Vendor Features & Capabilities4.2 Conduct Investigative Interviews Focused on Mission Critical Priorities with Top 2-4 Vendors5.2 Negotiate Contract Terms & Product Configuration

    1.3 Conduct an Accelerated Business Needs Assessment

    		2.3 Evaluate Enterprise Architecture & Application PortfolioNarrow the Field to Four Top Contenders4.3 Validate Key Issues with Deep Technical Assessments, Trial Configuration & Reference Checks5.3 Finalize Budget Approval & Project
    1.4 Align Stakeholder Calendars to Reduce Elapsed Time & Asynchronous Evaluation2.4 Validate the Business Case5.4 Invest in Training & Onboarding Assistance

    Investing time improving your software selection methodology has big returns.

    Info-Tech Insight

    Not all software selection projects are created equal – some are very small, some span the entire enterprise. To ensure that IT is using the right framework, understand the cost and complexity profile of the application you're looking to select. Info-Tech's Rapid Application Selection Framework approach is best for commodity and mid-tier enterprise applications; selecting complex applications is better handled by the methodology in Info-Tech's Implement a Proactive and Consistent Vendor Selection Process.

    Step 2.3

    Create a Roadmap for Mobile Delivery

    Activities

    2.3.1 Define your MVP release

    2.3.2 Build your roadmap

    Define Your Mobile Approach

    This step involves the following participants:

    • Applications Manager
    • Product and Platform Owners
    • Software Delivery Teams
    • Business and IT Leaders

    Outcomes of this step

    • MVP design
    • Mobile delivery roadmap

    Achieve mobile success with MVPs

    By delivering mobile capabilities in small iterations, teams recognize value sooner and reduce accumulated risk. Both benefits are realized as the iteration enters validation testing and release.

    This image depicts a graph of the learn-build-measure cycle over time, adapted from Managing the Development of Large Software Systems, Dr. Winston W. Royce, 1970

    An MVP focuses on a small set of functions, involves minimal possible effort to deliver a working and valuable solution, and is designed to satisfy a specific user group. Its purpose is to:

    • Maximize learning.
    • Evaluate the value and acceptance of mobile applications.
    • Inform the building of a mobile delivery practice.

    The build-measure-learn loop suggests mobile delivery teams should perpetually take an idea and develop, test, and validate it with the mobile development solution, then expand on the MVP using the lessons learned and evolving ideas. In this sense the MVP is just the first iteration in the loop.

    Leverage a canvas to detail your MVP

    Use the release canvas to organize and align the organization around your MVP!

    This is an example of a release canvas which can be used to detail your MVP.

    2.3.1 Define your MVP release

    1-3 hours

    1. Create a list of high priority use cases slated for mobile application delivery. Brainstorm the various supporting activities required to implement your use cases including the shortlisting of mobile delivery tools.
    2. Prioritize these use cases based on business priority (from your canvas). Size the effort of these use cases through collaboration.
    3. Define your MVPs using a release canvas as shown on the following slide.
    4. Document your findings and discussions into Info-Tech's Mobile Application Delivery Communication Template.

    Input

    		Output
    • High priority mobile opportunities
    • Mobile platform approach
    • Shortlist of mobile solutions
    • List of potential MVPs
    MaterialsParticipants
    • Whiteboard/Flip Charts
    • Mobile Application Delivery Communication Template
    • Applications Manager
    • Product and Platform Owners
    • Software Delivery Teams
    • Business and IT Leaders

    2.3.1 cont'd

    MVP Name

    Owner:
    Parent Initiative:
    Updated:

    NAME
    LINK
    October 05, 2022

    MVP Theme/Goals

    [Theme / Goal]

    Use Cases

    Value

    Costs

    [Use Case 1]
    [Use Case 2]
    [Use Case 3]

    [Business Value 1]
    [Business Value 2]
    [Business Value 3]

    [Cost Item 1]
    [Cost Item 2]
    [Cost Item 3]

    Impacted Personas

    Impacted Workflows

    Stakeholders

    [Persona 1]
    [Persona 2]
    [Persona 3]

    [Workflow 1]
    [Workflow 2]
    [Workflow 3]

    [Stakeholder 1]
    [Stakeholder 2]
    [Stakeholder 3]

    Build your mobile roadmap

    It's more than a set of colorful boxes. It's the map to align everyone to where you are going

    Your mobile roadmap

    • Lays out a strategy for your mobile application, platform and practice implementation and scaling.
    • Is a statement of intent for your mobile adoption.
    • Communicates direction for the implementation and use of mobile delivery tools, mobile applications and supporting technologies.
    • Directly connects to the organization's goals

    However, it is not:

    • Representative of a hard commitment.
    • A simple combination of your current product roadmaps

    Roadmap your MVPs against your milestones and release dates

    This is an image of an example of a roadmap for your MVPS, with milestones across Jan 2022, Feb 2022, Mar 2022, Apr 2022. under milestones, are the following points: Points in the timeline when an established set of artifacts is complete (feature-based), or to check status at a particular point in time (time-based); Typically assigned a date and used to show progress; Plays an important role when sequencing different types of artifacts. Under Release Dates are the following points: Releases mark the actual delivery of a set of artifacts packaged together in a new version of processes and applications or new mobile application and delivery capabilities. ; Release dates, firm or not, allow stakeholders to anticipate when this is coming.

    To learn more, visit Info-Tech's Deliver on Your Digital Product Vision blueprint.

    Understand what is communicated in your roadmap

    WHY is the work being done?

    Explains the overarching goal of work being done to a specific audience.

    WHO is doing the work?

    Categorizes the different groups delivering the work on the product.

    WHAT is the work being done?

    Explains the artifacts, or items of work, that will be delivered.

    WHEN is the work being done?

    Explains when the work will be delivered within your timeline.

    To learn more, visit Info-Tech's Deliver on Your Digital Product Vision blueprint.

    Pay attention to organizational changes

    Be prepared to answer:

    "How will mobile change the way I do my job?"

    • Plan how workers will incorporate mobile applications into their way of working and maximize the features it offers.
    • Address the human concerns regarding the transition to a digital world involving modern and mobile technologies and automation.
    • Accept changes, challenges and failures with open arms and instill tactics to quickly address them.
    • Build and strengthen business-IT trust, empowerment, and collaborative culture by adopting the right practices throughout the mobile delivery process.
    • Ensure continuous management and leadership support for business empowerment, operational changes, and shifts in role definitions to best support mobile delivery.
    • Establish a committee to manage the growth, adoption, and delivery of mobile as part of a grandeur digital application portfolio and address conflicts among business units and IT.

    Anticipate and prepare for changes and issues

    Verify and validate the flexibility and adaptability of your mobile applications, strategy and roadmap against various scenarios

    • Scenarios
      • Application Stores Rejecting the Application
      • Security Incidents & Risks
      • Low User Adoption, Retention & Satisfaction
      • Incompatibility with User's Device & Other Systems
      • Device & OS Patches & Updates
      • Changes in Industry Standards & Regulations

    Use the "Now, Next, Later" roadmap

    Use this when deadlines and delivery dates are not strict. This is best suited for brainstorming a product plan when dependency mapping is not required.

    Now

    What are you going to do now?

    Next

    What are you going to do very soon?

    Later

    What are you going to do in the future?

    This is a roadmap showing various points in the following categories: Now; Next; Later

    Adapted From: "Tips for Agile product roadmaps & product roadmap examples," Scrum.org, 2017

    2.3.2 Build your roadmap

    1-3 hours

    1. Identify the business outcomes your mobile application delivery and MVP is expected to deliver.
    2. Build your strategic roadmap by grouping each business outcome by how soon you need to deliver it:
      1. Now: Let's achieve this ASAP.
      2. Next: Sometime very soon, let's achieve these things.
      3. Later: Much further off in the distance, let's consider these things.
    3. Identify what the critical steps are for the organization to embrace mobile application delivery and deliver your MVP.
    4. Build your tactical roadmap by grouping each critical step by how soon you need to address it:
      1. Now: Let's do this ASAP.
      2. Next: Sometime very soon, let's do these things.
      3. Later: Much further off in the distance, let's consider these things.
    5. Document your findings and discussions into Info-Tech's Mobile Application Delivery Communication Template.

    Input

    		Output
    • List of potential MVPs
    • Mobile roadmap
    MaterialsParticipants
    • Whiteboard/Flip Charts
    • Mobile Application Delivery Communication Template
    • Applications Manager
    • Product and Platform Owners
    • Software Delivery Teams
    • Business and IT Leaders

    2.3.2 cont'd

    Example: Tactical Roadmap

    Milestone 1

    • Modify the business processes of the MVP to best leverage mobile technologies. Streamline the business processes by removing the steps that do not directly support value delivery.
    • Develop UI templates using the material design framework and the organization's design standards. Ensure it is supported on mobile devices through the mobile browser and satisfy accessibility design standards.
    • Verify and validate current security controls against latest security risks using the W3C as a starting point. Install the latest security patches to maintain compliance.
    • Acquire the Ionic SDK and upskill delivery teams.

    Milestone 2

    • Update the current web framework and third-party libraries with the latest version and align web infrastructure to latest W3C guidelines.
    • Verify and validate functionality and stability of APIs with third-party applications. Begin transition to REST APIs where possible.
    • Make minor changes to the existing data architecture to better support the data volume, velocity, variety, and veracity the system will process and deliver.
    • Update the master data management with latest changes. Keep changes to a minimum.
    • Develop and deliver the first iteration of the MVP with Ionic.

    Milestone 3

    • Standardize the initial mobile delivery practice.
    • Continuously monitor the system and proactively address business continuity, system stability and performance, and security risks.
    • Deliver a hands-on and facilitated training session to end users.
    • Develop intuitive user manuals that are easily accessible on SharePoint.
    • Consult end users for their views and perspectives of suggested business model and technology changes.
    • Regularly survey end users and the media to gauge industry sentiment toward the organization.

    Pitch your roadmap initiatives

    There are multiple audiences for your pitch, and each audience requires a different level of detail when addressed. Depending on the outcomes expected from each audience, a suitable approach must be chosen. The format and information presented will vary significantly from group to group.

    Audience

    Key Contents

    Outcome

    Outcome

    • Costs or benefits estimates

    Sign off on cost and benefit projections

    Executives and decision makers

    • Business value and financial benefits
    • Notable business risks and impacts
    • Business rationale and strategic roadmap

    Revisions, edits, and approval

    IT teams

    • Notable technical and IT risks
    • IT rationale and tactical roadmap
    • Proposed resourcing and skills capacity

    Clarity of vision and direction and readiness for delivery

    Business workers

    • Business rationale
    • Proposed business operations changes
    • Application roadmap

    Verification on proposed changes and feedback

    Continuously measure the benefits and value realized in your mobile applications

    Success hinges on your team's ability to deliver business value. Well-developed mobile applications instill stakeholder confidence in ongoing business value delivery and stakeholder buy-in, provided proper expectations are set and met.

    Business value defines the success criteria of an organization, and it is interpreted from four perspectives:

    • Profit Generation – The revenue generated from a business capability with mobile applications.
    • Cost Reduction – The cost reduction when performing business capabilities with mobile applications.
    • Service Enablement – The productivity and efficiency gains of internal business operations with mobile applications.
    • Customer and Market Reach – Metrics measuring the improved reach and insights of the business in existing or new markets.

    See our Build a Value Measurement Framework blueprint for more information about business value definition.

    Business Value Matrix

    This image contains a quadrant analysis with the following labels: Left - Improved Capabilities; Top - Outward; Right - Financial Benefit; Bottom - Inward. the quadrants are labeled the following, in order from left to right, top to bottom. Customer and Market Reach; Profit Generation; Service Enhancement; Cost Reduction

    Grow your mobile delivery practice

    We are Here
    Level 1: Mobile Delivery Foundations Level 2: Scaled Mobile Delivery Level 3: Leading-Edge Mobile Delivery

    You understand the opportunities and impacts mobile has on your business operations and its disruptive nature on your enterprise systems. Your software delivery lifecycle was optimized to incorporate the specific practices and requirements needed for mobile. A mobile platform was selected based on stakeholder needs that are weighed against current skillsets, high priority non-functional requirements, the available capacity and scalability of your stack, and alignment to your current delivery process.

    New features and mobile use cases are regularly emerging in the industry. Ensuring your mobile platform and delivery process can easily scale to incorporate constantly changing mobile features and technologies is key. This can help minimize the impact these changes will have on your mobile stack and the resulting experience.

    Achieving this state requires three competencies: mobile security, performance optimization, and integration practices.

    Many of today's mobile trends involve, in one form or another, hardware components on the mobile device (e.g., NFC receivers, GPS, cameras). You understand the scope of native features available on your end user's mobile device and the required steps and capabilities to enable and leverage them.

    Grow your mobile delivery practice (cont'd)

    Ask yourself the following questions:
    Level 1: Mobile Delivery Foundations Level 2: Scaled Mobile Delivery Level 3: Leading-Edge Mobile Delivery

    Checkpoint questions shown at the end of step 1.2 of this blueprint

    You should be at this point upon the successful delivery of your first mobile application.

    Security

    • Your mobile stack (application, data, and infrastructure) is updated to incorporate the security risks mobile apps will have on your systems and business operations.
    • Leading edge encryption, authentication management (e.g., multi-factor), and access control systems are used to bolster existing mobile security infrastructure.
    • Network traffic to and from mobile application is monitored and analyzed.

    Performance Optimization

    • Performance enhancements are made with the entire mobile stack in mind.
    • Mobile performance is monitored and assessed with both proactive (data flow) and retroactive (instrumentation) approaches.
    • Development and testing practices and technologies accommodate the performance differences between mobile and desktop applications.

    API Development

    • Existing web APIs are compatible with mobile applications, or a gateway / middleware is used to facilitate communication with backend and third-party services.
    • APIs are secured to prevent unauthorized access and misuse.
    • Web APIs are documented and standardized for reuse in multiple mobile applications.
    • Implementing APIs of native features in native and/or cross-platform and/or hybrid platforms is well understood.
    • All leading-edge mobile features are mapped to and support business requirements and objectives.
    • The new mobile use cases are well understood and account for the various scenarios/environments a user may encounter with the leading-edge mobile features.
    • The relevant non-mobile devices, readers, sensors, and other dependent systems are shortlisted and acquired to enable and support your new mobile capabilities.
    • Delivery teams are prepared to accommodate the various security, performance, and integration risks associated with implementing leading-edge mobile features. Practices and mechanisms are established to minimize the impact to business operations.
    • Metrics are used to measure the success of your leading-edge mobile features implementation by comparing its performance and acceptance against past projects.
    • Business stakeholders and development teams are up to date with the latest mobile technologies and delivery techniques.

    Summary of Accomplishment

    Choose Your Mobile Platform and Tools

    • User personas
    • Mobile objectives and metrics
    • Mobile opportunity backlog
    • List of mobile features to enable the desired mobile experience
    • System current assessment
    • Mobile application quality definition
    • Readiness for mobile delivery
    • Desired mobile platform approach
    • Shortlisted mobile delivery solutions
    • Desired list of vendor features and services
    • MVP design
    • Mobile delivery roadmap

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

    Contact your account representative for more information

    workshops@infotech.com

    1-888-670-8889

    Research Contributors and Experts

    This is a picture of Chaim Yudkowsky, Chief Information Officer for The American Israel Public Affairs Committee

    Chaim Yudkowsky
    Chief Information Officer
    The American Israel Public Affairs Committee

    Chaim Yudkowsky is currently Chief information Officer for American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the DC headquartered not-for-profit focused on lobbying for a strong US-Israel relationship. In that role, Chaim is responsible for all traditional IT functions including oversight of IT strategy, vendor relationships, and cybersecurity program. In addition, Chaim also has primary responsibility for all physical security technology and strategy for US offices and event technology for the many AIPAC events.

    Bibliography

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    Bourne, James. "Apperian research shows more firms pushing larger numbers of enterprise apps". Enterprise CIO, 17 Feb 2016. Web.

    Ceci, L. "Mobile app user retention rate worldwide 2020, by vertical". Statista, 6 Apr 2022. Web.

    Clement, J. "Share of global mobile website traffic 2015-2021". Statista, 18 Feb 2022. Web

    DeVos, Jordan. "Design Problem Statements – What They Are and How to Frame Them." Toptal, n.d. Web.

    Enge, Eric. "Mobile vs. Desktop Usage in 2020". Perficient, 23 March 2021. Web.

    Engels, Antoine. "How many Android updates does Samsung, Xiaomi or OnePlus offer?" NextPit, Mar 2022. Web.

    "Fast-tracking digital transformation through next-gen technologies". Broadridge, 2022. Web.

    Gayatri. "The Pulse of Digital Transformation 2021 – Survey Results." DronaHQ, 2021. Web.

    Gray, Dave. "Updated Empathy Map Canvas." The XPLANE Collection, 15 July 2017. Web.

    "HCL Volt MX". HCL, n.d. Web.

    "iPass Mobile Professional Report 2017". iPass, 2017. Web.

    Karlsson, Johan. "Backlog Grooming: Must-Know Tips for High-Value Products." Perforce, 2019. Web.

    Karnes, KC. "Why Users Uninstall Apps: 28% of People Feel Spammed [Survey]". CleverTap, 27 July 2021. Web.

    Kemp, Simon. "Digital 2021: Global Overview Report". DataReportal, 27 Jan 2021. Web.

    Kleinberg, Sara. "Consumers are always shopping and eager for your help". Google, Aug 2018. Web.

    MaLavolta, Ivano. "Anatomy of an HTML 5 mobile web app". University of L'Aquila, 16 Apr 2012. Web.

    "Maximizing Mobile Value: To BYOD or not to BYOD?" Samsung and Oxford Economics, 2022. Web.

    "Mobile App Performance Metrics For Crash-Free Apps." AppSamurai, 27 June 2018. Web.

    "Mobile Application Development Statistics: 5 Facts". Intersog, 23 Nov 2021. Web.

    Moore, Geoffrey A. "Crossing the Chasm, 3rd Edition: Marketing and Selling Disruptive Products to Mainstream Customers." Harper Business, 3rd edition, 2014. Book.

    "OWASP Top Ten". OWASP, 2021. Web.

    "Personas". Usability.gov, n.d. Web.

    Roden, Marky. "PSC Tech Talk: UX Design – Not just making things pretty". Xomino, 18 Mar 2018. Web.

    Royce, Dr. Winston W. "Managing the Development of Large Software Systems." USC Student Computing Facility, 1970. Web.

    Rubin, Kenneth S. Essential Scrum: A Practical Guide to the Most Popular Agile Process. Pearson Education, 2012. Book.

    Sahay, Apurvanand et al. "Supporting the understanding and comparison of low-code development platforms." Universit`a degli Studi dell'Aquila, 2020. Web.

    Schuurman, Robbin. "Tips for Agile product roadmaps & product roadmap examples." Scrum.org, 2017. Web.

    Strunk, Christian. "How to define a product vision (with examples)." Christian Strunk. n.d. Web.

    Szeja, Radoslaw. "14 Biggest Challenges in Mobile App Development in 2022". Netguru, 4 Jan 2022. Web.

    "Synopsys Research Reveals Significant Security Concerns in Popular Mobile Apps Amid Pandemic". Synopsys, 25 Mar 2021. Web.

    "TOGAF 8.1.1 Online, Part IV: Resource Base, Developing Architecture Views." The Open Group, n.d. Web.

    Wangen, Emilie Nøss. "What Is a Software Platform & How Is It Different From a Product?" HubSpot, 2021. Web.

    "Mobile App Retention Rate: What's a Good Retention Rate?" Localytics, July 2021. Web.

    "Why Mobile Apps Fail: Failure to Launch". Perfecto Mobile, 26 Jan 2014. Web.

    Appendix A

    Sample Reference Frameworks

    Reference Framework: Web Platform

    Most of the operations of the applications on a web platform are executed in the mid-tier or back-end servers. End users interact with the platform through the presentation layer, developed with web languages, in the browser.

    This is an image of the Reference Framework: Web Platform

    Reference Framework: Mobile Web Application

    Many mobile web applications are composed of JavaScript (the muscle of the app), HTML5 (the backbone of the app), and CSS (the aesthetics of the app). The user will make a request to the web server which will interact with the application to provide a response. Since each device has unique attributes, consider a device detection service to help adjust content for each type of device.

    this is an image of the Reference Framework: Mobile Web Application

    Source: MaLavolta, Ivono, 2012.

    Web Platform: Anatomy of a Web Server

    Web Server Services

    • Mediation Services: Perform transformation of data/messages.
    • Boundary Services: Provide interface protocol and data/message conversion capabilities.
    • Event Distribution: Provides for the enterprise-wide adoption of content and topic-based publish/subscribe event distribution.
    • Transport Services: Facilitate data transmission across the middleware/server.
    • Service Directory: Manages multiple service identifiers and locations.

    This image shows the relationships of the various web server services listed above

    Reference Framework: Hybrid Platform

    Unlike the mobile web platform, most of an application's operations on the hybrid platform is on the device within a native container. The container leverages the device browser's runtime engine and is based on the framework of the mobile delivery solution.

    This is an image of the Reference Framework: Hybrid Platform

    Reference Framework: Native Platform

    Applications on a native platform are installed locally on the device giving it access to native device hardware and software. The programming language depends on the operating system's or device's SDK.

    This is an image of the Reference Framework: Native Platform

    Appendix B

    List of Low- and No- Code Software Delivery Solution Features

    Supplementary List of Features

    Graphical user interface

    • Drag-and-drop designer - This feature enhances the user experience by permitting to drag all the items involved in making an app including actions, responses, connections, etc.
    • Point and click approach - This is similar to the drag-and-drop feature except it involves pointing on the item and clicking on the interface rather than dragging and dropping the item.
    • Pre-built forms/reports - This is off-the-shelf and most common reusable editable forms or reports that a user can use when developing an application.
    • Pre-built dashboards - This is off-the-shelf and most common dashboards that a user can use when developing an application.
    • Forms - This feature helps in creating a better user interface and user experience when developing applications. A form includes dashboards, custom forms, surveys, checklists, etc. which could be useful to enhance the usability of the application being developed.
    • Progress tracking - This features helps collaborators to combine their work and track the development progress of the application.
    • Advanced Reporting - This features enables the user to obtain a graphical reporting of the application usage. The graphical reporting includes graphs, tables, charts, etc.
    • Built-in workflows - This feature helps to concentrate the most common reusable workflows when creating applications.
    • Configurable workflows - Besides built-in workflows, the user should be able to customize workflows according to their needs.

    Interoperability support

    • Interoperability with external services - This feature is one of the most important features to incorporate different services and platforms including that of Microsoft, Google, etc. It also includes the interoperability possibilities among different low-code platforms.
    • Connection with data sources - This features connects the application with data sources such as Microsoft Excel, Access and other relational databases such as Microsoft SQL, Azure and other non-relational databases such as MongoDB.

    Security Support

    • Application security - This feature enables the security mechanism of an application which involves confidentiality, integrity and availability of an application, if and when required.
    • Platform security - The security and roles management is a key part in developing an application so that the confidentiality, integrity and authentication (CIA) can be ensured at the platform level.

    Collaborative development support

    • Off-line collaboration - Different developers can collaborate on the specification of the same application. They work off-line locally and then they commit to a remote server their changes, which need to be properly merged.
    • On-line collaboration - Different developers collaborate concurrently on the specification of the same application. Conflicts are managed at run-time.

    Reusability support

    • Built-in workflows - This feature helps to concentrate the most common reusable workflows in creating an application.
    • Pre-built forms/reports - This is off-the-shelf and most common reusable editable forms or reports that a user might want to employ when developing an application.
    • Pre-built dashboards - This is off-the-shelf and most common dashboards that a user might want to employ when developing an application.

    Scalability

    • Scalability on number of users - This features enables the application to scale-up with respect to the number of active users that are using that application at the same time.
    • Scalability on data traffic - This features enables the application to scale-up with respect to the volume of data traffic that are allowed by that application in a particular time.
    • Scalability on data storage - This features enables the application to scale-up with respect to the data storage capacity of that application.

    Business logic specification mechanisms

    • Business rules engine - This feature helps in executing one or more business rules that help in managing data according to user's requirements.
    • Graphical workflow editor - This feature helps to specify one or more business rules in a graphical manner.
    • AI enabled business logic - This is an important feature which uses Artificial Intelligence in learning the behavior of an attributes and replicate those behaviors according to learning mechanisms.

    Application build mechanisms

    • Code generation - According to this feature, the source code of the modeled application is generated and subsequently deployed before its execution.
    • Models at run-time - The model of the specified application is interpreted and used at run-time during the execution of the modeled application without performing any code generation phase.

    Deployment support

    • Deployment on cloud - This features enables an application to be deployed online in a cloud infrastructure when the application is ready to deployed and used.
    • Deployment on local infrastructures - This features enables an application to be deployed locally on the user organization's infrastructure when the application is ready to be deployed and used.

    Kinds of supported applications

    • Event monitoring - This kind of applications involves the process of collecting data, analyzing the event that can be caused by the data, and signaling any events occurring on the data to the user.
    • Process automation - This kind of applications focuses on automating complex processes, such as workflows, which can take place with minimal human intervention.
    • Approval process control - This kind of applications consists of processes of creating and managing work approvals depending on the authorization of the user. For example, payment tasks should be managed by the approval of authorized personnel only.
    • Escalation management - This kind of applications are in the domain of customer service and focuses on the management of user viewpoints that filter out aspects that are not under the user competences.
    • Inventory management - This kind of applications is for monitoring the inflow and outflow of goods and manages the right amount of goods to be stored.
    • Quality management - This kind of applications is for managing the quality of software projects, e.g., by focusing on planning, assurance, control and improvements of quality factors.
    • Workflow management - This kind of applications is defined as sequences of tasks to be performed and monitored during their execution, e.g., to check the performance and correctness of the overall workflow.

    Source: Sahay, Apurvanand et al., 2020

    COVID-19 Work Status Tracking Guide

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    • Parent Category Name: Manage & Coach
    • Parent Category Link: /manage-coach
    • Keeping track of the multiple and frequently changing work arrangements on your team.
    • Ensuring you have a fast and easy way to keep an up-to-date record of where and how employees are working.

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    • During these critical times, keeping track of employees’ work status doesn’t have to be complicated – the right tool is one that does the job.
    • Keeping track of your employees is a health and safety issue – deployed well, it is an aid in keeping the business running and an additional communication channel, not a sign of lack of trust.

    Impact and Result

    • An Excel spreadsheet is all you need to ensure you have a way to record work arrangements that can change by the day.
    • An easy-to-use tool means minimal administrative overhead to ensuring you have this critical information at hand.

    COVID-19 Work Status Tracking Guide Research & Tools

    Start here – read the Work Status Tracking Guide

    Read our recommendations and use the accompanying tool to quickly get a handle on your team’s work arrangements.

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

    • COVID-19 Work Status Tracking Guide Storyboard
    • COVID-19 Work Status Tracking Tool
    [infographic]

    Sustain and Grow the Maturity of Innovation in Your Enterprise

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    • Parent Category Name: Innovation
    • Parent Category Link: /innovation
    • Customers are not waiting – they are insisting on change now. The recent litany of business failures and the ongoing demand for improved services means that “not in my backyard” will mean no backyard.
    • Positive innovation is about achieving tomorrow’s success today, where everyone is a leader and ideas and people can flourish – in every sector.

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    • Many innovation programs are not delivering value at a time when change is constant and is impacting both public and private sector organizations.
    • Organizations are not well-positioned in terms of leadership skills to advance their innovation programs.
    • Unlock your innovation potential by looking at your innovation projects on both a macro and micro level.
    • Innovation capacity is directly linked with creativity; allow your employees' creativity to flourish using Info-Tech’s positive innovation techniques.
    • Innovations need to be re-harvested each year in order to maximize your return on investment.

    Impact and Result

    • From an opportunity perspective, create an effective innovation program that spawns more innovations, realizes benefits from existing assets not fully being leveraged, and lays the groundwork for enhanced products and services.
    • This complementary toolkit and method (to existing blueprints/research) guides you to assess the “aspiration level” of innovations and the innovation program, assess the resources/capabilities that an entity has to date employed in its innovation program, and position IT for success to achieve the strategic objectives of the enterprise.

    Sustain and Grow the Maturity of Innovation in Your Enterprise Research & Tools

    Start here – read the Executive Brief

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

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

    1. Scope and define

    Understand your current innovation capabilities and create a mandate for the future of your innovation program.

    • Sustain and Grow the Maturity of Innovation in Your Enterprise – Phase 1: Scope and Define
    • Innovation Program Mandate and Terms of Reference Template
    • Innovation Program Overview Presentation Template
    • Innovation Assessment Tool

    2. Assess and aspire

    Assess opportunities for your innovation program on a personnel and project level, and provide direction on how to improve along these dimensions.

    • Sustain and Grow the Maturity of Innovation in Your Enterprise – Phase 2: Assess and Aspire
    • Appreciative Inquiry Questionnaire

    3. Implement and inspire

    Formalize the innovation improvements you identified earlier in the blueprint by mapping them to your IT strategy.

    • Sustain and Grow the Maturity of Innovation in Your Enterprise – Phase 3: Implement and Inspire
    • Innovation Planning Tool
    [infographic]

    Workshop: Sustain and Grow the Maturity of Innovation in Your Enterprise

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

    1 Pre-Work

    The Purpose

    Gather data that will be analyzed in the workshop.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Information gathered with which analysis can be performed.

    Activities

    1.1 Do an inventory of innovations/prototypes underway.

    1.2 High-level overview of all existing project charters, and documentation of innovation program.

    1.3 Poll working group or key stakeholders in regards to scope of innovation program.

    Outputs

    Up-to-date inventory of innovations/prototypes

    Document review of innovation program and its results to date

    Draft scope of the innovation program and understanding of the timelines

    2 Scope and Define

    The Purpose

    Scope the innovation program and gain buy-in from major stakeholders.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Buy-in from IT steering committee for innovation program improvements.

    Activities

    2.1 Establish or re-affirm values for the program.

    2.2 Run an initial assessment of the organization’s innovation potential (macro level).

    2.3 Set/reaffirm scope and budget for the program.

    2.4 Define or refine goals and outcomes for the program.

    2.5 Confirm/re-confirm risk tolerance of organization.

    2.6 Update/document innovation program.

    2.7 Create presentation to gain support from the IT steering committee.

    Outputs

    Innovation program and terms of reference

    Presentation on organization innovation program for IT steering committee

    3 Assess and Aspire

    The Purpose

    Analyze the current performance of the innovation program and identify areas for improvement.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Identify actionable items that can be undertaken in order to improve the performance of the innovation program.

    Activities

    3.1 Assess your level of innovation per innovation project (micro level).

    3.2 Update the risk tolerance level of the program.

    3.3 Determine if your blend of innovation projects is ideal.

    3.4 Re-prioritize your innovation projects (if needed).

    3.5 Plan update to IT steering committee.

    3.6 Assess positive innovation assessment of team.

    3.7 Opportunity analysis of innovation program and team.

    Outputs

    Positive innovation assessment

    Re-prioritized innovation projects

    Updated presentation for IT steering committee

    4 Implement and Inspire

    The Purpose

    Formalize the innovation program by tying it into the IT strategy.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    A formalized innovation program that is closely tied to the IT strategy.

    Activities

    4.1 Update business context in terms of impact on IT implications.

    4.2 Update IT strategy in terms of impact and benefits of innovation program.

    4.3 Update/create innovation program implementation plan.

    4.4 Plan update for IT steering committee.

    Outputs

    Updated business context

    Updated IT strategy

    Innovation implementation plan, including roadmap

    Updated presentation given to IT steering committee

    Master the Secrets of VMware Licensing to Maximize Your Investment

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    • A lack of understanding around VMware’s licensing models, bundles, and negotiation tactics makes it difficult to negotiate from a position of strength.
    • Unfriendly commercial practices combined with hyperlink-ridden agreements have left organizations vulnerable to audits and large shortfall payments.
    • Enterprise license agreements (ELAs) come in several purchasing models and do not contain the EULA or various VMware product guide documentation that governs license usage rules and can change monthly.
    • Without a detailed understanding of VMware’s various purchasing models, shelfware often occurs.

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    • Contracts are typically overweighted with a discount at the expense of contractual T&Cs that can restrict license usage and expose you to unpleasant financial surprises and compliance risk.
    • VMware customers almost always have incomplete price information from which to effectively negotiate a “best in class” ELA.
    • VMware has a large lead in being first to market and it realizes that running dual virtualization stacks is complex, unwieldy, and expensive. To further complicate the issues, most skill sets in the industry are skewed towards VMware.

    Impact and Result

    • Negotiate desired terms and conditions at the start of the agreement, and prioritize which use rights may be more important than an additional discount percentage.
    • Gather data points and speak with licensing partners to determine if the deal being offered is in fact as great as VMware says it is.
    • Beware of out-year pricing and ELA optimization reviews that may provide undesirable surprises and more spend than was planned.

    Master the Secrets of VMware Licensing to Maximize Your Investment Research & Tools

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

    1. Manage Your VMware Agreements – Use the Info-Tech tools capture your existing licenses and prepare for your renewal bids.

    Use Info-Tech’s licensing best practices to avoid shelfware with VMware licensing and remain compliant in case of an audit.

    • Master the Secrets of VMware Licensing to Maximize Your Investment Storyboard

    2. Manage your VMware agreements

    Use Info-Tech’s licensing best practices to avoid shelfware with VMware licensing and remain compliant in case of an audit.

    • VMware Business as Usual – Install Base SnS Renewal Only Tool
    • VMware ELA RFQ Template

    3. Transition to the VMWare Cloud – Use these tools to evaluate your ELA and vShpere requirements and make an informed choice.

    Manage your renewals and transition to the cloud subscription model.

    • VPP Transactional Purchase Tool
    • VMware ELA Analysis Tool
    • vSphere Edition 7 Features List

    Infographic

    Further reading

    Master the Secrets of VMware Licensing to Maximize Your Investment

    Learn the essential steps to avoid overspending and to maximize negotiation leverage with VMware.

    EXECUTIVE BRIEF

    Analyst Perspective

    Master the Secrets of VMware Licensing to Maximize Your Investment.

    The image contains a picture of Scott Bickley.

    The mechanics of negotiating a deal with VMware may seem simple at first as the vendor is willing to provide a heavy discount on an enterprise license agreement (ELA). However, come renewal time, when a reduction in spend or shelfware is needed, or to exit the ELA altogether, the process can be exceedingly frustrating as VMware holds the balance of power in the negotiation.

    Negotiating a complete agreement with VMware from the start can save you from an immense headache and unforeseen expenditures. Many VMware customers do not realize that the terms and conditions in the Volume Purchasing Program (VPP) and Enterprise Purchasing Program (EPP) agreements limit how and where they are able to use their licenses.

    Furthermore, after the renewal is complete, organizations must still worry about the management of various license types, accurate discovery of what has been deployed, visibility into license key assignments, and over and under use of licenses.

    Preventive and proactive measures enclosed within this blueprint will help VMware clients mitigate this minefield of challenges.

    Scott Bickley
    Practice Lead, Vendor Management
    Info-Tech Research Group

    Executive Summary

    Your Challenge

    Common Obstacles

    Info-Tech’s Approach

    VMware's dominant position in the virtualization space can create uncertainty to your options in the long term as well as the need to understand:

    • The hybrid cloud model.
    • Hybrid VM security and management.
    • New subscription license model and how it affects renewals.

    Make an informed decision with your VMware investments to allow for continued ROI.

    There are several hurdles that are presented when considering a VMware ELA:

    • Evolving licensing and purchasing models
    • Understanding potential ROI in the cloud landscape
    • Evolving door of corporate ownership

    Overcoming these and other obstacles are key to long-term satisfaction with your VMware infrastructure.

    Info-Tech has a two-phase approach:

    • Manage your VMware agreements.
    • Plan a transition to the cloud.

    A tactical roadmap approach to VMware ELA and the cloud will ensure long-term success and savings.

    Info-Tech Insight

    VMware customers almost always have incomplete price information from which to effectively negotiate a “best in class” ELA.

    Your challenge

    VMware's dominant position in the virtualization space can create uncertainty to your options in the long term driven by:

    • VMware’s dominant market position and ownership of the virtualization market, which is forcing customers to focus on managing capacity demand to ensure a positive ROI on every license.
    • The trend toward a hybrid cloud for many organizations, especially those considering using VMware in public clouds, resulting in confusion regarding licensing and compliance scenarios.

    ELAs and EPPs are generally the only way to get a deep discount from VMware.

    The image contains a pie chart to demonstrate that 85% have answered yes to being audited by VMware for software license compliance.

    Common obstacles

    There are several hurdles that are presented when considering a VMware ELA.

    • A lack of understanding around VMware’s licensing models, bundles, and negotiation tactics makes it difficult to negotiate from a position of strength.
    • Unfriendly commercial practices combined with hyperlink-ridden agreements have left organizations vulnerable to audits and large shortfall payments.
    • ELAs come in several purchasing models and do not contain the EULA or various VMware product guide documentation that govern license usage rules and can change monthly.

    Competition is a key driver of price

    The image contains a screenshot of a bar graph to demonstrate virtualization market share % 2022.

    Source: Datanyze

    Master the Secrets of VMware Licensing to Maximize your Investment

    The image contains a screenshot of the Thought model on Master the secrets of VMware Licensing to Maximize your Investment.

    Info-Tech’s methodology for Master the Secrets of VMware Licensing to Maximize Your Investment

    1. Manage Your VMware Agreements

    2. Transition to the VMware Cloud

    Phase Steps

    1.1 Establish licensing requirements

    1.2 Evaluate licensing options

    1.3 Evaluate agreement options

    1.4 Purchase and manage licenses

    1.5 Understand SnS renewal management

    2.1 Understand the VMware subscription model

    2.2 Migrate workloads and licenses

    2.3 Manage SnS and cloud subscriptions

    Phase Outcomes

    Understanding of your licensing requirements and what agreement option best fits your needs for now and the future.

    Knowledge of VMware’s sales model and how to negotiate the best deal.

    Knowledge of the evolving cloud subscription model and how to plan your cloud migration and transition to the new licensing.

    Insight summary

    Overarching insight

    With the introduction of the subscription licensing model, VMware licensing and renewals are becoming more complex and require a deeper understanding of the license program options to best manage renewals and cloud deployments as well as to maximize legacy ROI.

    Phase 1 insight

    Contracts are typically overweighted with a discount at the expense of contractual T&Cs that can restrict license usage and expose you to unpleasant financial surprises and compliance risk.

    Phase 1 insight

    VMware has a large lead in being first to market and it realizes running dual virtualization stacks is complex, unwieldy, and expensive. To further complicate the issues, most skill sets in the industry are skewed toward VMware.

    Phase 2 insight

    VMware has purposefully reduced a focus on the actual license terms and conditions; most customers focus on the transactional purchase or the ELA document, but the rules governing usage are on a website and can be changed by VMware regularly.

    Tactical insight

    Beware of out-year pricing and ELA optimization reviews that may provide undesirable surprises and more spend than was planned.

    Tactical insight

    Negotiate desired terms and conditions at the start of the agreement, and prioritize which use rights may be more important than an additional discount percentage.

    Blueprint deliverables

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

    VMware ELA Analysis Tool

    VMware ELA RFQ Template Tool

    VPP Transaction Purchase Tool

    VMware ELA Analysis Tool

    Use this tool as a template for an RFQ with VMware ELA contracts.

    Use this tool to analyze cost breakdown and discount based on your volume purchasing program (VPP) level.

    The image contains screenshots of the VMware ELA Analysis Tool. The image contains a screenshot of the VMware ELA RFQ template tool. The image contains a screenshot of the VPP Transaction Purchase Tool.

    Key deliverable:

    VMware Business as Usual SnS Renewal Only Tool

    Use this tool to analyze discounts from a multi-year agreement vs. prepay. See how you can get the best discount.

    The image contains screenshots of the VMware Business as Usual SnS Renewal Only Tool.

    Blueprint Objectives

    The aim of this blueprint is to provide a foundational understanding of VMware’s licensing agreement and best practices to manage them.

    Why VMware

    What to Know

    The Future

    VMware is the leader in OS virtualization, however, this is a saturated market, which is being pressured by public and hybrid cloud as a competitive force taking market share.

    There are few viable alternatives to VMware for virtualization due to vendor lock-in of existing IT infrastructure footprint. It is too difficult and cost prohibitive to make a shift away from VMware even when alternative solutions are available.

    ELAs are the preferred method of contracting as it sets the stage for a land-and-expand product strategy; once locked into the ELA model, customers must examine VMware alternatives with preference or risk having Support and Subscription Services (SnS) re-priced at retail.

    VMware does not provide a great deal of publicly available information regarding its enterprise license agreement (ELA) options, leaving a knowledge gap that allows the sales team to steer the customer.

    VMware is taking countermeasures against increasing competition.

    Recent contract terms changed to eliminate perpetual caps on SnS renewals; they are now tied to a single year of discounted SnS, then they go to list price.

    Migration of list pricing to a website versus contract, where pricing can now be changed, reducing discount percentage effectiveness.

    Increased audits of customers, especially those electing to not renew an ELA.


    Examining VMware’s vendor profile

    Turbonomics conducted a vendor profile on major vendors, focusing on licensing and compliance. It illustrated the following results:

    The image contains a pie graph to demonstrate that the majority of companies say yes to using license enterprise software from VMware.

    The image contains a bar graph to demonstrate what license products organizations use of VMware products.

    Source: Turbonomics
    N-sample size

    Case Study

    The image contains a logo for ADP.

    INDUSTRY: Finance

    SOURCE: VMware.com

    “We’ll have network engineers, storage engineers, computer engineers, database engineers, and systems engineers all working together as one intact team developing and delivering goals on specific outcomes.” – Vipul Nagrath, CIO, ADP

    Improving developer capital management

    Constant innovation helped ADP keep ahead of customer needs in the human resources space, but it also brought constant changes to the IT environment. Internally, the company found it was spending too long working on delivering the required infrastructure and system updates. IT staff wanted to improve velocity for refreshes to better match the needs of ADP developers and encourage continued development innovation.

    Business needs

    • Improve turnaround time on infrastructure refreshes to better meet developer roadmaps.
    • Establish an IT culture that works at the global scale of ADP and empowers individual team members.
    • Streamline approach toward infrastructure resource delivery to reduce need for manual management.

    Impact

    • Infrastructure resource delivery reduced from 100+ days to minutes, improving ADP developer efficiency.
    • VMware Cloud™ on AWS establishes seamless private and public cloud workflows, fostering agility and innovation.
    • Automating IT management redirects resources to R&D, boosting time to market for new services.

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

    DIY Toolkit

    Guided Implementation

    Workshop

    Consulting
    “Our team has already made this critical project a priority, and we have the time and capability, but some guidance along the way would be helpful.” “Our team knows that we need to fix a process, but we need assistance to determine where to focus. Some check-ins along the way would help keep us on track.” “We need to hit the ground running and get this project kicked off immediately. Our team has the ability to take this over once we get a framework and strategy in place.” “Our team does not have the time or the knowledge to take this project on. We need assistance through the entirety of this project.”

    Diagnostics and consistent frameworks used throughout all four options

    Guided Implementation

    What does a typical GI on this topic look like?

    Phase 1 Phase 2 Phase 3

    Call #1: Discuss scope requirements, objectives, and your specific challenges.

    Call #2: Assess the current state.

    Determine licensing position.

    Call #3: Complete a deployment count, needs analysis, and internal audit.

    Call #4: Review findings with analyst:

    • Review licensing options.
    • Review licensing rules.
    • Review contract option types.

    Call #5: Select licensing option. Document forecasted costs and benefits.

    Call #6: Review final contract:

    • Discuss negotiation points.
    • Plan a roadmap for SAM.

    Call #7: Negotiate final contract. Evaluate and develop a roadmap for SAM.

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

    A typical GI is between 2 to 6 calls over the course of 1 to 2 months.

    Phase # 1

    Manage Your VMware Agreements

    Phase 1

    Phase 2

    1.1 Establish licensing requirements

    1.2 Evaluate licensing options

    1.3 Evaluate agreement options

    1.4 Purchase and manage licenses

    2.1 Understand the VMware subscription model

    2.2 Migrate workloads and licenses

    2.3 Discuss the VMware sales approach

    2.4 Manage SnS and cloud subscriptions

    This phase will walk you through the following activities:

    • Understanding the VMware licensing model
    • Understanding the license agreement options
    • Understanding the VMware sales approach

    This phase will take you thorough:

    • The new VMware subscription movement to the cloud
    • How to prepare and migrate
    • Manage your subscriptions efficiently

    1.1 Establish licensing requirements

    VMware has greatly improved the features of vSphere over time.

    vSphere Main Editions Overview

    • vSphere Standard – Provides the basic features for server consolidation. A support and subscription contract (SnS) is mandatory when purchasing the vSphere Standard.
    • vSphere Enterprise Plus – Provides the full range of vSphere features. A support and subscription contract (SnS) is mandatory when purchasing the Enterprise Plus editions.
    • vSphere Essentials kit – The Essentials kit is an all-in-one solution for small environments with up to three hosts (2 CPUs on each host). Support is optional when purchasing the Essentials kit and is available on a per-incident basis.
    • vSphere Essentials Plus kit – This is similar to the Essentials kit and provides additional features such as vSphere vMotion, vSphere HA, and vSphere replication. A support and subscription contract (SnS) is sold separately, and a minimum of one year of SnS is required.

    Review vSphere Edition Features

    The image contains a screenshot to review the vSphere Edition Features.

    Download the vSphere Edition 7 Features List

    1.2 Evaluate licensing options

    VMware agreement types

    Review purchase options to align with your requirements.

    Transactional VPP EPP ELA

    Transactional

    Entry-level volume license purchasing program

    Mid-level purchasing program

    Highest-level purchasing program

    • Purchasing in this model is not recommended for business purposes unless very infrequent and low quantities.
    • 250 points minimum
    • Four tiers of discounts
    • Rolling eight-quarter points accumulation period
    • Discounts on license only

    Deal size of initial purchase typically is:

    • US$250K MSRP License + SnS (2,500 tokens)
    • Exceptions do exist with purchase volume

    Minimum deal size of top-up purchase:

    • US$50K MSRP License + SnS (500 tokens)
    • Initial purchase determines token level
    • Three-year term

    Minimum deal size of initial purchase:

    • US$150K-$250K
    • Discounted licenses and SnS through term of contract
    • Single volume license key
    • No final true-up
    • Global deployment rights and consolidation of multiple agreements

    1.2.1 The Volume Purchasing Program (VPP)

    This is the entry-level purchasing program aimed at small/mid-sized organizations.

    How the program works

    • The threshold to be able to purchase from the VPP program is 250 points minimum, equivalent to $25,000.
    • Discounts attained can only be applied to license purchases. They do not apply to service and support/renewals. Discounts range from 4% to 12%.
    • For the large majority of products 1 VPP point = ~$100.
      • Point values will be the same globally.
      • Point ratios may vary over time as SKUs are changed.
      • Points are valid for two years.

    Benefits

    • Budget predictability for two years.
    • Simple license purchase process.
    • Receive points on qualifying purchases that accumulate over a rolling eight-quarter period.
    • Online portal for tracking purchases and eligible discounts.
    • Global program where affiliates can purchase from existing contract.

    VPP Point & Discount Table

    Level

    Point Range

    Discount

    1

    250-599

    4%

    2

    600-999

    6%

    3

    1,000-1,749

    9%

    4

    1,750+

    12%

    Source: VMware Volume Purchasing Program

    1.2.2 Activity VPP Transactional Purchase Tool

    1-3 hours

    Instructions:

    1. Use the tool to analyze the cost breakdown and discount based on your Volume Purchasing Program level.
    2. On tab 1, Enter SnS install base renewal units and or new license details.
    3. Review tab 2 for Purchase summary.

    The image contains a screenshot of the VPP Transactional Purchase Tool.

    Input Output
    • SnS renewal details
    • New license requirements and pricing
    • Transaction purchase summary
    • Estimated VPP purchase level
    Materials Participants
    • Current VMware purchase orders
    • Any SnS renewal requirements
    • Transaction Purchase Tool
    • Procurement
    • Vendor Management
    • Licensing Admin

    Download the VPP Transactional Purchase Tool

    1.3 Evaluate agreement options

    Introduction to EPP and ELA

    What to know when using a token/credit-based agreement.

    Token/credit-based agreements carry high risk as customers are purchasing a set number of tokens/credits to be redeemed during the ELA term for licenses.

    • Tokens/credits that are not used during the ELA term expire and become worthless.
    • By default in most agreements (negotiation dependent), tokens/credits are tied to pricing maintained by VMware on its website that is subject to change (increase usually), resulting in a reduced value for the tokens/credits.
      • Therefore, it is necessary to negotiate to have current list prices for all products/versions included in the ELA to prevent price increases while in the current ELA term.
    • Token-based agreements may come with a lower overall discount level as VMware is granting more flexibility in terms of the wider product selection offered, vendor cost of overhead to manage the redemption program, currency exchange risks, and more complex revenue recognition headaches.

    1.3.1 The Enterprise Purchasing Program (EPP)

    This is aimed at mid-tier customers looking for flexibility with deeper discounting.

    How the program works

    • Token-based program in which tokens are redeemed for licenses and/or SnS.
      • Tokens can be added at any time to active fund.
      • Token usage is automatically tracked and reported.
    • Minimum order of 2,500 tokens, equivalent to $250,000 (1 token=$100).
      • Exceptions have been made, allowing for lower minimum spends.
    • Restricted to specific regions, not a global agreement.
    • Self-service portal for access to license keys and support entitlements.
    • Deeper discounting than the VMware Volume Purchase Program.
    • EPP initial purchase gets VPP L4 for four years.

    Benefits

    • Able to mix and match VMware products, manage licenses, and adjust deployment strategy.
    • Prices are protected for term of the EPP agreement.
    • Number of tokens needed to obtain a product or SnS are negotiated at the start of the contract and fixed for the term.
    • SnS is co-termed to the EPP term.
    • Ability to purchase new products that become available at a future date and are listed on the EPP Eligibility Matrix.

    EPP Level & Point Table

    Level

    Point Range

    7

    2,500-3,499

    8

    3,500-4,499

    9

    4,500-5,999

    10

    6,000+

    Source: VMware Volume Purchasing Program

    1.3.2 The ELA is aimed at large global organizations, offering the deepest discounts with operational benefits and flexibility

    What is an ELA?

    • The ELA agreement provides the best vehicle for global enterprises to obtain maximum discounts and price-hold protection for a set period of time. Discounts and price holds are removed once an ELA has expired.
    • The ELA minimum spend previously was $500,000. Purchase volume now generally starts at $250K total spend with exceptions and, depending on VMware, it may be possible to attain for $150K in net-new license spend.

    Key things to know

    • Customers pay up front for license and SnS rights, but depending on the deployment plans, the value of the licenses is not realized and/or recognized for up to two years after point of purchase.
    • License and SnS is paid up front for a three-year period in most ELAs, although a one- or two-year term can be negotiated.
    • Licenses not deployed in year one should be discounted in value and drive a re-evaluation of the ELA ROI, as even heavily discounted licenses that are not used until year three may not be such a great deal in retrospect.
      • Use a time value of money calculation to arrive at a realistic ROI.
      • Partner with Finance and Accounting to ensure the ROI also clears any Internal Hurdle Rate (IHR).
      • Share and strategically position your IHR with VMware and resellers to ensure they understand the minimum value an ELA deal must bring to the table.
    • Organizational changes, such as merger, acquisition, and divestiture (MAD) activities, may result in the customer paying for license rights that can no longer be used and/or require a renegotiated ELA.

    Info-Tech Insight

    If a legacy ELA exists that has “deploy or lose” language, engage VMware to recapture any lost license rights as VMware has changed this language effective with 2016 agreements and there is an “appeals” process for affected customers.

    1.3.3 Select the best ELA variant to match your specific demand profile and financial needs

    The advantages of an ELA are:

    • Maximum discount level + price protection
    • SnS discounted at % of net license fee
    • Sole option for global use territory rights

    General disadvantages are:

    • Term lock-in with SnS for three years
    • Pay up front and if defer usage, ROI drops
    • Territory rights priced at a premium versus domestic use rights

    Type of ELAs

    ELA Type

    Description

    Pros and Cons

    Capped (max quantities)

    Used to purchase a specific quantity and type of license.

    Pro – Clarity on what will be purchased

    Pro – Lower risk of over licensing

    Con – Requires accurate forecasting

    All you can eat or unlimited

    Used to purchase access to specified products that can be deployed in unlimited quantities during the ELA term.

    Pro – Acquire large quantity of licenses

    Pro – Accurate forecasting not critical

    Con – Deployment can easily exceed forecast, leading to high renewal costs

    Burn-down

    A form of capped ELA purchase that uses prepaid tokens that can be used more flexibly to acquire a variety of licenses or services. This can include the hybrid purchasing program (HPP) credits. However, the percentage redeemable for VMware subscription services may be limited to 10% of the MSRP value of the HPP credit.

    Pro – Accurate demand forecast not critical

    Pro – Can be used for products and services

    Con – Unused tokens or credits are forfeited

    True-up

    Allows for additional purchases during the ELA term on a determined schedule based on the established ELA pricing.

    Pro – Consumption payments matched after initial purchase

    Pro – Accurate demand forecast not critical

    Con – Potentially requires transaction throughout term

    1.4 Purchase and manage licenses

    Negotiating ELA terms and conditions

    Editable copies of VMware’s license and governance documentation are a requirement to initiate the dialogue and negotiation process over T&Cs.

    VMware’s licensing is complex and although documentation is publicly available, it is often hidden on VMware’s website.

    Many VMware customers often overlook reviewing the license T&Cs, leaving them open to compliance risks.

    It is imperative for customers to understand:

    • Product definition for licensing of each acquired product
    • Products included by bundle
    • Use restrictions:
      • The VMware Product Guide, which includes information about:
        • ELA Order Forms, Amendments, Exhibits, EULA, Support T&Cs, and other policies that add dozens of pages to a contractual agreement.
        • All of these documents are web based and can change monthly; URL links in the contract do not take the user to the actual document but a landing page from which customers must find the applicable documents.
      • Obtain copies of ALL current documents at the time of your order and keep as a reference in the CLM and SAM systems.

    Build in time to obtain, review, and negotiate these documents (easily weeks to months).

    1.4.1 Negotiating ELA terms and conditions specifics

    License and Deployment

    • Review perpetual use rights for all licenses purchased under the ELA (exception being subscription services).
    • Carefully scrutinize contract language for clearly defined deployment rights.
      • Some agreements contain language that terminates the use rights for licenses not deployed by the end of the ELA term.
    • While older contracts would frequently contain clearly defined token values and product prices for the ELA term, VMware has moved away from this process and now refers to URL links for current MSRP pricing.

    Use Rights

    • The customer’s legal entities and territories listed in the contract are hard limits on the license usage via the VMware Product Guide definitions. Global use rights are not a standard license grant with VMware license agreement by default. Global rights are usually tied to an ELA.
    • VMware audits most aggressively against violations of territory use rights and will use the non-compliance events to resolve the issue via a commercial transaction.
      • Negotiate for assignment rights with no strings attached in terms of fees or multi-party consent by future affiliates or successors to a surviving entity.
    • Extraordinary Corporate Transaction clause: VMware’s standard language prevents customers from using licenses within the ELA for any third party that becomes part of customer’s business by way of acquisition, merger, consolidation, change of control, reorganization, or other similar transaction.
      • Request VMware to drop this language.
    • Include any required language pertaining to MAD events as default language will not allow for transfer or assignment of license rights.

    Checklist of necessary information to negotiate the best deal

    Product details that go beyond the sales pitch

    • Product family
    • Unique product SKU for license renewal
    • Part description
    • Current regional or global price list
    • One and three-year proposal for SnS renewals including new license and SnS detail
    • SnS term dates
    • Discount or offered prices for all line items (global pricing is generally ~20% higher than US pricing)

    Different support levels (e.g. basic, enterprise, per incident)

    • Standard pricing:
      • Basic Support = 21% of current list price (12x5)
      • Production Support = 25% of current list price (24x7 for severity 1 issues) – defined in VMware Support and Subscription Services T&Cs; non-severity 1 issues are 12x5

    Details to ensure the product being purchased matches the business needs

    • Realizing after the fact the product is insufficient with respect to functional requirements or that extra spend is required can be frustrating and extend expected timelines

    SnS renewals pricing is based on the (1) year SnS list price

    • This can be bundled for a multi-year discounted SnS rate (can result in 12%+ under VPP)

    Governing agreements, VPP program details

    • Have a printed copy of documents that are URL links, which VMware can change, allowing for surprises or unexpected changes in rules

    1.4.2 Activity VMware ELA Analysis Tool

    2-4 hours

    Instructions:

    1. As a group, review the various RFQ responses. Identify top three proposals and start to enter proposal details into the VPP Prepay or ELA tabs of the analysis tool.
    2. Review savings in the ELA Offer Analysis tab.

    The image contains screenshots of the VMware ELA Analysis Tool.

    Input Output
    • RFQ requirements data
    • RFQ response data
    • Analysis of ELA proposals
    • ELA savings analysis
    Materials Participants
    • RFQ response documents
    • ELA Analysis Tool
    • IT Leadership
    • Procurement
    • Vendor Management

    Download the VMware ELA Analysis Tool

    1.4.3 Negotiating ELA terms and conditions specifics: pricing, renewal, and exit

    VMware does not offer price protection on future license consumption by default.

    Securing “out years” pricing for SnS or the cost of SnS is critical or it will default to a set percentage (25%) of MSRP, removing the ELA discount.

    ↓

    Typically, the out year is one year; maximum is two years.

    ↓

    Negotiate the “go forward” SnS pricing post-ELA term as part of the ELA negotiations when you have some leverage.

    Default after (1) out year is to rise to 25% of current MSRP versus as low as 20% of net license price within the ELA.

    ↓

    Carefully incorporate the desired installed-base licenses that were acquired pre-ELA into the agreement, but ensure unwanted licenses are removed.

    ↓

    Ancillary but binding support policies, online terms and conditions, and other hyperlinked documentation should be negotiated and incorporated as part of the agreement whenever possible.

    1.4.4 Find the best reseller partner

    Seek out a qualified VMware partner that will work with you and with your interest as a priority:

    1. Resellers, at minimum, should have achieved an enterprise-level rating, as these partners can offer the deepest discounts and have more clout with VMware.
    2. Select your reseller prior to engaging in any RFX acquisition steps. Verify they are enterprise level or higher AND secure their written commitment to maximum pass-through of the discounting provided to them by VMware.
    3. Document and prioritize key T&Cs for your ELA and submit to your sales team along with a requirement and timeline for their formal response. Essentially, this escalates outside of the VMware process and disrupts the status quo. Ideally this will occur in advance of being presented a contract by VMware and be pre-emptive in nature.
    4. If applicable and of benefit or a high priority, seek out a reseller that is willing to finance the VMware upfront payment cost at a low or no interest rate.
    5. It will be important to have ELA-level deals escalated to higher levels of authority to obtain “best in class” discount levels, above and beyond those prescribed in the VMware sales playbook.
    6. VMware’s standard process is to “route” customers through a pre-defined channel and “deal desk” process. Preferred pricing of up to an additional 10% discount is reserved for the first reseller that registers the deal with VMware, with larger discounts reserved for the Enterprise and Premium partners. Additional discounts can be earned if the deal closes within specified time periods (First Deal Registration).

    1.4.5 Activity VMware ELA RFQ Template

    1-3 hours

    Use this tool for as a template for an RFQ with VMware ELA contracts.

    1. For SnS renewals that contain no new licenses, state that the requirement for award consideration is the provisioning of all details for each itemized SnS renewal product code corresponding to all the licenses of your installed base. The details for the renewals are to be placed in Section 1 of the template.
    2. SnS Renewal Options: Info-Tech recommends that you ask for one- and three-year SnS renewal proposals, assuming these terms are realistic for your business requirements. Then compare your SnS BAU costs for these two options against ELA offers to determine the best choice for your renewal.

    The image contains a screenshot of the VMware ELA RFQ Template.

    Input Output
    • Renewing SnS data
    • Agreement type options
    • Detailed list of required licenses
    • Summary list of SnS requirements
    Materials Participants
    • RFQ Template
    • SnS renewal summary
    • New license/subscription details
    • IT Leadership
    • Vendor Management
    • Procurement

    Download the VMware ELA RFQ Template

    1.4.6 Consider your path forward

    Consider your route forward as contract commitments, license compliance, and terms and conditions differ in structure to perpetual models previously used.

    • Are you able to accurately discover VMware licensing within your environment?
    • Is licensing managed for compliance? Are internal audits conducted so you have accurate results?
    • Have the product use rights been examined for terms and conditions such as geographic rights? Some T&Cs may change over time due to hyperlinked references within commercial documents.
    • How are Oracle and SQL being used within your VMware environment? This may affect license compliance with Oracle and Microsoft in virtualized environments.
    • Prepare for the Subscription model; it’s here now and will be the lead discussion with all VMware reps going forward.

    Shift to Subscription

    1. With the $64bn takeover by Broadcom, there will be a significant shift and pressure to the subscription model.
    2. Broadcom has significant growth targets for its VMware acquisition that can only be achieved through a strong press to a SaaS model.

    Info-Tech Insight

    VMware has a license cost calculator and additional licensing documents that can be used to help determine what spend should be.

    Phase # 2

    Transition to the VMware Cloud

    Phase 1

    Phase 2

    1.1 Establish licensing requirements

    1.2 Evaluate licensing options

    1.3 Evaluate agreement options

    1.4 Purchase and manage licenses

    2.1 Understand the VMware subscription model

    2.2 Migrate workloads and licenses

    2.3 Discuss the VMware sales approach

    2.4 Manage SnS and cloud subscriptions

    This phase will walk you through the following activities:

    • Understand the VMware licensing model
    • Understand the license agreement options
    • Understand the VMware sales approach

    This phase will take you thorough:

    • The new VMware subscription movement to the cloud
    • How to prepare and migrate
    • Manage your subscriptions efficiently

    2.1 Understand the VMware subscription model

    VMware Cloud Universal

    • VMware Cloud Universal unifies compute, network, and storage capabilities across infrastructures, management, and applications.
    • Take advantage of financial and cloud management flexibility by combining on-premises and SaaS capabilities for automation, operations, log analytics, and network visibility across your infrastructure.
    • Capitalize on VMware knowledge by integrating proven migration methods and plans across your transformation journey such as consumption strategies, business outcome workshops, and more.
    • Determine your eligibility to earn a one-time discount with this exclusive benefit designed to offset the value of your current unamortized VMware on-premises license investments and then reallocate toward your multi-cloud initiatives.

    2.2 Migrate workloads and licenses to the cloud

    There are several cloud migration options and solutions to consider.

    • VMware Cloud offers solutions that can provide a low-cost path to the cloud that will help accelerate modernization.
    • There are also many third-party solution providers who can be engaged to migrate workloads and other infrastructure to VMware Cloud and into other public cloud providers.
    • VMware Cloud can be deployed on many IaaS providers such as AWS, Azure, Google, Dell, and IBM.

    VMware Cloud Assist

    1. Leverage all available transition funding opportunities and any IaaS migration incentives from VMware.
    2. Learn and understand the value and capabilities of VMware vRealize Cloud Universal to help you transition and manage hybrid infrastructure.

    2.2.1 Manage your VMware cloud subscriptions

    Use VMware vRealize to manage private, public, and local environments.

    Combine SaaS and on-premises capabilities for automation, operations, log analytics, network visibility, security, and compliance into one license.

    The image contains a screenshot of a diagram to demonstrate VMware cloud subscriptions.

    2.3 The VMware sales approach

    Understand the pitch before entering the discussion

    1. VMware will present a PowerPoint presentation proposal comparing a Business-as-Usual (BAU) scenario versus the ELA model.
    2. Critical factors to consider if considering the proposed ELA are growth rate projections, deployment schedule, cost of non-ELA products/options, shelf-ware, and non-ELA discounts (e.g. VPP, multi-year, or pre-paid).
    3. Involving VMware’s direct account team along with your reseller in the negotiations can be beneficial. Keep in mind that VMware ultimately decides on the final price in terms of the discount that is passed through. Ensure you have a clear line of sight into how pricing is determined.
    4. Explore reseller incentives and promotional programs that may provide for deeper than normal discount opportunities.

    INFO-TECH TIP: Create your own assumptions as inputs into the BAU model and then evaluate the ELA value proposition instead of depending on VMware’s model.

    2.4 Manage SnS and cloud subscriptions

    The new subscription model is making SnS renewal more complex.

    • Start renewal planning four to six months prior to anniversary.
    • Work closely with your reseller on your SnS renewal options.
    • Request “as is” versus subscription renewal proposal from reseller or VMware with a “savings” component.
    • Consider and review multi-year versus annual renewal; savings will differ.
    • For the Subscription transition renewal model, ensure that credits for legacy licensing is provided.
    • Negotiate cloud transition investments and incentives from VMware.

    What information to collect and how to analyze it

    • Negotiating toward preferred terms on SnS is critical, more so than when new license purchases are made, as approximately 75-80% of server virtualization are at x86 workloads, where maintenance revenue is a larger source of revenue for VMware than new license sales.
    • All relevant license and SnS details must be obtained from VMware to include Product Family, Part Description, Product Code (SKU), Regional/Global List Price, SnS Term Dates, and Discount Price for all new licenses.
    • VMware has all costs tied to the US dollar; you must calculate currency conversion into ROI models as VMware does not adjust token values of products across geographies or currency of purchase. The token to dollar value by product SKU is locked for the three-year term. This translates into a variable cost model depending on how local currency fluctuates against the US dollar; time the initial purchase to take this into consideration, if applicable.
    • Products purchased based on MSRP price with each token contains a value of US$100. Under the Hybrid Purchasing Program (HPP) credit values and associated buying power will fluctuate over the term as VMware reserves the right to adjust current list prices. Consider locking in a set product list and pricing versus HPP.
    • Take a structured approach to discover true discounts via the use of a tailored RFQ template and options model to compare and contrast VMware ELA proposals.

    Use Info-Tech Research Group’s customized RFQ template to discover true discount levels and model various purchase options for VMware ELA proposals.

    The image contains a screenshot of the VMware RFQ Template Tool.

    Summary of accomplishment

    Knowledge Gained

    • The key pieces of licensing information that should be gathered about the current state of your own organization.
    • An in-depth understanding of the required licenses across all of your products.
    • Clear methodology for selecting the most effective contract type.
    • Development of measurable, relevant metrics to help track future project success and identify areas of strength and weakness within your licensing program.

    Processes Optimized

    • Senior leaders in IT now have a clear understanding of the importance of licensing in relation to business objectives.
    • Understanding of the various licensing considerations that need to be made.
    • Contract negotiation.

    Related Info-Tech Research

    Prepare for Negotiations More Effectively

    • IT budgets are increasing, but many CIOs feel their budgets are inadequate to accomplish what is being asked of them.
    • Eighty percent of organizations don’t have a mature, repeatable, scalable negotiation process.
    • Training dollars on negotiations are often wasted or ineffective.

    Price Benchmarking & Negotiation

    You need to achieve an objective assessment of vendor pricing in your IT contracts, but you have limited knowledge about:

    • Current price benchmarking on the vendor.
    • Pricing and negotiation intelligence.
    • How to secure a market-competitive price.
    • Vendor pricing tiers, models, and negotiation tactics.

    VMware vRealize Cloud Management

    VMware vCloud Suite is an integrated offering that brings together VMware’s industry-leading vSphere hypervisor and VMware vRealize Suite multi-vendor hybrid cloud management platform. VMware’s new portable licensing units allow vCloud Suite to build and manage both vSphere-based private clouds and multi-vendor hybrid clouds.

    Bibliography

    Barrett, Alex. “vSphere and vCenter licensing and pricing explained -- a VMware license guide.” TechTarget, July 2010. Accessed 7 May 2018.
    Bateman, Kayleigh. “VMware licensing, pricing and features mini guide.” Computer Weekly, May 2011. Accessed 7 May 2018.
    Blaisdell, Rick. “What Are The Common Business Challenges The VMware Sector Faces At This Point In Time?” CIO Review, n.d. Accessed 7 May 2018.
    COMPAREX. “VMware Licensing Program.” COMPAREX, n.d. Accessed 7 May 2018.
    Couesbot, Erwann. “Using VMware? Oracle customers hate this licensing pitfall.” UpperEdge, 17 October 2016. Accessed 7 May 2018.
    Crayon. “VMware Licensing Programs.” Crayon, n.d. Accessed 7 May 2018.
    Datanyze." Virtualization Software Market Share.” Datanyze, n.d. Web.
    Demers, Tom. “Top 18 Tips & Quotes on the Challenges & Future of VMware Licensing.” ProfitBricks, 1 September 2015. Accessed 7 May 2018.
    Fenech, J. “A quick look at VMware vSphere Editions and Licensing.” VMware Hub by Altaro, 17 May 2017. Accessed 7 May 2018.
    Flexera. “Challenges of VMware Licensing.” Flexera, n.d. Accessed 5 February 2018.
    Fraser, Paris. “A Guide for VMware Licensing.” Sovereign, 11 October 2016. Accessed 7 May 2018.
    Haag, Michael. “IDC Data Shows vSAN is the Largest Share of Total HCI Spending.” VMware Blogs, 1 December 2017. Accessed 7 May 2018.
    Kealy, Victoria. “VMware Licensing Quick Guide 2015.” The ITAM Review, 17 December 2015. Accessed 7 May 2018.
    Kirsch, Brian. “A VMware licensing guide to expanding your environment.” TechTarget, August 2017. Accessed 7 May 2018.
    Kirupananthan, Arun. “5 reasons to get VMware licensing right.” Softchoice, 16 April 2018. Accessed 7 May 2018.
    Knorr, Eric. “VMware on AWS: A one-way ticket to the cloud.” InfoWorld, 17 October 2016. Accessed 7 May 2018
    Leipzig. “Help, an audit! License audits by VMware. Are you ready?” COMPAREX Group, 2 May 2016. Accessed 7 May 2018.
    Mackie, Kurt. “VMware Rips Microsoft for Azure “Bare Metal” Migration Solution.” Redmond Magazine, 27 November 2017. Accessed 7 May 2018.
    Micromail. “VMware vSphere Software Licensing.” Micromail, n.d. Accessed 7 May 2018.
    Microsoft Corportation. “Migrating VMware to Microsoft Azure” Microsoft Azure, November 2017. Accessed 7 May 2018.
    Peter. “Server Virtualization and OS Trends.” Spiceworks, 30 August 2016. Accessed 7 May 2018.
    Rich. “VMware running on Azure.” The ITAM Review, 28 November 2017. Accessed 7 May 2018.
    Robb, Drew. “Everything you need to know about VMware’s licensing shake up.” Softchoice, 4 March 2016. Accessed 7 May 2018.
    Rose, Brendan. “How to determine which VMware licensing option is best.” Softchoice, 28 July 2015. Accessed 7 May 2018.
    Scholten, Eric. “New VMware licensing explained.” VMGuru, 12 July 2011. Accessed 7 May 2018.
    Sharwood, Simon. “Microsoft to run VMware on Azure, on bare metal. Repeat. Microsoft to run VMware on Azure.” The Register, 22 November 2017. Accessed 7 May 2018.
    Siebert, Eric. “Top 7 VMware Management Challenges.” Veeam, n.d. Web.
    Smith, Greg. “Will The Real HCI Market Leader Please Stand Up?” Nutanix, 29 September 2017. Accessed 7 May 2018.
    Spithoven, Richard. “Licensing Oracle software in VMware vCenter 6.0.” LinkedIn, 2 May 2016. Accessed 7 May 2018.
    VMTurbo, Inc. “Licensing, Compliance & Audits in the Cloud Era.” Turbonomics, November 2015. Web.
    VMware. “Aug 1st – Dec 31st 2016 Solution Provider Program Requirements & Incentives & Rewards.” VMware, n.d. Web.
    VMware. “Global Support and Subscription Services “SnS” Renewals Policy.” VMware, n.d. Web.
    VMware. “Support Policies.” VMware, n.d. Accessed 7 May 2018.
    VMware. “VMware Cloud Community.” VMware Cloud, n.d. Accessed 7 May 2018.
    VMware. “VMware Cloud on AWS” VMware Cloud, n.d. Accessed 7 May 2018.
    VMware. “VMware Enterprise Purchasing Program.” VMware, 2013. Web.
    VMware. “VMware Product Guide.” VMware, May 2018. Web.
    VMware. “VMware Volume Purchasing Program.” VMware, April 2019. Web.
    VMware. "VMware Case Studies." VMware, n.d. Web.
    Wiens, Rob. “VMware Enterprise Licensing – What You Need To Know. House of Brick, 14 April 2017. Accessed 7 May 2018

    Beyond Survival

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    • Parent Category Name: Big Data
    • Parent Category Link: /big-data
    • Consumer, customer, employee, and partner behavior has changed; new needs have arisen as a result of COVID-19. Entire business models had to be rethought and revised – in real time with no warning.
    • And worse, no one knows when (or even if) the pandemic will end. The world and the economy will continue to be highly uncertain, unpredictable, and vulnerable for some time.
    • Business leaders need to continue experimenting to stay in business, protect employees and supply chains, manage financial obligations, allay consumer and employee fears, rebuild confidence, and protect trust.
    • How do organizations know whether their new business tactics are working?

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    • We can learn many lessons from those who have survived and are succeeding.
    • They have one thing in common though – they rely on data and analytics to help people think and know how to respond, evaluate effectiveness of new business tactics, uncover emerging trends to feed innovation, and minimize uncertainty and risk.
    • This mini-blueprint highlights organizations and use cases where data, analytics, and AI deliver tangible business and human value now and in the future.

    Impact and Result

    • Learn from the pandemic survivors and super-achievers so that you too can hit the ground running in the new normal. Even better – go beyond survival, like many of them have done. Create your future by leveraging and scaling up your data and analytics investments. It is not (yet) too late, and Info-Tech can help.

    Beyond Survival Research & Tools

    Beyond Survival

    Use data, analytics, and AI to reimagine the future and thrive in the new normal.

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

    • Beyond Survival Storyboard
    [infographic]

    Create an Architecture for AI

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    • Parent Category Name: Data Management
    • Parent Category Link: /data-management

    This research is designed to help organizations who are facing these challenges:

    • Deliver on the AI promise within the organization.
    • Prioritize the demand for AI projects and govern the projects to prevent overloading resources.
    • Have sufficient data management capability.
    • Have clear metrics in place to measure progress and for decision making.

    AI requires a high level of maturity in all data management capabilities, and the greatest challenge the CIO or CDO faces is to mature these capabilities sufficiently to ensure AI success.

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    • Build your target state architecture from predefined best-practice building blocks.
    • Not all business use cases require AI to increase business capabilities.
    • Not all organizations are ready to embark on the AI journey.
    • Knowing the AI pattern that you will use will simplify architecture considerations.

    Impact and Result

    • This blueprint will assist organizations with the assessment, planning, building, and rollout of their AI initiatives.
      • Do not embark on an AI project with an immature data management practice. Embark on initiatives to fix problems before they cripple your AI projects.
      • Using architecture building blocks will speed up the architecture decision phase.
    • The success rate of AI initiatives is tightly coupled with data management capabilities and a sound architecture.

    Create an Architecture for AI Research & Tools

    Start here – read the Executive Brief

    Read our concise Executive Brief to understand why you need an underlying architecture for AI, review Info-Tech's methodology, and understand the four ways we can support you in completing this project.

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

    1. Assess business use cases for AI readiness

    Define business use cases where AI may bring value. Evaluate each use case to determine the company’s AI maturity in people, tools, and operations for delivering the correct data, model development, model deployment, and the management of models in the operational areas.

    • Create an Architecture for AI – Phase 1: Assess Business Use Cases for AI Readiness
    • AI Architecture Assessment and Project Planning Tool
    • AI Architecture Assessment and Project Planning Tool – Sample

    2. Design your target state

    Develop a target state architecture to allow the organization to effectively deliver in the promise of AI using architecture building blocks.

    • Create an Architecture for AI – Phase 2: Design Your Target State
    • AI Architecture Templates

    3. Define the AI architecture roadmap

    Compare current state with the target state to define architecture plateaus and build a delivery roadmap.

    • Create an Architecture for AI – Phase 3: Define the AI Architecture Roadmap
    [infographic]

    Workshop: Create an Architecture for AI

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

    1 Answer “Where To?”

    The Purpose

    Define business use cases where AI may add value and assess use case readiness.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Know upfront if all required data resources are available in the required velocity, veracity, and variety to service the use case.

    Activities

    1.1 Review the business vision.

    1.2 Identify and classify business use cases.

    1.3 Assess company readiness for each use case.

    1.4 Review architectural principles and download and install Archi.

    Outputs

    List of identified AI use cases

    Assessment of each use case

    Data sources needed for each use case

    Archi installed

    2 Define the Required Architecture Building Blocks

    The Purpose

    Define architecture building blocks that can be used across use cases and data pipeline.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    The architectural building blocks ensure reuse of resources and form the foundation of a stepwise rollout.

    Activities

    2.1 ArchiMate modelling language overview.

    2.2 Architecture building block overview

    2.3 Identify architecture building blocks by use case.

    2.4 Define the target state architecture.

    Outputs

    A set of building blocks created in Archi

    Defined target state architecture using architecture building blocks

    3 Assess the Current State Architecture

    The Purpose

    Assess your current state architecture in the areas identified by the target state.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Only evaluating the current state architecture that will influence your AI implementation.

    Activities

    3.1 Identify the current state capabilities as required by the target state.

    3.2 Assess your current state architecture.

    3.3 Define a roadmap and design implementation plateaus.

    Outputs

    Current state architecture documented in Archi

    Assessed current state using assessment tool

    A roadmap defined using plateaus as milestones

    4 Bridge the Gap and Create the Roadmap

    The Purpose

    Assess your current state against the target state and create a plan to bridge the gaps.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Develop a roadmap that will deliver immediate results and ensure long-term durability.

    Activities

    4.1 Assess the gaps between current- and target-state capabilities.

    4.2 Brainstorm initiatives to address the gaps in capabilities

    4.3 Define architecture delivery plateaus.

    4.4 Define a roadmap with milestones.

    4.5 Sponsor check-in.

    Outputs

    Current to target state gap assessment

    Architecture roadmap divided into plateaus

    Select and Implement a Reporting and Analytics Solution

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    • Parent Category Name: Business Intelligence Strategy
    • Parent Category Link: /business-intelligence-strategy
    • Statistics show that the top priority of 85% of CIOs is insight and intelligence. Yet an appetite for intelligence does not mean that business intelligence initiatives will be an automatic success. In fact, many industry studies found that only 30% to 50% of organizations considered their BI initiative to be a complete success. It is, therefore, imperative that organizations take the time to select and implement a BI suite that aligns with business goals and fosters end-user adoption.
    • The multitude of BI offerings creates a busy and sometimes overwhelming vendor landscape. When selecting a solution, you have to make sense of the many offerings and bridge the gap between what is out there and what your organization needs.
    • BI is more than software. A BI solution has to effectively address business needs and demonstrate value through content and delivery once the platform is implemented.
    • Another dimension of the success of BI is the quality and validity of the reports and insights. The overall success of the BI solution is only as good as the quality of data fueling them.

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    • Business intelligence starts with data management. Without data management, including governance and data quality capabilities, your BI users will not be able to get the insights they need due to inaccurate and unavailable data.
    • When selecting a BI tool, it is crucial to ensure that the tool is fit for the purpose of the organization. Ensure alignment between the business drivers and the tool capabilities.
    • Self-serve BI requires a measured approach. Self-serve BI is meant to empower users to make more informed and faster decisions. But uncontrolled self-serve BI will lead to report chaos and prevent users from getting the most out of the tool. You must govern self-serve before it gets out of hand.

    Impact and Result

    • Evaluate your organization and land yourself into one of our three BI use cases. Find a BI suite that best suits the use case and, therefore, your organization.
    • Understand the ever-changing BI market. Get to know the established vendors as well as the emerging players.
    • Define BI requirements comprehensively through the lens of business, data, architecture, and user groups. Evaluate requirements to ensure they align with the strategic goals of the business.

    Select and Implement a Reporting and Analytics Solution Research & Tools

    Start here – read the Executive Brief

    Read our concise Executive Brief to find out why you should select and implement a business intelligence and analytics solution, review Info-Tech’s methodology, and understand the four ways we can support you in completing this project.

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

    1. Launch a BI selection project

    Promote and get approval for the BI selection and implementation project.

    • Select and Implement a Business Intelligence and Analytics Solution – Phase 1: Launch a BI Selection Project
    • BI Score Calculator
    • BI Project Charter

    2. Select a BI solution

    Select the most suitable BI platform.

    • Select and Implement a Business Intelligence and Analytics Solution – Phase 2: Select a BI Solution
    • BI Use-Case Fit Assessment Tool
    • BI Planning and Scoring Tool
    • BI Vendor Demo Script
    • BI Vendor Shortlist & Detailed Feature Analysis Tool
    • BI Request for Proposal Template

    3. Implement the BI solution

    Build a sustainable BI program.

    • Select and Implement a Business Intelligence and Analytics Solution – Phase 3: Implement the BI Solution
    • BI Test Plan Template
    • BI Implementation Planning Tool
    • BI Implementation Work Breakdown Structure Template
    [infographic]

    Workshop: Select and Implement a Reporting and Analytics Solution

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

    1 Launch a BI Selection Project

    The Purpose

    Identify the scope and objectives of the workshop.

    Discuss the benefits and opportunities related to a BI investment.

    Gain a high-level understanding of BI and the BI market definitions and details.

    Outline a project plan and identify the resourcing requirements for the project.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Determine workshop scope.

    Identify the business drivers and benefits behind a BI investment.

    Outline the project plan for the organization’s BI selection project.

    Determine project resourcing.

    Identify and perform the steps to launch the organization’s selection project.

    Activities

    1.1 Identify business drivers for investing in process automation technology.

    1.2 Identify the organization’s fit for a BI investment.

    1.3 Create a project plan.

    1.4 Identify project resourcing.

    1.5 Outline the project’s timeline.

    1.6 Determine key metrics.

    1.7 Determine project oversight.

    1.8 Complete a project charter.

    Outputs

    Completion of a project charter

    Launched BI selection project

    2 Analyze BI Requirements and Shortlist Vendors

    The Purpose

    Identify functional requirements for the organization’s BI suite.

    Determine technical requirements for the organization’s BI suite.

    Identify the organization’s alignment to the Vendor Landscape’s use-case scenarios.

    Shortlist BI vendors.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Documented functional requirements.

    Documented technical requirements.

    Identified use-case scenarios for the future BI solution.

    Activities

    2.1 Interview business stakeholders.

    2.2 Interview IT staff.

    2.3 Consolidate interview findings.

    2.4 Build the solution’s requirements package.

    2.5 Identify use-case scenario alignment.

    2.6 Review Info-Tech’s BI Vendor Landscape results.

    2.7 Create custom shortlist.

    Outputs

    Documented requirements for the future solution.

    Identification of the organization’s BI functional use-case scenarios.

    Shortlist of BI vendors.

    3 Plan the Implementation Process

    The Purpose

    Identify the steps for the organization’s implementation process.

    Select the right BI environment.

    Run a pilot project.

    Measure the value of your implementation.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Install a BI solution and prepare the BI solution in a way that allows intuitive and interactive uses.

    Keep track of and quantify BI success.

    Activities

    3.1 Select the right environment for the BI platform.

    3.2 Configure the BI implementation.

    3.3 Conduct a pilot to get started with BI and to demonstrate BI possibilities.

    3.4 Promote BI development in production.

    Outputs

    A successful BI implementation.

    BI is architected with the right availability.

    BI ROI is captured and quantified.

    Resilience, It's about your business

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    January 17th, 2025 is when your ability to serve clients without interruption is legislated. At least when you are in the financial services sector, or when you supply such firms.  If you are not active in the financial arena, don’t click away. Many of these requirements can just give you an edge over your competition.

    Many firms underestimated the impact of the legislation, but let’s be honest, so did the European Union. The last pieces of the puzzle are still not delivered only two days before the law comes into effect.

    What is DORA all about again? It is the Digital Operational Resilience Act. In essence, it is about your ability to withstand adverse events that may impact your clients or the financial system.

    Aside from some nasty details, this really is just common sense. You need to be organized so that the right people know what is expected of them, from the accountable top to the staff executing the day to day operations. You need to know what to do when things go wrong. You need to know your suppliers, especially those who supply services to your critical business services. You need to test your defenses and your IT. You may want to share intelligence around cyber-attacks.

    There, all of the 45 business-relevant DORA articles and technical standards in a single paragraph. The remaining articles deal with the competent authorities and make for good reading as they provide some insights into the workings of the regulatory body. The same goes for the preamble of the law. No less than 104 “musings” that elaborate on the operating environment and intent of the law.

    If you’re firm is still in the thick of things trying to become compliant, you are not alone. I have seen at least one regulator indicating that they will be understanding of that situation, but you must have a clear roadmap to compliance in the near future. Your regulator may or may not be in line with that position. In the eastern-most countries of the EU, signals are that the regulator will take a much tougher stance.

    (This kind of negates one of the musings of the law; the need for a single view on what financial services firms must adhere to to be considered compliant and resilient. But I think this is an unavoidable byproduct of having culturally diverse member states.)

    I dare to say that firms typically have the governance in place as well as the IM processes and testing requirements. The biggest open items seem to be in the actual IT hard operational resilience, monitoring and BCM.

    Take a look at your own firm and make an honest assessment in those areas. They key resilience (DORA-related or not) is knowing how your service works and is performing from a client perspective.

    You need to know how a client achieves all their interaction goals with your company. Typically this is mapped in the client journey. Unfortunately, this usually only maps the business flow, not the technical flow. And usually you look at it from the client UX perspective. This is obviously very important, but it does not help you to understand the elements that ensure you that your clients can always complete that journey.

    The other day, I had a customer journey with an online ski-shop. I had bought two ski helmets in size M, the same size my adult son and I had. When the helmets arrived it turned out they were too small. So, ok, no worries, I start the return process online. Once we complete the initial steps, after a few days I notice that the price for only one helmet is shown on the site. This, despite the indicators that both helmets are approved to be returned. Later both helmets are shown as effectively returned. Refund still shows one helmet’s price. What gives? I give it some more time, but after ten days, I decide to enquire. The site still shows refund for one helmet.

    Then I receive an email that both helmets will be refunded as they accepted the state of the helmets (unused) and amount of the refund is now correct. Site still shows the wrong amount.

    This is obviously a small inconvenience, but it does show that the IT team does not have a full view of the entire customer journey and systems interactions. You need to fix this.

    Suppose this is not about two ski helmets, but about ski or home insurance. Or about the sale of a car or a B2B transaction involving tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars or euro, or any other currency? Does your system show the real-time correct status of the transaction? If not, I would, as a consumer, decide to change provider. Why? Because the trust is gone.

    Resilience is about withstanding events that threaten your service to your clients. Events are nit just earthquakes or floods. Events are also wrong or missing information. To protect against that, you need to know what the (value) chain is that leads to you providing that service. Additionally, you need to know if that service chain has any impediments at any moment in time. Aka, you need to know that any service request can be fulfilled at any given time. And to have the right processes and resources in place to fix whatever is not working at that time.

    And that is in my opinion the biggest task still outstanding with many companies to ensure true resilience and customer service.

    Drive Customer Convenience by Enabling Text-Based Customer Support

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    • Parent Category Name: Customer Relationship Management
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    • Text messaging services and applications (such as SMS, iMessage, WhatsApp, and Facebook Messenger) have seen explosive growth over the last decade. They are an entrenched part of consumers’ daily lives. For many demographics, text messaging rather than audio calls is the preferred medium of communication via smartphone.
    • Despite the popularity of text messaging services and applications with consumers, organizations have been slow to adequately incorporate these channels into their customer service strategy.
    • The result is a major disconnect between the channel preferences of consumers and the customer service options being offered by businesses.

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    • IT must work with their counterparts in customer service to build a technology roadmap that incorporates text messaging services and apps as a core channel for customer interaction. Doing so will increase IT’s stature as an innovator in the eyes of the business, while allowing the broader organization to leapfrog competitors that have not yet added text-based support to their repertoire of service channels. Incorporating text messaging as a customer service channel will increase customer satisfaction, improve retention, and reduce cost-to-serve.
    • A prudent strategy for text-based customer service begins with defining the value proposition and creating objectives: is there a strong fit with the organization’s customers and service use cases? Next, organizations must create a technology enablement roadmap for text-based support that incorporates the right tools and applications to deliver it. Finally, the strategy must address best practices for text-based customer service workflows and appropriate resourcing.

    Impact and Result

    • Understand the value and use cases for text-based customer support.
    • Create a framework for enabling technologies that will support scalable text-based customer service.
    • Improve underlying business metrics such as customer satisfaction, retention, and time to resolution by having a plan for text-based support.
    • Better align IT with customer service and support needs.

    Drive Customer Convenience by Enabling Text-Based Customer Support Research & Tools

    Start here – read the Executive Brief

    Read our concise Executive Brief to find out why you should be leveraging text-based services for customer support, review Info-Tech’s methodology, and understand the four ways we can support you in completing this project.

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

    1. Create the business case for text-based customer support

    Understand the use cases and benefits of using text-based services for customer support, and establish how they align to the organization’s current service strategy.

    • Drive Customer Convenience by Enabling Text-Based Customer Support – Phase 1: Create the Business Case for Text-Based Customer Support
    • Text-Based Customer Support Strategic Summary Template
    • Text-Based Customer Support Project Charter Template
    • Text-Based Customer Support Business Case Assessment

    2. Create a technology enablement framework for text-based customer support

    Identify the right applications that will be needed to adequately support a text-based support strategy.

    • Drive Customer Convenience by Enabling Text-Based Customer Support – Phase 2: Create a Technology Enablement Framework for Text-Based Customer Support
    • Text-Based Customer Support Requirements Traceability Matrix

    3. Create customer service workflows for text-based support

    Create repeatable workflows and escalation policies for text-centric support.

    • Drive Customer Convenience by Enabling Text-Based Customer Support – Phase 3: Create Customer Service Workflows for Text-Based Support
    • Text-Based Customer Support TCO Tool
    • Text-Based Customer Support Acceptable Use Policy
    [infographic]

    Workshop: Drive Customer Convenience by Enabling Text-Based Customer Support

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

    1 Create the Business Case for Text-Based Support

    The Purpose

    Create the business case for text-based support.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    A clear direction on the drivers and value proposition of text-based customer support for your organization.

    Activities

    1.1 Identify customer personas.

    1.2 Define business and IT drivers.

    Outputs

    Identification of IT and business drivers.

    Project framework and guiding principles for the project.

    2 Create a Technology Enablement Framework for Text-Based Support

    The Purpose

    Create a technology enablement framework for text-based support.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Prioritized requirements for text-based support and a vetted shortlist of the technologies needed to enable it.

    Activities

    2.1 Determine the correct migration strategy based on the current version of Exchange.

    2.2 Plan the user groups for a gradual deployment.

    Outputs

    Exchange migration strategy.

    User group organization by priority of migration.

    3 Create Service Workflows for Text-Based Support

    The Purpose

    Create service workflows for text-based support.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Customer service workflows and escalation policies, as well as risk mitigation considerations.

    Present final deliverable to key stakeholders.

    Activities

    3.1 Review the text channel matrix.

    3.2 Build the inventory of customer service applications that are needed to support text-based service.

    Outputs

    Extract requirements for text-based customer support.

    4 Finalize Your Text Service Strategy

    The Purpose

    Finalize the text service strategy.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Resource and risk mitigation plan.

    Activities

    4.1 Build core customer service workflows for text-based support.

    4.2 Identify text-centric risks and create a mitigation plan.

    4.3 Identify metrics for text-based support.

    Outputs

    Business process models assigned to text-based support.

    Formulation of risk mitigation plan.

    Key metrics for text-based support.

    Unify a Mixed Methodology Portfolio

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    • Parent Category Name: Portfolio Management
    • Parent Category Link: /portfolio-management
    • As portfolio manager, you oversee a portfolio made up of projects using different types of planning and execution methodologies – from traditional Waterfall, to Agile, to hybrid approaches and beyond. The discontinuity between reporting metrics and funding models makes a holistic and perpetually actionable view of the portfolio elusive.
    • Agile’s influence is growing within the organization’s project ecosystem. Even projects that don’t formally use Agile methods often adopt agile tendencies, such as mitigating risk with shorter, more iterative development cycles and increasing collaboration with stakeholders. While this has introduced efficiencies at the project level, it has not translated into business agility, with decision makers still largely playing a passive role in terms of steering the portfolio.
    • Senior management still expects traditional commitments and deadlines, not “sprints” and “velocity.” The reluctance of many Agile purists to adhere to traditional timeline, budget, and scope commitments is not making Agile a particularly popular conversation topic among the organization’s decision-making layer.
    • As portfolio manager, it’s your job to unify these two increasingly fragmented worlds into a unified portfolio.

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    • As Agile’s influence grows and project methodologies morph and proliferate, a more engaged executive layer is required than what we see in a traditional portfolio approach. Portfolio owners have to decide what gets worked on at a regular cadence.
    • What’s the difference? In the old paradigm, nobody stopped the portfolio owners from approving too much. Decisions were based on what should be done, rather than what could get done in a given period, with the resources available.
    • The engaged portfolio succeeds by making sure that the right people work on the right things as much as possible. The portfolio owner plays a key, ongoing role in identifying the work that needs to be done, and the portfolio managers optimize the usage of resources.

    Impact and Result

    • Establish universal control points. While the manager of a mixed methodology portfolio doesn’t need to enforce a standardized project methodology, she or he does need to establish universal control points for both intake and reporting at the portfolio level. Use this research to help you define a sustainable process that will work for all types of projects.
    • Scale the approvals process. For a mixed methodology portfolio to work, the organization needs to reconcile different models for approving and starting projects. This blueprint will help you define a right-sized intake process and decision-making paradigm for sprints and project phases alike.
    • Foster ongoing executive engagement. Mixed methodology success is contingent on regular and ongoing executive engagement. Use the tools and templates associated with this blueprint to help get buy-in and commitment upfront, and then to build out portfolio reports and dashboard that will help keep the executive layer informed and engaged long term.

    Unify a Mixed Methodology Portfolio Research & Tools

    Start here – read the Executive Brief

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

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

    1. Get portfolio commitments

    Assess the current state of the portfolio and ensure that portfolio owners and other stakeholders are onboard before you move forward to develop and implement new portfolio processes.

    • Unify a Mixed Methodology Portfolio – Phase 1
    • Mixed Methodology Portfolio Analyzer
    • Mixed Methodology Portfolio Strategy Template
    • Mixed Methodology Portfolio Stakeholder Survey Tool

    2. Define your portfolio processes

    Wireframe standardized portfolio processes for all project methodologies to follow.

    • Unify a Mixed Methodology Portfolio – Phase 2
    • Agile Portfolio Sprint Prioritization Tool
    • Project Methodology Assessment Tool

    3. Implement your processes

    Pilot your new portfolio processes and decision-making paradigm. Then, execute a change impact analysis to inform your communications strategy and implementation plan.

    • Unify a Mixed Methodology Portfolio – Phase 3
    • Process Pilot Plan Template
    • Intake and Prioritization Impact Analysis Tool
    • Resource Management Impact Analysis Tool
    [infographic]

    Workshop: Unify a Mixed Methodology Portfolio

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

    1 Assess Current State of the Portfolio

    The Purpose

    Determine the current state of your project execution and portfolio oversight practices.

    Align different types of projects within a unified portfolio.

    Define the best roles and engagement strategies for individual stakeholders as you transition to an Engaged Agile Portfolio.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    A current state understanding of project and portfolio management challenges.

    Bolster the business case for developing an Engaged Agile Portfolio.

    Increase stakeholder and team buy-in.

    Activities

    1.1 Calculate the size of your portfolio in human resource hours.

    1.2 Estimate your project sizes and current project methodology mix.

    1.3 Document the current known status of your in-flight projects.

    1.4 Perform a project execution portfolio oversight survey.

    Outputs

    Your portfolio’s project capacity in resource hours.

    Better understanding of project demand and portfolio mix.

    Current state visibility.

    An objective assessment of current areas of strengths and weaknesses.

    2 Define Your Portfolio Processes

    The Purpose

    Objectively and transparently approve, reject, and prioritize projects.

    Prioritize work to start and stop on a sprint-by-sprint basis.

    Maintain a high frequency of accurate reporting.

    Assess and report the realization of project benefits.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Improve timeliness and accuracy of project portfolio reporting.

    Make better, faster decisions about when to start and stop work on different projects.

    Increase stakeholder satisfaction.

    Activities

    2.1 Develop a portfolio intake workflow.

    2.2 Develop a prioritization scorecard and process.

    2.3 Establish a process to estimate sprint demand and resource supply.

    2.4 Develop a process to estimate sprint value and necessity.

    Outputs

    An intake workflow.

    A prioritization scorecard and process.

    A process to estimate sprint demand and resource supply.

    A process to estimate sprint value and necessity.

    3 Implement Your Processes

    The Purpose

    Analyze the potential change impacts of your new portfolio processes and how they will be felt across the organization.

    Develop an implementation plan to ensure strategy buy-in.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    A strategic and well-planned approach to process implementation.

    Activities

    3.1 Analyze change impacts of new portfolio processes.

    3.2 Prepare a communications plan based upon change impacts.

    3.3 Develop an implementation plan.

    3.4 Present new portfolio processes to portfolio owners.

    Outputs

    A change impact analysis.

    A communications plan.

    An implementation plan.

    Portfolio strategy buy-in.

    Develop and Implement a Security Incident Management Program

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    • Parent Category Name: Threat Intelligence & Incident Response
    • Parent Category Link: /threat-intelligence-incident-response
    • Tracked incidents are often classified into ready-made responses that are not necessarily applicable to the organization. With so many classifications, tracking becomes inefficient and indigestible, allowing major incidents to fall through the cracks.
    • Outcomes of incident response tactics are not formally tracked or communicated, resulting in a lack of comprehensive understanding of trends and patterns regarding incidents, leading to being re-victimized by the same vector.
    • Having a formal incident response document to meet compliance requirements is not useful if no one is adhering to it.

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    • You will experience incidents. Don’t rely on ready-made responses. They’re too broad and easy to ignore. Save your organization response time and confusion by developing your own specific incident use cases.
    • Analyze, track, and review results of incident response regularly. Without a comprehensive understanding of incident trends and patterns, you can be re-victimized by the same attack vector.
    • Establish communication processes and channels well in advance of a crisis. Don’t wait until a state of panic. Collaborate and exchange information with other organizations to stay ahead of incoming threats.

    Impact and Result

    • Effective and efficient management of incidents involves a formal process of preparation, detection, analysis, containment, eradication, recovery, and post-incident activities.
    • This blueprint will walk through the steps of developing a scalable and systematic incident response program relevant to your organization.

    Develop and Implement a Security Incident Management Program Research & Tools

    Start here – read the Executive Brief

    Read our concise Executive Brief to find out why you should develop and implement a security incident management program, review Info-Tech’s methodology, and understand the four ways we can support you in completing this project.

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

    1. Prepare

    Equip your organization for incident response with formal documentation of policies and processes.

    • Develop and Implement a Security Incident Management Program – Phase 1: Prepare
    • Security Incident Management Maturity Checklist ‒ Preliminary
    • Information Security Requirements Gathering Tool
    • Incident Response Maturity Assessment Tool
    • Security Incident Management Charter Template
    • Security Incident Management Policy Template
    • Security Incident Management RACI Tool

    2. Operate

    Act with efficiency and effectiveness as new incidents are handled.

    • Develop and Implement a Security Incident Management Program – Phase 2: Operate
    • Security Incident Management Plan
    • Security Incident Runbook Prioritization Tool
    • Security Incident Management Runbook: Credential Compromise
    • Security Incident Management Workflow: Credential Compromise (Visio)
    • Security Incident Management Workflow: Credential Compromise (PDF)
    • Security Incident Management Runbook: Distributed Denial of Service
    • Security Incident Management Workflow: Distributed Denial of Service (Visio)
    • Security Incident Management Workflow: Distributed Denial of Service (PDF)
    • Security Incident Management Runbook: Malware
    • Security Incident Management Workflow: Malware (Visio)
    • Security Incident Management Workflow: Malware (PDF)
    • Security Incident Management Runbook: Malicious Email
    • Security Incident Management Workflow: Malicious Email (Visio)
    • Security Incident Management Workflow: Malicious Email (PDF)
    • Security Incident Management Runbook: Ransomware
    • Security Incident Management Workflow: Ransomware (Visio)
    • Security Incident Management Workflow: Ransomware (PDF)
    • Security Incident Management Runbook: Data Breach
    • Security Incident Management Workflow: Data Breach (Visio)
    • Security Incident Management Workflow: Data Breach (PDF)
    • Data Breach Reporting Requirements Summary
    • Security Incident Management Runbook: Third-Party Incident
    • Security Incident Management Workflow: Third-Party Incident (Visio)
    • Security Incident Management Workflow: Third-Party Incident (PDF)
    • Security Incident Management Runbook: Blank Template

    3. Maintain and optimize

    Manage and improve the incident management process by tracking metrics, testing capabilities, and leveraging best practices.

    • Develop and Implement a Security Incident Management Program – Phase 3: Maintain and Optimize
    • Security Incident Metrics Tool
    • Post-Incident Review Questions Tracking Tool
    • Root-Cause Analysis Template
    • Security Incident Report Template
    [infographic]

    Workshop: Develop and Implement a Security Incident Management Program

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

    1 Prepare Your Incident Response Program

    The Purpose

    Understand the purpose of incident response.

    Formalize the program.

    Identify key players and escalation points.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Common understanding of the importance of incident response.

    Various business units becoming aware of their roles in the incident management program.

    Formalized documentation.

    Activities

    1.1 Assess the current process, obligations, scope, and boundaries of the incident management program.

    1.2 Identify key players for the response team and for escalation points.

    1.3 Formalize documentation.

    1.4 Prioritize incidents requiring preparation.

    Outputs

    Understanding of the incident landscape

    An identified incident response team

    A security incident management charter

    A security incident management policy

    A list of top-priority incidents

    A general security incident management plan

    A security incident response RACI chart

    2 Develop Incident-Specific Runbooks

    The Purpose

    Document the clear response procedures for top-priority incidents.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    As incidents occur, clear response procedures are documented for efficient and effective recovery.

    Activities

    2.1 For each top-priority incident, document the workflow from detection through analysis, containment, eradication, recovery, and post-incident analysis.

    Outputs

    Up to five incident-specific runbooks

    3 Maintain and Optimize the Program

    The Purpose

    Ensure the response procedures are realistic and effective.

    Identify key metrics to measure the success of the program.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Real-time run-through of security incidents to ensure roles and responsibilities are known.

    Understanding of how to measure the success of the program.

    Activities

    3.1 Limited scope tabletop exercise.

    3.2 Discuss key metrics.

    Outputs

    Completed tabletop exercise

    Key success metrics identified

    Further reading

    Develop and Implement a Security Incident Management Program

    Create a scalable incident response program without breaking the bank.

    ANALYST PERSPECTIVE

    Security incidents are going to happen whether you’re prepared or not. Ransomware and data breaches are just a few top-of-mind threats that all organizations deal with. Taking time upfront to formalize response plans can save you significantly more time and effort down the road. When an incident strikes, don’t waste time deciding how to remediate. Rather, proactively identify your response team, optimize your response procedures, and track metrics so you can be prepared to jump to action.

    Céline Gravelines,
    Senior Research Analyst
    Security, Risk & Compliance Info-Tech Research Group

    Picture of Céline Gravelines

    Céline Gravelines,
    Senior Research Analyst
    Security, Risk & Compliance Info-Tech Research Group

    Our understanding of the problem

    This Research is Designed For

    • A CISO who is dealing with the following:
      • Inefficient use of time and money when retroactively responding to incidents, negatively affecting business revenue and workflow.
      • Resistance from management to adequately develop a formal incident response plan.
      • Lack of closure of incidents, resulting in being re-victimized by the same vector.

    This Research Will Help You

    • Develop a consistent, scalable, and usable incident response program that is not resource intensive.
    • Track and communicate incident response in a formal manner.
    • Reduce the overall impact of incidents over time.
    • Learn from past incidents to improve future response processes.

    This Research Will Also Assist

    • Business stakeholders who are responsible for the following:
    • Improving workflow and managing operations in the event of security incidents to reduce any adverse business impacts.
    • Ensuring that incident response compliance requirements are being adhered to.

    This Research Will Help Them

    • Efficiently allocate resources to improve incident response in terms of incident frequency, response time, and cost.
    • Effectively communicate expectations and responsibilities to users.

    Executive Summary

    Situation

    • Security incidents are inevitable, but how they’re dealt with can make or break an organization. Poor incident response negatively affects business practices, including workflow, revenue generation, and public image.
    • The incident response of most organizations is ad hoc at best. A formal management plan is rarely developed or adhered to, resulting in ineffective firefighting responses and inefficient allocation of resources.

    Complication

    • Tracked incidents are often classified into ready-made responses that are not necessarily applicable to the organization. With so many classifications, tracking becomes inefficient and indigestible, allowing major incidents to fall through the cracks.
    • Outcomes of incident response tactics are not formally tracked or communicated, resulting in a lack of comprehensive understanding of trends and patterns regarding incidents, leading to being revictimized by the same vector.
    • Having a formal incident response document to meet compliance requirements is not useful if no one is adhering to it.

    Resolution

    • Effective and efficient management of incidents involves a formal process of preparation, detection, analysis, containment, eradication, recovery, and post-incident activities.
    • This blueprint will walk through the steps of developing a scalable and systematic incident response program relevant to your organization.

    Info-Tech Insight

    • You will experience incidents. Don’t rely on ready-made responses. They’re too broad and easy to ignore. Save your organization response time and confusion by developing your own specific incident use cases.
    • Analyze, track, and review results of incident response regularly. Without a comprehensive understanding of incident trends and patterns, you can be re-victimized by the same attack vector.
    • Establish communication processes and channels well in advance of a crisis. Don’t wait until a state of panic. Collaborate and exchange information with other organizations to stay ahead of incoming threats.

    Data breaches are resulting in major costs across industries

    Per capita cost by industry classification of benchmarked companies (measured in USD)

    This is a bar graph showing the per capita cost by industry classification of benchmarked companies(measured in USD). the companies are, in decreasing order of cost: Health; Financial; Services; Pharmaceutical; Technology; Energy; Education; Industrial; Entertainment; Consumer; Media; Transportation; Hospitality; Retail; Research; Public

    Average data breach costs per compromised record hit an all-time high of $148 (in 2018).
    (Source: IBM, “2018 Cost of Data Breach Study)”

    % of systems impacted by a data breach
    1%
    No Impact     		19%
    1-10% impacted     		41%
    11-30% impacted     		24%
    31-50% impacted     		15%
    > 50% impacted
    % of customers lost from a data breach
    61% Lost
    < 20%     		21% Lost 20-40% 8% Lost
    40-60%     		6% Lost
    60-80%     		4% Lost
    80-100%
    % of customers lost from a data breach
    58% Lost
    <20%     		25% Lost
    20-40%     		9% Lost
    40-60%     		5% Lost
    60-80%     		4% Lost
    80-100%

    Source: Cisco, “Cisco 2017 Annual Cybersecurity Report”

    Defining what is security incident management

    IT Incident

    Any event not a part of the standard operation of a service which causes, or may cause, the interruption to, or a reduction in, the quality of that service.

    Security Event:

    A security event is anything that happens that could potentially have information security implications.

    • A spam email is a security event because it may contain links to malware.
    • Organizations may be hit with thousands or perhaps millions of identifiable security events each day.
    • These are typically handled by automated tools or are simply logged.

    Security Incident:

    A security incident is a security event that results in damage such as lost data.

    • Incidents can also include events that don't involve damage but are viable risks.
    • For example, an employee clicking on a link in a spam email that made it through filters may be viewed as an incident.

    It’s not a matter of if you have a security incident, but when

    The increasing complexity and prevalence of threats have finally caught the attention of corporate leaders. Prepare for the inevitable with an incident response program.

    1. A formalized incident response program reduced the average cost of a data breach (per capita) from $148 to $134, while third-party involvement increased costs by $13.40.
    2. US organizations lost an average of $7.91 million per data breach as a result of increased customer attrition and diminished goodwill. Canada and the UK follow suit at $1.57 and $1.39 million, respectively.
    3. 73% of breaches are perpetrated by outsiders, 50% are the work of criminal groups, and 28% involve internal actors.
    4. 55% of companies have to manage fallout, such as reputational damage after a data breach.
    5. The average cost of a data breach increases by $1 million if left undetected for > 100 days.

    (Sources: IBM, “2018 Cost of Data Breach Study”; Verizon, “2017 Data Breach Investigations Report”; Cisco, “Cisco 2018 Annual Cybersecurity Report”)

    Threat Actor Examples

    The proliferation of hacking techniques and commoditization of hacking tools has enabled more people to become threat actors. Examples include:
    • Organized Crime Groups
    • Lone Cyber Criminals
    • Competitors
    • Nation States
    • Hacktivists
    • Terrorists
    • Former Employees
    • Domestic Intelligence Services
    • Current Employees (malicious and accidental)

    Benefits of an incident management program

    Effective incident management will help you do the following:

    Improve efficacy
    Develop structured processes to increase process consistency across the incident response team and the program as a whole. Expose operational weak points and transition teams from firefighting to innovating.

    Improve threat detection, prevention, analysis, and response
    Enhance your pressure posture through a structured and intelligence-driven incident handling and remediation framework.

    Improve visibility and information sharing
    Promote both internal and external information sharing to enable good decision making.

    Create and clarify accountability and responsibility
    Establish a clear level of accountability throughout the incident response program, and ensure role responsibility for all tasks and processes involved in service delivery.

    Control security costs
    Effective incident management operations will provide visibility into your remediation processes, enabling cost savings from misdiagnosed issues and incident reduction.

    Identify opportunities for continuous improvement
    Increase visibility into current performance levels and accurately identify opportunities for continuous improvement with a holistic measurement program.

    Impact

    Short term:
    • Streamlined security incident management program.
    • Formalized and structured response process.
    • Comprehensive list of operational gaps and initiatives.
    • Detailed response runbooks that predefine necessary operational protocol.
    • Compliance and audit adherence.
    Long term:
    • Reduced incident costs and remediation time.
    • Increased operational collaboration between prevention, detection, analysis, and response efforts.
    • Enhanced security pressure posture.
    • Improved communication with executives about relevant security risks to the business.
    • Preserved reputation and brand equity.

    Incident management is essential for organizations of any size

    Your incidents may differ, but a standard response ensures practical security.

    Certain regulations and laws require incident response to be a mandatory process in organizations.

    Compliance Standard Examples Description
    Federal Information Security Modernization Act (FISMA)
    • Organizations must have “procedures for detecting, reporting, and responding to security incidents” (2002).
    • They must also “inform operators of agency information systems about current and potential information security threats and vulnerabilities.”
    Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS)
    • “Organizations must: (i) establish an operational incident handling capability for organizational information systems that includes adequate preparation, detection, analysis, containment, recovery, and user response activities.”
    Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS v3)
    • 12.5.3: “Establish, document, and distribute security incident response and escalation procedures to ensure timely and effective handling of all situations.”
    Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)
    • 164.308: Response and Reporting – “Identify and respond to suspected or known security incidents; mitigate, to the extent practicable, harmful effects of security incidents that are known to the covered entity; and document security incidents and their outcomes.”

    Security incident management is applicable to all verticals

    Examples:
    • Finance
    • Insurance
    • Healthcare
    • Public administration
    • Education services
    • Professional services
    • Scientific and technical services

    Maintain a holistic security operations program

    Legacy security operations centers (SOCs) fail to address gaps between data sources, network controls, and human capital. There is limited visibility and collaboration between departments, resulting in siloed decisions that do not support the best interests of the organization.

    Security operations is part of what Info-Tech calls a threat collaboration environment, where members must actively collaborate to address cyberthreats affecting the organization’s brand, business operation, and technology infrastructure on a daily basis.

    Prevent: Defense in depth is the best approach to protect against unknown and unpredictable attacks. Diligent patching and vulnerability management, endpoint protection, and strong human-centric security (amongst other tactics) are essential. Detect: There are two types of companies – those who have been breached and know it, and those who have been breached and don’t know it. Ensure that monitoring, logging, and event detection tools are in place and appropriate to your organizational needs.
    Analyze: Raw data without interpretation cannot improve security and is a waste of time, money, and effort. Establish a tiered operational process that not only enriches data but also provides visibility into your threat landscape. Respond: Organizations can’t rely on an ad hoc response anymore – don’t wait until a state of panic. Formalize your response processes in a detailed incident runbook to reduce incident remediation time and effort.

    Info-Tech’s incident response blueprint is one of four security operations initiatives

    Design and Implement a Vulnerability Management Program Vulnerability Management
    Vulnerability management revolves around the identification, prioritization, and remediation of vulnerabilities. Vulnerability management teams hunt to identify which vulnerabilities need patching and remediating.
    • Vulnerability Tracking Tool
    • Vulnerability Scanning Tool RFP Template
    • Penetration Test RFP Template
    • Vulnerability Mitigation Process Template
    Integrate Threat Intelligence Into Your Security Operations Vulnerability Management
    Vulnerability management revolves around the identification, prioritization, and remediation of vulnerabilities. Vulnerability management teams hunt to identify which vulnerabilities need patching and remediating.
    • Threat Intelligence Maturity Assessment Tool
    • Threat Intelligence RACI Tool
    • Threat Intelligence Management Plan Template
    • Threat Intelligence Policy Template
    • Threat Intelligence Alert Template
    • Threat Intelligence Alert and Briefing Cadence Schedule Template
    Develop Foundational Security Operations Processes Operations
    Security operations include the real-time monitoring and analysis of events based on the correlation of internal and external data sources. This also includes incident escalation based on impact. These analysts are constantly tuning and tweaking rules and reporting thresholds to further help identify which indicators are most impactful during the analysis phase of operations.
    • Security Operations Maturity Assessment Tool
    • Security Operations Event Prioritization Tool
    • Security Operations Efficiency Calculator
    • Security Operations Policy
    • In-House vs. Outsourcing Decision-Making Tool
    • Seccrimewareurity Operations RACI Tool
    • Security Operations TCO & ROI Comparison Calculator
    Develop and Implement a Security Incident Management Program Incident Response (IR)
    Effective and efficient management of incidents involves a formal process of analysis, containment, eradication, recovery, and post-incident activities. Incident response teams coordinate root cause and incident gathering while facilitating post-incident lessons learned. Incident response can provide valuable threat data that ties specific indicators to threat actors or campaigns.     		Security Incident Management Policy
    • Security Incident Management Plan
    • Incident Response Maturity Assessment Tool
    • Security Incident Runbook Prioritization Tool
    • Security Incident Management RACI Tool
    • Various Incident Management Runbooks

    Understand how incident response ties into related processes

    Info-Tech Resources:
    Business Continuity Plan Develop a Business Continuity Plan
    Disaster Recovery Plan Create a Right-Sized Disaster Recovery Plan
    Security Incident Management Develop and Implement a Security Incident Management Program
    Incident Management Incident and Problem Management
    Service Desk Standardize the Service Desk

    Develop and Implement a Security Incident Management Program – project overview

    1. Prepare 2. Operate 3. Maintain and Optimize
    Best-Practice Toolkit 1.1 Establish the Drivers, Challenges, and Benefits.

    1.2 Examine the Security Incident Landscape and Trends.

    1.3 Understand Your Security Obligations, Scope, and Boundaries.

    1.4 Gauge Your Current Process to Identify Gaps.

    1.5 Formalize the Security Incident Management Charter.

    1.6 Identify Key Players and Develop a Call Escalation Tree.

    1.7 Develop a Security Incident Management Policy.

    		 2.1 Understand the Incident Response Framework.

    2.2 Understand the Purpose of Runbooks.

    2.3 Prioritize the Development of Incident-Specific Runbooks.

    2.4 Develop Top-Priority Runbooks.

    2.5 Fill Out the Root-Cause Analysis Template.

    2.6 Customize the Post-Incident Review Questions Tracking Tool to Standardize Useful Questions for Lessons-Learned Meetings.

    2.7 Complete the Security Incident Report Template.

    		 3.1 Conduct Tabletop Exercises.

    3.2 Initialize a Security Incident Management Metrics Program.

    3.3 Leverage Best Practices for Continuous Improvement.
    Guided Implementations Understand the incident response process, and define your security obligations, scope, and boundaries.

    Formalize the incident management charter, RACI, and incident management policy.     		Use the framework to develop a general incident management plan.

    Prioritize and develop top-priority runbooks.     		Develop and facilitate tabletop exercises.

    Create an incident management metrics program, and assess the success of the incident management program.
    Onsite Workshop Module 1:
    Prepare for Incident Response     		Module 2:
    Handle Incidents     		Module 3:
    Review and Communicate Security Incidents
    Phase 1 Outcome:
  • Formalized stakeholder support
  • Security Incident Management Policy
  • Security Incident Management Charter
  • Call Escalation Tree
    		•  Phase 2 Outcome:
    • A generalized incident management plan
    • A prioritized list of incidents
    • Detailed runbooks for top-priority incidents
    		 Phase 3 Outcome:
    • A formalized tracking system for benchmarking security incident metrics.
    • Recommendations for optimizing your security incident management processes.

    Workshop overview

    Contact your account representative or email Workshops@InfoTech.com for more information.

    Workshop Day 1 Workshop Day 2 Workshop Day 3 Workshop Day 4 Workshop Day 5
    Activities
    • Kick off and introductions.
    • High-level overview of weekly activities and outcomes.
    • Understand the benefits of security incident response management.
    • Formalize stakeholder support.
    • Assess your current process, obligations, and scope.
    • Develop RACI chart.
    • Define impact and scope.
    • Identify key players for the threat escalation protocol.
    • Develop a security incident response policy.
    • Develop a general security incident response plan.
    • Prioritize incident-specific runbook development.
    • Understand the incident response process.
    • Develop general and incident-specific call escalation trees.
    • Develop specific runbooks for your top-priority incidents (e.g. ransomware).
      • Detect the incident.
      • Analyze the incident.
      • Contain the incident.
      • Eradicate the root cause.
      • Recover from the incident.
      • Conduct post-incident analysis and communication.
    • Develop specific runbooks for your next top-priority incidents:
      • Detect the incident.
      • Analyze the incident.
      • Contain the incident.
      • Eradicate the root cause.
      • Recover from the incident.
      • Conduct post-incident analysis and communication.
    • Determine key metrics to track and report.
    • Develop post-incident activity documentation.
    • Understand best practices for both internal and external communication.
    • Finalize key deliverables created during the workshop.
    • Present the security incident response program to key stakeholders.
    • Workshop executive presentation and debrief.
    • Finalize main deliverables.
    • Schedule subsequent Analyst Calls.
    • Schedule feedback call.
    Deliverables
    • Security Incident Management Maturity Checklist ‒ Preliminary
    • Security Incident Management RACI Tool
    • Security Incident Management Policy
    • General incident management plan
    • Security Incident Management Runbook
    • Development prioritization
    • Prioritized list of runbooks
    • Understanding of incident handling process
    • Incident-specific runbooks for two incidents (including threat escalation criteria and Visio workflow)
    • Discussion points for review with response team
    • Incident-specific runbooks for two incidents (including threat escalation criteria and Visio workflow)
    • Discussion points for review with response team
    • Security Incident Metrics Tool
    • Post-Incident Review Questions Tracking Tool
    • Post-Incident Report Analysis Template
    • Root Cause Analysis Template
    • Post-Incident Review Questions Tracking Tool
    • Communication plans
    • Workshop summary documentation
  • All final deliverables
    		•

    Measured value for Guided Implementations

    Engaging in GIs doesn’t just offer valuable project advice – it also results in significant cost savings.

    GI Purpose Measured Value
    Section 1: Prepare

    Understand the need for an incident response program.
    Develop your incident response policy and plan.
    Develop classifications around incidents.
    Establish your program implementation roadmap.

    Time, value, and resources saved using our classification guidance and templates: 2 FTEs*2 days*$80,000/year = $1,280
    Time, value, and resources saved using our classification guidance and templates:
    2 FTEs*5 days*$80,000/year = $3,200

    Section 2: Operate

    Prioritize runbooks and develop the processes to create your own incident response program:

  • Detect
  • Analyze
  • Contain
  • Eradicate
  • Recover
  • Post-Incident Activity
    		•

    Time, value, and resources saved using our guidance:
    4 FTEs*10 days*$80,000/year = $12,800 (if done internally)

    Time, value, and resources saved using our guidance:
    1 consultant*15 days*$2,000/day = $30,000 (if done by third party)
    Section 3: Maintain and Optimize Develop methods of proper reporting and create templates for communicating incident response to key parties. Time, value, and resources saved using our guidance, templates, and tabletop exercises:
    2 FTEs*3 days*$80,000/year = $1,920
    Total Costs To just get an incident response program off the ground. $49,200

    Insurance company put incident response aside; executives were unhappy

    Organization implemented ITIL, but formal program design became less of a priority and turned more ad hoc.

    Situation

    • Ad hoc processes created management dissatisfaction around the organization’s ineffective responses to data breaches.
    • Because of the lack of formal process, an entirely new security team needed to be developed, costing people their positions.

    Challenges

    • Lack of criteria to categorize and classify security incidents.
    • Need to overhaul the long-standing but ineffective program means attempting to change mindsets, which can be time consuming.
    • Help desk is not very knowledgeable on security.
    • New incident response program needs to be in alignment with data classification policy and business continuity.
    • Lack of integration with MSSP’s ticketing system.

    Next steps:

    • Need to get stakeholder buy-in for a new program.
    • Begin to establish classification/reporting procedures.

    Follow this case study to Phase 1

    Phase 1

    Prepare

    Develop and Implement a Security Incident Management Program

    Phase 1: Prepare

    PHASE 1 PHASE 2 PHASE 3
    Prepare Operate Optimize

    This phase walks you through the following activities:

    1.1 Establish the drivers, challenges, and benefits.
    1.2 Examine the security incident landscape and trends.
    1.3 Understand your security obligations, scope, and boundaries.
    1.4 Gauge your current process to identify gaps.
    1.5 Formalize a security incident management charter.
    1.6 Identify key players and develop a call escalation tree.
    1.7 Develop a security incident management policy.

    This phase involves the following participants:

    • CISO
    • Security team
    • IT staff
    • Business leaders

    Outcomes of this phase

    • Formalized stakeholder support.
    • Security incident management policy.
    • Security incident management charter.
    • Call escalation tree.

    Phase 1 outline

    Call 1-888-670-8889 or email GuidedImplementations@InfoTech.com for more information.

    Complete these steps on your own, or call us to complete a guided implementation. A guided implementation is a series of 2-3 advisory calls that help you execute each phase of a project. They are included in most advisory memberships.

    Guided Implementation 1: Prepare for Incident Response
    Proposed Time to Completion: 3 Weeks
    Step 1.1-1.3 Understand Incident Response Step 1.4-1.7 Begin Developing Your Program
    Start with an analyst kick-off call:
  • Discuss your current incident management status.
    		•  Review findings with analyst:
  • Review documents.
    		•
    Then complete these activities…
    • Establish your security obligations, scope, and boundaries.
    • Identify the drivers, challenges, and benefits of formalized incident response.
    • Review any existing documentation.
    		 Then complete these activities…
    • Discuss further incident response requirements.
    • Identify key players for escalation and notifications.
    • Develop the policy.
    • Develop the plan.

    With these tools & templates:
    Security Incident Management Maturity Checklist ‒ Preliminary Information Security Requirements Gathering Tool

    		With these tools & templates:
    Security Incident Management Policy
    Security Incident Management Plan
    Phase 1 Results & Insights:

    Ready-made incident response solutions often contain too much coverage: too many irrelevant cases that are not applicable to the organization are accounted for, making it difficult to sift through all the incidents to find the ones you care about. Develop specific incident use cases that correspond with relevant incidents to quickly identify the response process and eliminate ambiguity when handled by different individuals.

    Ice breaker: What is a security incident for your organization?

    1.1 Whiteboard Exercise – 60 minutes

    How do you classify various incident types between service desk, IT/infrastructure, and security?

    • Populate sticky notes with various incidents and assign them to the appropriate team.
      • Who owns the remediation? When are other groups involved? What is the triage/escalation process?
      • What other groups need to be notified (e.g. cyber insurance, Legal, HR, PR)?
      • Are there dependencies among incidents?
      • What are we covering in the scope of this project?

    Choose a Right-Sized Contact Center Solution

    • Buy Link or Shortcode: {j2store}334|cart{/j2store}
    • member rating overall impact: 10.0/10 Overall Impact
    • member rating average dollars saved: $25,535 Average $ Saved
    • member rating average days saved: 18 Average Days Saved
    • Parent Category Name: Strategy and Organizational Design
    • Parent Category Link: /strategy-and-organizational-design
    • IT needs a method to pinpoint which contact center solution best aligns with business objectives, adapting to a post-COVID world of remote work, flexibility, and scalability.
    • Scoring RFP and RFQ proposals is a complex process, and it is difficult to map and gap without a clear view of the organization’s needs. SOWs can contain pitfalls that cause expensive headaches for the organization in the long run. Guidance through a SOW is required to best represent the organization’s interests.

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    • “On-premises versus cloud” is a false dichotomy. Contact center architectures come in all shapes and sizes, and organizations should discern whether a hybrid option best meets their needs.
    • Contact centers should service customers – not capabilities. Capabilities must work for you, your agents, and your customers – not the other way around.
    • Deliverables and responsibilities should be a contract’s focal point. While organizations are right to focus on avoiding unanticipated license charges, it is more important to clearly define how deliverables and responsibilities will be divided among the organization, the vendor, and potential third parties.

    Impact and Result

    • Assess the array of contact center architectures with Info-Tech’s Contact Center Decision Points Tool to select a right-sized solution.
    • Build business requirements in a formalized process to achieve stakeholder buy-in.
    • Use Info-Tech’s Contact Center RFP Scoring Tool to evaluate and choose from a range of vendors.
    • Successfully navigate and avoid major pitfalls in a SOW construction.
    • Justify each stage of the process with this blueprint’s key deliverable: the Contact Center Playbook.

    Choose a Right-Sized Contact Center Solution Research & Tools

    Start here – read the Executive Brief

    Read our concise Executive Brief to examine the current contact center marketspace, review Info-Tech’s methodology for choosing a right-sized contact center solution, and understand the four ways we can support you in completing this project.

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

    1. Assess Contact Center Architectures

    Establish your project vision and metrics of success before shortlisting potential contact center architectures and deciding which is right-sized for the organization.

    • Choose a Right-Sized Contact Center Solution – Phase 1: Assess Contact Center Architectures
    • Contact Center Playbook
    • Contact Center Decision Points Tool

    2. Gather Requirements and Shortlist Vendors

    Build business requirements to achieve stakeholder buy-in, define key deliverables, and issue an RFP/RFQ to shortlisted vendors.

    • Choose a Right-Sized Contact Center Solution – Phase 2: Gather Requirements and Shortlist Vendors
    • Requirements Gathering Documentation Tool
    • Lean RFP Template
    • Contact Center Business Requirements Document
    • Request for Quotation Template
    • Long-Form RFP Template

    3. Score Vendors and Construct SOW

    Score RFP/RFQ responses and decide upon a vendor before constructing a SOW.

    • Choose a Right-Sized Contact Center Solution – Phase 3: Score Vendors and Construct SOW
    • Contact Center RFP Scoring Tool
    • Contact Center SOW Template and Guide
    [infographic]

    Workshop: Choose a Right-Sized Contact Center Solution

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

    1 Assess Architecture

    The Purpose

    Shortlist and decide upon a right-sized contact center architecture.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    A high-level decision for a right-sized architecture

    Activities

    1.1 Define vision and mission statements.

    1.2 Identify infrastructure metrics of success.

    1.3 Confirm key performance indicators for contact center operations.

    1.4 Complete architecture assessment.

    1.5 Confirm right-sized architecture.

    Outputs

    Project outline

    Metrics of success

    KPIs confirmed

    Quickly narrow down right-sized architecture

    Decision on right-sized contact center architecture

    2 Gather Requirements

    The Purpose

    Build business requirements and define key deliverables to achieve stakeholder buy-in and shortlist potential vendors.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Key deliverables defined and a shortlist of no more than five vendors

    Sections 7-8 of the Contact Center Playbook completed

    Activities

    2.1 Hold focus groups with key stakeholders.

    2.2 Gather business, nonfunctional, and functional requirements.

    2.3 Define key deliverables.

    2.4 Shortlist five vendors that appear meet those requirements.

    Outputs

    User requirements identified

    Business Requirements Document completed

    Key deliverables defined

    Shortlist of five vendors

    3 Initial Vendor Scoring

    The Purpose

    Compare and evaluate shortlisted vendors against gathered requirements.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Have a strong overview of which vendors are preferred for issuing RFP/RFQ

    Section 9 of the Contact Center Playbook

    Activities

    3.1 Input requirements to the Contact Center RFP Scoring Tool. Define which are mandatory and which are desirable.

    3.2 Determine which vendors best meet requirements.

    3.3 Compare requirements met with anticipated TCO.

    3.4 Compare and rank vendors.

    Outputs

    An assessment of requirements

    Vendor scoring

    A holistic overview of requirements scoring and vendor TCO

    An initial ranking of vendors to shape RFP process after workshop end

    4 SOW Walkthrough

    The Purpose

    Walk through the Contact Center SOW Template and Guide to identify how much time to allocate per section and who will be responsible for completing it.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    An understanding of a SOW that is designed to avoid major pitfalls with vendor management

    Section 10 of the Contact Center Playbook

    Activities

    4.1 Get familiar with the SOW structure.

    4.2 Identify which sections will demand greater time allocation.

    4.3 Strategize how to avoid potential pitfalls.

    4.4 Confirm reviewer responsibilities.

    Outputs

    A broad understanding of a SOW’s key sections

    A determination of how much time should be allocated for reviewing major sections

    A list of ways to avoid major pitfalls with vendor management

    A list of reviewers, the sections they are responsible for reviewing, and their time allocation for their review

    5 Communicate and Implement

    The Purpose

    Finalize deliverables and plan post-workshop communications.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    A completed Contact Center Playbook that justifies each decision of this workshop

    Activities

    5.1 Finalize deliverables.

    5.2 Support communication efforts.

    5.3 Identify resources in support of priority initiatives.

    Outputs

    Contact Center Playbook delivered

    Post-workshop engagement to confirm satisfaction

    Follow-up research that complements the workshop or leads workshop group in relevant new directions

    Satisfy Digital End Users With Low- and No-Code

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    • member rating overall impact: 8.5/10 Overall Impact
    • member rating average dollars saved: $2,460 Average $ Saved
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    • Parent Category Name: Architecture & Strategy
    • Parent Category Link: /architecture-and-strategy
    • Your organization decided to invest in digital solutions to support their transition to a digital and automated workplace. They are ready to begin the planning and delivery of these solutions.
    • However, IT capacity is constrained due to the high and aggressive demand to meet business priorities and maintain mission critical applications. Technical experience and skills are difficult to find, and stakeholders are increasing their expectations to deliver technologies faster with high quality using less resources.
    • Stakeholders are interested in low and no code solutions as ways to their software delivery challenges and explore new digital capabilities.

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    • Current software delivery inefficiencies and lack of proper governance and standards impedes the ability to successfully scale and mature low and no code investments and see their full value.
    • Many operating models and culture do not enable or encourage the collaboration needed to evaluate business opportunities and underlying operational systems.This can exacerbate existing shadow IT challenges and promote a negative perception of IT.
    • Low and no code tools bring significant organizational, process, and technical changes that IT and the business may not be prepared or willing to accept and adopt, especially when these tools support business and worker managed applications and services.

    Impact and Result

    • Establish the right expectations. Profile your digital end users and their needs and challenges. Discuss current IT and business software delivery and digital product priorities to determine what to expect from low- and no-code.
    • Build your low- and no-code governance and support. Clarify the roles, processes, and tools needed for low- and no-code delivery and management through IT and business collaboration.
    • Evaluate the fit of low- and no-code and shortlist possible tools. Obtain a thorough view of the business and technical complexities of your use cases. Indicate where and how low- and no-code is expected to generate the most return.

    Satisfy Digital End Users With Low- and No-Code Research & Tools

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

    1. Satisfy Digital End Users With Low- and No-Code Deck – A step-by-step guide on selecting the appropriate low- and no-code tools and building the right people, processes, and technologies to support them.

    This blueprint helps you develop an approach to understand your low- and no-code challenges and priorities and to shortlist, govern, and manage the right low- and no-code tools.

    • Satisfy Digital End Users With Low- and No-Code – Phases 1-3

    2. Low- and No-Code Communication Template – Clearly communicate the goal and approach of your low- and no-code implementation in a language your audience understands.

    This template narrates a story to describe the need and expectations of your low- and no-code initiative to get buy-in from stakeholders and interested parties.

    • Low- and No-Code Communication Template

    Infographic

    Workshop: Satisfy Digital End Users With Low- and No-Code

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

    1 Select Your Tools

    The Purpose

    Understand the personas of your low- and no-code users and their needs.

    List the challenges low- and no-code is designed to solve or the opportunities you hope to exploit.

    Identify the low- and no-code tools to address your needs.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Level set expectations on what low- and no-code can deliver.

    Identify areas where low- and no-code can be the most beneficial.

    Select the tools to best address your problem and opportunities.

    Activities

    1.1 Profile your digital end users

    1.2 Set reasonable expectations

    1.3 List your use cases

    1.4 Shortlist your tools

    Outputs

    Digital end-user skills assessment

    Low- and no-code objectives and metrics

    Low- and no-code use case opportunities

    Low- and no-code tooling shortlist

    2 Deliver Your Solution

    The Purpose

    Optimize your product delivery process to accommodate low- and no-code.

    Review and improve your product delivery and management governance model.

    Discuss how to improve your low- and no-code capacities.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Encourage business-IT collaborative practices and improve IT’s reputation.

    Shift the right accountability and ownership to the business.

    Equip digital end users with the right skills and competencies.

    Activities

    2.1 Adapt your delivery process

    2.2 Transform your governance

    2.3 Identify your low- and no-code capacities

    Outputs

    Low- and no-code delivery process and guiding principles

    Low- and no-code governance, including roles and responsibilities, product ownership and guardrails

    List of low- and no-code capacity improvements

    3 Plan Your Adoption

    The Purpose

    Design a CoE and/or CoP to support low- and no-code capabilities.

    Build a roadmap to illustrate key low- and no-code initiatives.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Ensure coordinated, architected, and planned implementation and adoption of low- and no-code consistently across the organization.

    Reaffirm support for digital end users new to low- and no-code.

    Clearly communicate your approach to low- and no-code.

    Activities

    3.1 Support digital end users and facilitate cross-functional sharing

    3.2 Yield results with a roadmap

    Outputs

    Low- and no-code supportive body design (e.g. center of excellence, community of practice)

    Low- and no-code roadmap

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    2021 IT Talent Trend Report

    • Buy Link or Shortcode: {j2store}516|cart{/j2store}
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    • Parent Category Name: Lead
    • Parent Category Link: /lead
    • In March 2020, many organizations were forced to switch to a virtual working world. IT enabled organizations to be successful while working from home. Ultimately, this shift changed the way that we all work, and in turn, the way IT leaders manage talent.
    • Many organizations are considering long-term remote work (Kelly, 2020).
    • Change is starting but is lagging.

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    • Increase focus on employee experience to navigate new challenges.
    • A good employee experience is what is best for the IT department.

    Impact and Result

    • The data shows IT is changing in the area of talent management.
    • IT has a large role in enabling organizations to work from home, especially from a technological and logistics perspective. There is evidence to show that they are now expanding their role to better support employees when working from home.
    • Survey respondents identified efforts already underway for IT to improve employee experience and subsequently, IT effectiveness.

    2021 IT Talent Trend Report Research & Tools

    Start here – read the Executive Brief

    Read our concise Executive Brief to find out why you should focus on the employee experience and get an overview of what successful IT leaders are doing differently heading into 2021 – the five new talent management trends.

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

    1. DEI: A top talent objective

    The focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives spans the entire organization beyond just HR. Learn which DEI efforts are underway with IT.

    • 2021 IT Talent Trend Report – Trend 1: DEI: A Top Talent Objective

    2. Remote work is here to stay

    Forced work-from-home demonstrated to organizations that employees can be productive while working away from the physical office. Learn more about how remote work is changing work.

    • 2021 IT Talent Trend Report – Trend 2: Remote Work Is Here to Stay

    3. A greater emphasis on wellbeing

    When the pandemic hit, organizations were significantly concerned about how employees were doing. Learn more about wellbeing.

    • 2021 IT Talent Trend Report – Trend 3: A Greater Emphasis on Wellbeing

    4. A shift in skills priorities

    Upskilling and finding sought after skills were challenging before the pandemic. How has it changed since? Learn more about skills priorities.

    • 2021 IT Talent Trend Report – Trend 4: A Shift in Skills Priorities

    5. Uncertainty unlocks performance

    The pandemic and remote work has affected performance. Learn about how uncertainty has impacted performance management.

    • 2021 IT Talent Trend Report – Trend 5: Uncertainty Unlocks Performance
    [infographic]

    Determine the Future of Microsoft Project in Your Organization

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    • Parent Category Name: Project Management Office
    • Parent Category Link: /project-management-office
    • You use Microsoft tools to manage your work, projects, and/or project portfolio.
    • Its latest offering, Project for the web, is new and you’re not sure what to make of it. Microsoft says it will soon replace Microsoft Project and Project Online, but the new software doesn’t seem to do what the old software did.
    • The organization has adopted M365 for collaboration and work management. Meetings happen on Teams, projects are scoped a bit with Planner, and the operations group uses Azure Boards to keep track of what they need to get done.
    • Despite your reservations about the new project management software, Microsoft software has become even more ubiquitous.

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    • The various MS Project offerings (but most notably the latest, Project for the web) hold the promise of integrating with the rest of M365 into a unified work management solution. However, out of the box, Project for the web and the various platforms within M365 are all disparate utilities that need to be pieced together in a purpose-built manner to make use of them for holistic work management purposes. If you’re looking for a cohesive product out of the box, look elsewhere. If you’re looking to assemble a wide array of work, project, and portfolio management functions across different functions and departments, you may have found what you seek.
    • Rather than choosing tools based on your gaps, assess your current maturity level so that you optimize your investment in the Microsoft landscape.

    Impact and Result

    Follow Info-Tech’s path in this blueprint to:

    • Perform a tool audit to trim your work management tool landscape.
    • Navigate the MS Project and M365 licensing landscape.
    • Make sense of what to do with Project for the web and take the right approach to rolling it out (i.e. DIY or MS Gold Partner driven) based upon your needs.
    • Create an action plan to inform next steps.

    After following the program in this blueprint, you will be prepared to advise the organization on how to best leverage the rapidly shifting work management options within M365 and the place of MS Project within it.

    Determine the Future of Microsoft Project in Your Organization Research & Tools

    Start here – read the Executive Brief

    Read our concise Executive Brief to find out why you should make sense of the MS Project and M365 landscapes, review Info-Tech’s methodology, and understand the four ways we can support you in completing this project.

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

    1. Determine your tool needs

    Assess your work management tool landscape, current state maturity, and licensing needs to inform a purpose-built work management action plan.

    • M365 Task Management Tool Guide
    • M365 Project Management Tool Guide
    • M365 Project Portfolio Management Tool Guide
    • Tool Audit Workbook
    • Force Field Analysis Tool
    • Microsoft Project & M365 Licensing Tool
    • Project Portfolio Management Maturity Assessment Workbook (With Tool Analysis)
    • Project Management Maturity Assessment Workbook (With Tool Analysis)

    2. Weigh your MS Project implementation options

    Get familiar with Project for the web’s extensibility as well as the MS Gold Partner ecosystem as you contemplate the best implementation approach(s) for your organization.

    • None
    • None

    3. Finalize your implementation approach

    Prepare a boardroom-ready presentation that will help you communicate your MS Project and M365 action plan to PMO and organizational stakeholders.

    • Microsoft Project & M365 Action Plan Template

    Infographic

    Workshop: Determine the Future of Microsoft Project in Your Organization

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

    1 Assess Driving Forces and Risks

    The Purpose

    Assess the goals and needs as well as the risks and constraints of a work management optimization.

    Take stock of your organization’s current work management tool landscape.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Clear goals and alignment across workshop participants as well as an understanding of the risks and constraints that will need to be mitigated to succeed.

    Current-state insight into the organization’s work management tool landscape.

    Activities

    1.1 Review the business context.

    1.2 Explore the M365 work management landscape.

    1.3 Identify driving forces for change.

    1.4 Analyze potential risks.

    1.5 Perform current-state analysis on work management tools.

    Outputs

    Business context

    Current-state understanding of the task, project, and portfolio management options in M365 and how they align with the organization’s ways of working

    Goals and needs analysis

    Risks and constraints analysis

    Work management tool overview

    2 Determine Tool Needs and Process Maturity

    The Purpose

    Determine your organization’s work management tool needs as well as its current level of project management and project portfolio management process maturity.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    An understanding of your tooling needs and your current levels of process maturity.

    Activities

    2.1 Review tool audit dashboard and conduct the final audit.

    2.2 Identify current Microsoft licensing.

    2.3 Assess current-state maturity for project management.

    2.4 Define target state for project management.

    2.5 Assess current-state maturity for project portfolio management.

    2.6 Define target state for project portfolio management.

    Outputs

    Tool audit

    An understanding of licensing options and what’s needed to optimize MS Project options

    Project management current-state analysis

    Project management gap analysis

    Project portfolio management current-state analysis

    Project portfolio management gap analysis

    3 Weigh Your Implementation Options

    The Purpose

    Take stock of your implementation options for Microsoft old project tech and new project tech.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    An optimized implementation approach based upon your organization’s current state and needs.

    Activities

    3.1 Prepare a needs assessment for Microsoft 365 and Project Plan licenses.

    3.2 Review the business case for Microsoft licensing.

    3.3 Get familiar with Project for the web.

    3.4 Assess the MS Gold Partner Community.

    3.5 Conduct a feasibility test for PFTW.

    Outputs

    M365 and Project Plan needs assessment

    Business case for additional M365 and MS Project licensing

    An understand of Project for the web and how to extend it

    MS Gold Partner outreach plan

    A go/no-go decision for extending Project for the web on your own

    4 Finalize Implementation Approach

    The Purpose

    Determine the best implementation approach for your organization and prepare an action plan.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    A purpose-built implementation approach to help communicate recommendations and needs to key stakeholders.

    Activities

    4.1 Decide on the implementation approach.

    4.2 Identify the audience for your proposal.

    4.3 Determine timeline and assign accountabilities.

    4.4 Develop executive summary presentation.

    Outputs

    An implementation plan

    Stakeholder analysis

    A communication plan

    Initial executive presentation

    5 Next Steps and Wrap-Up (offsite)

    The Purpose

    Finalize your M365 and MS Project work management recommendations and get ready to communicate them to key stakeholders.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Time saved in developing and communicating an action plan.

    Stakeholder buy-in.

    Activities

    5.1 Complete in-progress deliverables from previous four days.

    5.2 Set up review time for workshop deliverables and to discuss next steps.

    Outputs

    Finalized executive presentation

    A gameplan to communicate your recommendations to key stakeholders as well as a roadmap for future optimization

    Further reading

    Determine the Future of Microsoft Project in Your Organization

    View your task management, project management, and project portfolio management options through the lens of M365.

    EXECUTIVE BRIEF

    Analyst Perspective

    Microsoft Project is an enigma

    Microsoft Project has dominated its market since being introduced in the 1980s, yet the level of adoption and usage per license is incredibly low.

    The software is ubiquitous, mostly considered to represent its category for “Project Management.” Yet, the software is conflated with its “Portfolio Management” offerings as organizations make platform decisions with Microsoft Project as the incorrectly identified incumbent.

    And incredibly, Microsoft has dominated the next era of productivity software with the “365” offerings. Yet, it froze the “Project” family of offerings and introduced the not-yet-functional “Project for the web.”

    Having a difficult time understanding what to do with, and about, Microsoft Project? You’re hardly alone. It’s not simply a question of tolerating, embracing, or rejecting the product: many who choose a competitor find they’re still paying for Microsoft Project-related licensing for years to come.

    If you’re in the Microsoft 365 ecosystem, use this research to understand your rapidly shifting landscape of options.

    (Barry Cousins, Project Portfolio Management Practice Lead, Info-Tech Research Group)

    Executive Summary

    Your Challenge

    You use Microsoft (MS) tools to manage your work, projects, and/or project portfolio.

    Their latest offering, Project for the web, is new and you’re not sure what to make of it. Microsoft says it will soon replace Microsoft Project and Project Online, but the new software doesn’t seem to do what the old software did.

    The organization has adopted M365 for collaboration and work management. Meetings happen on Teams, projects are scoped a bit with Planner, and the operations group uses Azure Boards to keep track of what they need to get done.

    Despite your reservations about the new project management software, Microsoft software has become even more ubiquitous.

    Common Obstacles

    M365 provides the basic components for managing tasks, projects, and project portfolios, but there is no instruction manual for making those parts work together.

    M365 isn’t the only set of tools at play. Business units and teams across the organization have procured other non-Microsoft tools for work management without involving IT.

    Microsoft’s latest project offering, Project for the web, is still evolving and you’re never sure if it is stable or ready for prime time. The missing function seems to involve the more sophisticated project planning disciplines, which are still important to larger, longer, and costlier projects.

    Common Obstacles

    Follow Info-Tech’s path in this blueprint to:

    • Perform a tool audit to trim your work management tool landscape.
    • Navigate the MS Project and M365 licensing landscape.
    • Make sense of what to do with Project for the web and take the right approach to rolling it out (i.e. DIY or MS Gold Partner driven) for your needs.
    • Create an action plan to inform next steps.

    After following the program in this blueprint, you will be prepared to advise the organization on how to best leverage the rapidly shifting work management options within M365 and the place of MS Project within it.

    M365 and, within it, O365 are taking over

    Accelerated partly by the pandemic and the move to remote work, Microsoft’s market share in the work productivity space has grown exponentially in the last two years.

    70% of Fortune 500 companies purchased 365 from Sept. 2019 to Sept. 2020. (Thexyz blog, 2020)

    In its FY21 Q2 report, Microsoft reported 47.5 million M365 consumer subscribers – an 11.2% increase from its FY20 Q4 reporting. (Office 365 for IT Pros, 2021)

    As of September 2020, there were 258,000,000 licensed O365 users. (Thexyz blog, 2020)

    In this blueprint, we’ll look at what the what the phenomenal growth of M365 means for PMOs and project portfolio practitioners who identify as Microsoft shops

    The market share of M365 warrants a fresh look at Microsoft’s suite of project offerings

    For many PMO and project portfolio practitioners, the footprint of M365 in their organizations’ work management cultures is forcing a renewed look at Microsoft’s suite of project offerings.

    The complicating factor is this renewed look comes at a transitional time in Microsoft’s suite of project and portfolio offerings.

    • The market dominance of MS Project Server and Project Online are wanning, with Microsoft promising the end-of-life for Online sometime in the coming years.
    • Project Online’s replacement, Project for the web, is a viable task management and lightweight project management tool, but its viability as a replacement for the rigor of Project Online is at present largely a question mark.
    • Related to the uncertainty and promise around Project for the web, the Dataverse and the Power Platform offer a glimpse into a democratized future of work management tools but anything specific about that future has yet to solidify.

    Microsoft Project has 66% market share in the project management tool space. (Celoxis, 2018)

    A copy of MS project is sold or licensed every 20 seconds. (Integent, 2013)

    MS Project is evolving to meet new work management realities

    It also evolved to not meet the old project management realities.

    • The lines between traditional project management and operational task management solutions are blurring as organizations struggle to keep up with demands.
    • To make the software easier to use, modern work management doesn’t involve the complexities from days past. You won’t find anywhere to introduce complex predecessor-successor relationships, unbalanced assignments with front-loading or back-loading, early-start/late-finish, critical path, etc.
    • “Work management” is among the latest buzzwords in IT consulting. With Project for the web (PFTW), Azure Boards, and Planner, Microsoft is attempting to compete with lighter and better-adopted tools like Trello, Basecamp, Asana, Wrike, and Monday.com.
    • Buyers of project and work management software have struggled to understand how PFTW will still be usable if it gets the missing project management function from MS Project.

    Info-Tech Insight

    Beware of the Software Granularity Paradox.

    Common opinion 1: “Plans and estimates that are granular enough to be believable are too detailed to manage and maintain.”

    Common opinion 2: “Plans simple enough to publish aren’t detailed enough to produce believable estimates.”

    In other words, software simple enough to get widely adopted doesn’t produce believable plans. Software that can produce believable plans is too complex to use at scale.

    A viable task and project management option must walk the line between these dichotomies.

    M365 gives you the pieces, but it’s on PMO users to piece them together in a viable way

    With the new MS Project and M365, it’s on PMOs to avoid the granularity paradox and produce a functioning solution that fits with the organization’s ways of working.

    Common perception still sees Microsoft Project as a rich software tool. Thus, when we consider the next generation of Microsoft Project, it’s easy to expect a newer and friendlier version of what we knew before.

    In truth, the new solution is a collection of partially integrated but largely disparate tools that each satisfy a portion of the market’s needs. While it looks like a rich collection of function when viewed through high-level requirements, users will find:

    • Overlaps, where multiple tools satisfy the same functional requirement (e.g. “assign a task”)
    • Gaps, where a tool doesn’t quite do enough and you’re forced to incorporate another tool (e.g. reverting back to Microsoft Project for advanced resource planning)
    • Islands, where tools don’t fluently talk to each other (e.g. Planner data integrated in real-time with portfolio data, which requires clunky, unstable, decentralized end-user integrations with Microsoft Power Automate)
    A colourful arrangement of Microsoft programs arranged around a pile of puzzle pieces.

    Info-Tech's approach

    Use our framework to best leverage the right MS Project offerings and M365 components for your organization’s work management needs.

    The Info-Tech difference:

    1. A simple to follow framework to help you make sense of a chaotic landscape.
    2. Practical and tactical tools that will help you save time.
    3. Leverage industry best practices and practitioner-based insights.
    An Info-Tech framework titled 'Determine the Future of Microsoft Project in Your Organization, subtitle 'View your task, project, and portfolio management options through the lens of Microsoft 365'. There are four main sections titled 'Background', 'Approaches', 'Deployments', and 'Portfolio Outcomes'. In '1) Background' are 'Analyze Content', 'Assess Constraints', and 'Determine Goals and Needs'. In '2) Approaches' are 'DIY: Are you ready to do it yourself?' 'Info-Tech: Can our analysts help?', and 'MS Gold Partner: Are you better off with a third party?'. In '3) Deployments' are five sections: 'Personal Task Management', Barriers to Portfolio Outcomes: Isolated to One Person. 'Team Task Management', Barriers to Portfolio Outcomes: Isolated to One Team. 'Project Portfolio Management', Barriers to Portfolio Outcomes: Isolated to One Project. 'Project Management', Barriers to Portfolio Outcomes: Functionally Incomplete. 'Enterprise Project and Portfolio Management', Barriers to Portfolio Outcomes: Underadopted. In '4) Portfolio Outcomes' are 'Informed Steering Committee', 'Increased Project Throughput', 'Improved Portfolio Responsiveness', 'Optimized Resource Utilization', and 'Reduced Monetary Waste'.

    Determine the Future of Microsoft Project in Your Organization

    View your task, project, and portfolio management options through the lens of Microsoft 365.

    1. Background

    • Analyze Content
    • Assess Constraints
    • Determine Goals and Needs

    2. Approaches

    • DIY – Are you ready to do it yourself?
    • Info-Tech – Can our analysts help?
    • MS Gold Partner – Are you better off with a third party?

    3. Deployments

      Task Management

    • Personal Task Management
      • Who does it? Knowledge workers
      • What is it? To-do lists
      • Common Approaches
        • Paper list and sticky notes
        • Light task tools
      • Applications
        • Planner
        • To Do
      • Level of Rigor 1/5
      • Barriers to Portfolio Outcomes: Isolated to One Person
    • Team Task Management
      • Who does it? Groups of knowledge workers
      • What is it? Collaborative to-do lists
      • Common Approaches
        • Kanban boards
        • Spreadsheets
        • Light task tools
      • Applications
        • Planner
        • Azure Boards
        • Teams
      • Level of Rigor 2/5
      • Barriers to Portfolio Outcomes: Isolated to One Team

      • Project Management

    • Project Portfolio Management
      • Who does it? PMO Directors, Portfolio Managers
      • What is it?
        • Centralized list of projects
        • Request and intake handling
        • Aggregating reporting
      • Common Approaches
        • Spreadsheets
        • PPM software
        • Roadmaps
      • Applications
        • Project for the Web
        • Power Platform
      • Level of Rigor 3/5
      • Barriers to Portfolio Outcomes: Isolated to One Project
    • Project Management
      • Who does it? Project Managers
      • What is it? Deterministic scheduling of related tasks
      • Common Approaches
        • Spreadsheets
        • Lists
        • PM software
        • PPM software
      • Applications
        • Project Desktop Client
      • Level of Rigor 4/5
      • Barriers to Portfolio Outcomes: Functionally Incomplete

      • Enterprise Project and Portfolio Management

    • Enterprise Project and Portfolio Management
      • Who does it? PMO and ePMO Directors, Portfolio Managers, Project Managers
      • What is it?
        • Centralized request and intake handling
        • Resource capacity management
        • Deterministic scheduling of related tasks
      • Common Approaches
        • PPM software
      • Applications
        • Project Online
        • Project Desktop Client
        • Project Server
      • Level of Rigor 5/5
      • Barriers to Portfolio Outcomes: Underadopted

    4. Portfolio Outcomes

    • Informed Steering Committee
    • Increased Project Throughput
    • Improved Portfolio Responsiveness
    • Optimized Resource Utilization
    • Reduced Monetary Waste

    Info-Tech's methodology for Determine the Future of MS Project for Your Organization

    1. Determine Your Tool Needs

    2. Weigh Your MS Project Implementation Options

    3. Finalize Your Implementation Approach

    Phase Steps
    1. Survey the M365 Work Management Tools
    2. Perform a Process Maturity Assessment to Help Inform Your M365 Starting Point
    3. Consider the Right MS Project Licenses for Your Stakeholders
    1. Get Familiar With Extending Project for the Web Using Power Apps
    2. Assess the MS Gold Partner Community
    1. Prepare an Action Plan

    Phase Outcomes
    1. Work Management Tool Audit
    2. MS Project and Power Platform Licensing Needs
    3. Project Management and Project Portfolio Management Maturity Assessment
    1. Project for the Web Readiness Assessment
    2. MS Gold Partner Outreach Plan
    1. MS Project and M365 Action Plan Presentation

    Insight Summary

    Overarching blueprint insight: Microsoft Parts Sold Separately. Assembly required.

    The various MS Project offerings (but most notably the latest, Project for the web) hold the promise of integrating with the rest of M365 into a unified work management solution. However, out of the box, Project for the web and the various platforms within M365 are all disparate utilities that need to be pieced together in a purpose-built manner to make use of them for holistic work management purposes.

    If you’re looking for a cohesive product out of the box, look elsewhere. If you’re looking to assemble a wide array of work, project, and portfolio management functions across different functions and departments, you may have found what you seek

    Phase 1 insight: Align your tool choice to your process maturity level.

    Rather than choosing tools based on your gaps, make sure to assess your current maturity level so that you optimize your investment in the Microsoft landscape.

    Phase 2 insight: Weigh your options before jumping into Microsoft’s new tech.

    Microsoft’s new Project plans (P1, P3, and P5) suggest there is a meaningful connection out of the box between its old tech (Project desktop, Project Server, and Project Online) and its new tech (Project for the web).

    However, the offerings are not always interoperable.

    Phase 3 insight: Keep the iterations small as you move ahead with trials and implementations.

    Organizations are changing as fast as the software we use to run them.

    If you’re implementing parts of this platform, keep the changes small as you monitor the vendors for new software versions and integrations.

    Blueprint deliverables

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

    Key deliverable: Microsoft Project & M365 Action Plan Template

    The Action Plan will help culminate and present:

    • Context and Constraints
    • DIY Implementation Approach
    Or
    • MS Partner Implementation Approach
    • Future-State Vision and Goals
    Samples of Info-Tech's key deliverable 'Microsoft Project and M365 Action Plan Template'.

    Tool Audit Workbook

    Sample of Info-Tech deliverable 'Tool Audit Workbook'.

    Assess your organization's current work management tool landscape and determine what tools drive value for individual users and teams and which ones can be rationalized.

    Force Field Analysis

    Sample of Info-Tech deliverable 'Force Field Analysis'.

    Document the driving and resisting forces for making a change to your work management tools.

    Maturity Assessments

    Sample of Info-Tech deliverable 'Maturity Assessments'.

    Use these assessments to identify gaps in project management and project portfolio management processes. The results will help guide process improvement efforts and measure success and progress.

    Microsoft Project & M365 Licensing Tool

    Sample of Info-Tech deliverable 'Microsoft Project and M365 Licensing Tool'.

    Determine the best licensing options and approaches for your implementation of Microsoft Project.

    Curate your work management tools to harness valuable portfolio outcomes

    • Increase Project Throughput

      Do more projects by ensuring the right projects and the right amount of projects are approved and executed.

    • Support an Informed Steering Committee

      Easily compare progress of projects across the portfolio and enable the leadership team to make decisions.

    • Improve portfolio responsiveness

      Make the portfolio responsive to executive steering when new projects and changing priorities need rapid action.

    • Optimize Resource Utilization

      Assign the right resources to approved projects and minimize the chronic over-allocation of resources that leads to burnout.

    • Reduce Monetary Waste

      Terminate low-value projects early and avoid sinking additional funds into unsuccessful ventures.

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

    DIY Toolkit

    Guided Implementation

    Workshop

    Consulting
    "Our team has already made this critical project a priority, and we have the time and capability, but some guidance along the way would be helpful." "Our team knows that we need to fix a process, but we need assistance to determine where to focus. Some check-ins along the way would help keep us on track." "We need to hit the ground running and get this project kicked off immediately. Our team has the ability to take this over once we get a framework and strategy in place." "Our team does not have the time or the knowledge to take this project on. We need assistance through the entirety of this project."

    Diagnostics and consistent frameworks used throughout all four options

    Guided Implementation

    What does a typical GI on this topic look like?

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

    A typical GI is between 6 to 8 calls over the course of 3 to 4 months.

      Introduction

    • Call #1: Scope requirements, objectives, and your specific challenges.

      • Phase 1

    • Call #2: Explore the M365 work management landscape.
    • Call #3: Discuss Microsoft Project Plans and their capabilities.
    • Call #4: Assess current-state maturity.

      • Phase 2

    • Call #5: Get familiar with extending Project for the web using Power Apps.
    • Call #6: Assess the MS Gold Partner Community.

      • Phase 3

    • Call #7: Determine approach and deployment.
    • Call #8: Discuss action plan.

    Workshop Overview

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

    Day 1
    Assess Driving Forces and Risks

    Day 2
    Determine Tool Needs and Process Maturity

    Day 3
    Weigh Your Implementation Options

    Day 4
    Finalize Implementation Approach

    Day 5
    Next Steps and Wrap-Up (offsite)

    Activities
    • 1.1 Review the business context.
    • 1.2 Explore the M365 work management landscape.
    • 1.3 Identify driving forces for change.
    • 1.4 Analyze potential risks.
    • 1.5 Perform current-state analysis on work management tools.
    • 2.1 Review tool audit dashboard and conduct the final audit.
    • 2.2 Identify current Microsoft licensing.
    • 2.3 Assess current-state maturity for project management.
    • 2.4 Define target state for project management.
    • 2.5 Assess current-state maturity for project portfolio management.
    • 2.6 Define target state for project portfolio management.
    • 3.1 Prepare a needs assessment for Microsoft 365 and Project Plan licenses.
    • 3.2 Review the business case for Microsoft licensing.
    • 3.3 Get familiar with Project for the web.
    • 3.4 Assess the MS Gold Partner Community.
    • 3.5 Conduct a feasibility test for PFTW.
    • 4.1 Decide on the implementation approach.
    • 4.2 Identify the audience for your proposal.
    • 4.3 Determine timeline and assign accountabilities.
    • 4.4 Develop executive summary presentation.
    • 5.1 Complete in-progress deliverables from previous four days.
    • 5.2 Set up review time for workshop deliverables and to discuss next steps.

    Deliverables
    1. Force Field Analysis
    2. Tool Audit Workbook
    1. Tool Audit Workbook
    2. Project Management Maturity Assessment
    3. Portfolio Management Maturity Assessment
    1. Microsoft Project and M365 Licensing Tool
    1. Microsoft Project & M365 Action Plan
    1. Microsoft Project & M365 Action Plan

    Determine the Future of Microsoft Project for Your Organization

    Phase 1: Determine Your Tool Needs

    Phase 1: Determine Your Tool Needs

    		 Phase 2: Weigh Your Implementation Options Phase 3: Finalize Your Implementation Approach
    • Step 1.1: Survey the M365 work management landscape
    • Step 1.2: Explore the Microsoft Project Plans and their capabilities
    • Step 1.3: Assess the maturity of your current PM & PPM capabilities
    • Step 2.1: Get familiar with extending Project for the web using Power Apps
    • Step 2.2: Assess the MS Gold Partner Community
    • Step 3.1: Prepare an action plan

    Phase Outcomes

    • Tool Audit
    • Microsoft Project Licensing Analysis
    • Project Management Maturity Assessment
    • Project Portfolio Management Maturity Assessments

    Step 1.1

    Survey the M365 Work Management Landscape

    Activities

    • 1.1.1 Distinguish between task, project, and portfolio capabilities
    • 1.1.2 Review Microsoft’s offering for task, project, and portfolio management needs
    • 1.1.4 Assess your organizational context and constraints
    • 1.1.3 Explore typical deployment options

    This step will walk you through the following activities:

    • Assessing your organization’s context for project and project portfolio management
    • Documenting the organization’s constraints
    • Establishing the organization’s goals and needs

    This step involves the following participants:

    • PMO Director
    • Resource Managers
    • Project Managers
    • Knowledge Workers

    Outcomes of Step

    • Knowledge of the Microsoft ecosystem as it relates to task, project, and portfolio management
    • Current organizational context and constraints

    Don’t underestimate the value of interoperability

    The whole Microsoft suite is worth more than the sum of its parts … if you know how to put it together.

    38% of the worldwide office suite market belongs to Microsoft. (Source: Statistica, 2021)

    1 in 3 small to mid-sized organizations moving to Microsoft Project say they are doing so because it integrates well with Office 365. (Source: CBT Nuggets, 2018)

    There’s a gravity to the Microsoft ecosystem.

    And while there is no argument that there are standalone task management tools, project management tools, or portfolio management tools that are likely more robust, feature-rich, and easier to adopt, it’s rare that you find an ecosystem that can do it all, to an acceptable level.

    That is the value proposition of Microsoft: the ubiquity, familiarity, and versatility. It’s the Swiss army knife of software products.

    The work management landscape is evolving

    With M365, Microsoft is angling to become the industry leader, and your organization’s hub, for work management.

    Workers lose up to 40% of their time multi-tasking and switching between applications. (Bluescape, 2018)

    25 Context switches – On average, workers switch between 10 apps, 25 times a day. (Asana, 2021)

    “Work management” is among the latest buzzwords in IT consulting.

    What is work management? It was born of a blurring of the traditional lines between operational or day-to-day tasks and project management tasks, as organizations struggle to keep up with both operational and project demands.

    To make the software easier to use, modern work management doesn’t involve the complexities from days past. You won’t find anywhere to introduce complex predecessor-successor relationships, unbalanced assignments with front-loading or back-loading, early-start/late-finish, critical path, etc.

    Indeed, with Project for the web, Azure Boards, Planner, and other M365 utilities, Microsoft is attempting to compete with lighter and better-adopted tools (e.g. Trello, Wike, Monday.com).

    The Microsoft world of work management can be understood across three broad categories

    1. Task Management

      Task management is essentially the same as keeping track of a to-do list. While you can have a project-related task, you can also have a non-project-related task. The sum of project and non-project tasks make up the work that you need to complete.

    2. Project Management

      Project management (PM) is a methodical approach to planning and guiding project processes from start to finish. Implementing PM processes helps establish repeatable steps and controls that enable project success. Documentation of PM processes leads to consistent results and dependable delivery on expectations.

    3. Portfolio Management

      Project portfolio management (PPM) is a strategic approach to approving, prioritizing, resourcing, and reporting on project. In addition, effective PPM should nurture the completion of projects in the portfolio in the most efficient way and track the extent to which the organization is realizing the intended benefits from completed projects.

    The slides ahead explain each of these modes of working in the Microsoft ecosystem in turn. Further, Info-Tech’s Task, Project, and Project Portfolio Management Tool Guides explain these areas in more detail.

    Use Info-Tech’s Tool Guides assess your MS Project and M365 work management options

    Lean on Info-Tech’s Tool Guides as you navigate Microsoft’s tasks management, project management, and project portfolio management options.

    • The slides ahead take you through a bird’s-eye view of what your MS Project and M365 work management options look like across Info-Tech’s three broad categories
    • In addition to these slides, Info-Tech has three in-depth tool guides that take you through your operational task management, project management, and project portfolio management options in MS Project and M365.
    • These tool guides can be leveraged as you determine whether Microsoft has the required toolset for your organization’s task, project, and project portfolio management needs.

    Download Info-Tech’s Task Management, Project Management, and Project Portfolio Management Tool Guides

    Task Management Overview

    What is task management?

    • It is essentially the same as keeping track of a to-do list. While you can have a project-related task, you can also have a non-project-related task. The sum of project and non-project tasks make up the work that you need to complete.

    What are the benefits of task management using applications within the MS suite?

    • Many organizations already own the tools and don't have to go out and buy something separately.
    • There is easy integration with other MS applications.

    What is personal task management?

    • Tools that allow you to structure work that is visible only to you. This can include work from tasks you are going to be completing for yourself and tasks you are completing as part of a larger work effort.

    What is team task management?

    • Tools that allow users to structure work that is visible to a group. When something is moved or changed, it affects what the group is seeing because it is a shared platform.

    Get familiar with the Microsoft product offerings for task management

    A diagram of Microsoft products and what they can help accomplish. It starts on the right with 'Teams' and 'Outlook'. Both can flow through to 'Personal Task Management' with products 'Teams Tasks' and 'To-Do', but Teams also flows into 'Team Task Management' with products 'Planner' and 'Project for the web'. See the next two slides for more details on these modes of working.

    Download the M365 Task Management Tool Guide

    Personal Task Management

    The To-Do list

    • Who does it?
      • Knowledge workers
    • What is it?
      • How each knowledge worker organizes their individual work tasks in M365
    • When is it done?
      • As needed throughout the day
    • Where is it done?
      • Paper
      • Digital location
    • How is it done?
      • DIY and self-developed
      • Usually not repeatable and evolves depending on work location and tools available
      • Not governed

    Microsoft differentiator:

    Utilities like Planner and To-Do make it easier to turn what are often ad hoc approaches into a more repeatable process.

    Team Task Management

    The SharedTo-Do list

    • Who does it?
      • Groups of knowledge workers
    • What is it?
      • Temporary and permanent collections of knowledge workers
    • When is it done?
      • As needed or on a pre-determined cadence
    • Where is it done?
      • Paper
      • Digital location
    • How is it done?
      • User norms are established organically and adapted based upon the needs of the team.
      • To whatever extent processes are repeatable in the first place, they remain repeatable only if the team is a collective.
      • Usually governed within the team and not subject to wider visibility.

    Microsoft differentiator:

    Teams has opened personal task management tactics up to more collaborative approaches.

    Project Management Overview

    2003

    Project Server: This product serves many large enterprise clients, but Microsoft has stated that it is at end of life. It is appealing to industries and organizations where privacy is paramount. This is an on-premises system that combines servers like SharePoint, SQL, and BI to report on information from Project Desktop Client. To realize the value of this product, there must be adoption across the organization and engagement at the project-task level for all projects within the portfolio.

    2013

    Project Online: This product serves many medium enterprise clients. It is appealing for IT departments who want to get a rich set of features that can be used to intake projects, assign resources, and report on project portfolio health. It is a cloud solution built on the SharePoint platform, which provides many users a sense of familiarity. However, due to the bottom-up reporting nature of this product, again, adoption across the organization and engagement at the project task level for all projects within the portfolio is critical.

    2020

    Project for the web: This product is the newest on the market and is quickly being evolved. Many O365 enthusiasts have been early adopters of Project for the web despite its limited features when compared to Project Online. It is also a cloud solution that encourages citizen developers by being built on the MS Power Platform. This positions the product well to integrate with Power BI, Power Automate, and Power Apps. It is, so far, the only MS product that lends itself to abstracted portfolio management, which means it doesn’t rely on project task level engagement to produce portfolio reports. The portfolio can also run with a mixed methodology by funneling Project, Azure Boards, and Planner boards into its roadmap function.

    Get familiar with the Microsoft product offerings for project management

    A diagram of Microsoft products and what they can help accomplish in Personal and Team Project Management. Products listed include 'Project Desktop Client', 'Project Online', 'SharePoint', 'Power Platform', 'Azure DevOps', 'Project for the web', Project Roadmap', 'Project Home', and 'Project Server'. See the next slide for more details on personal and team project management as modes of working.

    Download the M365 Project Management Tool Guide

    Project Management

    Orchestrating the delivery of project work

    • Who does it?
      • Project managers
    • What is it?
      • Individual project managers developing project plans and schedules in the MS Project Desktop Client
    • When is it done?
      • Throughout the lifecycle of the project
    • Where is it done?
      • Digital location
    • How is it done?
      • Used by individual project managers to develop and manage project plans.
      • Common approaches may or may not involve reconciliation of resource capacity through integration with Active Directory.
      • Sometimes usage norms are established by organizational project management governance standards, though individual use of the desktop client is largely ungoverned.

    Microsoft differentiator:

    For better or worse, Microsoft’s core solution is veritably synonymous with project management itself and has formally contributed to the definition of the project management space.

    Project Portfolio Management Overview

    Optimize what you’re already using and get familiar with the Power Platform.

    What does PPM look like within M365?

    • The Office suite in the Microsoft 365 suite boasts the world’s most widely used application for the purposes of abstracted and strategic PPM: Excel. For the purposes of PPM, Excel is largely implemented in a suboptimal fashion, and as a result, organizations fail to gain PPM adoption and maturation through its use.
    • Until very recently, Microsoft toolset did not explicitly address abstracted PPM needs.
    • However, with the latest version of M365 and Project for the web, Microsoft is boasting of renewed PPM capabilities from its toolset. These capabilities are largely facilitated through what Microsoft is calling its Power Platform (i.e. a suite of products that includes Power, Power Apps, and Power Automate).

    Explore the Microsoft product offering for abstracted project portfolio management

    A diagram of Microsoft products for 'Adaptive or Abstracted Portfolio Management'. Products listed include 'Excel', 'MS Lists', 'Forms', 'Teams', and the 'Power Platform' products 'Power BI', 'Power Apps', and 'Power Automate'. See the next slide for more details on adaptive or abstracted portfolio management as a mode of working.

    Download the M365 Project Portfolio Management Tool Guide

    Project Portfolio Management

    Doing the right projects, at the right time, with the right resources

    • Who does it?
      • PMO directors; portfolio managers
    • What is it?
      A strategic approach to approving, prioritizing, resourcing, and reporting on projects using applications in M365 and Project for the web. In distinction to enterprise PPM, a top-down or abstracted approach is applied, meaning PPM data is not tied to project task details.
    • Where is it done?
      • Digital tool, either homegrown or commercial
    • How is it done?
      • Currently in M365, PPM approaches are largely self-developed, though Microsoft Gold Partners are commonly involved.
      • User norms are still evolving, along with the software’s (Project for the web) function.

    Microsoft differentiator:

    Integration between Project for the web and Power Apps allows for custom approaches.

    Project Portfolio Management Overview

    Microsoft’s legacy project management toolset has contributed to the definition of traditional or enterprise PPM space.

    A robust and intensive bottom-up approach that requires task level roll-ups from projects to inform portfolio level data. For this model to work, reconciliation of individual resource capacity must be universal and perpetually current.

    If your organization has low or no maturity with PPM, this approach will be tough to make successful.

    In fact, most organizations under adopt the tools required to effectively operate with the traditional project portfolio management. Once adopted and operationalized, this combination of tools gives the executives the most precise view of the current state of projects within the portfolio.

    Explore the Microsoft product offering for enterprise project portfolio management

    A diagram of Microsoft products for 'Enterprise or Traditional Portfolio Management'. Products listed include 'Project Desktop Client', 'SharePoint', 'Project Online', 'Azure DevOps', 'Project Roadmaps', and 'Project Home'. See the next slide for more details on this as a mode of working.

    Download the M365 Project Portfolio Management Tool Guide

    Enterprise Project and Portfolio Management

    Bottom-up approach to managing the project portfolio

    • Who does it?
      • PMO and ePMO directors; portfolio managers
      • Project managers
    • What is it?
      • A strategic approach to approving, prioritizing, resourcing, and reporting on projects using applications in M365 and Project for the web. In distinction to enterprise PPM, a top-down or abstracted approach is applied, meaning PPM data is not tied to project task details.
    • Where is it done?
      • Digital tool that is usually commercial.
    • How is it done?
      • Microsoft Gold Partner involvement is highly likely in successful implementations.
      • Usage norms are long established and customized solutions are prevalent.
      • To be successful, use must be highly governed.
      • Reconciliation of individual resource capacity must be universal and perpetually current.

    Microsoft differentiator:

    Microsoft’s established network of Gold Partners helps to make this deployment a viable option.

    Assess your current tool ecosystem across work management categories

    Use Info-Tech’s Tool Audit Workbook to assess the value and satisfaction for the work management tools currently in use.

    • With the modes of working in mind that have been addressed in the previous slides and in Info-Tech’s Tool Guides, the activity slides ahead encourage you to engage your wider organization to determine all of the ways of working across individuals and teams.
    • Depending on the scope of your work management optimization, these engagements may be limited to IT or may extend to the business.
    • Use Info-Tech’s Tool Audit Workbook to help you gather and make sense of the tool data you collect. The result of this activity is to gain insight into the tools that drive value and fail to drive value across your work management categories with a view to streamline the organization’s tool ecosystem.

    Download Info-Tech’s Tool Audit Workbook

    Sample of Info-Tech's Tool Audit Workbook.

    1.2.1 Compile list of tools

    1-3 hours

    Input: Information on tools used to complete task, project, and portfolio tasks

    Output: Analyzed list of tools

    Materials: Whiteboard/Flip Charts, Tool Audit Workbook

    Participants: Portfolio Manager (PMO Director), PMO Admin Team, Project Managers, Business Stakeholders

    1. Identify the stakeholder groups that are in scope. For each group that you’ve identified, brainstorm the different tools and artifacts that are necessary to get the task, project, and project portfolio management functions done.
    2. Make sure to record the tool name and specify its category (standard document, artifact, homegrown solution, or commercial solution).
    3. Think about and discuss how often the tool is being used for each use case across the organization. Document whether its use is required. Then assess reporting functionality, data accuracy, and cost.
    4. Lastly, give a satisfaction rating for each use case.

    Excerpt from the Tool Audit Workbook

    Excerpt from Info-Tech's Tool Audit Workbook on compiling tools.

    1.2.1 Review dashboard

    1-3 hours

    Input: List of key PPM decision points, List of who is accountable for PPM decisions, List of who has PPM decision-making authority

    Output: Prioritized list of PPM decision-making support needs

    Materials: Whiteboard/Flip Charts, Tool Audit Workbook

    Participants: Portfolio Manager (PMO Director), PMO Admin Team, CIO

    Discuss the outputs of the Dashboards tab to inform your decision maker on whether to pass or fail the tool for each use case.

    Sample of a BI dashboard used to evaluate the usefulness of tools. Written notes include: 'Slice the data based on stakeholder group, tool, use case, and category', and 'Review the results of the questionnaire by comparing cost and satisfaction'.

    1.2.1 Execute final audit

    1 hour

    Input: List of key PPM decision points, List of who is accountable for PPM decisions, List of who has PPM decision-making authority

    Output: Prioritized list of PPM decision-making support needs

    Materials: Whiteboard/Flip Charts, Tool Audit Workbook

    Participants: Portfolio Manager (PMO Director), PMO Admin Team, CIO

    1. Using the information available, schedule time with the leadership team to present the results.
    2. Identify the accountable party to make the final decision on what current tools pass or fail the final audit.
    3. Mind the gap presented by the failed tools and look to possibilities within the M365 and Microsoft Project suite. For each tool that is deemed unsatisfactory for the future state, mark it as “Fail” in column O on tab 2 of the Tool Audit Workbook. This will ensure the item shows in the “Fail” column on tab 4 of the tool when you refresh the data.
    4. For each of the tools that “fail” your audit and that you’re going to make recommendations to rationalize in a future state, try to capture the annual total current-state spending on licenses, and the work modes the tool currently supports (i.e. task, project, and/or portfolio management).
    5. Additionally, start to think about future-state replacements for each tool within or outside of the M365/MS Project platforms. As we move forward to finalize your action plan in the last phase of this blueprint, we will capture and present this information to key stakeholders.

    Document your goals, needs, and constraints before proceeding

    Use Info-Tech’s Force Field Analysis Tool to help weigh goals and needs against risks and constraints associated with a work management change.

    • Now that you have discussed the organization’s ways of working and assessed its tool landscape – and made some initial decisions on some tool options that might need to change across that landscape – gather key stakeholders to define (a) why a change is needed at this time and (b) to document some of the risks and constraints associated with changing.
    • Info-Tech’s Force Field Analysis Tool can be used to capture these data points. It takes an organizational change management approach and asks you to consider the positive and negative forces associated with a work management tool change at this time.
    • The slides ahead walk you through a force field analysis activity and help you to navigate the relevant tabs in the Tool.

    Download Info-Tech's Force Field Analysis Tool

    Sample of Info-Tech's Force Field Analysis Tool.

    1.2.1 Identify goals and needs (1 of 2)

    Use tab 1 of the Force Field Analysis Workbook to assess goals and needs.

    30 minutes

    Input: Opportunities associated with determining the use case for Microsoft Project and M365 in your organization

    Output: Plotted opportunities based on probability and impact

    Materials: Whiteboard/Flip Charts, Force Field Analysis Tool

    Participants: Portfolio Manager (PMO Director), PMO Admin Team, Project Managers

    1. Brainstorm opportunities associated with exploring and/or implementing Microsoft Project and the Microsoft 365 suite of products for task, project, and project portfolio management.
    2. Document relevant opportunities in tab 1 of the Force Field Analysis Tool. For each driving force for the change (note: a driving force can include goals and needs) that is identified, provide a category that explains why the driving force is a concern (i.e. with this force is the organization looking to mature, integrate, scape, or accelerate?).
    3. In addition, assess the ease of achieving or realizing each goal or need and the impact of realizing them on the PMO and/or the organization.
    4. See the next slide for a screenshot that helps you navigate tab 1 of the Tool.

    Download the Force Field Analysis Tool

    1.2.1 Identify goals and needs (2 of 2)

    Screenshot of tab 1 of the Force Field Analysis Workbook.

    Screenshot of tab 1 of the Force Field Analysis Workbook. There are five columns referred to as columns B through F with the headings 'Opportunities', 'Category', 'Source', 'Ease of Achieving', and 'Impact on PMO/Organization'.

    In column B on tab 1, note the specific opportunities the group would like to call out.

    In column C, categorize the goal or need being articulated by the list of drop-down options: will it accelerate the time to benefit? Will it help to integrate systems and data sources? Will it mature processes and the organization overall? Will it help to scale across the organization? Choose the option that best aligns with the opportunity.

    In column D, categorize the source of the goal or need as internal or external.

    In column E, use the drop-down menus to indicate the ease of realizing each goal or need for the organization. Will it be relatively easy to manifest or will there be complexities to implementing it?

    In column F, use the drop-down menus to indicate the positive impact of realizing or achieving each need on the PMO and/or the organization.

    On tab 3 of the Force Field Analysis Workbook, your inputs on tab 1 are summarized in graphical form from columns B to G. On tab 3, these goals and needs results are contrasted with your inputs on tab 2 (see next slide).

    1.2.2 Identify risk and constraints (1 of 2)

    Use tab 2 of the Force Field Analysis Workbook to assess opposing forces to change.

    30 minutes

    Input: Risks associated with determining the use case for Microsoft Project and M365 in your organization

    Output: Plotted risks based on probability and impact

    Materials: Whiteboard/Flip Charts, Force Field Analysis Tool

    Participants: Portfolio Manager (PMO Director), PMO Admin Team, Project Managers

    1. With the same working group from 1.2.1, brainstorm risks, constraints, and other opposing forces pertaining to your potential future state.
    2. Document relevant opposing forces in tab 2 of the Force Field Analysis Tool. For each opposing force for the change (note: a driving force can include goals and needs) that is identified, provide a category that explains why the opposing force is a concern (i.e. will it impact or is it impacted by time, resources, maturity, budget, or culture?).
    3. In addition, assess the likelihood of the risk or constraint coming to light and the negative impact of it coming to light for your proposed change.
    4. See the next slide for a screenshot that helps you navigate tab 2 of the Force Field Analysis Tool.

    Download the Force Field Analysis Tool

    1.2.2 Identify risk and constraints (2 of 2)

    Screenshot of tab 2 of the Force Field Analysis Workbook.

    Screenshot of tab 2 of the Force Field Analysis Workbook. There are five columns referred to as columns B through F with the headings 'Risks and Constraints', 'Category', 'Source', 'Likelihood of Constraint/Risk/Resisting Force Being Felt', and 'Impact to Derailing Goals and Needs'.

    In column B on tab 2, note the specific risks and constraints the group would like to call out.

    In column C, categorize the risk or constraint being articulated by the list of drop-down options: will it impact or is it impacted by time, resources, budget, culture or maturity?

    In column D, categorize the source of the goal or need as internal or external.

    In column E, use the drop-down menus to indicate the likelihood of each risk or constraint materializing during your implementation. Will it definitely occur or is there just a small chance it could come to light?

    In column F, use the drop-down menus to indicate the negative impact of the risk or constraint to achieving your goals and needs.

    On tab 3 of the Force Field Analysis Workbook, your inputs on tab 2 are summarized in graphical form from columns I to N. On tab 3, your risk and constraint results are contrasted with your inputs on tab 1 to help you gauge the relative weight of driving vs. opposing forces.

    Step 1.2

    Explore the Microsoft Project Plans and their capabilities

    Activities

    • 1.1.1 Review the Microsoft 365 licensing features
    • 1.1.2 Explore the Microsoft Project Plan licenses
    • 1.1.3 Prepare a needs assessment for Microsoft 365 and Project Plan licenses

    This step will walk you through the following activities:

    • Review the suite of task management, project management, and project portfolio management options available in Microsoft 365.
    • Prepare a preliminary checklist of required M365 apps for your stakeholders.

    This step usually involves the following participants:

    • PMO/Portfolio Manager
    • Project Managers
    • CIO and other executive stakeholders
    • Other project portfolio stakeholders (project and IT workers)

    Outcomes of Step

    • Preliminary requirements for an M365 project management and project portfolio management tool implementation

    Microsoft recently revamped its project plans to balance its old and new tech

    Access to the new tech, Project for the web, comes with all license types, while Project Online Professional and Premium licenses have been revamped as P3 and P5.

    Navigating Microsoft licensing is never easy, and Project for the web has further complicated licensing needs for project professionals.

    As we’ll cover in step 2.1 of this blueprint, Project for the web can be extended beyond its base lightweight work management functionality using the Power Platform (Power Apps, Power Automate, and Power BI). Depending on the scope of your implementation, this can require additional Power Platform licensing.

    • In this step, we will help you understand the basics of what’s already included in your enterprise M365 licensing as well as what’s new in Microsoft’s recent Project licensing plans (P1, P3, and P5).
    • As we cover toward the end of this step, you can use Info-Tech’s MS Project and M365 Licensing Tool to help you understand your plan and licensing needs. Further assistance on licensing can be found in the Task, Project, and Portfolio Management Tool Guides that accompany this blueprint and Info-Tech’s Modernize Your Microsoft Licensing for the Cloud Era.

    Download Info-Tech’s Modernize Your Microsoft Licensing for the Cloud Era

    Licensing features for knowledge workers

    Please note that licensing packages are frequently subject to change. This is up to date as of August 2021. For the most up-to-date information on licensing, visit the Microsoft website.

    Bundles are extremely common and can be more cost effective than à la carte options for the Microsoft products.

    The biggest differentiator between M365 and O365 is that the M365 product also includes Windows 10 and Enterprise Mobility and Security.

    The color coding in the diagram indicates that the same platform/application suite is available.

    Platform or Application M365 E3 M365 E5 O365 E1 O365 E3 O365 E5
    Microsoft Forms X X X X X
    Microsoft Lists X X X X X
    OneDrive X X X X X
    Planner X X X X X
    Power Apps for Office 365 X X X X X
    Power Automate for Office X X X X X
    Power BI Pro X X
    Power Virtual Agents for Teams X X X X X
    SharePoint X X X X X
    Stream X X X X X
    Sway X X X X X
    Teams X X X X X
    To Do X X X X X

    Get familiar with Microsoft Project Plan 1

    Please note that licensing packages are frequently subject to change. This is up to date as of August 2021. For the most up to date information on licensing, visit the Microsoft website.

    Who is a good fit?

    • New project managers
    • Zero-allocation project managers
    • Individuals and organizations who want to move out of Excel into something less fragile (easily breaking formulas)

    What does it include?

    • Access to Project Home, a landing page to access all project plans you’ve created or have been assigned to.
    • Access to Grid View, Board View, and Timeline (Gantt) View to plan and manage your projects with Project for the web
    • Sharing Project for the web plans across Microsoft Teams channels
    • Co-authoring on project plans

    When does it make sense?

    • Lightweight project management
    • No process to use bottom-up approach for resourcing data
    • Critical-path analysis is not required
    • Organization does not have an appetite for project management rigor

    Get familiar with Microsoft Project Plan 3

    Please note that licensing packages are frequently subject to change. This is up to date as of August 2021. For the most up to date information on licensing, visit the Microsoft website.

    Who is a good fit?

    • Experienced and dedicated project managers
    • Organizations with complex projects
    • Large project teams are required to complete project work
    • Organizations have experience using project management software

    What does it include?

    Everything in Project Plan 1 plus the following:

    • Reporting through Power BI Report template apps (note that there are no pre-built reports for Project for the web)
    • Access to build a Roadmap of projects from Project for the web and Azure DevOps with key milestones, statuses, and deadlines
    • Project Online to submit and track timesheets for project teams
    • MS Project Desktop Client to support resource management

    When does it make sense?

    • Project management is an established discipline at the organization
    • Critical-path analysis is commonly used
    • Organization has some appetite for project management rigor
    • Resources are expected to submit timesheets to allow for more precise resource management data

    Get familiar with Microsoft Project Plan 5

    Please note that licensing packages are frequently subject to change. This is up to date as of August 2021. For the most up to date information on licensing, visit the Microsoft website.

    Who is a good fit?

    • Experienced and dedicated project managers
    • Experienced and dedicated PMO directors
    • Dedicated portfolio managers
    • Organizations proficient at sustaining data in a standard tool

    What does it include?

    Everything in Project Plan 3 plus the following:

    • Portfolio selection and optimization
    • Demand management
    • Enterprise resource planning and management through deterministic task and resource scheduling
    • MS Project Desktop Client to support resource management

    When does it make sense?

    • Project management is a key success factor at the organization
    • Organization employs a bottom-up approach for resourcing data
    • Critical-path analysis is required
    • Formal project portfolio management processes are well established
    • The organization is willing to either put in the time, energy, and resources to learn to configure the system through DIY or is willing to leverage a Microsoft Partner to help them do so

    What’s included in each plan (1 of 2)

    Plan details are up to date as of September 2021. Plans and pricing can change often. Visit the Microsoft website to validate plan options and get pricing details.
    MS Project Capabilities Info-Tech's Editorial Description P1 P3 P5
    Project Home Essentially a landing page that allows you to access all the project plans you've created or that you're assigned to. It amalgamates plans created in Project for the web, the Project for the web app in Power Apps, and Project Online. X X X
    Grid view One of three options in which to create your project plans in Project for the web (board view and timeline view are the other options). You can switch back and forth between the options. X X X
    Board view One of three options in which to create your project plans in Project for the web (grid view and timeline view are the other options). You can switch back and forth between the options. X X X
    Timeline (Gantt) view One of three options in which to create your project plans in Project for the web (board view and grid view are the other options). You can switch back and forth between the options. X X X
    Collaboration and communication This references the ability to add Project for the web project plans to Teams channels. X X X
    Coauthoring Many people can have access to the same project plan and can update tasks. X X X
    Project planning and scheduling For this the marketing lingo says "includes familiar scheduling tools to assign project tasks to team members and use different views like Grid, Board, and Timeline (Gantt chart) to oversee the schedule." Unclear how this is different than the project plans in the three view options above. X X X

    X - Functionality Included in Plan

    O - Functionality Not Included in Plan

    What’s included in each plan (2 of 2)

    Plan details are up to date as of September 2021. Plans and pricing can change often. Visit the Microsoft website to validate plan options and get pricing details.
    MS Project Capabilities Info-Tech's Editorial Description P1 P3 P5
    Reporting This seems to reference Excel reports and the Power BI Report Template App, which can be used if you're using Project Online. There are no pre-built reports for Project for the web, but third-party Power Apps are available. O X X
    Roadmap Roadmap is a platform that allows you to take one or more projects from Project for the web and Azure DevOps and create an organizational roadmap. Once your projects are loaded into Roadmap you can perform additional customizations like color status reporting and adding key days and milestones. O X X
    Timesheet submission Project Online and Server 2013 and 2016 allow team members to submit timesheets if the functionality is required. O X X
    Resource management The rich MS Project client supports old school, deterministic project scheduling at the project level. O X X
    Desktop client The full desktop client comes with P3 and P5, where it acts as the rich editor for project plans. The software enjoys a multi-decade market dominance as a project management tool but was never paired with an enterprise collaboration server engine that enjoyed the same level of success. O X X
    Portfolio selection and optimization Portfolio selection and optimization has been offered as part of the enterprise project and portfolio suite for many years. Most people taking advantage of this capability have used a Microsoft Partner to formalize and operationalize the feature. O O X
    Demand Management Enterprise demand management is targeted at the most rigorous of project portfolio management practices. Most people taking advantage of this capability have used a Microsoft Partner to formalize and operationalize the feature. O O X
    Enterprise resource planning and management The legacy MS Project Online/Server platform supports enterprise-wide resource capacity management through an old-school, deterministic task and resource scheduling engine, assuming scaled-out deployment of Active Directory. Most people succeeding with this capability have used a Microsoft Partner to formalize and operationalize the feature. O O X

    X - Functionality Included in Plan

    O - Functionality Not Included in Plan

    Use Info-Tech’s MS Project and M365 Licensing Tool

    Leverage the analysis in Info-Tech’s MS Project & M365 Licensing Tool to help inform your initial assumptions about what you need and how much to budget for it.

    • The Licensing Tool can help you determine what Project Plan licensing different user groups might need as well as additional Power Platform licensing that may be required.
    • It consists of four main tabs: two set-up tabs where you can validate the plan and pricing information for M365 and MS Project; an analysis tab where you set up your user groups and follow a survey to assess their Project Plan needs; and another analysis tab where you can document your Power Platform licensing needs across your user groups.
    • There is also a business case tab that breaks down your total licensing needs. The outputs of this tab can be used in your MS Project & M365 Action Plan Template, which we will help you develop in phase three of this blueprint.

    Download Info-Tech's Microsoft Project & M365 Licensing Tool

    Sample of Info-Tech's Microsoft Project and M365 Licensing Tool.

    1.2.1 Conduct a needs assessment

    1-2 hours

    Input: List of key user groups/profiles, Number of users and current licenses

    Output: List of Microsoft applications/capabilities included with each license, Analysis of user group needs for Microsoft Project Plan licenses

    Materials: Microsoft Project & 365 Licensing Tool

    Participants: Portfolio Manager (PMO Director), PMO Admin Team, Project Managers

    1. As a group, analyze the applications included in your current or desired 365 license and calculate any additional Power Platform licensing needs.
      2. Screenshot of the 'Application/Capabilities' screen from the 'Microsoft Project and M365 Licensing Tool'.
    2. Within the same group, use the drop-down menus to analyze your high-level MS Project requirements by selecting whether each capability is necessary or not.
    3. Your inputs to the needs assessment will determine the figures in the Business Case tab. Consider exporting this information to PDF or other format to distribute to stakeholders.
      4. Screenshot of the 'Business Case' tab from the 'Microsoft Project and M365 Licensing Tool'.

    Download Info-Tech's Microsoft Project & M365 Licensing Tool

    Step 1.3

    Assess the maturity of your current PM & PPM capabilities

    Activities

    • Assess current state project and project portfolio management processes and tools
    • Determine target state project and project portfolio management processes and tools

    This step will walk you through the following activities:

    • Assess current state project and project portfolio management processes and tools
    • Determine target state project and project portfolio management processes and tools

    This step usually involves the following participants:

    • PMO/Portfolio Manager
    • Project Managers
    • CIO and other executive stakeholders
    • Other project portfolio stakeholders (project and IT workers)

    Outcomes of Step

    • Current and target state maturity for project management and project portfolio management processes

    Project portfolio management and project management are more than tools

    Implementing commercial tools without a matching level of process discipline is a futile exercise, leaving organizations frustrated at the wasted time and money.

    • The tool is only as good as the data that is input. There is often a misunderstanding that a tool will be “automatic.” While it is true that a tool can help make certain processes easier and more convenient by aggregating information, enhancing reporting, and coauthoring, it will not make up the data. If data becomes stale, the tool is no longer valid for accurate decision making.
    • Getting people onboard and establishing a clear process is often the hardest part. As IT folk, it can be easy to get wrapped up in the technology. All too often excitement around tools can drown out the important requisites around people and process. The reality is people and process are a necessary condition for a tool to be successful. Having a tool will not be sufficient to overcome obstacles like poor stakeholder buy-in, inadequate governance, and the absence of a standard operating procedure.

    • Slow is the way to go. When deciding what tools to purchase, start small and scale up rather than going all in and all too often ending up with many unused features and fees.

    "There's been a chicken-egg debate raging in the PPM world for decades: What comes first, the tool or the process? It seems reasonable to say, ‘We don't have a process now, so we'll just adopt the one in the tool.’ But you'll soon find out that the tool doesn't have a process, and you needed to do more planning and analysis before buying the tool." (Barry Cousins, Practice Lead, Project Portfolio Management)

    Assess your process maturity to determine the right tool approach

    Take the time to consider and reflect on the current and target state of the processes for project portfolio management and project management.

    Project Portfolio Management

    • Status and Progress Reporting

      1. Intake, Approval, and Prioritization

        PPM is the practice of selecting the right projects and ensuring the organization has the necessary resources to complete them. PPM should enable executive decision makers to make sense of the excess of demand and give IT the ability to prioritize those projects that are most valuable to the business.

      2. Resource Management

      3. Project Management

        1. Initiation
        2. Planning
        3. Execution
        4. Monitoring and Controlling
        5. Closing
        Tailor a project management framework to fit your organization. Formal methodologies aren’t always the best fit. Take what you can use from formal frameworks and define a right-sized approach to your project management processes.

      4. Project Closure

      5. Benefits Tracking

    Info-Tech’s maturity assessment tools can help you match your tools to your maturity level

    Use Info-Tech’s Project Portfolio Management Maturity Assessment Tool and Project Management Maturity Assessment Tool.

    • The next few slides in this step take you through using our maturity assessment tools to help gauge your current-state and target-state maturity levels for project management (PM) and project portfolio management (PPM).
    • In addition to the process maturity assessments, these workbooks also help you document current-state support tools and desired target-state tools.
    • The outputs of these workbooks can be used in your MS Project & M365 Action Plan Template, which we will help you develop in phase three of this blueprint.

    Download Info-Tech’s Project Portfolio Management Maturity Assessment Tool and Project Management Maturity Assessment Tool

    Samples of Info-Tech's Project Portfolio Management Maturity Assessment Tool and Project Management Maturity Assessment Tool.

    Conduct a gap analysis survey for both project and project portfolio management.

    • Review the category and activity statements: For each gap analysis tab in the maturity assessments, use the comprehensive activity statements to identify gaps for the organization.
    • Assess the current state: To assess the current state, evaluate whether the statement should be labeled as:
      • Absent: There is no evidence of any activities supporting this process.
      • Initial: Activity is ad hoc and not well defined.
      • Defined: Activity is established and there is moderate adherence to its execution.
      • Repeatable: Activity is established, documented, repeatable, and integrated with other phases of the process.
      • Managed: Activity execution is tracked by gathering qualitative and quantitative feedback

    Once this is documented, take some time to describe the type of tool being used to do this (commercial, home-grown, standardized document) and provide additional details, where applicable.

    Define the target state: Repeat the assessment of activity statements for the target state. Then gauge the organizational impact and complexity of improving each capability on a scale of very low to very high.

    Excerpt from Info-Tech's Project Portfolio Management Maturity Assessment Tool, the 'PPM Current State Target State Maturity Assessment Survey'. It has five columns whose purpose is denoted in notes. Column 1 'Category within the respective discipline'; Column 2 'Statement to consider'; Column 3 'Select the appropriate answer for current and target state'; Column 4 'Define the tool type'; Column 5 'Provide addition detail about the tool'.

    Analyze survey results for project and project portfolio management maturity

    Take stock of the gap between current state and target state.

    • What process areas have the biggest gap between current and target state?
    • What areas are aligned across current and target state?

    Identify what areas are currently the least and most mature.

    • What process area causes the most pain in the organization?
    • What process area is the organization’s lowest priority?

    Note the overall current process maturity.

    • After having done this exercise, does the overall maturity come as a surprise?
    • If so, what are some of the areas that were previously overlooked?
    A table and bar graph documenting and analysis of maturity survey results. The table has four columns labelled 'Process Area', 'Current Process Completeness', 'Current Maturity Level', and 'Target State Maturity'. Rows headers in the 'Process Area' column are 'Intake, Approval, and Prioritization', 'Resource Management', 'Portfolio Reporting', 'Project Closure and Benefits Realization', 'Portfolio Administration', and finally 'Overall Maturity'. The 'Current Process Completeness' column's values are in percentages. The 'Current Maturity Level' and 'Target State Maturity' columns' values can be one of the following: 'Absent', 'Initial', 'Defined', 'Repeatable', or 'Managed'. The bar chart visualizes the levels of the 'Target State' and 'Current State' with 'Absent' from 0-20%, 'Initial' from 20-40%, 'Defined' from 40-60%, 'Repeatable' from 60-80%, and 'Managed' from 80-100%.
    • Identify process areas with low levels of maturity
    • Spot areas of inconsistency between current and target state.
    • Assess the overall gap to get a sense of the magnitude of the effort required to get to the target state.
    • 100% doesn’t need to be the goal. Set a goal that is sustainable and always consider the value to effort ratio.

    Screenshot your results and put them into the MS Project and M365 Action Plan Template.

    Review the tool overview and plan to address gaps (tabs 3 & 4)

    Tool Overview:

    Analyze the applications used to support your project management and project portfolio management processes.

    Look for:

    • Tools that help with processes across the entire PM or PPM lifecycle.
    • Tools that are only used for one specific process.

    Reflect on the overlap between process areas with pain points and the current tools being used to complete this process.

    Consider the sustainability of the target-state tool choice

    Screenshot of a 'Tool Overview' table. Chart titled 'Current-to-Target State Supporting Tools by PPM Activity' documenting the current and target states of different supporting tools by PPM Activity. Tools listed are 'N/A', 'Standardized Document', 'Homegrown Tool', and 'Commercial Tool'.

    You have the option to create an action plan for each of the areas of improvement coming out of your maturity assessment.

    This can include:

    • Tactical Optimization Action: What is the main action needed to improve capability?
    • Related Actions: Is there a cross-over with any actions for other capabilities?
    • Timeframe: Is this near-term, mid-term, or long-term?
    • Proposed Start Date
    • Proposed Go-Live Date
    • RACI: Who will be responsible, accountable, consulted, and informed?
    • Status: What is the status of this action item over time?

    Determine the Future of Microsoft Project for Your Organization

    Phase 2: Weigh Your Implementation Options

    Phase 1: Determine Your Tool Needs

    Phase 2: Weigh Your Implementation Options

    		Phase 3: Finalize Your Implementation Approach
    • Step 1.1: Survey the M365 work management landscape
    • Step 1.2: Perform a process maturity assessment to help inform your M365 starting point
    • Step 1.3: Consider the right MS Project licenses for your stakeholders
    • Step 2.1: Get familiar with extending Project for the web using Power Apps
    • Step 2.2: Assess the MS Gold Partner Community
    • Step 3.1: Prepare an action plan

    Phase Outcomes

    • A decision on how best to proceed (or not proceed) with Project for the web
    • A Partner outreach plan

    Step 2.1

    Get familiar with extending Project for the web using Power Apps

    Activities

    • Get familiar with Project for the web: how it differs from Microsoft’s traditional project offerings and where it is going
    • Understand the basics of how to extend Project for the web in Power Apps
    • Perform a feasibility test

    This step will walk you through the following activities:

    • Get familiar with Project for the web
    • Understand the basics of how to extend Project for the web in Power Apps
    • Perform a feasibility test to determine if taking a DIY approach to extending Project for the web is right for your organization currently

    This step usually involves the following participants:

    • Portfolio Manager (PMO Director)
    • Project Managers
    • Other relevant PMO stakeholders

    Outcomes of Step

    • A decision on how best to proceed (or not proceed) with Project for the web

    Project for the web is the latest of Microsoft’s project management offerings

    What is Project for the web?

    • First introduced in 2019 as Project Service, Project for the web (PFTW) is Microsoft’s entry into the world of cloud-based work management and lightweight project management options.
    • Built on the Power Platform and leveraging the Dataverse for data storage, PFTW integrates with the many applications that M365 users are already employing in their day-to-day work management and collaboration activities.
    • It is available as a part of your M365 subscription with the minimum activation of P1 license – it comes with P3 and P5 licenses as well.
    • From a functionality and user experience perspective, PFTW is closer to applications like Planner or Azure Boards than it is to traditional MS Project options.

    What does it do?

    • PFTW allows for task and dependency tracking and basic timeline creation and scheduling and offers board and grid view options. It also allows real-time coauthoring of tasks among team members scheduled to the same project.
    • PFTW also comes with a product/functionality Microsoft calls Roadmap, which allows users to aggregate multiple project timelines into a single view for reporting purposes.

    What doesn't it do?

    • With PFTW, Microsoft is offering noticeably less traditional project management functionality than its existing solutions. Absent are table stakes project management capabilities like critical path, baselining, resource load balancing, etc.

    Who is it for?

    • Currently, in its base lightweight project management option, PFTW is targeted toward occasional or part-time project managers (not the PMP-certified set) tasked with overseeing and/or collaborating on small to mid-sized initiatives and projects.

    Put Project for the web in perspective

    Out of the box, PFTW occupies a liminal space when it comes to work management options

    • More than a task management tool, but not quite a full project management tool
    • Not exactly a portfolio management tool, yet some PPM reporting functionality is inherent in the PFTW through Roadmap

    The table to the right shows some of the functionality in PFTW in relation to the task management functionality of Planner and the enterprise project and portfolio management functionality of Project Online.

    Table 2.1a Planner Project for the web Project Online
    Coauthoring on Tasks X X
    Task Planning X X X
    Resource Assignments X X X
    Board Views X X X
    MS Teams Integration X X X
    Roadmap X X
    Table and Gantt Views X X
    Task Dependency Tracking X X
    Timesheets X
    Financial Planning X
    Risks and Issues Tracking X
    Program Management X
    Advanced Portfolio Management X

    Project for the web will eventually replace Project Online

    • As early as 2018 Microsoft has been foreshadowing a transition away from the SharePoint-backed Project environments of Server and Online toward something based in Common Data Service (CDS) – now rebranded as the Dataverse.
    • Indeed, as recently as the spring of 2021, at its Reimagine Project Management online event, Microsoft reiterated its plans to sunset Project Online and transition existing Online users to the new environment of Project for the web – though it provided no firm dates when this might occur.
      • The reason for this move away from Online appears to be an acknowledgment that the rigidity of the tool is awkward in our current dynamic, collaborative, and overhead-adverse work management paradigm.
      • To paraphrase a point made by George Bullock, Sr. Product Marketing Manager, for Microsoft at the Reimagine Project Management event, teams want to manage work as they see fit, but the rigidity of legacy solutions doesn’t allow for this, leading to a proliferation of tools and data sprawl. (This comment was made during the “Overview of Microsoft Project” session during the Reimagine event.)

    PFTW is Microsoft’s proposed future-state antidote to this challenge. Its success will depend on how well users are able to integrate the solution into a wider M365 work management setting.

    "We are committed to supporting our customers on Project Online and helping them transition to Project for the Web. No end-of-support has been set for Project Online, but when the time comes, we will communicate our plans on the transition path and give you plenty of advance notice." (Heather Heide, Program Manager, Microsoft Planner and Project. This comment was made during the “Overview of Microsoft Project” session during the Reimagine event.)

    Project for the web can be extended beyond its base lightweight functionality

    Project for the web can be extended to add more traditional and robust project and project portfolio management functionality using the Power Platform.

    Microsoft plans to sunset Project Online in favor of PFTW will at first be a head-scratcher for those familiar with the extensive PPM functionality in Project Online and underwhelmed by the project and portfolio management in PFTW.

    However, having built the solution upon the Power Platform, Microsoft has made it possible to take the base functionality in PFTW and extend it to create a more custom, organizationally specific user experience.

    • With a little taste of what can be done with PFTW by leveraging the Power Platform – and, in particular, Power Apps – it becomes more obvious how we, as users, can begin to evolve the base tool toward a more traditional PPM solution and how, in time, Microsoft’s developers may develop the next iteration of PFTW into something more closely resembling Project Online.

    Before users get too excited about using these tools to build a custom PPM approach, we should consider the time, effort, and skills required. The slides ahead will take you through a series of considerations to help you gauge whether your PMO is ready to go it alone in extending the solution.

    Extending the tool enhances functionality

    Table 2.1a in this step displayed the functionality in PFTW in relation to the task management tool Planner and the robust PPM functionality in Online.

    The table to the right shows how the functionality in PFTW can differ from the base solution and Project Online when it is extended using the model-driven app option in Power Apps.

    Caveat: The list of functionality and processes in this table is sample data.

    This functionality is not inherent in the solution as soon as you integrate with Power Apps. Rather it must be built – and your success in developing these functions will depend upon the time and skills you have available.

    Table 2.1b Project for the web PFTW extended with PowerApps Project Online
    Critical Path X
    Timesheets X
    Financial Planning X X
    Risks and Issues Tracking X X
    Program Management X
    Status Updates X
    Project Requests X
    Business Cases X
    Project Charters X
    Resource Planning and Capacity Management X X
    Project Change Requests X

    Get familiar with the basics of Power Apps before you decide to go it alone

    While the concept of being able to customize and grow a commercial PPM tool is enticing, the reality of low-code development and application maintenance may be too much for resource-constrained PMOs.

    Long story short: Extending PFTW in Power Apps is time consuming and can be frustrating for the novice to intermediate user.

    It can take days, even weeks, just to find your feet in Power Apps, let alone to determine requirements to start building out a custom model-driven app. The latter activity can entail creating custom columns and tables, determining relationships between tables to get required outputs, in addition to basic design activities.

    Time-strapped and resource-constrained practitioners should pause before committing to this deployment approach. To help better understand the commitment, the slides ahead cover the basics of extending PFTW in Power Apps:

    1. Dataverse environments.
    2. Navigating Power App Designer and Sitemap Designer
    3. Customizing tables and forms in the Dataverse

    See Info-Tech’s M365 Project Portfolio Management Tool Guide for more information on Power Apps in general.

    Get familiar with Power Apps licensing

    Power Apps for 365 comes with E1 through E5 M365 licenses (and F3 and F5 licenses), though additional functionality can be purchased if required.

    While extending Project for the web with Power Apps does not at this time, in normal deployments, require additional licensing from what is included in a E3 or E5 license, it is not out of the realm of possibility that a more complex deployment could incur costs not included in the Power Apps for 365 that comes with your enterprise agreement.

    The table to the right shows current additional licensing options.

    Power Apps, Per User, Per App Plan

    Per User Plan
    Cost: US$10 per user per app per month, with a daily Dataverse database capacity of 40 MB and a daily Power Platform request capacity of 1,000. Cost: US$40 per user per month, with a daily Dataverse database capacity of 250 MB and a daily Power Platform request capacity of 5,000.
    What's included? This option is marketed as the option that allows organizations to “get started with the platform at a lower entry point … [or those] that run only a few apps.” Users can run an application for a specific business case scenario with “the full capabilities of Power Apps” (meaning, we believe, that unlicensed users can still submit data via an app created by a licensed user). What's included? A per-user plan allows licensed users to run unlimited canvas apps and model-driven apps – portal apps, the licensing guide says, can be “provisioned by customers on demand.” Dataverse database limits (the 250 MB and 5,000 request capacity mentioned above) are pooled at the per tenant, not the per user plan license, capacity.

    For more on Power Apps licensing, refer to Info-Tech’s Modernize Your Microsoft Licensing for the Cloud Era for more information.

    What needs to be configured?

    Extending Project for the web requires working with your IT peers to get the right environments configured based upon your needs.

    • PFTW data is stored in the Microsoft Dataverse (formerly Common Data Service or CDS).
    • The organization’s Dataverse can be made up of one to many environments based upon its needs. Environments are individual databases with unique proprieties in terms of who can access them and what applications can store data in them.
    • Project for the web supports three different types of environments: default, production, and sandbox.
    • You can have multiple instances of a custom PFTW app deployed across these environments and across different users – and the environment you choose depends upon the use case of each instance.

    Types of Environments

    • Default Environment

      • It is the easiest to deploy and get started with the PFTW Power App in the default environment. However, it is also the most restricted environment with the least room for configuration.
      • Microsoft recommends this environment for simple deployments or for projects that span the organization. This is because everyone in the organization is by default a member of this environment – and, with the least room for configuration, the app is relatively straightforward.
      • At minimum, you need one project license to deploy PFTW in the default environment.

    • Production Environment

      • This environment affords more flexibility for how a custom app can be configured and deployed. Unlike the default environment, deploying a production environment is a manual process (through the Power Platform Admin Center) and security roles need to be set to limit users who can access the environment.
      • Because users can be limited, production environments can be used to support more advanced deployments and can support diverse processes for different teams.
      • At present, you need at least five Project licenses to deploy to production environments.

    • Sandbox Environment

      • This environment is for users who are responsible for the creation of custom apps. It offers the same functionality as a production environment but allows users to make changes without jeopardizing a production environment.

    Resources to provide your IT colleagues with to help in your PFTW deployment:

    1. Project for the web admin help (Product Documentation, Microsoft)
    2. Advanced deployment for Project for the web (Video, Microsoft)
    3. Get Started with Project Power App (Product Support Documentation, Microsoft)
    4. Project for the Web Security Roles (Product Support Documentation, Microsoft)

    Get started creating or customizing a model-driven app

    With the proper environments procured, you can now start extending Project for the web.

    • Navigate to the environment you would like to extend PFTW within. For the purposes of the slides ahead, we’ll be using a sandbox environment for an example. Ensure you have the right access set up for production and sandbox environments of your own (see links on previous slide for more assistance).
    • To begin extending PFTW, the two core features you need to be familiar with before you start in Power Apps are (1) Tables/Entities and (2) the Power Apps Designer – and in particular the Site Map.

    From the Power Apps main page in 365, you can change your environment by selecting from the options in the top right-hand corner of the screen.

    Screenshot of the Power Apps “Apps” page in a sandbox environment. The Project App will appear as “Project” when the application is installed, though it is also easy to create an app from scratch.

    Model-driven apps are built around tables

    In Power Apps, tables (formerly called entities and still referred to as entities in the Power Apps Designer) function much like tables in Excel: they are containers of columns of data for tracking purposes. Tables define the data for your app, and you build your app around them.

    In general, there are three types of tables:

    • Standard: These are out-of-the box tables included with a Dataverse environment. Most standard tables can be customized.
    • Managed: These are tables that get imported into an environment as part of a managed solution. Managed tables cannot be customized.
    • Custom: These types of tables can either be imported from another solution or created directly in the Dataverse environment. To create custom tables, users need to have System Administrator or System Customizer security roles within the Dataverse.

    Tables can be accessed under Data banner on the left-hand panel of your Power Apps screen.

    The below is a list of standard tables that can be used to customize your Project App.

    A screenshot of the 'Data' banner in 'Power Apps' and a list of table names.

    Table Name

    Display Name
    msdyn_project Project
    msdyn_projectchange Change
    msdyn_projectprogram Program
    msdyn_projectrequest Request
    msdyn_projectrisk Risk
    msdyn_projectissue Issue
    msdyn_projectstatusreport Status

    App layouts are designed in the Power App Designer

    You configure tables with a view to using them in the design of your app in the Power Apps Designer.

    • If you’re customizing a Project for the web app manually installed into your production or sandbox environment, you can access Designer by highlighting the app from your list of apps on the Apps page and clicking “Edit” in the ribbon above.
      • If you’re creating a model-driven app from scratch, Designer will open past the “Create a New App” intro screen.
      • If you need to create separate apps in your environment for different PMOs or business units, it is as easy to create an app from scratch as it is to customize the manual install.
    • The App Designer is where you can design the layout of your model-driven app and employ the right data tables.
    Screenshot of the 'App Designer' screen in 'Power Apps'.

    The Site Map determines the navigation for your app, i.e. it is where you establish the links and pages users will navigate. We will review the basics of the sitemap on the next few slides.

    The tables that come loaded into your Project Power App environment (at this time, 37) via the manual install will appear in the Power Apps Designer in the Entity View pane at the bottom of the page. You do not have to use all of them in your design.

    Navigate the Sitemap Designer

    With the components of the previous two slides in mind, let’s walk through how to use them together in the development of a Project app.

    As addressed in the previous slide, the sitemap determines the navigation for your app, i.e. it is where you establish the links and the pages that users will navigate.

    To get to the Sitemap Designer, highlight the Project App from your list of apps on the Apps page and click “Edit” in the ribbon above. If you’re creating a model-driven app from scratch, Designer will open past the “Create a New App” intro screen.

    • To start designing your app layout, click the pencil icon beside the Site Map logo on the App Designer screen.
    • This will take you into the Sitemap Designer (see screenshot to the right). This is where you determine the layout of your app and the relevant data points (and related tables from within the Dataverse) that will factor into your Project App.
    • In the Sitemap Designer, you simply drag and drop the areas, groups, and subareas you want to see in your app’s user interface (see next slide for more details).
    Screenshot of the 'Sitemap Designer' in 'Power Apps'.

    Use Areas, Groups, and Subareas as building blocks for your App

    Screenshots of the main window and the right-hand panel in the 'Sitemap Designer', and of the subarea pop-up panel where you connect components to data tables. The first two separate elements into 'Area', 'Group', and 'Subarea'.

    Drag and drop the relevant components from the panel on the right-hand side of the screen into the main window to design the core pieces that will be present within your user interface.

    For each subarea in your design, use the pop-up panel on the right-hand side of the screen to connect your component the relevant table from within your Dataverse environment.

    How do Areas, Groups, and Subareas translate into an app?

    Screenshots of the main window in the 'Sitemap Designer' and of a left-hand panel from a published 'Project App'. There are notes defining the terms 'Area', 'Group', and 'Subarea' in the context of the screenshot.

    The names or titles for your Areas and Groups can be customized within the Sitemap Designer.

    The names or titles for your Subareas is dependent upon your table name within the Dataverse.

    Area: App users can toggle the arrows to switch between Areas.

    Group: These will change to reflect the chosen Area.

    Subarea: The tables and forms associated with each subarea.

    How to properly save and publish your changes made in the Sitemap Designer and Power Apps Designer:

    1. When you are done making changes to your components within the Sitemap Designer, and want your changes to go live, hit the “Publish” button in the top right corner; when it has successfully published, select “Save and Close.”
    2. You will be taken back to the Power App Designer homepage. Hit “Save,” then “Publish,” and then finally “Play,” to go to your app or “Save and Close.”

    How to find the right tables in the Dataverse

    While you determine which tables will play into your app in the Sitemap Designer, you use the Tables link to customize tables and forms.

    Screenshots of the tables search screen and the 'Tables' page under the 'Data' banner in 'Power Apps'.

    The Tables page under the Data banner in Power Apps houses all of the tables available in your Dataverse environment. Do not be overwhelmed or get too excited. Only a small portion of the tables in the Tables folder in Power Apps will be relevant when it comes to extending PFTW.

    Find the table you would like to customize and/or employ in your app and select it. The next slides will look at customizing the table (if you need to) and designing an app based upon the table.

    To access all the tables in your environment, you’ll need to ensure your filter is set correctly on the top right-hand corner of the screen, otherwise you will only see a small portion of the tables in your Dataverse environment.

    If you’re a novice, it will take you some time to get familiar with the table structure in the Dataverse.

    We recommend you start with the list of tables listed on slide. You can likely find something there that you can use or build from for most PPM purposes.

    How to customize a table (1 of 3)

    You won’t necessarily need to customize a table, but if you do here are some steps to help you get familiar with the basics.

    Screenshot of the 'Columns' tab, open in the 'msdyn_project table' in 'Power Apps'.

    In this screenshot, we are clicked into the msdyn_project (display name: Project) table. As you can see, there are a series of tabs below the name of the table, and we are clicked into the Columns tab. This is where you can see all of the data points included in the table.

    You are not able to customize all columns. If a column that you are not able to customize does not meet your needs, you will need to create a custom column from the “+Add column” option.

    “Required” or “Optional” status pertains to when the column or field is used within your app. For customizable or custom columns this status can be set when you click into each column.

    How to customize a table (2 of 3)

    Create a custom “Status” column.

    By way of illustrating how you might need to customize a table, we’ll highlight the “msdyn_project_statecode” (display name: Project Status) column that comes preloaded in the Project (msdyn_project) table.

    • The Project Status column only gives you a binary choice. While you are able to customize what that binary choice is (it comes preloaded with “Active” and “Inactive” as the options) you cannot add additional choices – so you cannot set it to red/yellow/green, the most universally adopted options for status in the project portfolio management world.
    • Because of this, let’s look at the effort involved in creating a choice and adding a custom column to your table based upon that choice.
    Screenshots of the '+New choice' button in the 'Choices' tab and the 'New choice' pane that opens when you click it.

    From within the Choices tab, click “+New choice” option to create a custom choice.

    A pane will appear to the right of your screen. From there you can give your choice a name, and under the “Items” header, add your list of options.

    Click save. Your custom choice is now saved to the Choices tab in the Dataverse environment and can be used in your table. Further customizations can be made to your choice if need be.

    How to customize a table (3 of 3)

    Back in the Tables tab, you can put your new choice to work by adding a column to a table and selecting your custom choice.

    Screenshots of the pop-up window that appear when you click '+Add Column', and details of what happens when you select the data type 'Choice'.

    Start by selecting “+ Add Column” at the top left-hand side of your table. A window will appear on the right-hand side of the page, and you will have options to name your column and choose the data type.

    As you can see in this screenshot to the left, data type options include text, number and date types, and many more. Because we are looking to use our custom choice for this example, we are going to choose “Choice.”

    When you select “Choice” as your data type, all of the choice options available or created in your Dataverse environment will appear. Find your custom choice – in this example the one name “RYG Status” – and click done. When the window closes, be sure to select “Save Table.”

    How to develop a Form based upon your table (1 of 3 – open the form editor)

    A form is the interface users will engage with when using your Project app.

    When the Project app is first installed in your environment, the main user form will be lacking, with only a few basic data options.

    This form can be customized and additional tabs can be added to your user interface.

    1. To do this, go to the table you want to customize.
    2. In the horizontal series of tabs at the top of the screen, below the table title select the “Forms” option.
    3. Click on the main information option or select Edit Form for the form with “Main” under its form type. A new window will open where you can customize your form.
    Screenshot of the 'Forms' tab, open in the 'msdyn_project' table in 'Power Apps'.

    Select the Forms tab.

    Start with the form that has “Main” as its Format Type.

    How to develop a Form based upon your table (2 of 3 – add a component)

    Screenshot of the 'Components' window in 'Power Apps' with a list of layouts as a window to the right of the main screen where you can name and format the chosen layout.

    You can add element like columns or sections to your form by selecting the Components window.

    In this example, we are adding a 1-Column section. When you select that option from the menu options on the left of the screen, a window will open to the right of the screen where you can name and format the section.

    Choose the component you would like to add from the layout options. Depending on the table element you are looking to use, you can also add input options like number inputs and star ratings and pull in related data elements like a project timeline.

    How to develop a Form based upon your table (3 of 3 – add table columns)

    Screenshot of the 'Table Columns' window in 'Power Apps' and instructions for adding table columns.

    If you click on the “Table Columns” option on the left-hand pane, all of the column options from within your table will appear in alphabetical order.

    When clicked within the form section you would like to add the new column to, select the column from the list of option in the left-hand pane. The new data point will appear within the section. You can order and format section elements as you would like.

    When you are done editing the form, click the “Save” icon in the top right-hand corner. If you are ready for your changes to go live within your Project App, select the “Publish” icon in the top right-hand corner. Your updated form will go live within all of the apps that use it.

    The good and the bad of extending Project for the web

    The content in this step has not instructed users how to extend PFTW; rather, it has covered three basic core pieces of Power Apps that those interesting in PFTW need to be aware of: Dataverse environments, the Power Apps and Sitemaps Designers, and Tables and associated Forms.

    Because we have only covered the very tip of the iceberg, those interested in going further and taking a DIY approach to extending PFTW will need to build upon these basics to unlock further functionality. Indeed, it takes work to develop the product into something that begins to resemble a viable enterprise project and portfolio management solution. Here are some of the good and the bad elements associated with that work:

    The Good:

    • You can right-size and purpose build: add as much or as little project management rigor as your process requires. Related, you can customize the solution in multiple ways to suit the needs of specific business units or portfolios.
    • Speed to market: it is possible to get up and running quickly with a minimum-viable product.

    The Bad:

    • Work required: to build anything beyond MVP requires independent research and trial and error.
    • Time required: to build anything beyond MVP requires time and skills that many PMOs don’t have.
    • Shadow support costs: ungoverned app creation could have negative support and maintenance impacts across IT.

    "The move to Power Platform and low code development will […increase] maintenance overhead. Will low code solution hit problems at scale? [H]ow easy will it be to support hundreds or thousands of small applications?

    I can hear the IT support desks already complaining at the thought of this. This part of the puzzle is yet to hit real world realities of support because non developers are busy creating lots of low code applications." (Ben Hosking, Software Developer and Blogger, "Why low code software development is eating the world")

    Quick start your extension with the Accelerator

    For those starting out, there is a pre-built app you can import into your environment to extend the Project for the web app without any custom development.

    • If the DIY approach in the previous slides was overwhelming, and you don’t have the budget for a MS Partner route in the near-term, this doesn’t mean that evolving your Project for the web app is unattainable.
    • Thanks to a partnership between OnePlan (one of the MS Gold Partners we detail in the next step) and Microsoft, Project for the web users have access to a free resource to help them evolve the base Project app. It’s called the “Project for the web Accelerator” (commonly referred to as “the Accelerator” for short).
    • Users interested in learning more about, and accessing, this free resource should refer to the links below:
      1. The Future of Microsoft Project Online (source: OnePlan).
      2. Introducing the Project Accelerator (source: Microsoft).
      3. Project for the web Accelerator (source: GitHub)
    Screen shot from one of the dashboards that comes with the Accelerator (image source: GitHub).

    2.1.1 Perform a feasibility test (1 of 2)

    15 mins

    As we’ve suggested, and as the material in this step indicates, extending PFTW in a DIY fashion is not small task. You need a knowledge of the Dataverse and Power Apps, and access to the requisite skills, time, and resources to develop the solution.

    To determine whether your PMO and organization are ready to go it alone in extending PFTW, perform the following activity:

    1. Convene a collection of portfolio, project, and PMO staff.
    2. Using the six-question survey on tab 5 of the Microsoft Project & M365 Licensing Tool (see screenshot to the right) as a jumping off point for a discussion, consider the readiness of your PMO or project organization to undertake a DIY approach to extending and implementing PFTW at this time.
    3. You can use the recommendations on tab 5 of the Microsoft Project & 365 Licensing Tool to inform your next steps, and input the gauge graphic in section 4 of the Microsoft Project & M365 Action Plan Template.
    Screenshots from the 'Project for the Web Extensibility Feasibility Test'.

    Go to tab 5 of the Microsoft Project & M365 Licensing Tool

    See next slide for additional activity details

    2.1.1 Perform a feasibility test (2 of 2)

    Input: The contents of this step, The Project for the Web Extensibility Feasibility Test (tab 5 in the Microsoft Project & 365 Licensing Tool)

    Output: Initial recommendations on whether to proceed and how to proceed with a DIY approach to extending Project for the web

    Materials: The Project for the Web Extensibility Feasibility Test (tab 5 in the Microsoft Project & 365 Licensing Tool)

    Participants: Portfolio Manager (PMO Director), Project Managers, Other relevant PMO stakeholders

    Step 2.2

    Assess the Microsoft Gold Partner Community

    Activities

    • Review what to look for in a Microsoft Partner
    • Determine whether your needs would benefit from reaching out to a Microsoft Partner
    • Review three key Partners from the North American market
    • Create a Partner outreach plan

    This step will walk you through the following activities:

    • Review what to look for in a Microsoft Partner.
    • Determine whether your needs would benefit from reaching out to a Microsoft Partner.
    • Review three key Partners from the North American market.

    This step usually involves the following participants:

    • Portfolio Manager (PMO Director)
    • Project Managers
    • Other relevant PMO stakeholders

    Outcomes of Step

    • A better understanding of MS Partners
    • A Partner outreach plan

    You don’t have to go it alone

    Microsoft has an established community of Partners who can help in your customizations and implementations of Project for the web and other MS Project offerings.

    If the content in the previous step seemed too technical or overly complex in a way that scared you away from a DIY approach to extending Microsoft’s latest project offering (and at some point in the near future, soon to be its only project offering), Project for the web, fear not.

    You do not have to wade into the waters of extending Project for the web alone, or for that matter, in implementing any other MS Project solution.

    Instead, Microsoft nurtures a community of Silver and Gold partners who offer hands-on technical assistance and tool implementation services. While the specific services provided vary from partner to partner, all can assist in the customization and implementation of any of Microsoft’s Project offerings.

    In this step we will cover what to look for in a Partner and how to assess whether you are a good candidate for the services of a Partner. We will also highlight three Partners from within the North American market.

    The basics of the Partner community

    What is a Microsoft Partner?

    Simply put, an MS Gold Partner is a software or professional services organization that provides sales and services related to Microsoft products.

    They’re resellers, implementors, integrators, software manufacturers, trainers, and virtually any other technology-related business service.

    • Microsoft has for decades opted out of being a professional services organization, outside of its very “leading edge” offerings from MCS (Microsoft Consulting Services) for only those technologies that are so new that they aren’t yet supported by MS Partners.
    • As you can see in the chart on the next slide, to become a silver or gold certified partner, firms must demonstrate expertise in specific areas of business and technology in 18 competency areas that are divided into four categories: applications and infrastructure, business applications, data and AI, and modern workplace and security.

    More information on what it takes to become a Microsoft Partner:

    1. Partner Center (Document Center, Microsoft)
    2. Differentiate your business by attaining Microsoft competencies (Document Center, Microsoft)
    3. Partner Network Homepage (Webpage, Microsoft)
    4. See which partner offer is right for you (Webpage, Microsoft)

    Types of partnerships and qualifications

    Microsoft Partner Network

    Microsoft Action Pack

    Silver Competency

    Gold Competency

    What is it?

    		 The Microsoft Partner Network (MPN) is a community that offers members tools, information, and training. Joining the MPN is an entry-level step for all partners. The Action Pack is an annual subscription offered to entry-level partners. It provides training and marketing materials and access to expensive products and licenses at a vastly reduced price. Approximately 5% of firms in the Microsoft Partner Network (MPN) are silver partners. These partners are subject to audits and annual competency exams to maintain silver status. Approximately 1% of firms in the Microsoft Partner Network (MPN) are gold partners. These partners are subject to audits and annual competency exams to maintain Gold status.

    Requirements

    		 Sign up for a membership Annual subscription fee While requirements can vary across competency area, broadly speaking, to become a silver partner firms must:
    • Pass regular exams and skills assessments, with at least two individuals on staff with Microsoft Certified Professional Status.
    • Hit annual customer, revenue, and licensing metrics.
    • Pay the annual subscription fee.
    		 While requirements can vary across competency area, broadly speaking, to become a gold partner firms must:
    • Pass regular exams and skills assessments, with at least two individuals on staff with Microsoft Certified Professional Status.
    • Hit annual customer, revenue, and licensing metrics.
    • Pay the annual subscription fee.

    Annual Fee

    		 No Cost $530 $1800 $5300

    When would a MS Partner be helpful?

    • Project management and portfolio management practitioners might look into procuring the services of a Microsoft Partner for a variety of reasons.
    • Because services vary from partner to partner (help to extend Project for the web, implement Project Server or Project Online, augment PMO staffing, etc.) we won’t comment on specific needs here.
    • Instead, the three most common conditions that trigger the need are listed to the right.

    Speed

    When you need to get results faster than your staff can grow the needed capabilities.

    Cost

    When the complexity of the purchase decision, implementation, communication, training, configuration, and/or customization cannot be cost-justified for internal staff, often because you’ll only do it once.

    Expertise & Skills

    When your needs cannot be met by the core Microsoft technology without significant extension or customization.

    Canadian Microsoft Partners Spotlight

    As part of our research process for this blueprint, Info-Tech asked Microsoft Canada for referrals and introductions to leading Microsoft Partners. We spent six months collaborating with them on fresh research into the underlying platform.

    These vendors are listed below and are highlighted in subsequent slides.

    Spotlighted Partners:

    Logo for One Plan. Logo for PMO Outsource Ltd. Logo for Western Principles.

    Please Note: While these vendors were referred to us by Microsoft Canada and have a footprint in the Canadian market, their footprints extend beyond this to the North American and global markets.

    A word about our approach

    Photo of Barry Cousins, Project Portfolio Management Practice Lead, Info-Tech Research Group.
    Barry Cousins
    Project Portfolio Management Practice Lead
    Info-Tech Research Group

    Our researchers have been working with Microsoft Project Online and Microsoft Project Server clients for years, and it’s fair to say that most of these clients (at some point) used a Microsoft Partner in their deployment. They’re not really software products, per se; they’re platforms. As a Microsoft Partner in 2003 when Project Server got its first big push, I heard it loud and clear: “Some assembly required. You might only make 7% on the licensing, but the world’s your oyster for services.”

    In the past few years, Microsoft froze the market for major Microsoft Project decisions by making it clear that the existing offering is not getting updates while the new offering (Project for the web) doesn’t do what the old one did. And in a fascinating timing coincidence, the market substantially adopted Microsoft 365 during that period, which enables access to Project for the web.

    Many of Info-Tech’s clients are justifiably curious, confused, and concerned, while the Microsoft Partners have persisted in their knowledge and capability. So, we asked Microsoft Canada for referrals and introductions to leading Microsoft Partners and spent six months collaborating with them on fresh research into the underlying platform.

    Disclosure: Info-Tech conducted collaborative research with the partners listed on the previous slide to produce this publication. Market trends and reactions were studied, but the only clients identified were in case studies provided by the Microsoft Partners. Info-Tech’s customers have been, and remain, anonymous. (Barry Cousins, Project Portfolio Management Practice Lead, Info-Tech Research Group)

    MS Gold Partner Spotlight:

    OnePlan

    Logo for One Plan.
    Headquarters: San Marcos, California, and Toronto, Ontario
    Number of Employees: ~80
    Active Since: 2007 (as EPMLive)
    Website: www.oneplan.ai

    Who are they?

    • While the OnePlan brand has only been the marketplace for a few years, the company has been a major player in MS Gold Partner space for well over a decade.
    • Born out of EPMLive in the mid-aughts, OnePlan Solutions has evolved through a series of acquisitions, including Upland, Tivitie, and most recently Wicresoft.

    What do they do?

    • Software: Its recent rebranding is largely because OnePlan Solutions is as much a software company as it is a professional services firm. The OnePlan software product is an impressive solution that can be used on its own to facilitate the portfolio approaches outlined on the next slide and that can also integrate with the tools your organization is already using to manage tasks (see here for a full rundown of the solutions within the Microsoft stack and beyond OnePlan can integrate with).

      • Beyond its ability to integrate with existing solutions, as a software product, OnePlan has modules for resource planning, strategic portfolio planning, financial planning, time tracking, and more.

    • PPM Consulting Services: The OnePlan team also offers portfolio management consulting services. See the next slide for a list of its approaches to project portfolio management.

    Markets served

    • US, Canada, Europe, and Australia

    Channel Differentiation

    • OnePlan scales to all the PPM needs of all industry types.
    • Additionally, OnePlan offers insights and functionality specific to the needs of BioTech-Pharma.

    What differentiates OnePlan?

    • OnePlan co-developed the Project Accelerator for Project for the web with Microsoft. The OnePlan team’s involvement in developing the Accelerator and making it free for users to access suggests it is aligned to and has expertise in the purpose-built and collaborative vision behind Microsoft’s move away from Project Online and toward the Power Platform and Teams collaboration.
    • 2021 MS Gold Partner of the Year. At Microsoft’s recent Microsoft Inspire event, OnePlan was recognized as the Gold Partner of the Year for Project and Portfolio Management as well as a finalist for Power Apps and Power Automate.
    • OnePlan Approaches: Below is a list of the services or approaches to project portfolio management that OnePlan provides. See its website for more details.
      • Strategic Portfolio Management: Align work to objectives and business outcomes. Track performance against the proposed objectives outcomes.
      • Agile Portfolio Management: Implement Agile practices across the organization, both at the team and executive level.
      • Adaptive Portfolio Management: Allow teams to use the project methodology and tools that best suit the work/team. Maintain visibility and decision making across the entire portfolio.
      • Professional Services Automation: Use automation to operate with greater efficiency.

    "OnePlan offers a strategic portfolio, financial and resource management solution that fits the needs of every PMO. Optimize your portfolio, financials and resources enterprise wide." (Paul Estabrooks, Vice President at OnePlan)

    OnePlan Case Study

    This case study was provided to Info-Tech by OnePlan.

    Brambles

    INDUSTRY: Supply Chain & Logistics
    SOURCE: OnePlan

    Overview: Brambles plays a key role in the delivery or return of products amongst global trading partners such as manufacturers, distributors and retailers.

    Challenge

    Brambles had a variety of Project Management tools with no easy way of consolidating project management data. The proliferation of project management solutions was hindering the execution of a long-term business transformation strategy. Brambles needed certain common and strategic project management processes and enterprise project reporting while still allowing individual project management solutions to be used as part of the PPM platform.

    Solution

    As part of the PMO-driven business transformation strategy, Brambles implemented a project management “operating system” acting as a foundation for core processes such as project intake, portfolio management, resource, and financial planning and reporting while providing integration capability for a variety of tools used for project execution.

    OnePlan’s new Adaptive PPM platform, combining the use of PowerApps and OnePlan, gives Brambles the desired PPM operating system while allowing for tool flexibility at the execution level.

    Results

    • Comprehensive picture of progress across the portfolio.
    • Greater adoption by allowing flexibility of work management tools.
    • Modern portfolio management solution that enables leadership to make confident decision.

    Solution Details

    • OnePlan
    • Project
    • Power Apps
    • Power Automate
    • Power BI
    • Teams

    Contacting OnePlan Solutions

    www.oneplan.ai

    Joe Larscheid: jlarscheid@oneplan.ai
    Paul Estabrooks: pestabrooks@oneplan.ai
    Contact Us: contact@oneplan.ai
    Partners: partner@oneplan.ai

    Partner Resources. OnePlan facilitates regular ongoing live webinars on PPM topics that anyone can sign up for on the OnePlan website.

    For more information on upcoming webinars, or to access recordings of past webinars, see here.

    Additional OnePlan Resources

    1. How to Extend Microsoft Teams into a Collaborative Project, Portfolio and Work Management Solution (on-demand webinar, OnePlan’s YouTube channel)
    2. What Does Agile PPM Mean To The Modern PMO (on-demand webinar, OnePlan’s YouTube channel)
    3. OnePlan is fused with the Microsoft User Experience (blog article, OnePlan)
    4. Adaptive Portfolio Management Demo – Bringing Order to the Tool Chaos with OnePlan (product demo, OnePlan’s YouTube channel)
    5. How OnePlan is aligning with Microsoft’s Project and Portfolio Management Vision (blog article, OnePlan)
    6. Accelerating Office 365 Value with a Hybrid Project Portfolio Management Solution (product demo, OnePlan’s YouTube channel)

    MS Gold Partner Spotlight:

    PMO Outsource Ltd.

    Logo for PMO Outsource Ltd.

    Headquarters: Calgary, Alberta, and Mississauga, Ontario
    Website: www.pmooutsource.com

    Who are they?

    • PMO Outsource Ltd. is a Microsoft Gold Partner and PMI certified professional services firm based in Alberta and Ontario, Canada.
    • It offers comprehensive project and portfolio management offerings with a specific focus on project lifecycle management, including demand management, resource management, and governance and communication practices.

    What do they do?

    • Project Online and Power Platform Expertise. The PMO Outsource Ltd. team has extensive knowledge in both Microsoft’s old tech (Project Server and Desktop) and in its newer, cloud-based technologies (Project Online, Project for the web, the Power Platform, and Dynamics 365). As the case study in two slides demonstrates, PMO Outsource Ltd. Uses its in-depth knowledge of the Microsoft suite to help organizations automate project and portfolio data collection process, create efficiencies, and encourage cloud adoption.
    • PPM Consulting Services: In addition to its Microsoft platform expertise, the PMO Outsource Ltd. team also offers project and portfolio management consulting services, helping organizations evolve their process and governance structures as well as their approaches to PPM tooling.

    Markets served

    • Global

    Channel Differentiation

    • PMO Outsource Ltd. scales to all the PPM needs of all industry types.

    What differentiates PMO Outsource Ltd.?

    • PMO Staff Augmentation. In addition to its technology and consulting services, PMO Outsource Ltd. offers PMO staff augmentation services. As advertised on its website, it offers “scalable PMO staffing solutions. Whether you require Project Managers, Business Analysts, Admins or Coordinators, [PMO Outsource Ltd.] can fulfill your talent search requirements from a skilled pool of resources.”
    • Multiple and easy-to-understand service contract packages. PMO Outsource Ltd. offers many prepackaged service offerings to suit PMOs’ needs. Those packages include “PMO Management, Admin, and Support,” “PPM Solution, Site and Workflow Configuration,” and “Add-Ons.” For full details of what’s included in these services packages, see the PMO Outsource Ltd. website.
    • PMO Outsource Ltd. Services: Below is a list of the services or approaches to project portfolio management that PMO Outsource Ltd. Provides. See its website for more details.
      • Process Automation, Workflows, and Tools. Facilitate line of sight by tailoring Microsoft’s technology to your organization’s needs and creating custom workflows.
      • PMO Management Framework. Receive a professionally managed PPM methodology as well as governance standardization of processes, tools, and templates.
      • Custom BI Reports. Leverage its expertise in reporting and dashboarding to create the visibility your organization needs.

    "While selecting an appropriate PPM tool, the PMO should not only evaluate the standard industry tools but also analyze which tool will best fit the organization’s strategy, budget, and culture in the long run." (Neeta Manghnani, PMO Strategist, PMO Outsource Ltd.)

    PMO Outsource Ltd. Case Study

    This case study was provided to Info-Tech by PMO Outsource Ltd.

    SAMUEL

    INDUSTRY: Manufacturing
    SOURCE: PMO Outsource Ltd.

    Challenge

    • MS Project 2013 Server (Legacy/OnPrem)
    • Out-of-support application and compliance with Office 365
    • Out-of-support third-party application for workflows
    • No capability for resource management
    • Too many manual processes for data maintenance and server administration

    Solution

    • Migrate project data to MS Project Online
    • Recreate workflows using Power Automate solution
    • Configure Power BI content packs for Portfolio reporting and resource management dashboards
    • Recreate OLAP reports from legacy environment using Power BI
    • Cut down nearly 50% of administrative time by automating PMO/PPM processes
    • Save costs on Server hardware/application maintenance by nearly 75%

    Full Case Study Link

    • For full details about how PMO Outsource Ltd. assisted Samuel in modernizing its solution and creating efficiencies, visit the Microsoft website where this case study is highlighted.

    Contacting PMO Outsource Ltd.

    www.pmooutsource.com

    700 8th Ave SW, #108
    Calgary, AB T2P 1H2
    Telephone : +1 (587) 355-3745
    6045 Creditview Road, #169
    Mississauga, ON L5V 0B1
    Telephone : +1 (289) 334-1228
    Information: info@pmooutsource.com
    LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/pmo-outsource/

    Partner Resources. PMO Outsource Ltd.’s approach is rooted within a robust and comprehensive PPM framework that is focused on driving strategic outcomes and business success.

    For a full overview of its PPM framework, see here.

    Additional PMO Outsource Ltd. Resources

    1. 5 Benefits of PPM tools and PMO process automation (blog article, PMO Outsource Ltd.)
    2. Importance of PMO (blog article, PMO Outsource Ltd.)
    3. Meet the Powerful and Reimagined PPM tool for Everyone! (video, PMO Outsource Ltd. LinkedIn page)
    4. MS Project Tips: How to add #Sprints to an existing Project? (video, PMO Outsource Ltd. LinkedIn page)
    5. MS Project Tips: How to add a milestone to your project? (video, PMO Outsource Ltd. LinkedIn page)
    6. 5 Benefits of implementing Project Online Tools (video, PMO Outsource Ltd. LinkedIn page)

    MS Gold Partner Spotlight:

    Western Principles

    Logo for Western Principles.

    Headquarters: Vancouver, British Columbia
    Years Active: 16 Years
    Website: www.westernprinciples.com

    Who are they?

    • Western Principles is a Microsoft Gold Partner and UMT 360 PPM software provider based in British Columbia with a network of consultants across Canada.
    • In the last sixteen years, it has successfully conducted over 150 PPM implementations, helping in the implementation, training, and support of Microsoft Project offerings as well as UMT360 – a software solution provider that, much like OnePlan, enhances the PPM capabilities of the Microsoft platform.

    What do they do?

    • Technology expertise. The Western Principles team helps organizations maximize the value they are getting form the Microsoft Platform. Not only does it offer expertise in all the solutions in the MS Project ecosystem, it also helps organizations optimize their use and understanding of Teams, SharePoint, the Power Platform, and more. In addition to the Microsoft platform, Western Principles is partnered with many other technology providers, including UMT360 for strategic portfolio management, the Simplex Group for project document controls, HMS for time sheets, and FluentPro for integration, back-ups, and migrations.
    • PPM Consulting Services: In addition to its technical services and solutions, Western Principles offers PPM consulting and staff augmentation services.

    Markets served

    • Canada

    Channel Differentiation

    • Western Principles scales to all the PPM needs of all industry types, public and private sector.
    • In addition, its website offers persona-specific information based on the PPM needs of engineering and construction, new product development, marketing, and more.

    What differentiates Western Principles?

    • Gold-certified UMT 360 partner. In addition to being a Microsoft Gold Partner, Western Principles is a gold-certified UMT 360 partner. UMT 360 is a strategic portfolio management tool that integrates with many other work management solutions to offer holistic line of sight into the organization’s supply-demand pain points and strategic portfolio management needs. Some of the solutions UMT 360 integrates with include Project Online and Project for the web, Azure DevOps, Jira, and many more. See here for more information on the impressive functionality in UMT360.
    • Sustainment Services. Adoption can be the bane of most PPM tool implementations. Among the many services Western Principles offers, its “sustainment services” stand out. According to Western Principles’ website, these services are addressed to those who require “continual maintenance, change, and repair activities” to keep PPM systems in “good working order” to help maximize ROI.
    • Western Principles Services: In addition to the above, below is a list of some of the services that Western Principles offers. See its website for a full list of services.
      • Process Optimization: Determine your requirements and process needs.
      • Integration: Create a single source of truth.
      • Training: Ensure your team knows how to use the systems you implement.
      • Staff Augmentation: Provide experienced project team members based upon your needs.

    "One of our principles is to begin with the end in mind. This means that we will work with you to define a roadmap to help you advance your strategic portfolio … and project management capabilities. The roadmap for each customer is different and based on where you are today, and where you need to get to." (Western Principles, “Your Strategic Portfolio Management roadmap,” Whitepaper)

    Contacting Western Principles

    www.westernprinciples.com

    610 – 700 West Pender St.
    Vancouver, BC V6C 1G8
    +1 (800) 578-4155
    Information: info@westernprinciples.com
    LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/western-principle...

    Partner Resources. Western Principles provides a multitude of current case studies on its home page. These case studies let you know what the firm is working on this year and the type of support it provides to its clientele.

    To access these case studies, see here.

    Additional Western Principles Resources

    1. Program and Portfolio Roll ups with Microsoft Project and Power BI (video, Western Principles YouTube Channel)
    2. Dump the Spreadsheets for Microsoft Project Online (video, Western Principles YouTube Channel)
    3. Power BI for Project for the web (video, Western Principles YouTube Channel)
    4. How to do Capacity Planning and Resource Management in Microsoft Project Online [Part 1 & Part 2] (video, Western Principles YouTube Channel)
    5. Extend & Integrate Microsoft Project (whitepaper, Western Principles)
    6. Your COVID-19 Return-to-Work Plan (whitepaper, Western Principles)

    Watch Info-Tech’s Analyst-Partner Briefing Videos to lean more

    Info-Tech was able to sit down with the partners spotlighted in this step to discuss the current state of the PPM market and Microsoft’s place within it.

    • All three partners spotlighted in this step contributed to Info-Tech’s research process for this publication.
    • For two of the partners, OnePlan and PMO Outsource Ltd., Info-Tech was able to record a conversation where our analysts and the partners discuss Microsoft’s current MS Project offerings, the current state of the PPM tool market, and the services and the approaches of each respective partner.
    • A third video briefing with Western Principles has not happened yet due to logistical reasons. We are hoping we can include a video chat with our peers at Western Principles in the near future.
    Screenshot form the Analyst-Partner Briefing Videos. In addition to the content covered in this step, you can use these videos for further information about the partners to inform your next steps.

    Download Info-Tech’s Analyst-Partner Briefing Videos (OnePlan & PMO Outsource Ltd.)

    2.2.1 Create a partner outreach plan

    1-3 hours

    Input: Contents of this step, List of additional MS Gold Partners

    Output: A completed partner outreach program

    Materials: MS Project & M365 Action Plan Template

    Participants: Portfolio Manager (PMO Director), PMO Admin Team, Project Managers, CIO

    1. With an understanding of the partner ecosystem, compile a working group of PMO peers and stakeholders to produce a gameplan for engaging the MS Gold Partner ecosystem.
      • For additional partner options see Microsoft’s Partner Page.
    2. Using slide 20 in Info-Tech’s MS Project and M365 Action Plan Template, document the Partners you would want or have scheduled briefings with.
      • As you go through the briefings and research process, document the pros and cons and areas of specialized associated with each vendor for your particular work management implementation.

    Download the Microsoft Project & M365 Action Plan Template

    2.2.2 Document your PM and PPM requirements

    1-3 hours

    Input: Project Portfolio Management Maturity Assessment, Project Management Maturity Assessment

    Output: MS Project & M365 Action Plan Template

    Materials: Project Portfolio Management Maturity Assessment, Project Management Maturity Assessment, MS Project & M365 Action Plan Template

    Participants: Portfolio Manager (PMO Director), PMO Admin Team, Project Managers, CIO

    1. As you prepare to engage the Partner Community, you should have a sense of where your project management and project portfolio management gaps are to better communicate your tooling needs.
    2. Leverage tab 4 from both your Project Portfolio Management Assessment and Project Management Assessment from step 1.3 of this blueprint to help document and communicate your requirements. Those tabs prioritize your project and portfolio management needs by highest impact for the organization.
    3. You can use the outputs of the tab to inform your inputs on slide 23 of the MS Project & M365 Action Plan Template to present to organizational stakeholders and share with the Partners you are briefing with.

    Download the Microsoft Project & M365 Action Plan Template

    Determine the Future of Microsoft Project for Your Organization

    Phase 3: Finalize Your Implementation Approach

    Phase 1: Determine Your Tool NeedsPhase 2: Weigh Your Implementation Options

    Phase 3: Finalize Your Implementation Approach

    • Step 1.1: Survey the M365 work management landscape
    • Step 1.2: Perform a process maturity assessment to help inform your M365 starting point
    • Step 1.3: Consider the right MS Project licenses for your stakeholders
    • Step 2.1: Get familiar with extending Project for the web using Power Apps
    • Step 2.2: Assess the MS Gold Partner Community
    • Step 3.1: Prepare an action plan

    Phase Outcomes

    An action plan concerning what to do with MS Project and M365 for your PMO or project organization.

    Step 3.1

    Prepare an action plan

    Activities

    • Compile the current state results
    • Prepare an Implementation Roadmap
    • Complete your presentation deck

    This step will walk you through the following activities:

    • Assess the impact of organizational change for the project
    • Develop your vision for stakeholders
    • Compile the current state results and document the implementation approach
    • Create clarity through a RACI and proposed implementation timeline

    This step usually involves the following participants:

    • Portfolio Manager (PMO Director)
    • PMO Admin Team
    • Business Analysts
    • Project Managers

    Outcomes of Step

    • Microsoft Project and M365 Action Plan

    Assess the impact of organizational change

    Be prepared to answer: “What’s in it for me?”

    Before jumping into licensing and third-party negotiations, ensure you’ve clearly assessed the impact of change.

    Tailor the work effort involved in each step, as necessary:

    1. Assess the impact
      • Use the impact assessment questions to identify change impacts.
    2. Plan for change
      • Document the impact on each stakeholder group.
      • Anticipate their response.
      • Curate a compelling message for each stakeholder group.
      • Develop a communication plan.
    3. Act according to plan
      • Identify your executive sponsor.
      • Enable the sponsor to drive change communication.
      • Coach managers on how they can drive change at the individual level.

    Impact Assessment Questions

    • Will the change impact how our clients/customers receive, consume, or engage with our products/services?
    • Will there be a price increase?
    • Will there be a change to compensation and/or rewards?
    • Will the vision or mission of the job change?
    • Will the change span multiple locations/time zones?
    • Are multiple products/services impacted by this change?
    • Will staffing levels change?
    • Will this change increase the workload?
    • Will the tools of the job be substantially different?
    • Will a new or different set of skills be needed?
    • Will there be a change in reporting relationships?
    • Will the workflow and approvals be changed?
    • Will there be a substantial change to scheduling and logistics?

    Master Organizational Change Management Practices blueprint

    Develop your vision for stakeholders

    After careful analysis and planning, it’s time to synthesize your findings to those most impacted by the change.

    Executive Brief

    • Prepare a compelling message about the current situation.
    • Outline the considerations the working group took into account when developing the action plan.
    • Succinctly describe the recommendations proposed by the working group.

    Goals

    • Identify the goals for the project.
    • Explain the details for each goal to develop the organizational rationale for the project.
    • These goals are the building blocks for the change communication that the executive sponsor will use to build a coalition of sponsors.

    Future State Vision

    • Quantify the high-level costs and benefits of moving forward with this project.
    • Articulate the future- state maturity level for both the project and project portfolio management process.
    • Reiterate the organizational rationale and drivers for change.

    "In failed transformations, you often find plenty of plans, directives, and programs, but no vision…A useful rule of thumb: If you can’t communicate the vision to someone in five minutes or less and get a reaction that signifies both understanding and interest, you are not yet done…" (John P. Kotter, Leading Change)

    Get ready to compile the analysis completed throughout this blueprint in the subsequent activities. The outputs will come together in your Microsoft Project and M365 Action Plan.

    Use the Microsoft Project & M365 Action Plan Template to help communicate your vision

    Our boardroom-ready presentation and communication template can be customized using the outputs of this blueprint.

    • Getting stakeholders to understand why you are recommending specific work management changes and then communicating exactly what those changes are and what they will cost is key to the success of your work management implementation.
    • To that end, the slides ahead walk you through how to customize the Microsoft Project & M365 Action Plan Template.
    • Many of the current-state analysis activities you completed during phase 1 of this blueprint can be directly made use of within the template as can the decisions you made and requirements you documented during phase 2.
    • By the end of this step, you will have a boardroom-ready presentation that will help you communicate your future-state vision.
    Screenshot of Info-Tech's Microsoft Project and M365 Action Plan Template with a note to 'Update the presentation or distribution date and insert your name, role, and organization'.

    Download Info-Tech’s Microsoft Project & M365 Action Plan Template

    3.1.1 Compile current state results

    1-3 hours

    Input: Force Field Analysis Tool, Tool Audit Workbook, Project Management Maturity Assessment Tool, Project Portfolio Management Maturity Assessment Tool

    Output: Section 1: Executive Brief, Section 2: Context and Constraints

    Materials: Microsoft Project and M365 Action Plan Template

    Participants: PMO Director, PMO Admin Team, Business Analysts, Project Managers

    1. As a group, review the results of the tools introduced throughout this blueprint. Use this information along with organizational knowledge to document the business context and current state.
    2. Update the driving forces for change and risks and constraints slides using your outputs from the Force Field Analysis Tool.
    3. Update the current tool landscape, tool satisfaction, and tool audit results slides using your outputs from the Tool Audit Workbook.
    4. Update the gap analysis results slides using your outputs from the Project Management and Project Portfolio Management Maturity Assessment Tools.

    Screenshots of 'Business Context and Current State' screen from the 'Force Field Analysis Tool', the 'Tool Audit Results' screen from the 'Tool Audit Workbook', and the 'Project Portfolio Management Gap Analysis Results' screen from the 'PM and PPM Maturity Assessments Tool'.

    Download the Microsoft Project & M365 Action Plan Template

    3.2.1 Option A: Prepare a DIY roadmap

    1-3 hours; Note: This is only applicable if you have chosen the DIY route

    Input: List of key PPM decision points, List of who is accountable for PPM decisions, List of who has PPM decision-making authority

    Output: Section 3: DIY Implementation Approach

    Materials: Microsoft Project and M365 Action Plan Template

    Participants: PMO Director, PMO Admin Team, Business Analysts, Project Managers

    1. As a group, review the results of the Microsoft Project and M365 Licensing Tool. Use this information along with organizational knowledge and discussion with the working group to complete Section 3: DIY Implementation Approach.
    2. Copy and paste your results from tab 5 of the Microsoft Project and M365 Licensing Tool. Update the Implementation Approach slide to detail the rationale for selecting this option.
    3. Update the Action Plan to articulate the details for total and annual costs of the proposed licensing solution.
    4. Facilitate a discussion to determine roles and responsibilities for the implementation. Based on the size, risk, and complexity of the implementation, create a reasonable timeline.
    Screenshots from the 'Microsoft Project and M365 Action Plan Template' outlining the 'DIY Implementation Approach'.

    Download the Microsoft Project and M365 Action Plan Template

    3.2.1 Option b: Prepare a Partner roadmap

    1-3 hours; Note: This is only applicable if you have chosen the Partner route

    Input: Microsoft Project and M365 Licensing Tool, Information on Microsoft Partners

    Output: Section 4: Microsoft Partner Implementation Route

    Materials: Microsoft Project and M365 Action Plan Template

    Participants: PMO Director, PMO Admin Team, Business Analysts, Project Managers

    1. As a group, review the results of the Microsoft Project and M365 Licensing Tool. Use this information along with organizational knowledge and discussion with the working group to complete Section 4: Microsoft Partner Implementation Route.
    2. Copy and paste your results from tab 5 of the Microsoft Project and M365 Licensing Tool. Update the Implementation Approach slide to detail the rationale for selecting this option.
    3. Develop an outreach plan for the Microsoft Partners you are planning to survey. Set targets for briefing dates and assign an individual to own any back-and-forth communication. Document the pros and cons of each Partner and gauge interest in continuing to analyze the vendor as a possible solution.
    4. Facilitate a discussion to determine roles and responsibilities for the implementation. Based on the size, risk, and complexity of the implementation, create a reasonable timeline.

    Screenshots from the 'Microsoft Project and M365 Action Plan Template' outlining the 'Microsoft Partner Implementation Route'.

    Microsoft Project and M365 Action Plan Template

    3.1.2 Complete your presentation deck

    1-2 hours

    Input: Outputs from the exercises in this blueprint

    Output: Section 5: Future-State Vision and Goals

    Materials: Microsoft Project and M365 Action Plan Template

    Participants: PMO Director, PMO Admin Team, Business Analysts, Project Managers

    1. Put the finishing touches on your presentation deck by documenting your future- state vision and goals.
    2. Prepare to present to your stakeholders.
      • Understand your audience, their needs and priorities, and their degree of knowledge and experiences with technology. This informs what to include in your presentation and how to position the message and goal.
    3. Review the deck beginning to end and check for spelling, grammar, and vertical logic.
    4. Practice delivering the vision for the project through several practice sessions.

    Screenshots from the 'Microsoft Project and M365 Action Plan Template' regarding finishing touches.

    Microsoft Project and M365 Action Plan Template

    Pitch your vision to key stakeholders

    There are multiple audiences for your pitch, and each audience requires a different level of detail when addressed. Depending on the outcomes expected from each audience, a suitable approach must be chosen. The format and information presented will vary significantly from group to group.

    Audience

    Key Contents

    Outcome

    Business Executives
    • Section 1: Executive Brief
    • Section 2: Context and Constraints
    • Section 5: Future-State Vision and Goals
    • Identify executive sponsor

    IT Leadership
    • Sections 1-5 with a focus on Section 3 or 4 depending on implementation approach
    • Get buy-in on proposed project
    • Identify skills or resourcing constraints

    Business Managers
    • Section 1: Executive Brief
    • Section 2: Context and Constraints
    • Section 5: Future-State Vision and Goals
    • Get feedback on proposed plan
    • Identify any unassessed risks and organizational impacts

    Business Users
    • Section 1: Executive Brief
    • Support the organizational change management process

    Summary of Accomplishment

    Problem Solved

    Knowledge Gained
    • How you work: Work management and the various ways of working (personal and team task management, strategic project portfolio management, formal project management, and enterprise project and portfolio management).
    • Where you need to go: Project portfolio management and project management current- and target-state maturity levels.
    • What you need: Microsoft Project Plans and requisite M365 licensing.
    • The skills you need: Extending Project for the web.
    • Who you need to work with: Get to know the Microsoft Gold Partner community.
    Deliverables Completed
    • M365 Tool Guides
    • Tool Audit Workbook
    • Force Field Analysis Tool
    • Project Portfolio Management Maturity Assessment Tool
    • Project Management Maturity Assessment Tool
    • Microsoft Project & M365 Action Plan Template

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

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

    Additional Support

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

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

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

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

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

    Perform a work management tool audit

    Gain insight into the tools that drive value or fail to drive value across your work management landscape with a view to streamline the organization’s tool ecosystem.

    Prepare an action plan for your tool needs

    Prepare the right work management tool recommendations for your IT teams and/or business units and develop a boardroom-ready presentation to communicate needs and next steps.

    Research Contributors and Experts

    Neeta Manghnani
    PMO Strategist
    PMO Outsource Ltd.

    Photo of Neeta Manghnani, PMO Strategist, PMO Outsource Ltd.
    • Innovative, performance-driven executive with significant experience managing Portfolios, Programs & Projects, and technical systems for international corporations with complex requirements. A hands-on, dynamic leader with over 20 years of experience guiding and motivating cross-functional teams. Highly creative and brings a blend of business acumen and expertise in multiple IT disciplines, to maximize the corporate benefit from capital investments.
    • Successfully deploys inventive solutions to automate processes and improve the functionality, scalability and security of critical business systems and applications. Leverages PMO/PPM management and leadership skills to meet the strategic goals and business initiatives.

    Robert Strickland
    Principal Consultant & Owner
    PMO Outsource Ltd.

    Photo of Robert Strickland, Principal Consultant and Owner, PMO Outsource Ltd.
    • Successful entrepreneur, leader, and technologist for over 15 years, is passionate about helping organizations leverage the value of SharePoint, O365, Project Online, Teams and the Power Platform. Expertise in implementing portals, workflows and collaboration experiences that create business value. Strategic manager with years of successful experience building businesses, developing custom solutions, delivering projects, and managing budgets. Strong transformational leader on large implementations with a technical pedigree.
    • A digital transformation leader helping clients move to the cloud, collaborate, automate their business processes and eliminate paper forms, spreadsheets and other manual practices.

    Related Info-Tech Research

    • Develop a Project Portfolio Management Strategy
      Time is money; spend it wisely.
    • Establish Realistic IT Resource Management Practices
      Holistically balance IT supply and demand to avoid overallocation.
    • Tailor Project Management Processes to Fit Your Projects
      Spend less time managing processes and more time delivering results

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    Pragmatic Works. “Building First Power Apps Model Driven Application.” YouTube, 21 June 2019. Accessed 17 Sept. 2021.

    “Project architecture overview.” Microsoft, 27 Mar. 2020. Accessed 17 Sept. 2021.

    “Project for the web Accelerator.” GitHub. Accessed 17 Sept. 2021.

    “Project for the web admin help.” Microsoft, 28 Oct. 2019. Accessed 17 Sept. 2021.

    “Project for the Web – The New Microsoft Project.” TPG. Accessed 17 Sept. 2021.

    “Project for the Web Security Roles.” Microsoft, 1 July 2021. Accessed 17 Sept. 2021.

    “Project Online: Project For The Web vs Microsoft Project vs Planner vs Project Online.” PM Connection, 30 Nov. 2020. Accessed 17 Sept. 2021.

    Redmond, Tony. “Office 365 Insights from Microsoft’s FY21 Q2 Results.” Office 365 for IT Pros, 28 Jan. 2021. Accessed 17 Sept. 2021.

    Reimagine Project Management with Microsoft. “Advanced deployment for Project for the web.” YouTube, 4 Aug. 2021. Accessed 17 Sept. 2021.

    Reimagine Project Management with Microsoft. “Overview of Microsoft Project.” YouTube, 29 July 2021. Accessed 17 Sept. 2021.

    “See which partner offer is right for you.” Microsoft. Accessed 17 Sept. 2021.

    Shalomova, Anna. “Microsoft Project for Web 2019 vs. Project Online: What’s Best for Enterprise Project Management?” FluentPro, 23 July 2020. Accessed 17 Sept. 2021.

    Speed, Richard. “One Project to rule them all: Microsoft plots end to Project Online while nervous Server looks on.” The Register, 28 Sept. 2018. Accessed 17 Sept. 2021.

    Spataro, Jared. “A new vision for modern work management with Microsoft Project.” Microsoft, 25 Sept. 2018. Accessed 17 Sept. 2021.

    Stickel, Robert. “OnePlan Recognized as Winner of 2021 Microsoft Project & Portfolio Management Partner of the Year.” OnePlan, 8 July 2021. Accessed 17 Sept. 2021.

    Stickel, Robert. “The Future of Project Online.” OnePlan, 2 Mar. 2021. Accessed 17 Sept. 2021.

    Stickel, Robert. “What It Means to be Adaptive.” OnePlan, 24 May 2021. Accessed 17 Sept. 2021.

    “The Future of Microsoft Project Online.” OnePlan. Accessed 17 Sept. 2021.

    Weller, Joe. “Demystifying Microsoft Project Licensing.” Smartsheet, 10 Mar. 2016. Accessed 17 Sept. 2021.

    Western Principles Inc. “Dump the Spreadsheets for Microsoft Project Online.” YouTube, 2 July 2020. Accessed 17 Sept. 2021.

    Western Principles Inc. “Project Online or Project for the web? Which project management system should you use?” YouTube, 11 Aug. 2020. Accessed 17 Sept. 2021.

    “What is Power Query?” Microsoft, 22 July 2021. Web.

    Wicresoft. “The Power of the New Microsoft Project and Microsoft 365.” YouTube, 29 May 2020. Accessed 17 Sept. 2021.

    Wicresoft. “Why the Microsoft Power Platform is the Future of PPM.” YouTube, 11 June 2020. Accessed 17 Sept. 2021.

    Renovate the Data Center

    • Buy Link or Shortcode: {j2store}497|cart{/j2store}
    • member rating overall impact: N/A
    • member rating average dollars saved: N/A
    • member rating average days saved: N/A
    • Parent Category Name: Data Center & Facilities Optimization
    • Parent Category Link: /data-center-and-facilities-optimization
    • 33% of enterprises will be undertaking facility upgrades or refreshes in 2010 aimed at extending the life of their existing data centers.
    • Every upgrade or refresh targeting specific components in the facility to address short-term pain will have significant impact on the data center environment as a whole. Planning upfront and establishing a clear project scope will minimize expensive changes in later years.
    • This solution set will provide you with step-by-step design, planning, and selection tools to define a Data Center renovation plan to reduce cost and risk while supporting cost-effective long-term growth for power, cooling, standby power, and fire protection renovations.

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    • 88% of organizations cited they would spend more time and effort on documenting and identifying facility requirements for initial project scoping. Organizations can prevent scope creep by conducting the necessary project planning up front and identify requirements and the effect that the renovation project will have in all areas of the data center facility.
    • Data Center facilities renovations must include the specific requirements related to power provisioning, stand-by power, cooling, and fire protection - not just the immediate short-term pain.
    • 39% of organizations cited they would put more emphasis on monitoring contractor management and performance to improve the outcome of the data center renovation project.

    Impact and Result

    • Early internal efforts to create a budget and facility requirements yields better cost and project outcomes when construction begins. Each data center renovation project is unique and should have its own detailed budget.
    • Upfront planning and detailed project scoping can prevent a cascading impact on data center renovation projects to other areas of the data center that can increase project size, scope and spend.
    • Contractor selection is one of the most important first steps in a complex data center renovation. Organizations must ensure the contractor selected has experience specifically in data center renovation.

    Renovate the Data Center Research & Tools

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

    1. Identify and understand the renovation project.

    • Storyboard: Renovate the Data Center
    • None
    • Data Center Annual Review Checklist

    2. Renovate power in the data center.

    • Data Center Power Requirements Calculator

    3. Renovate cooling in the data center.

    • Data Center Cooling Requirements Calculator

    4. Renovate standby power in the data center.

    • Data Center Standby Power Requirements Calculator

    5. Define current and future fire protection requirements.

    • Fire Protection & Suppression Engineer Selection Criteria Checklist
    • None

    6. Assess the opportunities and establish a clear project scope.

    • Data Center Renovation Project Charter
    • Data Center Renovation Project Planning & Monitoring Tool

    7. Establish a budget for the data center renovation project.

    • Data Center Renovation Budget Tool

    8. Select a general contractor to execute the project.

    • None
    • Data Center Renovation Contractor Scripted Interview
    • Data Center Renovation Contractor Scripted Interview Scorecard
    • Data Center Renovation Contractor Reference Checklist
    [infographic]

    Develop an IT Asset Management Strategy

    • Buy Link or Shortcode: {j2store}295|cart{/j2store}
    • member rating overall impact: 8.5/10 Overall Impact
    • member rating average dollars saved: $52,211 Average $ Saved
    • member rating average days saved: 31 Average Days Saved
    • Parent Category Name: Asset Management
    • Parent Category Link: /asset-management

    You have a mandate to create an accurate and actionable database of the IT assets in your environment, but:

    • The data you have is often incomplete or wrong.
    • Processes are broken or non-existent.
    • Your tools aren’t up to the task of tracking ever more hardware, software, and relevant metadata.
    • The role of stakeholders outside the core ITAM team isn’t well defined or understood.

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    ITAM is a foundational IT service that provides accurate, accessible, actionable data on IT assets. But there’s no value in data for data’s sake. Enable collaboration between IT asset managers, business leaders, and IT leaders to develop an ITAM strategy that maximizes the value they can deliver as service providers.

    Impact and Result

    • Develop an approach and strategy for ITAM that is sustainable and aligned with your business priorities.
    • Clarify the structure for the ITAM program, including scope, responsibility and accountability, centralization vs. decentralization, outsourcing vs. insourcing, and more.
    • Create a practical roadmap to guide improvement.
    • Summarize your strategy and approach using Info-Tech’s templates for review with stakeholders.

    Develop an IT Asset Management Strategy Research & Tools

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

    1. Develop an IT Asset Management Strategy – A methodology to create a business-aligned, coherent, and durable approach to ITAM.

    This two-phase, step-by-step methodology will guide you through the activities to build a business-aligned, coherent, and durable approach to ITAM. Review the executive brief at the start of the slide deck for an overview of the methodology and the value it can provide to your organization.

    • Develop an IT Asset Management Strategy – Phases 1-2

    2. ITAM Strategy Template – A presentation-ready repository for the work done as you define your ITAM approach.

    Use this template to document your IT asset management strategy and approach.

    • ITAM Strategy Template

    3. IT Asset Estimations Tracker – A rough-and-ready inventory exercise to help you evaluate the work ahead of you.

    Use this tool to estimate key data points related to your IT asset estate, as well as your confidence in your estimates.

    • IT Asset Estimations Tracker

    Infographic

    Workshop: Develop an IT Asset Management Strategy

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

    1 Identify ITAM Priorities & Goals, Maturity, Metrics and KPIs

    The Purpose

    Align key stakeholders to the potential strategic value of the IT asset management practice.

    Ensure the ITAM practice is focused on business-aligned goals.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Define a business-aligned direction and expected outcomes for your ITAM program.

    Activities

    1.1 Brainstorm ITAM opportunities and challenges.

    1.2 Conduct an executive alignment working session.

    1.3 Set ITAM priorities, goals and tactics.

    1.4 Identify target and current state ITAM maturity.

    Outputs

    ITAM opportunities and challenges

    Align executive priorities with ITAM opportunities.

    ITAM metrics and KPIs

    ITAM maturity

    2 Identify Your Approach to Support ITAM Priorities and Goals

    The Purpose

    Translate goals into specific and coherent actions to enable your ITAM practice to deliver business value.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    A business-aligned approach to ITAM, encompassing scope, structure, tools, audits, budgets, documentation and more.

    A high-level roadmap to achieve your vision for the ITAM practice.

    Activities

    2.1 Define ITAM scope.

    2.2 Acquire ITAM services (outsourcing and contracting).

    2.3 Centralize or decentralize ITAM capabilities.

    2.4 Create a RACI for the ITAM practice.

    2.5 Align ITAM with other service management practices.

    2.6 Evaluate ITAM tools and integrations.

    2.7 Create a plan for internal and external audits.

    2.8 Improve your budget processes.

    2.9 Establish a documentation framework.

    2.10 Create a roadmap and communication plan.

    Outputs

    Your ITAM approach

    ITAM roadmap and communication plan

    Further reading

    Develop an IT Asset Management Strategy

    Define your business-aligned approach to ITAM.

    Table of Contents

    4 Analyst Perspective

    5 Executive Summary

    17 Phase 1: Establish Business-Aligned ITAM Goals and Priorities

    59 Phase 2: Support ITAM Goals and Priorities

    116 Bibliography

    Develop an IT Asset Management Strategy

    Define your business-aligned approach to ITAM.

    EXECUTIVE BRIEF

    Analyst Perspective

    Track hardware and software. Seems easy, right?

    It’s often taken for granted that IT can easily and accurately provide definitive answers to questions like “how many laptops do we have at Site 1?” or “do we have the right number of SQL licenses?” or “how much do we need to budget for device replacements next year?” After all, don’t we know what we have?

    IT can’t easily provide these answers because to do so you must track hardware and software throughout its lifecycle – which is not easy. And unfortunately, you often need to respond to these questions on very short notice because of an audit or to support a budgeting exercise.

    IT Asset Management (ITAM) is the solution. It’s not a new solution – the discipline has been around for decades. But the key to success is to deploy the practice in a way that is sustainable, right-sized, and maximizes value.

    Use our practical methodology to develop and document your approach to ITAM that is aligned with the goals of your organization.

    Photo of Andrew Sharp, Research Director, Infrastructure & Operations Practice, Info-Tech Research Group.

    Andrew Sharp
    Research Director
    Infrastructure & Operations Practice
    Info-Tech Research Group

    		Realize the value of asset management

    Cost optimization, application rationalization and reduction of technical debt are all considered valuable to right-size spending and improve service outcomes. Without access to accurate data, these activities require significant investments of time and effort, starting with creation of point-in-time inventories, which lengthens the timeline to reaching project value and may still not be accurate.

    Cost optimization and reduction of technical debt should be part of your culture and technical roadmap rather than one-off projects. Why? Access to accurate information enables the organization to quickly make decisions and pivot plans as needed. Through asset management, ongoing harvest and redeployment of assets improves utilization-to-spend ratios. We would never see any organization saying, “We’ve closed our year end books, let’s fire the accountants,” but often see this valuable service relegated to the back burner. Similar to the philosophy that “the best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago and the next best time is now,” the sooner you can start to collect, validate, and analyze data, the sooner you will find value in it.

    Photo of Sandi Conrad, Principal Research Director, Infrastructure & Operations Practice, Info-Tech Research Group.

    Sandi Conrad
    Principal Research Director
    Infrastructure & Operations Practice
    Info-Tech Research Group

    Executive Summary

    Your Challenge

    You have a mandate to create an accurate and actionable database of the IT assets in your environment, but:

    • The data you have is often incomplete or wrong.
    • Processes are broken or non-existent.
    • Your tools aren’t up to the task of tracking ever more hardware, software, and relevant metadata.
    • The role of stakeholders outside the core ITAM team isn’t well defined or understood.
    		 Common Obstacles

    It is challenging to make needed changes because:

    • There’s cultural resistance to asset tracking, it’s seen as busywork that doesn’t clearly create value.
    • Decentralized IT teams aren’t generating the data required to track hardware and licenses.
    • ITAM can’t direct needed tool improvements because the admins don’t report to ITAM.
    • It’s hard to find time to improve processes given the day-to-day demands on your time.
    		 Info-Tech’s Approach
    • Develop an approach and strategy for ITAM that is sustainable and aligned with your business priorities.
    • Clarify the structure for the ITAM program, including scope, responsibility and accountability, centralization vs. decentralization, outsourcing vs. insourcing, and more.
    • Create a practical roadmap to guide improvement.
    • Summarize your strategy and approach using Info-Tech’s templates for review with stakeholders.

    Info-Tech Insight

    ITAM is a foundational IT service that provides accurate, accessible, actionable data on IT assets. But there’s no value in data for data’s sake. Enable collaboration between IT asset managers, business leaders, and IT leaders to develop an ITAM strategy that maximizes the value they can deliver as service providers.

    Unlock business value with IT asset management

    • IT asset management (ITAM) is the practice of maintaining accurate, accessible, and actionable data on the assets within the organization’s IT estate. Each IT asset will have a record that tracks it across its lifecycle from purchase to disposal.
    • ITAM’s value is realized through other processes and practice areas that can leverage ITAM data to manage risk, improve IT services, and control costs.
    • Develop an approach to ITAM that maximizes the value delivered to the business and IT. ITAM succeeds when its partners succeed at delivering business value, and it fails when it doesn’t show value to those partners.

    This blueprint will help you develop your approach for the management of IT hardware and software, including cloud services. Leverage other Info-Tech methodologies to dive directly into developing hardware asset management procedures, software asset management procedures, or to implement configuration management best practices.

    Info-Tech Members report significant savings from implementing our hardware and software asset management frameworks. In order to maximize value from the process-focused methodologies below, develop your ITAM strategy first.

    Implement Hardware Asset Management (Based on Info-Tech Measured Value Surveys results from clients working through these blueprints, as of February 2022.)

    9.6/10

    $23k

    32
    Overall Impact Average $ Saved Average Days Saved
    Implement Software Asset Management (Based on Info-Tech Measured Value Surveys results from clients working through these blueprints, as of February 2022.)

    9.0/10

    $12k

    5
    Overall Impact Average $ Saved Average Days Saved

    ITAM provides both early and ongoing value

    ITAM isn’t one-and-done. Properly supported, your ITAM practice will deliver up-front value that will help demonstrate the value ongoing ITAM can offer through the maintenance of an accurate, accessible, and actionable ITAM database.

    Example: Software Savings from ITAM



    This chart shows the money saved between the first quote and the final price for software and maintenance by a five-person ITAM team. Over a year and a half, they saved their organization a total of $7.5 million from a first quote total of $21 million over that period.

    This is a perfect example of the direct value that ITAM can provide on an ongoing basis to the organization, when properly supported and integrated with IT and the business.

    Examples of up-front value delivered in the first year of the ITAM practice:

    • Save money by reviewing and renegotiating critical, high-spend, and undermanaged software and service contracts.
    • Redeploy or dispose of clearly unused hardware and software.
    • Develop and enforce standards for basic hardware and software.
    • Improve ITAM data quality and build trust in the results.

    Examples of long-term value from ongoing governance, management, and operational ITAM activities:

    • Optimize spend: Reallocate unused hardware and software, end unneeded service agreements, and manage renewals and audits.
    • Reduce risk: Provide comprehensive asset data for security controls development and incident management; manage equipment disposal.
    • Improve IT service: Support incident, problem, request, and change management with ITAM data. Develop new solutions with an understanding of what you have already.

    Common obstacles

    The rulebook is available, but hard to follow
    • ITAM takes a village, but stakeholders aren’t aware of their role. ITAM processes rely on technicians to update asset records, vendors to supply asset data, administrators to manage tools, leadership to provide direction and support, and more.
    • Constant change in the IT and business environment undermines the accuracy of ITAM records (e.g. licensing and contract changes, technology changes that break discovery tools, personnel and organizational changes).
    • Improvement efforts are overwhelmed by day-to-day activities. One study found that 83% of SAM teams’ time is consumed by audit-related activities. (Flexera State of ITAM Report 2022) A lack of improvement becomes a vicious cycle when stakeholders who don’t see the value of ITAM decline to dedicate resources for improvement.
    • Stakeholders expect ITAM tools to be a cure-all, but even at their best, they can’t provide needed answers without some level of configuration, manual input, and supervision.
    • There’s often a struggle to connect ITAM to value. For example, respondents to Info-Tech’s Management & Governance Diagnostic consistently rank ITAM as less important than other processes that ITAM directly supports (e.g. budget management and budget optimization). (Info-Tech MGD Diagnostic (n=972 unique organizations))
    		 ITAM is a mature discipline with well-established standards, certifications, and tools, but we still struggle with it.
    • Only 28% of SAM teams track IaaS and PaaS spend, and only 35% of SAM teams track SaaS usage.
    • Increasing SAM maturity is a challenge for 76% of organizations.
    • 10% of organizations surveyed have spent more than $5 million in the last three years in audit penalties and true-ups.
    • Half of all of organizations lack a viable SAM tool.
    • Seventy percent of SAM teams have a shortfall of qualified resources.
      • (Flexera State of ITAM Report 2022)

    Info-Tech's IT Asset Management Framework (ITAM)

    Adopt, manage, and mature activities to enable business value thorugh actionable, accessible, and accurate ITAM data

    Logo for Info-Tech Research Group. Enable Business Value Logo for #iTRG.
    Business-Aligned Spend
    Optimization and Transparency
    Facilitate IT Services
    and Products
    Actionable, Accessible,
    and Accurate Data
    Context-Aware Risk Management
    and Security Controls

    Plan & Govern

    Business Goals, Risks, and Structure
    • ITAM Goals & Priorities
    • Roles, Accountability, Responsibilities
    • Scope
    Ongoing Management Commitment
    • Resourcing & Funding
    • Policies & Enforcement
    • Continuous Improvement
    Culture
    • ITAM Education, Awareness & Training
    • Organizational Change Management
    		 Section title 'Operate' with a cycle surrounding key components of Operate: 'Data Collection & Validation', 'Tool Administration', 'License Management', and 'Lease Management'. The cycle consists of 'Request', 'Procure', 'Receive', 'Deploy', 'Manage', 'Retire & Dispose', and back to 'Request'.

    Build & Manage

    Tools & Data
    • ITAM Tool Selection & Deployment
    • Configuration Management Synchronization
    • IT Service Management Integration
    Process
    • Process Management
    • Data & Process Audits
    • Document Management
    People, Policies, and Providers
    • Stakeholder Management
    • Technology Standardization
    • Vendor & Contract Management

    Info-Tech Insight

    ITAM is a foundational IT service that provides actionable, accessible, and accurate data on IT assets. But there's no value in data for data's sake. Use this methodology to enable collaboration between ITAM, the business, and IT to develop an approach to ITAM that maximizes the value the ITAM team can deliver as service providers.

    Key deliverable

    IT asset management requires ongoing practice – you can’t just implement it and walk away.

    Our methodology will help you build a business-aligned strategy and approach for your ITAM practice with the following outputs:

    • Business-aligned ITAM priorities, opportunities, and goals.
    • Current and target state ITAM maturity.
    • Metrics and KPIs.
    • Roles, responsibilities, and accountability.
    • Insourcing, outsourcing, and (de)centralization.
    • Tools and technology.
    • A documentation framework.
    • Initiatives, a roadmap, and a communication plan.
    		 Each step of this blueprint is designed to help you create your IT asset management strategy:
    Sample of Info-Tech's key deliverable 'IT Asset Management' blueprint.

    Info-Tech’s methodology to develop an IT asset management strategy

    1. Establish business-aligned ITAM goals and priorities 2. Identify your approach to support ITAM priorities and goals
    Phase Steps
    • 1.1 Define ITAM and brainstorm opportunities and challenges.
      • Executive Alignment Working Session:
    • 1.2 Review organizational priorities, strategy, and key initiatives.
    • 1.3 Align executive priorities with ITAM opportunities and priorities.
    • 1.4 Identify business-aligned ITAM goals and target maturity.
    • 1.5 Write mission and vision statements.
    • 1.6 Define ITAM metrics and KPIs.
    • 2.1 Define ITAM scope.
    • 2.2 Acquire ITAM services (outsourcing and contracting).
    • 2.3 Centralize or decentralize ITAM capabilities.
    • 2.4 Create a RACI for the ITAM practice.
    • 2.5 Align ITAM with other service management practices.
    • 2.6 Evaluate ITAM tools and integrations.
    • 2.7 Create a plan for internal and external audits.
    • 2.8 Improve your budget processes.
    • 2.9 Establish a documentation framework.
    • 2.10 Create a roadmap and communication plan.
    Phase Outcomes Defined, business-aligned goals and priorities for ITAM. Establish an approach to achieving ITAM goals and priorities including scope, structure, tools, service management integrations, documentation, and more.
    Project Outcomes Develop an approach and strategy for ITAM that is sustainable and aligned with your business priorities.

    Insight Summary

    There’s no value in data for data’s sake

    ITAM is a foundational IT service that provides accurate, accessible, actionable data on IT assets. Enable collaboration between IT asset managers, business leaders, and IT leaders to develop an approach to ITAM that maximizes the value they can deliver as service providers.

    Service provider to a service provider

    ITAM is often viewed (when it’s viewed at all) as a low-value administrative task that doesn’t directly drive business value. This can make it challenging to build a case for funding and resources.

    Your ITAM strategy is a critical component to help you define how ITAM can best deliver value to your organization, and to stop creating data for the sake of data or just to fight the next fire.

    Collaboration over order-taking

    To align ITAM practices to deliver organizational value, you need a very clear understanding of the organization’s goals – both in the moment and as they change over time.

    Ensure your ITAM team has clear line of sight to business strategy, objectives, and decision-makers, so you can continue to deliver value as priorities change

    Embrace dotted lines

    ITAM teams rely heavily on staff, systems, and data beyond their direct area of control. Identify how you will influence key stakeholders, including technicians, administrators, and business partners.

    Help them understand how ITAM success relies on their support, and highlight how their contributions have created organizational value to encourage ongoing support.

    Project benefits

    Benefits for IT
    • Set a foundation and direction for an ITAM practice that will allow IT to manage risk, optimize spend, and enhance services in line with business requirements.
    • Establish accountability and responsibility for essential ITAM activities. Decide where to centralize or decentralize accountability and authority. Identify where outsourcing could add value.
    • Create a roadmap with concrete, practical next steps to develop an effective, right-sized ITAM practice.
    		 Stock image of a trophy. Benefits for the business
    • Plan and control technology spend with confidence based on trustworthy ITAM data.
    • Enhance IT’s ability to rapidly and effectively support new priorities and launch new projects. Effective ITAM can support more streamlined procurement, deployment, and management of assets.
    • Implement security controls that reflect your total technology footprint. Reduce the risk that a forgotten device or unmanaged software turns your organization into the next Colonial Pipeline.

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

    DIY Toolkit

    Guided Implementation

    Workshop

    Consulting
    "Our team has already made this critical project a priority, and we have the time and capability, but some guidance along the way would be helpful." "Our team knows that we need to fix a process, but we need assistance to determine where to focus. Some check-ins along the way would help keep us on track." "We need to hit the ground running and get this project kicked off immediately. Our team has the ability to take this over once we get a framework and strategy in place." "Our team does not have the time or the knowledge to take this project on. We need assistance through the entirety of this project."

    Diagnostics and consistent frameworks used throughout all four options

    Guided Implementation

    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 around 12 calls over the course of 6 months.

    What does a typical GI on this topic look like?

    Call #1: Scope requirements, objectives, and your specific challenges.

    Call #2: Review business priorities.

    Call #3: Identify ITAM goals & target maturity.

    		Call #4: Identify metrics and KPIs. Call #5: Define ITAM scope.

    Call #6: Acquire ITAM services.

    		Call #7: ITAM structure and RACI.

    Call #8: ITAM and service management.

    Tools and integrations.

    		Call #10: Internal and external audits.

    Call #11: Budgets & documentation

    Call #12: Roadmap, comms plan. Wrap-up.

    Phase 1 Phase 2

    Workshop Overview
    Contact your account representative for more information.
    workshops@infotech.com1-888-670-8889
    Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5
    Identify ITAM priorities & goals, maturity, metrics and KPIs
    Identify your approach to support ITAM priorities and goals
    Next Steps and wrap-Up (offsite)
    Activities

    1.1 Define ITAM.

    1.2 Brainstorm ITAM opportunities and challenges.

    Conduct an executive alignment working session:

    1.3 Review organizational priorities, strategy, and key initiatives.

    1.4 Align executive priorities with ITAM opportunities.

    1.5 Set ITAM priorities.

    2.1 Translate opportunities into ITAM goals and tactics.

    2.2 Identify target and current state ITAM maturity.

    2.3 Create mission and vision statements.

    2.4 Identify key ITAM metrics and KPIs.

    3.1 Define ITAM scope.

    3.2 Acquire ITAM services (outsourcing and contracting)

    3.3 Centralize or decentralize ITAM capabilities.

    3.4 Create a RACI for the ITAM practice.

    3.5 Align ITAM with other service management practices.

    3.6 Evaluate ITAM tools and integrations.

    4.1 Create a plan for internal and external audits.

    4.2 Improve your budget processes.

    4.3 Establish a documentation framework and identify documentation gaps.

    4.4 Create a roadmap and communication plan.

    5.1 Complete in-progress deliverables from previous four days.

    5.2 Set up review time for workshop deliverables and to discuss next steps.

    Deliverables
    1. ITAM opportunities and challenges.
    2. Align executive priorities with ITAM opportunities.
    3. Set ITAM priorities.
    1. ITAM goals and tactics.
    2. Current and target ITAM maturity.
    3. Mission and vision statements.
    4. ITAM metrics and KPIs.
    1. Decisions that will shape your ITAM approach, including:
      1. What’s in scope (hardware, software, and cloud services).
      2. Where to centralize, decentralize, or outsource ITAM activities.
      3. Accountability, responsibility, and structure for ITAM activities.
      4. Service management alignment, tooling gaps, audit plans, budget processes, and required documentation.
    2. A roadmap and communication plan.
    1. Your completed ITAM strategy template.
    Develop an IT Asset Management Strategy

    Phase 1:

    Establish business-aligned ITAM goals and priorities

    Phase 1

    1.1 Define ITAM and brainstorm opportunities and challenges.

    Executive Alignment Working Session:

    1.2 Review organizational priorities, strategy, and key initiatives.

    1.3 Align executive priorities with ITAM opportunities & priorities.

    1.4 Identify business-aligned ITAM goals and target maturity.

    1.5 Write mission and vision statements.

    1.6 Define ITAM metrics and KPIs.

    Phase 2

    2.1 Define ITAM scope.

    2.2 Acquire ITAM services (outsourcing and contracting).

    2.3 Centralize or decentralize ITAM capabilities.

    2.4 Create a RACI for the ITAM practice.

    2.5 Align ITAM with other service management practices.

    2.6 Evaluate ITAM tools and integrations.

    2.7 Create a plan for internal and external audits.

    2.8 Improve your budget processes.

    2.9 Establish a documentation framework.

    2.10 Create a roadmap and communication plan.

    Phase Outcomes:

    Defined, business-aligned goals, priorities, and KPIs for ITAM. A concise vision and mission statement. The direction you need to establish a practical, right-sized, effective approach to ITAM for your organization.

    Before you get started

    Set yourself up for success with these three steps:
    • This methodology and the related slides are intended to be executed via intensive, collaborative working sessions using the rest of this slide deck.
    • Ensure the working sessions are a success by working through these steps before you start work on your IT asset management strategy.

    1. Identify participants

    Review recommended roles and identify who should participate in the development of your ITAM strategy.

    2. Estimate assets managed today

    Work through an initial assessment to establish ease of access to ITAM data and your level of trust in the data available to you.

    3. Create a working folder

    Create a repository to house your notes and any work in progress, including your copy of the ITAM Strategy Template.

    0.1 Identify participants

    30 minutes

    Output: List of key roles for the strategy exercises outlined in this methodology

    Participants: Project sponsor, Lead facilitator, ITAM manager and SMEs

    This methodology relies on having the right stakeholders in the room to identify ITAM goals, challenges, roles, structure, and more. On each activity slide in this deck, you’ll see an outline of the recommended participants. Use the table below to translate the recommended roles into specific people in your organization. Note that some people may fill multiple roles.

    Role Expectations People
    Project Sponsor Accountable for the overall success of the methodology. Ideally, participates in all exercises in this methodology. May be the asset manager or whoever they report to. Jake Long
    Lead Facilitator Leads, schedules, and manages all working sessions. Guides discussions and ensures activity outputs are completed. Owns and understands the methodology. Has a working knowledge of ITAM. Robert Loblaw
    Asset Manager(s) SME for the ITAM practice. Provides strategic direction to mature ITAM practices in line with organizational goals. Supports the facilitator. Eve Maldonado
    ITAM Team Hands-on ITAM professionals and SMEs. Includes the asset manager. Provide input on tactical ITAM opportunities and challenges. Bruce Wayne, Clark Kent
    IT Leaders & Managers Leaders of key stakeholder groups from across the IT department – the CIO and direct reports. Provide input on what IT needs from ITAM, and the role their teams should play in ITAM activities. May include delegates, particularly those familiar with day-to-day processes relevant to a particular discussion or exercise. Marcelina Hardy, Edmund Broughton
    ITAM Business Partners Non-IT business stakeholders for ITAM. This could include procurement, vendor management, accounting, and others. Zhang Jin, Effie Lamont
    Business Executives Organizational leaders and executives (CFO, COO, CEO, and others) or their delegates. Will participate in a mini-workshop to identify organizational goals and initiatives that can present opportunities for the ITAM practice. Jermaine Mandar, Miranda Kosuth

    0.2 Estimate asset numbers

    1 hour

    Output: Estimates of quantity and spend related to IT assets, Confidence/margin of error on estimates

    Participants: IT asset manager, ITAM team

    What do you know about your current IT environment, and how confident are you in that knowledge?

    This exercise will help you evaluate the size of the challenge ahead in terms of the raw number of assets in your environment, the spend on those assets, and the level of trust your organization has in the ITAM data.

    It is also a baseline snapshot your ability to relay key ITAM metrics quickly and confidently, so you can measure progress (in terms of greater confidence) over time.

    1. Download the estimation tracker below. Add any additional line items that are particularly important to the organization.
    2. Time-box this exercise to an hour. Use your own knowledge and existing data repositories to identify count/spend for each line item, then add a margin of error to your guess. Larger margins of error on larger counts will typically indicate larger risks.
    3. Track any assumptions, data sources used, or SMEs consulted in the comments.

    Download the IT Asset Estimation Tracker

    “Any time there is doubt about the data and it doesn’t get explained or fixed, then a new spreadsheet is born. Data validation and maintenance is critical to avoid the hidden costs of having bad data”

    Allison Kinnaird,
    Operations Practice Lead,
    Info-Tech Research Group

    0.3 Create a working folder

    15 minutes

    Output: A repository for templates and work in progress

    Participants: Lead facilitator

    Create a central repository for collaboration – it seems like an obvious step, but it’s one that gets forgotten about
    1. Download a copy of the ITAM Strategy Template.
      1. This will be the repository for all the work you do in the activities listed in this blueprint; take a moment to read it through and familiarize yourself with the contents.
    2. House the template in a shared repository that can house other related work in progress. Share this folder with participants so they can check in on your progress.
    3. You’ll see this callout box: Add your results to your copy of the ITAM Strategy Template as you work through activities in this blueprint. Copy the output to the appropriate slide in the ITAM Strategy Template.
    		 Stock image of a computer screen with a tiny person putting likes on things.

    Collect action items as you go

    Don’t wait until the end to write down your good ideas.
    • The last exercise in this methodology is to gather everything you’ve learned and build a roadmap to improve the ITAM practice.
    • The output of the exercises will inform the roadmap, as they will highlight areas with opportunities for improvement.
    • Write them down as you work through the exercises, or you risk forgetting valuable ideas.
    • Keep an “idea space” – a whiteboard with sticky notes or a shared document – to which any of your participants can post an idea for improvement and that you can review and consolidate later.
    • Encourage participants to add their ideas at any time during the exercises.
    		 Pad of sticky notes, the top of which reads 'Good ideas go here!'

    Step 1.1: Brainstorm ITAM opportunities and challenges

    Participants

    • Project sponsor and lead facilitator
    • ITAM team
    • IT leaders and managers
    • ITAM business partners

    Outcomes

    • Rally the working group around a collection of ideas that, when taken together, create a vision for the future ITAM practice.
    • Identify your organization’s current ITAM challenges.

    “ITAM is a cultural shift more than a technology shift.” (Rory Canavan, SAM Charter)

    What is an IT Asset?

    Any piece of technology can be considered an asset, but it doesn’t mean you need to track everything. Image of three people building a computer from the inside.
    Icon of a power button.

    According to the ISO 19770 standard on ITAM, an IT Asset is “[an] item, thing, or entity that can be used to acquire, process, store and distribute digital information and has potential or actual value to an organization.”
    These are all things that IT is expected to support and manage, or that have the potential to directly impact services that IT supports and manages.

    Icon of a half-full battery.

    IT assets are distinct from capital assets. Some IT assets will also be capital assets, but not all will be. And not all capital assets are IT assets, either.

    Icon of a microphone.

    IT assets are typically tracked by IT, not by finance or accounting.
    IT needs more from their IT asset tracking system than the typical finance department can deliver.
    This can include end-user devices, software, IT infrastructure, cloud-based resources, third-party managed IT services, Internet-of-Things devices, embedded electronics, SCADA equipment, “smart” devices, and more.

    Icon of a fingerprint.

    It’s important to track IT assets in a way that enables IT to deliver value to the business – and an important part of this is understanding what not to track. This list should be aligned to the needs of your organization.

    What is IT asset management?

    • IT asset management is the practice of maintaining accurate, accessible, and actionable data on IT hardware, software, and cloud assets from procurement to disposal.
    • Trustworthy data maintained by an IT asset management practice will help your business meet its goals by managing risk, controlling costs, and enabling IT services and products.
    • ITAM tends to focus on the asset itself – its technical, financial, contractual, lifecycle, and ownership attributes – rather than its interactions or connections to other IT assets, which tends to be part of configuration management.

    What IT Asset Management is NOT:

    Configuration Management: Configuration management databases (CMDBs) often draw from the same data pool as ITAM (many configuration items are assets, and vice versa), but they focus on the interaction, interconnection, and interoperation of configuration items within the IT estate.

    In practice, many configuration items will be IT assets (or parts of assets) and vice versa. Configuration and asset teams should work closely together as they develop different but complementary views of the IT environment. Use Info-Tech’s methodology to harness configuration management superpowers.

    Organizational Data Management: Leverage a different Info-Tech methodology to develop a digital and data asset management program within Info-Tech’s DAM framework.

    “Asset management’s job is not to save the organization money, it’s not to push back on software audits.

    It’s to keep the asset database as up-to-date and as trustworthy as possible. That’s it.” (Jeremy Boerger, Consultant & Author)

    “You can’t make any real decisions on CMDB data that’s only 60% accurate.

    You start extrapolating that out, you’re going to get into big problems.” (Mike Austin, Founder & CEO, MetrixData 360)

    What is an ITAM strategy?

    Our strategy document will outline a coherent, sustainable, business-aligned approach to ITAM.

    No single approach to ITAM fits all organizations. Nor will the same approach fit the same organization at different times. A world-leading research university, a state government, and a global manufacturer all have very different goals and priorities that will be best supported by different approaches to ITAM.

    This methodology will walk you through these critical decisions that will define your approach to ITAM:

    • Business-aligned priorities, opportunities, and goals: What pressing opportunities and challenges do we face as an organization? What opportunities does this create that ITAM can seize?
    • Current and future state maturity, challenges: What is the state of the practice today? Where do we need to improve to meet our goals? What challenges stand in the way of improvement?
    • Responsibility, accountability, sourcing and (de)centralization: Who does what? Who is accountable? Where is there value to outsourcing? What authority will be centralized or decentralized?
    • Tools, policies, and procedures: What technology do we need? What’s our documentation framework?
    • Initiatives, KPIs, communication plan, and roadmap: What do we need to do, in what order, to build the ITAM practice to where we need it to be? How long do we expect this to take? How will we measure success?

    “A good strategy has coherence, coordinating actions, policies, and resources so as to accomplish an important end. Most organizations, most of the time, don’t have this.

    Instead, they have multiple goals and initiatives that symbolize progress, but no coherent approach to accomplish that progress other than ‘spend more and try harder.’” (Good Strategy, Bad Strategy, Richard Rumelt)

    Enable business value with IT asset management

    If you’ve never experienced a mature ITAM program before, it is almost certainly more rewarding than you’d expect once it’s functioning as intended.

    Each of the below activities can benefit from accessible, actionable, and accurate ITAM data.

    • Which of the activities, practices, and initiatives below have value to your organization?
    • Which could benefit most from ITAM data?
    Manage Risk: Effective ITAM practices provide data and processes that help mitigate the likelihood and impact of potentially damaging IT risks.

    ITAM supports the following practices that help manage organizational risk:

    • Security Controls Development
    • Security Incident Response
    • Security Audit Reports
    • Regulatory Compliance Reports
    • IT Risk Management
    • Technical Debt Management
    • M&A Due Diligence
    		 Optimize Spend: Asset data is essential to maintaining oversight of IT spend, ensuring that scarce resources are allocated where they can have the most impact.

    ITAM supports these activities that help optimize spend:

    • Vendor Management & Negotiations
    • IT Budget Management & Variance Analysis
    • Asset Utilization Analysis
    • FinOps & Cloud Spend Optimization
    • Showback & Chargeback
    • Software Audit Defense
    • Application Rationalization
    • Contract Consolidation
    • License and Device Reallocation
    		 Improve IT Services: Asset data can help inform solutions development and can be used by service teams to enhance and improve IT service practices.

    Use ITAM to facilitate these IT services and initiatives:

    • Solution and Enterprise Architecture
    • Service Level Management
    • Technology Procurement
    • Technology Refresh Projects
    • Incident & Problem Management
    • Request Management
    • Change Management
    • Green IT

    1.1 Brainstorm ideas to create a vision for the ITAM practice

    30 minutes

    Input: Stakeholders with a vision of what ITAM could provide, if resourced and funded adequately

    Output: A collection of ideas that, when taken together, create a vision for the future ITAM practice

    Materials: ITAM strategy template, Whiteboard or virtual whiteboard

    Participants: ITAM team, IT leaders and managers, ITAM business partners

    It can be easy to lose sight of long-term goals when you’re stuck in firefighting mode. Let’s get the working group into a forward-looking mindset with this exercise.

    Think about what ITAM could deliver with unlimited time, money, and technology.

    1. Provide three sticky notes to each participant.
    2. Add the headings to a whiteboard, or use a blank slide as a digital whiteboard
    3. On each sticky note, ask participants to outline a single idea as follows:
      1. We could: [idea]
      2. Which would help: [stakeholder]
      3. Because: [outcome]
    4. Ask participants to present their sticky notes and post them to the whiteboard. Ask later participants to group similar ideas together.

    As you hear your peers describe what they hope and expect to achieve with ITAM, a shared vision of what ITAM could be will start to emerge.

    1.1 Identify structural ITAM challenges

    30 minutes

    Input: The list of common challenges on the next slide, Your estimated visibility into IT assets from the previous exercise, The experience and knowledge of your participants

    Output: Identify current ITAM challenges

    Materials: Your working copy of the ITAM Strategy Template

    Participants: ITAM team, IT leaders and managers, ITAM business partners

    What’s standing in the way today of delivering the ITAM practices you want to achieve?

    Review the list of common challenges on the next slide as a group.

    1. Delete any challenges that don’t apply to your organization.
    2. Modify any challenges as required to reflect your organization.
    3. Add further challenges that aren’t on the list, as required.
    4. Highlight challenges that are particularly painful.

    Add your results to your copy of the ITAM Strategy Template

    “The problem – the reason why asset management initiatives keep falling on their face – is that people attack asset management as a problem to solve, instead of a practice and epistemological construct.” (Jeremy Boerger, Consultant & Author)

    1.1 Identify structural ITAM challenges

    Review and update the list of common challenges below to reflect your own organization.

    • Leadership and executives don’t understand the value of asset management and don’t fund or resource it.
    • Tools aren’t fit for purpose, don’t scale, or are broken.
    • There’s a cultural tendency to focus on tools over processes.
    • ITAM data is fragmented across multiple repositories.
    • ITAM data is widely viewed as untrustworthy.
    • Stakeholders respond to vendor audits before consulting ITAM, which leads to confusion and risks penalties.
    • No time for improvement; we’re always fighting fires.
    • We don’t audit our own ITAM data for accuracy.
    • End-user equipment is shared, re-assigned, or disposed without notifying or involving IT.
    • No dedicated resources.
    • Lack of clarity on roles and responsibilities.
    • Technicians don’t track assets consistently; ITAM is seen as administrative busywork.
    • Many ITAM tasks are manual and prone to error.
    • Inconsistent organizational policies and procedures.
    • We try to manage too many hardware types/software titles.
    • IT is not involved in the procurement process.
    • Request and procurement is seen as slow and excessively bureaucratic.
    • Hardware/software standards don’t exist or aren’t enforced.
    • Extensive rogue purchases/shadow IT are challenging to manage via ITAM tools and processes.
    What Else?

    Copy results to your copy of the ITAM Strategy Template

    Step 1.2: Review organizational priorities, strategy, initiatives

    Participants

    • Project sponsor and lead facilitator
    • ITAM team
    • IT leaders and managers
    • Business executives or their delegates

    Outcomes

    • Review organizational priorities and strategy.
    • Identify key initiatives.

    Enter the executives

    Deliver on leadership priorities

    • Your business’ major transformative projects and executive priorities might seem far removed from hardware and software tracking. Why would we start with business strategy and executive priorities as we’re setting goals for the ITAM program?
    • While business executives have (likely) no interest in how software and hardware is tracked, they are accountable for the outcomes ITAM can enable. They are the most likely to understand why and how ITAM can deliver value to the organization.
    • ITAM succeeds by enabling its stakeholders to achieve business outcomes. The next three activities are designed to help you identify how you can enable your stakeholders, and what outcomes are most important from their point of view. Specifically:
      • What are the business’ planned transformational initiatives?
      • What are your highest priority goals?
      • What should the priorities of the ITAM practice be?
    • The answers to these questions will shape your approach to ITAM. Direct input from your leadership and executives – or their delegates – will help ensure you’re setting a solid foundation for your ITAM practice.

    “What outcomes does the organization want from IT asset management? Often, senior managers have a clear vision for the organization and where IT needs to go, and the struggle is to communicate that down.” (Kylie Fowler, ITAM Intelligence)

    Stock image of many hands with different puzzle pieces.

    Executive Alignment Session Overview

    ITAM Strategy Working Sessions

    • Discover & Brainstorm
    • Executive Alignment Working Session
      • 1.2 Review organizational strategy, priorities, and key initiatives
      • 1.3 Align executive priorities with ITAM opportunities, set ITAM priorities
    • ITAM Practice Maturity, Vision & Mission, Metrics & KPIs
    • Scope, Outsourcing, (De)Centralization, RACI
    • Service Management Integration
    • ITAM Tools
    • Audits, Budgets, Documents
    • Roadmap & Comms Plan

    A note to the lead facilitator and project sponsor:
    Consider working through these exercises by yourself ahead of time. As you do so, you’ll develop your own ideas about where these discussions may go, which will help you guide the discussion and provide examples to participants.

    1.2 Review organizational strategy and priorities

    30 minutes

    Input: Organizational strategy documents

    Output: A list of prioritized organizational goals, An initial assessment of how ITAM can support these goals

    Materials: The diagram in the next slide, and/or a whiteboard, Your copy of the ITAM Strategy Template

    Participants: Asset manager, IT leadership, Business executives or delegates

    Welcome your group to the working session and outline the next few exercises using the previous slide.

    Ask the most senior leader present to provide a summary of the following:

    1. What is the vision for the organization?
    2. What are our priorities and what must we absolutely get right?
    3. What do we expect the organization to look like in three years?

    The facilitator or a dedicated note-taker should record key points on a whiteboard or flipchart paper.

    1.2 Identify transformational initiatives

    30 minutes

    Input: Organizational strategy documents

    Output: A list of prioritized organizational goals, An initial assessment of how ITAM can support these goals

    Materials: The diagram in the next slide, and/or a whiteboard, Your copy of the ITAM Strategy Template

    Participants: Asset manager, IT leadership, Business executives or delegates

    Ask the most senior leader present to provide a summary of the following: What transformative business and IT initiatives are planned? When will they begin and end?

    Using one box per initiative, draw the initiatives in a timeline like the one below.

    Sample timeline for ITAM initiatives.

    Add your results to your copy of the ITAM Strategy Template

    Step 1.3: Set business-aligned ITAM priorities

    Participants

    • Project sponsor and lead facilitator
    • ITAM team
    • IT leaders and managers
    • Business executives

    Outcomes

    • Connect executive priorities to ITAM opportunities.
    • Set business-aligned priorities for the ITAM practice.

    1.3 Align executive priorities with ITAM opportunities

    45 minutes

    Input: Organizational strategy documents

    Output: A list of prioritized organizational goals, An initial assessment of how ITAM can support these goals

    Materials: The diagram in the next slide, and/or a whiteboard, Your copy of the ITAM Strategy Template

    Participants: Asset manager, IT leaders and managers, Business executives or delegates

    In this exercise, we’ll use the table on the next slide to identify the top priorities of key business and IT stakeholders and connect them to opportunities for the ITAM practice.

    1. Ask your leadership or executive delegates – what are their goals? What are they trying to accomplish? List roles and related goals in the table.
    2. Brainstorm opportunities for IT asset management to support listed goals:
      1. Can ITAM provide an enhanced level of service, access, or insight?
      2. Can ITAM address an existing issue or mitigate an existing risk?

    Add your results to your copy of the ITAM Strategy Template

    1.3 Align executive priorities with ITAM opportunities (example)

    ITAM is for the… Who wants to… Which presents these ITAM opportunities
    CEO Deliver transformative business initiatives Acquire the right tech at the right time to support transformational initiatives.
    Establish a data-driven culture of stewardship Improve data to increase IT spend transparency.
    COO Improve organizational efficiency Increase asset use.
    Consolidate major software contracts to drive discounts.
    CFO Accurately forecast spending Track and anticipate IT asset spending.
    Control spending Improve data to increase IT spend transparency.
    Consolidate major software contracts to drive discounts.
    CIO Demonstrate IT value Use data to tell a story about value delivered by IT assets.
    Govern IT use Improve data to increase IT spend transparency.
    CISO Manage IT security and compliance risks Identify abandoned or out-of-spec IT assets.
    Provide IT asset data to support controls development.
    Respond to security incidents Support security incident teams with IT asset data.
    Apps Leader Build, integrate, and support applications Identify opportunities to retire applications with redundant functionality.
    Connect applications to relevant licensing and support agreements.
    IT Infra Leader Build and support IT infrastructure. Provide input on opportunities to standardize hardware and software.
    Provide IT asset data to technicians supporting end users.

    1.3 Categorize ITAM opportunities

    10-15 minutes

    Input: The outputs from the previous exercise

    Output: Executive priorities, sorted into the three categories at the right

    Materials: The table in this slide, The outputs from the previous exercise

    Participants: Lead facilitator

    Give your participants a quick break. Quickly sort the identified ITAM opportunities into the three main categories below as best you can.

    We’ll use this table as context for the next exercise.

    Example: Optimize Spend Enhance IT Services Manage Risk
    ITAM Opportunities
    • Improve data to increase IT spend transparency.
    • Consolidate major software contracts to drive discounts.
    • Increase asset utilization.
    • Identify opportunities to retire applications with redundant functionality
    • Acquire the right tech at the right time to support transformational initiatives.
    • Provide IT asset data to technicians supporting end users.
    • Identify abandoned or out-of-spec IT assets.
    • Provide IT asset data to support controls development.
    • Support security incident teams with IT asset data.

    Add your results to your copy of the ITAM Strategy Template

    1.3 Set ITAM priorities

    30 minutes

    Input: Organizational strategy documents

    Output: A list of prioritized organizational goals, An initial assessment of how ITAM can support these goals

    Materials: Whiteboard, The template on the next slide, Your copy of the ITAM Strategy Template

    Participants: Asset manager, IT leaders and managers, Business executives or delegates

    The objective of this exercise is to prioritize the outcomes your organization wants to achieve from its ITAM practice, given the context from the previous exercises.

    Review the image below. The three points of the triangle are the three core goals of ITAM: Enhance IT Service, Manage Risk, and Optimize Spend. This exercise was first developed by Kylie Fowler of ITAM Intelligence. It is an essential exercise to understand ITAM priorities and the tradeoffs associated with those priorities. These priorities aren’t set in stone and should be revisited periodically as technology and business priorities change.

    Draw the diagram on the next slide on a whiteboard. Have the most senior leader in the room place the dot on the triangle – the closer it is to any one of the goals, the more important that goal is to the organization. Note: The center of the triangle is off limits! It’s very rarely possible to deliver on all three at once.
    Track notes on what’s being prioritized – and why – in the template on the next slide.     		Triangle with the points labelled 'Enhance IT Service', 'Manage Risk', and 'Optimize Spend'.

    Add your results to your copy of the ITAM Strategy Template

    1.3 Set ITAM Priorities

    The priorities of the ITAM practice are to:
    • Optimize Spend
    • Manage Risk
    Why?
    • We believe there is significant opportunity right now to rationalize spend by consolidating key software contracts.
    • Major acquisitions are anticipated in the near future. Effective ITAM processes are expected to mitigate acquisition risk by supporting due diligence and streamlined integration of acquired organizations.
    • Ransomware and supply chain security threats have increased demands for a comprehensive accounting of IT assets to support security controls development and security incident response.
    (Update this section with notes from your discussion.)     		Triangle with the points labelled 'Enhance IT Service', 'Manage Risk', and 'Optimize Spend'. There is a dot close to the 'Optimize Spend' corner, a legend labelling the dot as 'Our Target', and a note reading 'Move this dot to reflect your priorities'.

    Step 1.4: Identify ITAM goals, target maturity

    Participants

    • Project sponsor and lead facilitator
    • ITAM team
    • IT leaders and managers

    Outcomes

    • Connect executive priorities to ITAM opportunities.
    • Set business-aligned priorities for the ITAM practice.

    “ITAM is really no different from the other ITIL practices: to succeed, you’ll need some ratio of time, treasure, and talent… and you can make up for less of one with more of the other two.” (Jeremy Boerger, Consultant and Author)

    1.4 Identify near- and medium-term goals

    15-30 minutes

    Input: Organizational strategy documents

    Output: A list of prioritized organizational goals, An initial assessment of how ITAM can support these goals

    Materials: The table in this slide, Your copy of the ITAM Strategy Template

    Participants: ITAM team, IT leaders and managers

    Narrow down the list of opportunities to identify specific goals for the ITAM practice.

    1. Use one color to highlight opportunities you will seize in the next year.
    2. Use a second color to highlight opportunities you plan to address in the next three years.
    3. Leave blank anything you don’t intend to address in this timeframe.

    The highlighted opportunities are your near- and medium-term objectives.

    Optimize Spend Enhance IT Services Manage Risk
    Priority Critical Normal High
    ITAM Opportunities
    • Improve data to increase IT spend transparency.
    • Increase asset utilization.
    • Consolidate major software contracts to drive discounts.
    • Identify opportunities to retire applications with redundant functionality
    • Acquire the right tech at the right time to support transformational initiatives.
    • Provide IT asset data to technicians supporting end users.
    • Identify abandoned or out-of-spec IT assets.
    • Provide IT asset data to support controls development.
    • Support security incident teams with IT asset data.

    1.4 Connect ITAM goals to tactics

    30 minutes

    Input: Organizational strategy documents

    Output: A list of prioritized organizational goals, An initial assessment of how ITAM can support these goals

    Materials: The table in this slide, Your copy of the ITAM Strategy Template

    Participants: ITAM team, IT leaders and managers

    Let’s dig down a little deeper. Connect the list of opportunities from earlier to specific ITAM tactics that allow the team to seize those opportunities.

    Add another row to the earlier table for ITAM tactics. Brainstorm tactics with your participants (e.g. sticky notes on a whiteboard) and align them with the priorities they’ll support.

    Optimize SpendEnhance IT ServicesManage Risk
    PriorityCriticalNormalHigh
    ITAM Opportunities
    • Improve data to increase IT spend transparency.
    • Increase asset utilization.
    • Consolidate major software contracts to drive discounts.
    • Identify opportunities to retire applications with redundant functionality
    • Acquire the right tech at the right time to support transformational initiatives.
    • Provide IT asset data to technicians supporting end users.
    • Identify abandoned or out-of-spec IT assets.
    • Provide IT asset data to support controls development.
    • Support security incident teams with IT asset data.
    ITAM Tactics to Seize Opportunities
    • Review and improve hardware budgeting exercises.
    • Reallocate unused licenses, hardware.
    • Ensure ELP reports are up to date.
    • Validate software usage.
    • Data to support software renewal negotiations.
    • Use info from ITAM for more efficient adds, moves, changes.
    • Integrate asset records with the ticket intake system, so that when someone calls the service desk, the list of their assigned equipment is immediately available.
    • Find and retire abandoned devices or services with access to the organization’s network.
    • Report on lost/stolen devices.
    • Develop reliable disposal processes.
    • Report on unpatched devices/software.

    Add your results to your copy of the ITAM Strategy Template

    1.4 Identify current and target state

    20 minutes

    Input: Organizational strategy documents

    Output: A list of prioritized organizational goals, An initial assessment of how ITAM can support these goals

    Materials: The table in this slide, Your copy of the ITAM Strategy Template

    Participants: ITAM team, IT leaders and managers

    We’ll use this exercise to identify the current and one-year target state of ITAM using Info-Tech’s ITAM maturity framework.

    1. Review the maturity framework on the next slide as a group.
    2. In one color, highlight statements that reflect your organization today. Summarize your current state. Are you in firefighter mode? Between “firefighter” and “trusted operator”?
    3. In a second color, highlight statements that reflect where you want to be one year from today, taking into consideration the goals and tactics identified in the last exercise.
    4. During a break, copy the highlighted statements to the table on the slide after next, then add this final slide to your working copy of the ITAM Strategy Template.

    Add your results to your copy of the ITAM Strategy Template

    Establish current and target ITAM maturity

    IT maturity ladder with five color-coded levels. Innovator – Optimized Asset Management
    • All items from Business & Technology Partner, plus:
    • Business and IT stakeholders collaborate regularly with the ITAM team to identify new opportunities to leverage or deploy ITAM practices and data to mitigate risks, optimize spend, and improve service. The ITAM program scales with the business.
    Business & Technology Partner – Proactive Asset Management
    • All items from Trusted Operator, plus:
    • The ITAM data is integral to decisions related to budget, project planning, IT architecture, contract renewal, and vendor management. Software and cloud assets are reviewed as frequently as required to manage costs. ITAM data consumers have self-serve access to ITAM data.
    • Continuous improvement practices strengthen ITAM efficiency and effectiveness.
    • ITAM processes, standards, and related policies are regularly reviewed and updated. ITAM teams work closely with SMEs for key tools/systems integrated with ITAM (e.g. AD, ITSM, monitoring tools) to maximize the value and reliability of integrations.
    Trusted Operator – Controls Assets
    • ITAM data for deployed hardware and software is regularly audited for accuracy.
    • Sufficient staff and skills to support asset tracking, including a dedicated IT asset management role. Teams responsible for ITAM data collection cooperate effectively. Policies and procedures are documented and enforced. Key licenses and contracts are available to the ITAM team. Discovery, tracking, and analysis tools support most important use cases.
    Firefighter – Reactive Asset Tracking
    • Data is often untrustworthy, may be fragmented across multiple repositories, and typically requires significant effort to translate or validate before use.
    • Insufficient staff, fragmented or incomplete policies or documentation. Data tracking processes are extremely highly manual. Effective cooperation for ITAM data collection is challenging.
    • ITAM tools are in place, but additional configuration or tooling is needed.
    Unreliable - Struggles to Support
    • No data, or data is typically unusable.
    • No allocated staff, no cooperation between parties responsible for ITAM data collection.
    • No related policies or documentation.
    • Tools are non-existent or not fit-for-purpose.

    Current and target ITAM maturity

    Today:
    Firefighter
    • Data is often untrustworthy, is fragmented across multiple repositories, and typically requires significant effort to translate or validate before use.
    • Insufficient staff, fragmented or incomplete policies or documentation.
    • Tools are non-existent.
    In One Year:
    Trusted Operator
    • ITAM data for deployed hardware and software is regularly audited for accuracy.
    • Sufficient staff and skills to support asset tracking, including a dedicated IT asset management role.
    • Teams responsible for ITAM data collection cooperate effectively.
    • Discovery, tracking, and analysis tools support most important use cases.
    		IT maturity ladder with five color-coded levels.

    Innovator – Optimized Asset Management

    Business & Technology Partner – Proactive Asset Management

    Trusted Operator – Controls Assets

    Firefighter – Reactive Asset Tracking

    Unreliable - Struggles to Support

    Step 1.5: Write mission and vision statements

    Participants

    • Project sponsor and lead facilitator
    • ITAM team
    • IT leaders and managers

    Outcomes

    • Write a mission statement that encapsulates the purpose and intentions of the ITAM practice today.
    • Write a vision statement that describes what the ITAM practice aspires to become and achieve.

    Write vision and mission statements

    Create two statements to summarize the role of the ITAM practice today – and where you want it to be in the future.

    Create two short, compelling statements that encapsulate:
    • The vision for what we want the ITAM practice to be in the future; and
    • The mission – the purpose and intentions – of the ITAM practice today.

    Why bother creating mission and vision statements? After all, isn’t it just rehashing or re-writing all the work we’ve just done? Isn’t that (at best) a waste of time?

    There are a few very important reasons to create mission and vision statements:

    • Create a compass that can guide work today and your roadmap for the future.
    • Focus on the few things you must do, rather than the many things you could do.
    • Concisely communicate a compelling vision for the ITAM practice to a larger audience who (let’s face it) probably won’t read the entire ITAM Strategy deck.

    “Brevity is the soul of wit.” (Hamlet, Act 2, Scene 2)

    “Writing is easy. All you have to do is cross out the wrong words.” (Mark Twain)

    1.5 Write an ITAM vision statement

    30 minutes

    Input: Organizational strategy documents

    Output: A list of prioritized organizational goals, An initial assessment of how ITAM can support these goals

    Materials: A whiteboard, Your copy of the ITAM Strategy Template

    Participants: ITAM team, IT Leaders and managers

    Your vision statement describes the ITAM practice as it will be in the far future. It is a target to aspire to, beyond your ability to achieve in the near or medium term.

    Examples of ITAM vision statements:

    Develop the single accurate view of IT assets, available to anyone who needs it.

    Indispensable data brokers that support strategic decisions on the IT environment.

    Provide sticky notes to participants. Write out the three questions below on a whiteboard side by side. Have participants write their answers to the questions and post them below the appropriate question. Give everyone 10 minutes to write and post their ideas.

    1. What’s the desired future state of the ITAM practice?
    2. What needs to be done to achieved this desired state?
    3. How do we want ITAM to be perceived in this desired state?

    Review the answers and combine them into one focused vision statement. Use the 20x20 rule: take no more than 20 minutes and use no more than 20 words. If you’re not finished after 20 minutes, the ITAM manager should make any final edits offline.

    Document your vision statement in your ITAM Strategy Template.

    Add your results to your copy of the ITAM Strategy Template

    1.5 Write an ITAM mission statement

    30 minutes

    Input: Organizational strategy documents

    Output: A list of prioritized organizational goals, An initial assessment of how ITAM can support these goals

    Materials: The table in this slide, Your copy of the ITAM Strategy Template

    Participants: ITAM team, IT leaders and managers

    Your ITAM mission statement is an expression of what your IT asset management function brings to your organization today. It should be presented in straightforward language that is compelling, easy to understand, and sharply focused.

    Examples of ITAM mission statements:

    Maintain accurate, actionable, accessible on data on all IT assets.

    Support IT and the business with centralized and integrated asset data.

    Provide sticky notes to participants. Write out the questions below on a whiteboard side by side. Have participants write their answers to the questions and post them below the appropriate question. Give everyone 10 minutes to write and post their ideas.

    1. What is our role as the asset management team?
    2. How do we support the IT and business strategies?
    3. What does our asset management function offer that no one else can?

    Review the answers and combine them into one focused vision statement. Use the 20x20 rule: take no more than 20 minutes and use no more than 20 words. If you’re not finished after 20 minutes, the ITAM manager should make any final edits offline.

    Document your vision statement in your ITAM Strategy Template.

    Add your results to your copy of the ITAM Strategy Template

    Step 1.6: Define ITAM metrics and KPIs

    Participants

    • Project sponsor and lead facilitator
    • ITAM team
    • IT leaders and managers

    Outcomes

    • Identify metrics, data, or reports that may be of interest to different consumers of ITAM data.
    • Identify the key performance indicators (KPIs) for the ITAM practice, based on the goals and priorities established earlier.

    Navigate a universe of ITAM metrics

    When you have the data, how will you use it?

    • There’s a dizzying array of potential metrics you can develop and track across your ITAM environment.
    • Different stakeholders will need different data feeds, metrics, reports, and dashboards.
    • Different measures will be useful at different times. You will often need to filter or slice the data in different ways (by department, timeframe, equipment type, etc.)
    • We’ll use the next few exercises to identify the types of metrics that may be useful to different stakeholders and the KPIs to measure progress towards ITAM goals and priorities.

    ITAM Metrics

    • Quantity
      e.g. # of devices or licenses
    • Cost
      e.g. average laptop cost
    • Compliance
      e.g. effective license position reports
    • Progress
      e.g. ITAM roadmap items completed
    • Quality
      e.g. ITAM data accuracy rate
    • Time
      e.g. time to procure/ deploy

    Drill down by:

    • Vendor
    • Date
    • Dept.
    • Product
    • Location
    • Cost Center
    • …

    Develop different metrics for different teams

    A few examples:

    • CIOs — CIOs need asset data to govern technology use, align to business needs, and demonstrate IT value. What do we need to budget for hardware and software in the next year? Where can we find money to support urgent new initiatives? How many devices and software titles do we manage compared to last year? How has IT helped the business achieve key goals?
    • Asset Managers — Asset managers require data to help them oversee ITAM processes, technology, and staff, and to manage the fleet of IT assets they’re expected to track. What’s the accuracy rate of ITAM data? What’s the state of integrations between ITAM and other systems and processes? How many renewals are coming up in the next 90 days? How many laptops are in stock?
    • IT Leaders — IT managers need data that can support their teams and help them manage the technology within their mandate. What technology needs to be reviewed or retired? What do we actually manage?
    • Technicians — Service desk technicians need real-time access to data on IT assets to support service requests and incident management – for example, easy access to the list of equipment assigned to a particular user or installed in a particular location.
    • Business Managers and Executives — Business managers and executives need concise, readable dashboards to support business decisions about business use of IT assets. What’s our overall asset spend? What’s our forecasted spend? Where could we reallocate spend?

    1.6 Identify useful ITAM metrics and reports

    60 minutes

    Input: Organizational strategy documents

    Output: A list of prioritized organizational goals, An initial assessment of how ITAM can support these goals

    Materials: The table in this slide, Your copy of the ITAM Strategy Template

    Participants: ITAM team, IT leaders and managers

    Use this exercise to identify as many potentially useful ITAM metrics and reports as possible, and narrow them down to a few high-priority metrics. Leverage the list of example metrics on the next slide for your own exercise. If you have more than six participants, consider splitting into two or more groups, and divide the table between groups to minimize overlap.

    1. List potential consumers of ITAM data in the column on the left.
    2. What type of information do we think this role needs? What questions about IT assets do we get on a regular basis from this role or team?
    3. Review and consolidate the list as a group. Discuss and highlight any metrics the group thinks are a particularly high priority for tracking.
    Role Compliance Quality Quantity Cost Time Progress
    IT Asset Manager Owned devices not discovered in last 60 days Discrepancies between discovery data and ITAM DB records # of corporate-owned devices Spend on hardware (recent and future/ planned) Average time, maximum time to deploy end-user devices Number of ITAM roadmap items in progress
    Service Desk …

    Add your results to your copy of the ITAM Strategy Template

    Examples of ITAM metrics

    Compliance Quality Quantity Cost Time/Duration/Age Progress
    Owned devices not discovered in last 60 days Discrepancies between discovery data and ITAM DB records # of corporate-owned devices Spend on hardware (recent and future/planned) Average time, maximum time to deploy end-user devices Number of ITAM roadmap items in progress or completed
    Disposed devices without certificate of destruction Breakage rates (in and out of warranty) by vendor # of devices running software title X, # of licenses for software title X Spend on software (recent and future/planned) Average time, maximum time to deploy end user software Number of integrations between ITAM DB and other sources
    Discrepancies between licenses and install count, by software title RMAs by vendor, model, equipment type Number of requests by equipment model or software title Spend on cloud (recent and future/planned) Average & total time spent on software audit responses Number of records in ITAM database
    Compliance reports (e.g. tied to regulatory compliance or grant funding) Tickets by equipment type or software title Licenses issued from license pool in the last 30 days Value of licenses issued from license pool in the last 30 days (cost avoidance) Devices by age Software titles with an up-to-date ELP report
    Reports on lost and stolen devices, including last assigned, date reported stolen, actions taken User device satisfaction scores, CSAT scores Number of devices retired or donated in last year Number of IT-managed capital assets Number of hardware/software request tickets beyond time-to-fulfil targets Number of devices audited (by ITAM team via self-audit)
    Number of OS versions, unpatched systems Number of devices due for refresh in the next year Spend saved by harvesting unused software Number of software titles, software vendors managed by ITAM team
    Audit accuracy rate Equipment in stock Cost savings from negotiations
    # of users assigned more than one device Number of non-standard devices or requests Dollars charged during audit or true-up

    Differentiate between metrics and KPIs

    Key performance indicators (KPIs) are metrics with targets aligned to goals.

    Targets could include one or more of:

    • Target state (e.g. completed)
    • Target magnitude (e.g. number, percent, rate, dollar amount)
    • Target direction (e.g. trending up or down)

    You may track many metrics, but you should have only a few KPIs (typically 2-3 per objective).

    A breached KPI should be a trigger to investigate and remediate the root cause of the problem, to ensure progress towards goals and priorities can continue.

    Which KPIs you track will change over the life of the practice, as ITAM goals and priorities shift. For example, KPIs may initially track progress towards maturing ITAM practices. Once you’ve reached target maturity, KPIs may shift to track whether the key service targets are being met.

    1.6 Identify ITAM KPIs

    20 minutes

    Input: Organizational strategy documents

    Output: A list of prioritized organizational goals, An initial assessment of how ITAM can support these goals

    Materials: The table in this slide, Your copy of the ITAM Strategy Template

    Participants: ITAM team, IT leaders and managers

    Good KPIs are a more objective measure of whether you’re succeeding in meeting the identified priorities for the ITAM practice.

    Identify metrics that can measure progress or success against the priorities and goals set earlier. Aim for around three metrics per goal. Identify targets for the metric you think are SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and timebound). Track your work using the example table below.

    Goal Metric Target
    Consolidate major software contracts to drive discounts Amount spent on top 10 software contracts Decrease by 10% by next year
    Customer satisfaction scores with enterprise software Satisfaction is equal to or better than last year
    Value of licenses issued from license pool 30% greater than last year
    Identify abandoned or out-of-spec IT assets # of security incidents involving undiscovered assets Zero
    % devices with “Deployed” status in ITAM DB but not discovered for 30+ days ‹1% of all records in ITAM DB
    Provide IT asset data to technicians for service calls Customer satisfaction scores Satisfaction is equal to or better than last year
    % of end-user devices meeting minimum standards 97%

    Add your results to your copy of the ITAM Strategy Template

    Develop an IT Asset Management Strategy

    Phase 2:

    Identify your approach to support ITAM priorities and goals

    Phase 1

    1.1 Define ITAM and brainstorm opportunities and challenges.

    Executive Alignment Working Session:

    1.2 Review organizational priorities, strategy, and key initiatives.

    1.3 Align executive priorities with ITAM opportunities & priorities.

    1.4 Identify business-aligned ITAM goals and target maturity.

    1.5 Write mission and vision statements.

    1.6 Define ITAM metrics and KPIs.

    Phase 2

    2.1 Define ITAM scope.

    2.2 Acquire ITAM services (outsourcing and contracting).

    2.3 Centralize or decentralize ITAM capabilities.

    2.4 Create a RACI for the ITAM practice.

    2.5 Align ITAM with other service management practices.

    2.6 Evaluate ITAM tools and integrations.

    2.7 Create a plan for internal and external audits.

    2.8 Improve your budget processes.

    2.9 Establish a documentation framework.

    2.10 Create a roadmap and communication plan.

    Phase Outcomes:

    Establish an approach to achieving ITAM goals and priorities, including scope, structure, tools, service management integrations, documentation, and more.

    Create a roadmap that enables you to realize your approach.

    Step 2.1: Define ITAM Scope

    Participants

    • Project sponsor and lead facilitator
    • ITAM team
    • IT leaders and managers
    • ITAM business partners

    Outcomes

    • Establish what types of equipment and software you’ll track through the ITAM practice.
    • Establish which areas of the business will be in scope of the ITAM practice.

    Determine ITAM Scope

    Focus on what’s most important and then document it so everyone understands where they can provide the most value.

    Not all categories of assets require the same level of tracking, and some equipment and software should be excluded from the ITAM practice entirely.

    In some organizations, portions of the environment won’t be tracked by the asset management team at all. For example, some organizations will choose to delegate tracking multi-function printers (MFPs) or proprietary IoT devices to the department or vendor that manages them.

    Due to resourcing or technical limitations, you may decide that certain equipment or software is out of scope for the moment.

    What do other organizations typically track in detail?
    • Installs and entitlements for major software contracts that represent significant spend and/or are highly critical to business goals.
    • Equipment managed directly by IT that needs to be refreshed on a regular cycle:
      • End-user devices such as laptops, desktops, and tablets.
      • Server, network, and telecoms devices.
    • High value equipment that is not regularly refreshed may also be tracked, but in less detail – for example, you may not refresh large screen TVs, but you may need to track date of purchase, deployed location, vendor, and model for insurance or warranty purposes.

    2.1 Establish scope for ITAM

    45 minutes

    Input: Organizational strategy documents

    Output: ITAM scope, in terms of types of assets tracked and not tracked

    Materials: The table in this slide, Your copy of the ITAM Strategy Template

    Participants: ITAM team, IT leaders and managers, ITAM business partners

    Establish the hardware and software that are within the scope of the ITAM program by updating the tables below to reflect your own environment. The “out of scope” category will include asset types that may be of value to track in the future but for which the capability or need don’t exist today.

    Hardware Software Out of Scope
    • End-user devices housing data or with a dollar value of more than $300, which will be replaced through lifecycle refresh.
    • Infrastructure devices, including network, telecom, video conferencing, servers and more
    • End-user software purchased under contract
    • Best efforts on single license purchases
    • Infrastructure software, including solutions used by IT to manage the infrastructure
    • Enterprise applications
    • Cloud (SaaS, IaaS, PaaS)
    • Departmental applications
    • Open-source applications
    • In-house developed applications
    • Freeware & shareware
    • IoT devices

    The following locations will be included in the ITAM program: All North and South America offices and retail locations.

    Add your results to your copy of the ITAM Strategy Template

    Step 2.2: Acquire ITAM Services

    Participants

    • Project sponsor and lead facilitator
    • ITAM team
    • IT leaders and managers
    • ITAM business partners

    Outcomes

    • Define the type of work that may be more effectively or efficiently delivered by an outsourcer or contractor.

    “We would like our clients to come to us with an idea of where they want to get to. Why are you doing this? Is it for savings? Because you want to manage your security attack surface? Are there digital initiatives you want to move forward? What is the end goal?” (Mike Austin, MetrixData 360)

    Effectively acquire ITAM services

    Allow your team to focus on strategic, value-add activities by acquiring services that free them from commodity tasks.
    • When determining which asset capabilities and activities are best kept in-house and which ones are better handled by a supplier, it is imperative to keep the value to the business in mind.
    • Activities/capabilities that are challenging to standardize and are critical to enabling business goals are better kept in-house.
    • Activities/capabilities that are (or should be) standardized and automated are ideal candidates for outsourcing.
    • Outsourcing can be effective and successful with a narrow scope of engagement and an alignment to business outcomes.
    • Organizations that heavily weigh cost reduction as a significant driver for outsourcing are far less likely to realize the value they expected to receive.
    		 Business Enablement
    • Supports business-aligned ITAM opportunities & priorities
    • Highly specialized
    • Offers competitive advantages
    		 Map with axes 'Business Enablement' and 'Vendor's Performance Advantage' for determining whether or not to outsource.
    Vendor’s Performance Advantage
    • Talent or access to skills
    • Economies of scale
    • Access to technology
    • Does not require deep knowledge of your business

    Decide what to outsource

    It’s rarely all or nothing.

    Ask yourself:
    • How important is this activity or capability to ITAM, IT, and business priorities and goals?
    • Is it a non-commodity IT service that can improve customer satisfaction?
    • Is it a critical service to the business and the specialized knowledge must remain in-house?
    • Does the function require access to talent or skills not currently available in-house, and is cost-prohibitive to obtain?
    • Are there economies of scale that can help us meet growing demand?
    • Does the vendor provide access to best-of-breed tools and solutions that can handle the integration, management, maintenance and support of the complete system?

    You may ultimately choose to engage a single vendor or a combination of multiple vendors who can best meet your ITAM needs.

    Establishing effective vendor management processes, where you can maximize the amount of service you receive while relying on the vendor’s expertise and ability to scale, can help you make your asset management practice a net cost-saver.

    		ITAM activities and capabilities
    • Contract review
    • Software audit management
    • Asset tagging
    • Asset disposal and recycling
    • Initial ITAM record creation
    • End-user device imaging
    • End-user device deployment
    • End-user software provisioning
    • End-user image management
    • ITAM database administration
    • ELP report creation
    • ITAM process management
    • ITAM report generation
    		 ITAM-adjacent activities and capabilities
    • Tier 1 support/service desk
    • Deskside/field support
    • Tier 3 support
    • IT Procurement
    • Device management/managed IT services
    • Budget development
    • Applications development, maintenance
    • Infrastructure hosting (e.g. cloud or colocation)
    • Infrastructure management and support
    • Discovery/monitoring tools management and support

    2.2 Identify outsourcing opportunities

    1-2 hours

    Input: Understanding of current ITAM processes and challenges

    Output: Understanding of potential outsourcing opportunities

    Materials: The table in this slide, and insight in previous slides, Your copy of the ITAM Strategy Template

    Participants: ITAM team, IT leaders and managers, ITAM business partners

    At a high level, discuss which functions of ITAM are good candidates for outsourcing.

    Start with the previous slide for examples of outsourcing activities or capabilities directly related to or adjacent to the ITAM practice. Categorize these activities as follows:

    Outsource Potentially Outsource Insource
    • Asset disposal/recycling
    • ELP report creation
    • ITAM process management

    Go through the list of activities to potentially or definitely outsource and confirm:

    1. Will outsourcing solve a resourcing need for an existing process, or can you deliver this adequately in-house?
    2. Will outsourcing improve the effectiveness and efficiency of current processes? Will it deliver more effective service channels or improved levels of reliability and performance consistency?
    3. Will outsourcing provide or enable enhanced service capabilities that your IT customers could use, and which you cannot deliver in-house due to lack of scale or capacity?

    Answering “no” to more than one of these questions suggests a need to further review options to ensure the goals are aligned with the potential value of the service offerings available.

    Add your results to your copy of the ITAM Strategy Template

    Step 2.3: Centralize or decentralize ITAM capabilities

    Participants

    • Project sponsor and lead facilitator
    • ITAM team
    • IT leaders and managers
    • ITAM business partners

    Outcomes

    • Outline where the team(s) responsible for ITAM sit across the organization, who they report to, and who they need to work with across IT and the business.

    Align ITAM with IT’s structure

    ITAM’s structure will typically align with the larger business and IT structure. The wrong structure will undermine your ability to meet ITAM goals and lead to frustration, missed work, inefficiency, and loss of value.

    Which of the four archetypes below reflects the structure you need?

    1. Centralized — ITAM is entirely centralized in a single function, which reports into a central IT department.
    2. Decentralized — Local IT groups are responsible and accountable for ITAM. They may coordinate informally but do not report to any central team.
    3. Hybrid-Shared Services — Local IT can opt in to shared services but must follow centrally set ITAM practices to do so, usually with support from a shared ITAM function.
    4. Hybrid-Federated — Local IT departments are free to develop their own approach to ITAM outside of core, centrally set requirements.

    Centralized ITAM

    Total coordination, control, and oversight

    • ITAM accountability, policies, tools, standards, and expertise – in this model, they’re all concentrated in a single, specialized IT asset management practice. Accountability, authority, and oversight are concentrated in the central function as well.
    • A central ITAM team will benefit from knowledge sharing and task specialization opportunities. They are a visible single point of contact for ITAM-related questions
    • The central ITAM team will coordinate ITAM activities across the organization to optimize spend, manage risk, and enhance service. Any local IT teams are supported by and directly answerable to the central ITAM team for ITAM activities.
    • There is a single, centrally managed ITAM database. Wherever possible, this database should be integrated with other tools to support cross-solution automation (e.g. integrate AD to automatically reflect user identity changes in the ITAM database).
    • This model drives cross-organization coordination and oversight, but it may not be responsive to specific and nuanced local requirements.
    		 Example: Centralized
    Example of a Centralized ITAM.

    Solid line. Direct reporting relationship

    Dotted line. Dotted line working or reporting relationship

    Decentralized ITAM

    Maximize choice

    • ITAM accountability and oversight are entirely devolved to local or regional IT and/or ITAM organizations, which are free to set their own priorities, goals, policies, and standards. This model maximizes the authority of local groups to build practices that meet local requirements.
    • It may be challenging to resource and mature local practices. ITAM maturity will vary from one local organization to the next.
    • It is more likely that ITAM managers are a part-time role, and sometimes even a non-IT role. Local ITAM teams or coordinators may coordinate and share knowledge informally, but specialization can be challenging to build or leverage effectively across the organization.
    • There is likely no central ITAM tool. Local tools may be acquired, implemented, and integrated by local IT departments to suit their own needs, which can make it very difficult to report on assets organization-wide – for example, to establish compliance on an enterprise software contract.
    		Example: Decentralized


    Example of a Decentralized ITAM.

    Solid line. Direct reporting relationship

    Dotted line. Dotted line working or reporting relationship

    Blue dotted line. Informal working relationships, knowledge sharing

    Hybrid: Federation

    Centralization with a light touch

    • A middle ground between centralized and decentralized ITAM, this model balances centralized decision making, specialization, and governance with local autonomy.
    • A central team will define organization-wide ITAM goals, develop capabilities, policies, and standards, and monitor compliance by local and central teams. All local teams must comply with centrally defined requirements, but they can also develop further capabilities to meet local goals.
    • For example, there will typically be a central ITAM database that must be used for at least a subset of assets, but other teams may build their own databases for day-to-day operations and export data to the central database as required.
    • There are often overlapping responsibilities in this model. A strong collaborative relationship between central and local ITAM teams is especially important here, particularly after major changes to requirements, processes, tools, or staffing when issues and breakdowns are more likely.
    		Example: Federation


    Example of a Federation ITAM.

    Solid line. Direct reporting relationship

    Purple solid line. Oversight/governance

    Dotted line. Dotted line working or reporting relationship

    Hybrid: Shared Services

    Optional centralization

    • A special case of federated ITAM that balances central control and local autonomy, but with more power given to local IT to opt out of centralized shared services that come with centralized ITAM requirements.
    • ITAM requirements set by the shared services team will support management, allocation, and may have showback or chargeback implications. Following the ITAM requirements is a condition of service. If a local organization chooses to stop using shared services, they are (naturally) no longer required to adhere to the shared services ITAM requirements.
    • As with the federated model, local teams may develop further capabilities to meet local goals.
    		Example: Shared Services


    Example of a Shared Services ITAM.

    Solid line. Direct reporting relationship

    Dotted line. Dotted line working relationship

    Blue dotted line. Informal working relationships, knowledge sharing

    Structure data collection & analysis

    Consider the implications of structure on data.

    Why centralize?
    • There is a need to build reports that aggregate data on assets organization-wide, rather than just assets within a local environment.
    • Decentralized ITAM tracking isn’t producing accurate or usable data, even for local purposes.
    • Tracking tools have overlapping functionality. There’s an opportunity to rationalize spend, management and support for ITAM tools.
    • Contract centralization can optimize spend and manage risks, but only with the data required to manage those contracts.
    		 Why decentralize?
    • Tracking and reporting on local assets is sufficient to meet ITAM goals; there is limited or no need to track assets organization-wide.
    • Local teams have the skills to track and maintain asset data; subsidiaries have appropriate budgets and tools to support ITAM tracking.
    • Decentralized ITSM/ITAM tools are in place, populated, and accurate.
    • The effort to consolidate tools and processes may outweigh the benefits to data centralization.
    • Lots of variability in types of assets and the environment is stable.
    Requirements for success:
    • A centralized IT asset management solution is implemented and managed.
    • Local teams must understand the why and how of centralized data tracking and be held accountable for assigned responsibilities.
    • The asset tool should offer both centralized and localized views of the data.
    		 Requirements for success:
    • Guidelines and expectations for reporting to centralized asset management team will be well defined and supported.
    • Local asset managers will have opportunity to collaborate with others in the role for knowledge transfer and asset trading, where appropriate.

    Structure budget and contract management

    Contract consolidation creates economies of scale for vendor management and license pooling that strengthen your negotiating position with vendors and optimize spend.

    Why centralize?
    • Budgeting, governance, and accountability are already centralized. Centralized ITAM practices can support the existing governance practices.
    • Centralizing contract management and negotiation can optimize spend and/or deliver access to better service.
    • Centralize management for contracts that cover most of the organization, are highly complex, involve large spend and/or higher risk, and will benefit from specialization of asset staff.
    		 Why decentralize?
    • Budgeting, governance, and accountability rest with local organizations.
    • There may be increased need for high levels of customer responsiveness and support.
    • Decentralize contract management for contracts used only by local groups (e.g. a few divisions, a few specialized functions), and that are smaller, low risk, and come with standard terms and conditions.
    Requirements for success:
    • A centralized IT asset management solution is implemented and managed.
    • Contract terms must be harmonized across the organization.
    • Centralized fulfillment is as streamlined as possible. For example, software contracts should include the right to install at any time and pay through a true-up process.
    		 Requirements for success:
    • Any expectations for harmonization with the centralized asset management team will be well defined and supported.
    • Local asset managers can collaborate with other local ITAM leads to support knowledge transfer, asset swapping, etc.

    Structure technology management

    Are there opportunities to centralize or decentralize support functions?

    Why centralize?
    • Standard technologies are deployed organization-wide.
    • There are opportunities to improve service and optimize costs by consolidating knowledge, service contracts, and support functions.
    • Centralizing data on product supply allows for easier harvest and redeployment of assets by a central support team.
    • A stable, central support function can better support localized needs during seasonal staffing changes, mergers and acquisitions.
    		 Why decentralize?
    • Technology is unique to a local subset of users or customers.
    • Minimal opportunity for savings or better support by consolidating knowledge, service contracts, or support functions.
    • Refresh standards are set at a local level; new tech adoption may be impeded by a reliance on older technologies, local budget shortfalls, or other constraints.
    • Hardware may need to be managed locally if shipping costs and times can’t reasonably be met by a distant central support team.
    Requirements for success:
    • Ensure required processes, technologies, skills, and knowledge are in place to enable centralized support.
    • Keep a central calendar of contract renewals, including reminders to start work on the renewal no less than 90 days prior. Prioritize contracts with high dollar value or high risk.
    • The central asset management solution should be configured to provide data that can enable the central support team.
    		 Requirements for success:
    • Ensure required processes, technologies, skills, and knowledge are in place to enable decentralized support.
    • Decentralized support teams must understand and adhere to ITAM activities that are part of support work (e.g. data entry, data audits).
    • The central asset management solution should be configured to provide data that can enable the central support team, or decentralized asset solutions must be funded, and teams trained on their use.

    2.3 Review ITAM Structure

    1-2 hours

    Input: Understanding of current organizational structure, Understanding of challenges and opportunities related to the current structure

    Output: A list of prioritized organizational goals, An initial assessment of how ITAM can support these goals

    Materials: The table in this slide, Your copy of the ITAM Strategy Template

    Participants: ITAM team, IT leaders and managers, ITAM business partners

    Outline the current model for your organization and identify opportunities to centralize or decentralize ITAM-related activities.

    1. What model best describes how ITAM should be structured in your organization? Modify the slide outlining structure as a group to outline your own organization, as required.
    2. In the table below, outline opportunities to centralize or decentralize data tracking, budget and contract management, and technology management activities.
    Centralize Decentralize
    Data collection & analysis
    • Make better use of central ITAM database.
    • Support local IT departments building runbooks for data tracking during lifecycle activities (create templates, examples)
    Budget and contract management
    • Centralize Microsoft contracts.
    • Create a runbook to onboard new companies to MSFT contracts.
    • Create tools and data views to support local department budget exercises.
    Technology management
    • Ensure all end-user devices are visible to centrally managed InTune, ConfigMgr.
    • Enable direct shipping from vendor to local sites.
    • Establish disposal/pickup at local sites.

    Add your results to your copy of the ITAM Strategy Template

    Step 2.4: Create a RACI

    Participants

    • Project sponsor and lead facilitator
    • ITAM team
    • IT leaders and managers
    • ITAM business partners

    Outcomes

    • Review the role of the IT asset manager.
    • Identify who’s responsible, accountable, consulted, and informed for key ITAM activities.

    Empower your asset manager

    The asset manager is the critical ITAM role. Ensure they’re positioned to succeed.

    There’s too much change in the technology and business environment to expect ITAM to be “a problem to solve.” It is a practice that requires care and feeding through regular iteration to achieve success. At the helm of this practice is your asset manager, whose approach and past experience will have a significant impact on how you approach ITAM.

    The asset manager role requires a variety of skills, knowledge, and abilities including:

    • Operations, process, and practice management.
    • An ability to communicate, influence, negotiate, and facilitate.
    • Organizational knowledge and relationship management.
    • Contract and license agreement analysis, attention to detail.
    • Natural curiosity and a willingness to learn.
    • A strong understanding of technologies in use by the organization, and how they fit into the asset management program.
    Where the asset manager sits in the organization will also have an impact on their focus and priorities. When the asset manager reports into a service team, their focus will often reflect their team’s focus: end-user devices and software, customer satisfaction, request fulfillment. Asset teams that report into a leadership or governance function will be more likely to focus on organization-wide assets, governance, budget management, and compliance.

    “Where your asset manager sits, and what past experience they have, is going to influence how they do asset management.” (Jeremy Boerger, Consultant & Author)

    “It can be annoying at times, but a good IT asset manager will poke their nose into activities that do not obviously concern them, such as programme and project approval boards and technical design committees. Their aim is to identify and mitigate ITAM risks BEFORE the technology is deployed as well as to ensure that projects and solutions ‘bake in’ the necessary processes and tools that ensure IT assets can be managed effectively throughout their lifecycle.” (Kylie Fowler, ITAM by Design, 2017)

    IT asset managers must have a range of skills and knowledge

    • ITAM Operations, Process, and Practice Management
      The asset manager is typically responsible for managing and improving the ITAM practice and related processes and tools. The asset manager may administer the ITAM tool, develop reports and dashboards, evaluate and implement new technologies or services to improve ITAM maturity, and more.
    • Organizational Knowledge
      An effective IT asset manager has a good understanding of your organization and its strategy, products, stakeholders, and culture.
    • Technology & Product Awareness
      An IT asset manager must learn about new and changing technologies and products adopted by the organization (e.g. IoT, cloud) and develop recommendations on how to track and manage them via the ITAM practice.
    		 A book surrounded by icons corresponding to the bullet points.
    • People Management
      Asset managers often manage a team directly and have dotted-line reports across IT and the business.
    • Communication
      Important in any role, but particularly critical where learning, listening, negotiation, and persuasion are so critical.
    • Finance & Budgeting
      A foundational knowledge of financial planning and budgeting practices is often helpful, where the asset manager is asked to contribute to these activities.
    • Contract Review & Analysis
      Analyze new and existing contracts to evaluate changes, identify compliance requirements, and optimize spend.

    Assign ITAM responsibilities and accountabilities

    Align authority and accountability.
    • A RACI exercise will help you discuss and document accountability and responsibility for critical ITAM activities.
    • When responsibility and accountability are not currently well documented, it’s often useful to invite a representative of the roles identified to participate in this alignment exercise. The discussion can uncover contrasting views on responsibility and governance, which can help you build a stronger management and governance model.
    • The RACI chart can help you identify who should be involved when making changes to a given activity. Clarify the variety of responsibilities assigned to each key role.
    • In the future, you may need to define roles in more detail as you change your hardware and software asset management procedures.

    R

    		 Responsible: The person who actually gets the job done.

    Different roles may be responsible for different aspects of the activity relevant to their role.

    A

    		 Accountable: The one role accountable for the activity (in terms completion, quality, cost, etc.)

    Must have sufficient authority to be held accountable; responsible roles are often accountable to this role.

    C

    		 Consulted: Must have the opportunity to provide meaningful input at certain points in the activity.

    Typically, subject matter experts or stakeholders. The more people you must consult, the more overhead and time you’ll add to a process.

    I

    		 Informed: Receives information regarding the task, but has no requirement to provide feedback.

    Information might relate to process execution, changes, or quality.

    2.4 Conduct a RACI Exercise

    1-2 hours

    Input: An understanding of key roles and activities in ITAM practices, An understanding of your organization, High-level structure of your ITAM program

    Output: A RACI diagram for IT asset management

    Materials: The table in the next slide, Your copy of the ITAM Strategy Template

    Participants: ITAM team, IT leaders and managers, ITAM business partners

    Let’s face it – RACI exercises can be dry. We’ve found that the approach below is more collaborative, engaging, and effective compared to filling out the table as a large group.

    1. Create a shared working copy of the RACI charts on the following slides (e.g. write it out on a whiteboard or provide a link to this document and work directly in it).
    2. Review the list of template roles and activities as a group. Add, change, or remove roles and activities from the table as needed.
    3. Divide into small groups. Assign each group a set of roles, and have them define whether that role is accountable, responsible, consulted, or informed for each activity in the chart. Refer to the previous slide for context on RACI. Give everyone 15 minutes to update their section of the chart.
    4. Come back together as a large group to review the chart. First, check for accountability – there should generally be just one role accountable for each activity. Then, have each small group walk through their section, and encourage participants to ask questions. Is there at least one role responsible for each task, and what are they responsible for? Does everyone listed as consulted or informed really need to be? Make any necessary adjustments.

    Add your results to your copy of the ITAM Strategy Template

    Define ITAM governance activities

    RACI Chart for ITAM governance activities. In the first column is a list of governance activities, and the row headers are positions within a company. Fields are marked with an R, A, C, or I.

    Document asset management responsibilities and accountabilities

    RACI Chart for ITAM asset management responsibilities and accountabilities. In the first column is a list of responsibilities and accountabilities, and the row headers are positions within a company. Fields are marked with an R, A, C, or I.

    Step 2.5: Align ITAM with other Service Management Practices

    Participants

    • Project sponsor and lead facilitator
    • ITAM team
    • IT leaders and managers

    Outcomes

    • Establish shared and separate responsibilities for asset and configuration management.
    • Identify how ITAM can support other practices, and how other practices can support ITAM.

    Asset vs. Configuration

    Asset and configuration management look at the same world through different lenses.
    • IT asset management tends to focus on each IT asset in its own right: assignment or ownership, its lifecycle, and related financial obligations and entitlements.
    • Configuration management is focused on configuration items (CIs) that must be managed to deliver a service and the relationships and integrations to other CIs.
    • ITAM and configuration management teams and practices should work closely together. Though asset and configuration management focus on different outcomes, they tend use overlapping tools and data sets. Each practice, when working effectively, can strengthen the other.
    • Many objects will exist in both the CMDB and AMDB, and the data on those shared objects will need to be kept in sync.
    Asset and Configuration Management: An Example

    Configuration Management Database (CMDB)

    A database of uniquely identified configuration items (CIs). Each CI record may include information on:
    Service Attributes

    Supported Service(s)
    Service Description, Criticality, SLAs
    Service Owners
    Data Criticality/Sensitivity

    CI Relationships

    Physical Connections
    Logical Connections
    Dependencies

    		Arrow connector.

    Discovery, Normalization, Dependency Mapping, Business Rules*

    Manual Data Entry
    Arrow connector.
    This shared information could be attached to asset records, CI records, or both, and it should be synchronized between the two databases where it’s tracked in both.
    Hardware Information

    Serial, Model and Specs
    Network Address
    Physical Location

    Software Installations

    Hypervisor & OS
    Middleware & Software
    Software Configurations

    		Arrow connector.

    Asset Management Database (AMDB)

    A database of uniquely identified IT assets. Each asset record may include information on:
    Procurement/Purchasing

    Purchase Request/Purchase Order
    Invoice and Cost
    Cost Center
    Vendor
    Contracts and MSAs
    Support/Maintenance/Warranties

    Asset Attributes

    Model, Title, Product Info, License Key
    Assigned User
    Lifecycle Status
    Last ITAM Audit Date
    Certificate of Disposal

    Arrows connecting multiple fields.

    IT Security Systems

    Vulnerability Management
    Threat Management
    SIEM
    Endpoint Protection

    IT Service Management (ITSM) System

    Change Tickets
    Request Tickets
    Incident Tickets
    Problem Tickets
    Project Tickets
    Knowledgebase

    Financial System/ERP

    General Ledger
    Accounts Payable
    Accounts Receivable
    Enterprise Assets
    Enterprise Contract Database

    (*Discovery, dependency mapping, and data normalization are often features or modules of configuration management, asset management, or IT service management tools.)

    2.5 Integrate ITAM and configuration practices

    45 minutes

    Input: Knowledge of the organization’s configuration management processes

    Output: Define how ITAM and configuration management will support one another

    Materials: The table in this slide, Your copy of the ITAM Strategy Template

    Participants: ITAM team, IT leaders and managers, Configuration manager

    Work through the table below to identify how you will collaborate and synchronize data across ITAM and configuration management practices and tools.

    What are the goals (if any currently exist) for the configuration management practice? Connect configuration items to services to support service management.
    How will configuration and asset management teams collaborate? Weekly status updates. As-needed working sessions.
    Shared visibility on each others’ Kanban tracker.
    Create tickets to raise and track issues that require collaboration or attention from the other team.
    How can config leverage ITAM? Connect CIs to financial, contractual, and ownership data.
    How can ITAM leverage config? Connect assets to services, changes, incidents.
    What key fields will be primarily tracked/managed by ITAM? Serial number, unique ID, user, location, PO number, …
    What key fields will be primarily tracked/managed by configuration management? Supported service(s), dependencies, service description, service criticality, network address…

    Add your results to your copy of the ITAM Strategy Template

    ITAM supports service management

    Decoupling asset management from other service management practices can result in lost value. Establish how asset management can support other service management practices – and how those practices can support ITAM.

    Incident Management

    What broke?
    Was it under warranty?
    Is there a service contract?
    Was it licensed?
    Who was it assigned to?
    Is it end-of-life?

    ITAM
    Practice

    		 Request Management

    What can this user request or purchase?
    What are standard hardware and software offerings?
    What does the requester already have?
    Are there items in inventory to fulfil the request?
    Did we save money by reissuing equipment?
    Is this a standard request?
    What assets are being requested regularly?

    What IT assets are related to the known issue?
    What models and vendors are related to the issue?
    Are the assets covered by a service contract?
    Are other tickets related to this asset?
    What end-of-life assets have been tied to incidents recently?

    Problem Management

    What assets are related to the change?
    Is the software properly licensed?
    Has old equipment been properly retired and disposed?
    Have software licenses been returned to the pool?
    Is the vendor support on the change part of a service contract?

    Change Enablement

    2.5. Connect with other IT service practices

    45 minutes

    Input: Knowledge of existing organizational IT service management processes

    Output: Define how ITAM will help other service management processes, and how other service management processes will help ITAM

    Materials: The table in this slide, Your copy of the ITAM Strategy Template

    Participants: ITAM team, IT leaders and managers, Service leads

    Complete the table below to establish what ITAM can provide to other service management practices, and what other practices can provide to ITAM.

    Practice ITAM will help Will help ITAM
    Incident Management Provide context on assets involved in an incident (e.g. ownership, service contracts). Track when assets are involved in incidents (via incident tickets).
    Request Management Oversee request & procurement processes. Help develop asset standards. Enter new assets in ITAM database.
    Problem Management Collect information on assets related to known issues. Report back on models/titles that are generating known issues.
    Change Enablement Provide context on assets for change review. Ensure EOL assets are retired and licenses are returned during changes.
    Capacity Management Identify ownership, location for assets at capacity. Identify upcoming refreshes or purchases.
    Availability Management Connect uptime and reliability to assets. Identify assets that are causing availability issues.
    Monitoring and Event Management Provide context to events with asset data. Notify asset of unrecognized software and hardware.
    Financial Management Establish current and predict future spending. Identify upcoming purchases, renewals.

    Add your results to your copy of the ITAM Strategy Template

    Step 2.6: Evaluate ITAM tools and integrations

    Participants

    • Project sponsor and lead facilitator
    • ITAM team
    • IT leaders and managers

    Outcomes

    • Create a list of the ITAM tools currently in use, how they’re used, and their current limitations.
    • Identify new tools that could provide value to the ITAM practice, and what needs to be done to acquire and implement them.

    “Everything is connected. Nothing is also connected.” (Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency)

    Establish current strengths and gaps in your ITAM toolset

    ITAM data quality relies on tools and integrations that are managed by individuals or teams who don’t report directly to the ITAM function.

    Without direct line of sight into tools management, the ITAM team must influence rather than direct improvement initiatives that are in some cases critical to the performance of the ITAM function. To more effectively influence improvement efforts, you must explicitly identify what you need, why you need it, from which tools, and from which stakeholders.

    Data Sources
    Procurement Tools
    Discovery Tools
    Active Directory
    Purchase Documents
    Spreadsheets     		Input To Asset System(s) of Record
    ITAM Database
    ITSM Tool
    CMDB     		Output To Asset Data Consumption
    ITFM Tools
    Security Tools
    TEM Tools
    Accounting Tools
    Spreadsheets
    		“Active Directory plays a huge role in audit defense and self-assessment, but no-one really goes out there and looks at Active Directory.

    I was talking to one organization that has 1,600,000 AD records for 100,000 employees.” (Mike Austin, Founder, MetrixData 360)

    2.6 Evaluate ITAM existing technologies

    30 minutes

    Input: Knowledge of existing ITAM tools

    Output: A list of prioritized organizational goals, An initial assessment of how ITAM can support these goals

    Materials: The table in this slide, Your copy of the ITAM Strategy Template

    Participants: ITAM team, IT leaders and managers

    Identify the use, limitations, and next steps for existing ITAM tools, including those not directly managed by the ITAM team.

    1. What tools do we have today?
    2. What are they used for? What are their limitations?
    3. Who manages them?
    4. What actions could we take to maximize the value of the tools?
    Existing Tool Use Constraints Owner Proposed Action?
    ITAM Module
    • Track HW/SW
    • Connect assets to incident, request
    • Currently used for end-user devices only
    • Not all divisions have access
    • SAM capabilities are limited
    		 ITAM Team/Service Management
    • Add license for additional read/write access
    • Start tracking infra in this tool
    Active Directory
    • Store user IDs, organizational data
    		 Major data quality issues IT Operations
    • Work with AD team to identify issues creating data issues

    Add your results to your copy of the ITAM Strategy Template

    2.6 Identify potential new tools

    30 minutes

    Input: Knowledge of tooling gaps, An understanding of available tools that could remediate gaps

    Output: New tools that can improve ITAM capabilities, including expected value and proposed next steps

    Materials: The table in this slide, Your copy of the ITAM Strategy Template

    Participants: ITAM team, IT leaders and managers

    Identify tools that are required to support the identified goals of the ITAM practice.

    1. What types of tools do we need that we don’t have?
    2. What could these tools help us do?
    3. What needs to be done next to investigate or acquire the appropriate tool?
    New Tool Expected Value Proposed Next Steps
    SAM tool
    • Automatically calculate licensing entitlements from contract data.
    • Automatically calculate licensing requirements from discovery data.
    • Support gap analyses.
    • Further develop software requirements.
    • Identify vendors in the space and create a shortlist.

    Add your results to your copy of the ITAM Strategy Template

    Step 2.7: Create a plan for internal and external audits

    Participants

    • Project sponsor and lead facilitator
    • ITAM team
    • IT leaders and managers
    • ITAM business partners

    Outcomes

    • Establish your approach to internal data audits.
    • Create a high-level response plan for external audits.

    Validate ITAM data via internal audits

    Data audits provide assurance that the records in the ITAM database are as accurate as possible. Consider these three approaches:

    Compare Tool Records

    Audit your data by comparing records in the ITAM system to other discovery sources.

    • Ideally, use three separate data sources (e.g. ITAM database, discovery tool, security tool). Use a common field, such as the host name, to compare across fields. (To learn more about discovery tool analysis, see Jeremy Boerger’s book, Rethinking IT Asset Management.)
    • Run reports to compare records and identify discrepancies. This could include assets missing from one system or metadata differences such as different users or installed software.
    • Over time, discrepancies between tools should be well understood and accepted; otherwise, they should be addressed and remediated.
    		 IT-led Audit

    Conduct a hands-on investigation led by ITAM staff and IT technicians.

    • In-person audits require significant effort and resources. Each audit should be scoped and planned ahead of time to focus on known problem areas.
    • Provide the audit team with exact instructions on what needs to be verified and recorded. Depending on the experience and attention to detail of the audit team, you may need to conduct spot checks to ensure you’re catching any issues in the audit process itself.
    • Automation should be used wherever possible (e.g. through barcodes, scanners, and tables for quick access to ITAM records).
    		 User-led audit

    Have users validate the IT assets assigned to them.

    • Even more than IT-led audits: don’t use this approach too frequently; keep the scope as narrow as possible and the process as simple as possible.
    • Ensure users have all the information and tools they’ll need readily available to complete this task, or the result will be ineffective and will only frustrate your users.
    • Consider a process integrated with your ITSM tool: once a year, when a user logs in to the portal, they will be asked to enter the asset code for their laptop (and provided with instructions on where to find that code). Investigate discrepancies between assignments and ITAM records.

    2.7 Set an approach to internal data audits

    30 minutes

    Input: An understanding of current data audit capabilities and needs

    Output: An outline of how you’ll approach data audits, including frequency, scope, required resources

    Materials: Your copy of the ITAM Strategy Template

    Participants: ITAM team

    Review the three internal data audit approaches outlined on the previous slide, and identify which of the three approaches you’ll use. For each approach, complete the fields in the table below.

    Audit Approach How often? What scope? Who’s involved? Comments
    Compare tool records Monthly Compare ITAM DB, Intune/ConfigMgr, and Vulnerability Scanner Data; focus on end-user devices to start Asset manager will lead at first.
    Work with tool admins to pull data and generate reports.
    IT-led audit Annual End-user devices at a subset of locations Asset manager will work with ITSM admins to generate reports. In-person audit to be conducted by local techs.
    User-led audit Annual Assigned personal devices (start with a pilot group) Asset coordinator to develop procedure with ITSM admin. Run pilot with power users first.

    Add your results to your copy of the ITAM Strategy Template

    Prepare for and respond to external audits and true-ups

    Are you ready when software vendors come knocking?

    • Vendor audits are expensive.
    • If you’re out of compliance, you will at minimum be required to pay the missing license fees. At their discretion, vendors may choose to add punitive fees and require you to cover the hourly cost of their audit teams. If you choose not to pay, the vendor could secure an injunction to cut off your service, which in many cases will be far more costly than the fines. And this is aside from the intangible costs of the disruption to your business and damaged relationships between IT, ITAM, your business, and other partners.
    • Having a plan to respond to an audit is critical to reducing audit risk. Preparation will help you coordinate your audit response, ensure the audit happens on the most favorable possible terms, and even prevent some audits from happening in the first place.
    • The best defense, as they say, is a good offense. Good ITAM and SAM processes will allow you to track acquisition, allocation, and disposal of software licenses; understand your licensing position; and ensure you remain compliant whenever possible. The vendor has no reason to audit you when there’s nothing to find.
    • Know when and where your audit risk is greatest, so you can focus your resources where they can deliver the most value.
    		“If software audits are a big part of your asset operations, you have problems. You can reduce the time spent on audits and eliminate some audits by having a proactive ITAM practice.” (Sandi Conrad, Principal Research Director)

    Info-Tech Insight

    Audit defense starts long before you get audited. For an in-depth review of your audit approach, see Info-Tech’s Prepare and Defend Against a Software Audit.

    Identify areas of higher audit risk

    Watch for these warning signs
    • Your organization is visibly fighting fires. Signs of disorder may signal to vendors that there are opportunities to exploit via an audit. Past audit failures make future audits more likely.
    • You are looking for ways to decrease spend. Vendors may counter attempts to true-down licensing by launching an audit to try to find unlicensed software that provides them leverage to negotiate maintained or even increased spending.
    • Your license/contract terms with the vendor are particularly complex or highly customized. Very complex terms may make it harder to validate your own compliance, which may present opportunities to the vendor in an audit.
    • The vendor has earned a reputation for being particularly aggressive with audits. Some vendors include audits as a standard component of their business model to drive revenue. This may include acquiring smaller vendors or software titles that may not have been audit-driven in the past, and running audits on their new customer base.

    “The reality is, software vendors prey on confusion and complication. Where there’s confusion, there’s opportunity.” (Mike Austin, Founder, MetrixData 360)

    Develop an audit response plan

    You will be on the clock once the vendor sends you an audit request. Have a plan ready to go.
    • Don’t panic: Resist knee-jerk reactions. Follow the plan.
    • Form an audit response team and centralize your response: This team should be led by a member of the ITAM group, and it should include IT leadership, software SMEs, representatives from affected business areas, vendor management, contract management, and legal. You may also need to bring on a contractor with deep expertise with the vendor in question to supplement your internal capabilities. Establish clearly who will be the point of contact with the vendor during the audit.
    • Clarify the scope of the audit: Clearly establish what the audit will cover – what products, subsidiaries, contracts, time periods, geographic regions, etc. Manage the auditors to prevent scope creep.
    • Establish who covers audit costs: Vendors may demand the auditee cover the hourly cost of their audit team if you’re significantly out of compliance. Consider asking the vendor to pay for your team’s time if you’re found to be compliant.
    • Know your contract: Vendors’ contracts change over time, and it’s no guarantee that even your vendor’s licensing experts will be aware of the rights you have in your contract. You must know your entitlements to negotiate effectively.
    1. Bring the audit request received to the attention of ITAM and IT leadership. Assemble the response team.
    2. Acknowledge receipt of audit notice.
    3. Negotiate timing and scope of the audit.
    4. Direct staff not to remove or acquire licenses for software under audit without directly involving the ITAM team first.
    5. Gather installation data and documentation to establish current entitlements, including original contract, current contract, addendums, receipts, invoices.
    6. Compare entitlements to installed software.
    7. Investigate any anomalies (e.g. unexpected or non-compliant software).
    8. Review results with the audit response team.

    2.7 Clarify your vendor audit response plan

    1 hour

    Input: Organizational knowledge on your current audit response procedures

    Output: Audit response team membership, High-level audit checklist, A list of things to start, stop, and continue doing as part of the audit response

    Materials: Your copy of the ITAM Strategy Template

    Participants: ITAM team, IT leaders and managers, ITAM business partners

    1. Who’s on the audit response team, and what’s their role? Who will lead the team? Who will be the point of contact with the auditor?
    2. What are the high-level steps in our audit response workflow? Use the example checklist below as a starting point.
    3. What do we need to start, stop, and continue doing in response to audit requests?

    Example Audit Checklist

    • Bring the audit request received to the attention of ITAM and IT leadership. Assemble the response team.
    • Acknowledge receipt of audit notice.
    • Negotiate timing and scope of the audit.
    • Direct staff not to remove or acquire licenses for software under audit without directly involving the ITAM team first.
    • Gather installation data and documentation to establish current entitlements, including original contract, current contract, addendums, receipts, invoices.
    • Compare entitlements to installed software.
    • Investigate any anomalies (e.g. unexpected or non-compliant software).
    • Review results with the audit response team.

    Add your results to your copy of the ITAM Strategy Template

    Step 2.8: Improve budget processes

    Participants

    • Project sponsor and lead facilitator
    • ITAM team
    • IT leaders and managers
    • ITAM business partners

    Outcomes

    • Identify what you need to start, stop, and continue to do to support budgeting processes.

    Improve budgeting and forecasting

    Insert ITAM into budgeting processes to deliver significant value.

    Some examples of what ITAM can bring to the budgeting table:
    • Trustworthy data on deployed assets and spending obligations tied to those assets.
    • Projections of hardware due for replacement in terms of quantity and spend.
    • Knowledge of IT hardware and software contract terms and pricing.
    • Lists of unused or underused hardware and software that could be redeployed to avoid spend.
    • Comparisons of spend year-over-year.

    Being part of the budgeting process positions ITAM for success in other ways:

    • Helps demonstrate the strategic value of the ITAM practice.
    • Provides insight into business and IT strategic projects and priorities for the year.
    • Strengthens relationships with key stakeholders, and positions the ITAM team as trusted partners.

    “Knowing what you have [IT assets] is foundational to budgeting, managing, and optimizing IT spend.” (Dave Kish, Info-Tech, Practice Lead, IT Financial Management)

    Stock image of a calculator.

    2.8 Build better budgets

    20 minutes

    Input: Context on IT budgeting processes

    Output: A list of things to start, stop, and continue doing as part of budgeting exercises

    Materials: The table in this slide, Your copy of the ITAM Strategy Template

    Participants: ITAM team, IT leaders and managers, ITAM business partners

    What should we start, stop, and continue doing to support organizational budgeting exercises?

    Start Stop Continue
    • Creating buckets of spend and allocating assets to those buckets.
    • Zero-based review on IaaS instances quarterly.
    • Develop dashboards plugged into asset data for department heads to view allocated assets and spend.
    • Create value reports to demonstrate hard savings as well as cost avoidance.
    • Waiting for business leaders to come to us for help (start reaching out with reports proactively, three months before budget cycle).
    • % increases on IT budgets without further review.
    • Monthly variance budget analysis.
    • What-if analysis for asset spend based on expected headcount increases.

    Add your results to your copy of the ITAM Strategy Template

    Step 2.9: Establish a documentation framework

    Participants

    • Project sponsor and lead facilitator
    • ITAM team

    Outcomes

    • Identify key documentation and gaps in your documentation.
    • Establish where documentation should be stored, who should own it, who should have access, and what should trigger a review.

    Create ITAM documentation

    ITAM documentation will typically support governance or operations.

    Long-term planning and governance
    • ITAM policy and/or related policies (procurement policy, security awareness policy, acceptable use policy, etc.)
    • ITAM strategy document
    • ITAM roadmap or burndown list
    • Job descriptions
    • Functional requirements documents for ITAM tools

    Operational documentation

    • ITAM SOPs (hardware, software) and workflows
    • Detailed work instructions/knowledgebase articles
    • ITAM data/records
    • Contracts, purchase orders, invoices, MSAs, SOWs, etc.
    • Effective Licensing Position (ELP) reports
    • Training and communication materials
    • Tool and integration documentation
    • Asset management governance, operations, and tools typically generate a lot of documentation.
    • Don’t create documentation for the sake of documentation. Prioritize building and maintaining documentation that addresses major risks or presents opportunities to improve the consistency and reliability of key processes.
    • Maximize the value of ITAM documentation by ensuring it is as current, accessible, and usable as it needs to be.
    • Clearly identify where documentation is stored and who should have access to it.
    • Identify who is accountable for the creation and maintenance of key documentation, and establish triggers for reviews, updates, and changes.

    Consider ITAM policies

    Create policies that can and will be monitored and enforced.
    • Certain requirements of the ITAM practice may need to be backed up by corporate policies: formal statements of organizational expectations that must be recognized by staff, and which will lead to sanctions/penalties if breached.
    • Some organizations will choose to create one or more ITAM-specific policies. Others will include ITAM-related statements in other existing policies, such as acceptable use policies, security training and awareness policies, procurement policies, configuration policies, e-waste policies, and more.
    • Ensure that you are prepared to monitor compliance with policies and evenly enforce breaches of policy. Failing to consistently enforce your policies exposes you and your organization to claims of negligence or discriminatory conduct.
    • For a template for ITAM-specific policies, see Info-Tech’s policy templates for Hardware Asset Management and Software Asset Management.

    2.9 Establish documentation gaps

    15-30 minutes

    Input: An understanding of existing documentation gaps and risks

    Output: Documentation gaps, Identified owners, repositories, access rights, and review/update protocols

    Materials: The table in this slide, Your copy of the ITAM Strategy Template

    Participants: ITAM team, Optional: IT managers, ITAM business partners

    Discuss and record the following:

    • What planning/governance, operational, and tooling documentation do we still need to create? Who is accountable for the creation and maintenance of these documents?
    • Where will the documentation be stored? Who can access these documents?
    • What will trigger reviews or changes to the documents?
    Need to Create Owner Stored in Accessible by Trigger for review
    Hardware asset management SOP ITAM manager ITAM SharePoint site › Operating procedures folder
    • All IT staff
    • Annual review
    • As-needed for major tooling changes that require a documentation update

    Add your results to your copy of the ITAM Strategy Template

    Step 2.10: Create a roadmap and communication plan

    Participants

    • Project sponsor and lead facilitator
    • ITAM team
    • IT leaders and managers

    Outcomes

    • A timeline of key ITAM initiatives.
    • Improvement ideas aligned to key initiatives.
    • A communication plan tailored to key stakeholders.
    • Your ITAM Strategy document.

    “Understand that this is a journey. This is not a 90-day project. And in some organizations, these journeys could be three or five years long.” (Mike Austin, MetrixData 360)

    2.10 Identify key ITAM initiatives

    30-45 minutes

    Input: Organizational strategy documents

    Output: A roadmap that outlines next steps

    Materials: The table in this slide, Your copy of the ITAM Strategy Template

    Participants: ITAM team, IT leaders and managers, Project sponsor

    1. Identify key initiatives that are critical to improving practice maturity and meeting business goals.
    2. There should only be a handful of really key initiatives. This is the work that will have the greatest impact on your ability to deliver value. Too many initiatives muddy the narrative and can distract from what really matters.
    3. Plot the target start and end dates for each initiative in the business and IT transformation timeline you created in Phase 1.
    4. Review the chart and consider – what new capabilities should the ITAM practice have once the identified initiatives are complete? What transformational initiatives will you be better positioned to support?

    Add your results to your copy of the ITAM Strategy Template

    Transformation Timeline

    Example transformation timeline with row headers 'Business Inititiaves', 'IT Initiatives', and 'ITAM Initiatives'. Each initiative is laid out along the timeline appropriately.

    2.10 Align improvement ideas to initiatives

    45 minutes

    Input: Key initiatives, Ideas for ITAM improvement collected over the course of previous exercises

    Output: Concrete action items to support each initiative

    Materials: The table in the next slide, Your copy of the ITAM Strategy Template

    Participants: ITAM team, IT leaders and managers, Project sponsor

    As you’ve been working through the previous exercises, you have been tracking ideas for improvement – now we’ll align them to your roadmap.

    1. Review the list of ideas for improvement you’ve produced over the working sessions. Consolidate the list – are there any ideas that overlap or complement each other? Record any new ideas. Frame each idea as an action item – something you can actually do.
    2. Connect the action items to initiatives. It may be that not every action item becomes part of a key initiative. (Don’t lose ideas that aren’t part of key initiatives – track them in a separate burndown list or backlog.)
    3. Identify a target completion date and owner for each action item that’s part of an initiative.

    Add your results to your copy of the ITAM Strategy Template

    Example ITAM initiatives

    Initiative 1: Develop hardware/software standards
    Task Target Completion Owner
    Laptop standards Q1-2023 ITAM manager
    Identify/eliminate contracts for unused software using scan tool Q2-2023 ITAM manager
    Review O365 license levels and standard service Q3-2023 ITAM manager

    Initiative 2: Improve ITAM data quality
    Task Target Completion Owner
    Implement scan agent on all field laptops Q3-2023 Desktop engineer
    Conduct in person audit on identified data discrepancies Q1-2024 ITAM team
    Develop and run user-led audit Q1-2024 Asset manager

    Initiative 3: Acquire & implement a new ITAM tool
    Task Target Completion Owner
    Select an ITAM tool Q3-2023 ITAM manager
    Implement ITAM tool, incl. existing data migration Q1-2024 ITAM manager
    Training on new tool Q1-2024 ITAM manager
    Build KPIs, executive dashboards in new tool Q2-2024 Data analyst
    Develop user-led audit functionality in new tool Q3-2024 ITAM coordinator

    2.10 Create a communication plan

    45 minutes

    Input: Proposed ITAM initiatives, Stakeholder priorities and goals, and an understanding of how ITAM can help them meet those goals

    Output: A high-level communication plan to communicate the benefits and impact of proposed changes to the ITAM program

    Materials: The table in this slide, Your copy of the ITAM Strategy Template

    Participants: IT asset manager, Project sponsor

    Develop clear, consistent, and targeted messages to key ITAM stakeholders.

    1. Modify the list of stakeholders in the first column.
    2. What benefits should those stakeholders realize from ITAM? What impact may the proposed improvements have on them? Refer back to exercises from Phase 1, where you identified key stakeholders, their priorities, and how ITAM could help them.
    3. Identify communication channels (in-person, email, all-hands meeting, etc.) and timing – when you’ll distribute the message. You may choose to use more than one channel, and you may need to convey the message more than once.
    Group ITAM Benefits Impact Channel(s) Timing
    CFO
    • More accurate IT spend predictions
    • Better equipment utilization and value for money
    • Sponsor integration project between ITAM DB and financial system
    • Support procurement procedures review
    		 Face-to-face – based on their availability Within the next month
    CIO
    • Better oversight into IT spend
    • Data to help demonstrate IT value
    • Resources required to support tool and ITAM process improvements
    		 Standing bi-monthly 1:1 meetings Review strategy at next meeting
    IT Managers
    Field Techs

    Add your results to your copy of the ITAM Strategy Template

    2.10 Put the final touches on your ITAM Strategy

    30 minutes

    Input: Proposed ITAM initiatives, Stakeholder priorities and goals, and an understanding of how ITAM can help them meet those goals

    Output: A high-level communication plan to communicate the benefits and impact of proposed changes to the ITAM program

    Materials: The table in this slide, Your copy of the ITAM Strategy Template

    Participants: IT asset manager, Project sponsor

    You’re almost done! Do a final check of your work before you send a copy to your participants.

    1. Summarize in three points the key findings from the activities you’ve worked through. What have you learned? What are your priorities? What key message do you need to get across? Add these to the appropriate slide near the start of the ITAM Strategy Template.
    2. What are your immediate next steps? Summarize no more than five and add them to the appropriate slide near the start of the ITAM Strategy Template.
      1. Are you asking for something? Approval for ITAM initiatives? Funding? Resources? Clearly identify the ask as part of your next steps.
    3. Are the KPIs identified in Phase 1 still valid? Will they help you monitor for success in the initiatives you’ve identified in Phase 2? Make any adjustments you think are required to the KPIs to reflect the additional completed work.

    Add your results to your copy of the ITAM Strategy Template

    Research Contributors and Experts

    Kylie Fowler
    Principal Consultant
    ITAM Intelligence

    Kylie is an experienced ITAM/FinOps consultant with a track record of creating superior IT asset management frameworks that enable large companies to optimize IT costs while maintaining governance and control.

    She has operated as an independent consultant since 2009, enabling organizations including Sainsbury's and DirectLine Insurance to leverage the benefits of IT asset management and FinOps to achieve critical business objectives. Recent key projects include defining an end-to-end SAM strategy, target operating model, policies and processes which when implemented provided a 300% ROI.

    She is passionate about supporting businesses of all sizes to drive continuous improvement, reduce risk, and achieve return on investment through the development of creative asset management and FinOps solutions.

    		Rory Canavan
    Owner and Principal Consultant
    SAM Charter

    Rory is the founder, owner, and principal consultant of SAM Charter, an internationally recognized consultancy in enterprise-wide Software & IT Asset Management. As an industry leader, SAM Charter is uniquely poised to ensure your IT & SAM systems are aligned to your business requirements.

    With a technical background in business and systems analysis, Rory has a wide range of first-hand experience advising numerous companies and organizations on the best practices and principles pertaining to software asset management. This experience has been gained in both military and civil organizations, including the Royal Navy, Compaq, HP, the Federation Against Software Theft (FAST), and several software vendors.

    Research Contributors and Experts

    Jeremy Boerger
    Founder, Boerger Consulting
    Author of Rethinking IT Asset Management

    Jeremy started his career in ITAM fighting the Y2K bug at the turn of the 21st century. Since then, he has helped companies in manufacturing, healthcare, banking, and service industries build and rehabilitate hardware and software asset management practices.

    These experiences prompted him to create the Pragmatic ITAM method, which directly addresses and permanently resolves the fundamental flaws in current ITAM and SAM implementations.

    In 2016, he founded Boerger Consulting, LLC to help business leaders and decision makers fully realize the promises a properly functioning ITAM can deliver. In his off time, you will find him in Cincinnati, Ohio, with his wife and family.

    		Mike Austin
    Founder and CEO
    MetrixData 360

    Mike Austin leads the delivery team at MetrixData 360. Mike brings more than 15 years of Microsoft licensing experience to his clients’ projects. He assists companies, from Fortune 500 to organizations with as few as 500 employees, with negotiations of Microsoft Enterprise Agreements (EA), Premier Support Contracts, and Select Agreements. In addition to helping negotiate contracts, he helps clients build and implement software asset management processes.

    Previously, Mike was employed by Microsoft for more than 8 years as a member of the global sales team. With Microsoft, Mike successfully negotiated more than a billion dollars in new and renewal EAs. Mike has also negotiated legal terms and conditions for all software agreements, developed Microsoft’s best practices for global account management, and was awarded Microsoft’s Gold Star Award in 2003 and Circle of Excellence in 2008 for his contributions.

    Bibliography

    “Asset Management.” SFIA v8. Accessed 17 March 2022.

    Boerger, Jeremy. Rethinking IT Asset Management. Business Expert Press, 2021.

    Canavan, Rory. “C-Suite Cheat Sheet.” SAM Charter, 2021. Accessed 17 March 2022.

    Fisher, Matt. “Metrics to Measure SAM Success.” Snow Software, 26 May 2015. Accessed 17 March 2022.

    Flexera (2021). “State of ITAM Report.” Flexera, 2021. Accessed 17 March 2022.

    Fowler, Kylie. “ITAM by design.” BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT, 2017. Accessed 17 March 2022.

    Fowler, Kylie. “Ch-ch-ch-changes… Is It Time for an ITAM Transformation?” ITAM Intelligence, 2021. Web. Accessed 17 March 2022.

    Fowler, Kylie. “Do you really need an ITAM policy?” ITAM Accelerate, 15 Oct. 2021. Accessed 17 March 2022.

    Hayes, Chris. “How to establish a successful, long-term ITAM program.” Anglepoint, Sept. 2021. Accessed 17 March 2022.

    ISO/IEC 19770-1-2017. IT Asset Management Systems – Requirements. Third edition. ISO, Dec 2017.

    Joret, Stephane. “IT Asset Management: ITIL® 4 Practice Guide”. Axelos, 2020.

    Jouravlev, Roman. “IT Service Financial Management: ITIL® 4 Practice Guide”. Axelos, 2020.

    Pagnozzi, Maurice, Edwin Davis, Sam Raco. “ITAM Vs. ITSM: Why They Should Be Separate.” KPMG, 2020. Accessed 17 March 2022.

    Rumelt, Richard. Good Strategy, Bad Strategy. Profile Books, 2013.

    Stone, Michael et al. “NIST SP 1800-5 IT Asset Management.” Sept, 2018. Accessed 17 March 2022.

    Map Your Business Architecture to Define Your Strategy

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    • Parent Category Name: Strategy & Operating Model
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    • Organizations need to innovate rapidly to respond to the changing forces in their industry, but their IT initiatives often fail to deliver meaningful outcomes.
    • Planners face challenges in understanding the relationships between the important customer-focused innovations they’re trying to introduce and the resources (capabilities) that make them possible, including applications, human resources, information, and processes. For example, are we risking the success of a new service offering by underpinning it with a legacy or manual solution?

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    Successful execution of business strategy requires planning that:

    1. Accurately reflects organizational capabilities.
    2. Is traceable so all levels can understand how decisions are made.
    3. Makes efficient use of organizational resources.

    To accomplish this, the business architect must engage stakeholders, model the business, and drive planning with business architecture.

    • Business architecture is often regarded as an IT function when its role and tools should be fixtures within the business planning and innovation practice.
    • Any size of organization – from start-ups to global enterprises -- can benefit from using a common language and modeling rigor to identify the opportunities that will produce the greatest impact and value.
    • You don’t need sophisticated modeling software to build an effective business architecture knowledgebase. In fact, the best format for engaging business stakeholders is intuitive visuals using business language.

    Impact and Result

    • Execute more quickly on innovation and transformation initiatives.
    • More effectively target investments in resources and IT according to what goals and requirements are most important.
    • Identify problematic areas (e.g. legacy applications, manual processes) that hinder the business strategy and create inefficiencies in our information technology operation.

    Map Your Business Architecture to Define Your Strategy Research & Tools

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

    1. Map Your Business Architecture Deck – A step-by-step document that walks you through how to properly engage business and IT in applying a common language and process rigor to build key capabilities required to achieve innovation and growth goals.

    Build a structured, repeatable framework for both IT and business stakeholders to appraise the activities that deliver value to consumers; and assess the readiness of their capabilities to enable them.

    • Map Your Business Architecture to Define Your Strategy – Phases 1-3

    2. Stakeholder Engagement Strategy Template – A best-of-breed template to help you build a clear, concise, and compelling strategy document for identifying and engaging stakeholders.

    This template helps you ensure that your business architecture practice receives the resources, visibility, and support it needs to be successful, by helping you develop a strategy to engage the key stakeholders involved.

    • Stakeholder Engagement Strategy Template

    3. Value Stream Map Template – A template to walk through the value streams that are tied to your strategic goals.

    Record the complete value stream and decompose it into stages. Add a description of the expected outcome of the value stream and metrics for each stage.

    • Value Stream Map Template

    4. Value Stream Capability Mapping Template – A template to define capabilities and align them to selected value streams.

    Build a business capability model for the organization and map capabilities to the selected value stream.

    • Value Stream – Capability Mapping Template
    [infographic]

    Workshop: Map Your Business Architecture to Define Your Strategy

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

    1 Discover the Business Context

    The Purpose

    Identify and consult stakeholders to discover the business goals and value proposition for the customer.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Engage stakeholders and SMEs in describing the business and its priorities and culture.

    Identify focus for the areas we will analyze and work on.

    Activities

    1.1 Select key stakeholders

    1.2 Plan for engaging stakeholders

    1.3 Gather business goals and priorities

    Outputs

    Stakeholder roles

    Engagement plan

    Business strategy, value proposition

    2 Define Value Streams

    The Purpose

    Describe the main value-adding activities of the business from the consumer’s point of view, e.g. provide product or service.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Shared understanding of why we build resources and do what we do.

    Starting point for analyzing resources and investing in innovation.

    Activities

    2.1 Define or update value streams

    2.2 Decompose selected value stream(s) into value stages and identify problematic areas and opportunities

    Outputs

    Value streams for the enterprise

    Value stages breakdown for selected value stream(s)

    3 Build Business Capability Map

    The Purpose

    Describe all the capabilities that make up an organization and enable the important customer-facing activities in the value streams.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Basis for understanding what resources the organization has and their ability to support its growth and success.

    Activities

    3.1 Define and describe all business capabilities (Level 1)

    3.2 Decompose and analyze capabilities for a selected priority value stream.

    Outputs

    Business Capability Map (Level 1)

    Business Capabilities Level 2 for selected value stream

    4 Develop a Roadmap

    The Purpose

    Use the Business Capability Map to identify key capabilities (e.g. cost advantage creator), and look more closely at what applications or information or business processes are doing to support or hinder that critical capability.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Basis for developing a roadmap of IT initiatives, focused on key business capabilities and business priorities.

    Activities

    4.1 Identify key capabilities (cost advantage creators, competitive advantage creators)

    4.2 Assess capabilities with the perspective of how well applications, business processes, or information support the capability and identify gaps

    4.3 Apply analysis tool to rank initiatives

    Outputs

    Business Capability Map with key capabilities: cost advantage creators and competitive advantage creators

    Assessment of applications or business processes or information for key capabilities

    Roadmap of IT initiatives

    Further reading

    Map Your Business Architecture to Define Your Strategy

    Plan your organization’s capabilities for best impact and value.

    Info-Tech Research Group

    Info-Tech is a provider of best-practice IT research advisory services that make every IT leader’s job easier.

    35,000 members sharing best practices you can leverage Millions spent developing tools and templates annually Leverage direct access to over 100 analysts as an extension of your team Use our massive database of benchmarks and vendor assessments Get up to speed in a fraction of the time

    Analyst perspective

    Know your organization’s capabilities to build a digital and customer-driven culture.

    Business architecture provides a holistic and unified view of:

    • All the organization’s activities that provide value to their clients (value streams).
    • The resources that make them possible and effective (capabilities, i.e. its employees, software, processes, information).
    • How they inter-relate, i.e. depend on and impact each other to help deliver value.

    Without a business architecture it is difficult to see the connections between the business’s activities for the customer and the IT resources supporting them – to demonstrate that what we do in IT is customer-driven.

    As a map of your business, the business architecture is an essential input to the digital strategy:

    • Develop a plan to transform the business by investing in the most important capabilities.
    • Ensure project initiatives are aligned with business goals as they evolve.
    • Respond more quickly to customer requirements and to disruptions in the industry by streamlining operations and information sharing across the enterprise.

    Crystal Singh, Research Director, Data and Analytics

    Crystal Singh
    Research Director, Data and Analytics
    Info-Tech Research Group

    Andrea Malick, Research Director, Data and Analytics

    Andrea Malick
    Research Director, Data and Analytics
    Info-Tech Research Group

    Executive summary

    Your Challenge Common Obstacles Info-Tech’s Approach

    Organizations need to innovate rapidly to respond to ever-changing forces and demands in their industry. But they often fail to deliver meaningful outcomes from their IT initiatives within a reasonable time.

    Successful companies are transforming, i.e. adopting fluid strategies that direct their resources to customer-driven initiatives and execute more quickly on those initiatives. In a responsive and digital organization, strategies, capabilities, information, people, and technology are all aligned, so work and investment are consistently allocated to deliver maximum value.

    You don’t have a complete reference map of your organization’s capabilities on which to base strategic decisions.

    You don’t know how to prioritize and identify the capabilities that are essential for achieving the organization’s customer-driven objectives.

    You don’t have a shared enterprise vision, where everyone understands how the organization delivers value and to whom.

    Begin important business decisions with a map of your organization – a business reference architecture. Model the business in the form of architectural blueprints.

    Engage your stakeholders. Recognize the opportunity for mapping work, and identify and engage the right stakeholders.

    Drive business architecture forward to promote real value to the organization. Assess your current projects to determine if you are investing in the right capabilities. Conduct business capability assessments to identify opportunities and prioritize projects.

    Info-Tech Insight
    Business architecture is the set of strategic planning techniques that connects organization strategy to execution in a manner that is accurate and traceable and promotes the efficient use of organizational resources.

    Blueprint activities summary

    Phase Purpose Activity Outcome
    1. Business context:
    Identify organization goals, industry drivers, and regulatory requirements in consultation with business stakeholders.     		Identify forces within and outside the organization to consider when planning the focus and timing of digital growth, through conducting interviews and surveys and reviewing existing strategies. Business value canvas, business strategy on a page, customer journey
    2. Customer activities (value stream):
    What is the customer doing? What is our reason for being as a company? What products and services are we trying to deliver?     		Define or update value streams, e.g. purchase product from supplier, customer order, and deliver product to customer. Value streams enterprise-wide (there may be more than one set of value streams, e.g. a medical school and community clinic)
    Prioritize value streams:
    Select key value streams for deeper analysis and focus.     		Assess value streams. Priority value streams
    Value stages:
    Break down the selected value stream into its stages.     		Define stages for selected value streams. Selected value stream stages
    3. Business capability map, level 1 enterprise:
    What resources and capabilities at a high level do we have to support the value streams?     		Define or update the business capabilities that align with and support the value streams. Business capability map, enterprise-wide capabilities level 1
    Business capability map, level 2 for selected area:
    List resources and capabilities that we have at a more detailed level.     		Define or update business capabilities for selected value stream to level 2. Business capability map, selected value stream, capability level 2
    Heatmap Business Capability Map: Flag focus areas in supporting technology, applications, data and information.

    Info-Tech’s workshop methodology

    Day 1: Discover Business Context Day 2: Define Value Streams Day 3: Build Business Capability Map Day 4: Roadmap Business Architecture
    Phase Steps

    1.1 Collect corporate goals and strategies

    1.2 Identify stakeholders

    2.1 Build or update value streams

    2.2 Decompose selected value stream into value stages and analyze for opportunities

    3.1 Update business capabilities to level 1 for enterprise

    3.2 For selected value streams, break down level 1 to level 2

    3.3 Use business architecture to heatmap focus areas: technology, information, and processes

    3.4 Build roadmap of future business architecture initiatives

    Phase Outcomes
    • Organizational context and goals
    • Business strategy on a page, customer journey map, business model canvas
    • Roles and responsibilities
    • Value stream map and definitions
    • Selected value stream(s) decomposed into value stages
    • Enterprise business capabilities map to level 1
    • Business architecture to level 2 for prioritized value stream
    • Heatmap business architecture
    • Business architecture roadmap, select additional initiatives

    Key concepts for this blueprint

    INDUSTRY VALUE CHAIN DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION BUSINESS ARCHITECTURE
    A high-level analysis of how the industry creates value for the consumer as an overall end-to-end process. The adoption of digital technologies to innovate and re-invent existing business, talent ,and operating models to drive growth, business value, and improved customer experience. A holistic, multidimensional business view of capabilities, end-to-end value, and operating model in relation to the business strategy.
    INDUSTRY VALUE STREAM STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES CAPABILITY ASSESSMENTS
    A set of activities, tasks, and processes undertaken by a business or a business unit across the entire end-to-end business function to realize value. A set of standard objectives that most industry players will feature in their corporate plans. A heat-mapping effort to analyze the maturity and priority of each capability relative to the strategic priorities that they serve.

    Info-Tech’s approach

    1 Understand the business context and drivers
    Deepen your understanding of the organization’s priorities by gathering business strategies and goals. Talking to key stakeholders will allow you to get a holistic view of the business strategy and forces shaping the strategy, e.g. economy, workforce, and compliance.
    2 Define value streams; understand the value you provide
    Work with senior leadership to understand your customers’ experience with you and the ways your industry provides value to them.
    Assess the value streams for areas to explore and focus on.
    3 Customize the industry business architecture; develop business capability map
    Work with business architects and enterprise architects to customize Info-Tech’s business architecture for your industry as an enterprise-wide map of the organization and its capabilities.
    Extend the business capability map to more detail (Level 2) for the value stream stages you select to focus on.

    Business architecture is a planning function that connects strategy to execution

    Business architecture provides a framework that connects business strategy and IT strategy to project execution through a set of models that provide clarity and actionable insights. How well do you know your business?

    Business architecture is:

    • Inter-disciplinary: Business architecture is a core planning activity that supports all important decisions in the organization, for example, organizational resources planning. It’s not just about IT.
    • Foundational: The best way to answer the question, “Where do we start?” or “Where is our investment best directed?”, comes from knowing your organization, what its core functions and capabilities are (i.e. what’s important to us as an organization), and where there is work to do.
    • Connecting: Digital transformation and modernization cannot work with siloes. Connecting siloes means first knowing the organization and its functions and recognizing where the siloes are not communicating.

    Business architecture must be branded as a front-end planning function to be appropriately embedded in the organization’s planning process.

    Brand business architecture as an early planning pre-requisite on the basis of maintaining clarity of communication and spreading an accurate awareness of how strategic decisions are being made.

    As an organization moves from strategy toward execution, it is often unclear as to exactly how decisions pertaining to execution are being made, why priority is given to certain areas, and how the planning function operates.

    The business architect’s primary role is to model this process and document it.

    In doing so, the business architect creates a unified view as to how strategy connects to execution so it is clearly understood by all levels of the organization.

    Business architecture is part of the enterprise architecture framework

    Business Architecture
    Business strategy map Business model canvas Value streams
    Business capability map Business process flows Service portfolio
    Data Architecture Application Architecture Infrastructure Architecture
    Conceptual data model Application portfolio catalog Technology standards catalog
    Logical data model Application capability map Technology landscape
    Physical data model Application communication model Environments location model
    Data flow diagram Interface catalog Platform decomposition diagram
    Data lifecycle diagram Application use-case diagram Network computing / hardware diagram
    Security Architecture
    Enterprise security model Data security model Application security model

    Business architecture is a set of shared and practical views of the enterprise

    The key characteristic of the business architecture is that it represents real-world aspects of a business, along with how they interact.

    Many different views of an organization are typically developed. Each view is a diagram that illustrates a way of understanding the enterprise by highlighting specific information about it:

    • Business strategy view captures the tactical and strategic goals that drive an organization forward.
    • Business capabilities view describes the primary business functions of an enterprise and the pieces of the organization that perform those functions.
    • Value stream view defines the end-to-end set of activities that deliver value to external and internal stakeholders.
    • Business knowledge view establishes the shared semantics (e.g. customer, order, and supplier) within an organization and relationships between those semantics (e.g. customer name, order date, supplier name) – an information map.
    • Organizational view captures the relationships among roles, capabilities, and business units, the decomposition of those business units into subunits, and the internal or external management of those units.

    Business architect connects all the pieces

    The business owns the strategy and operating model; the business architect connects all the pieces together.

    R Business Architect (Responsible)
    A Business Unit Leads (Accountable)
    C Subject Matter Experts (Consulted)
    – Business Lines, Operations, Data, Technology Systems & Infrastructure Leads
    I Business Operators (Informed)
    – Process, Data, Technology Systems & Infrastructure

    Choose a key business challenge to address with business architecture

    Choose a key business challenge to address with business architecture

    Picking the right project is critical to setting the tone for business architecture work in the organization.

    Best practices for business architecture success

    Consider these best practices to maintain a high level of engagement from key stakeholders throughout the process of establishing or applying business architecture.

    Balance short-term cost savings with long-term benefits

    Participate in project governance to facilitate compliance

    Create a center of excellence to foster dialogue

    Identify strategic business objectives

    Value streams: Understand how you deliver value today

    It is important to understand the different value-generating activities that deliver an outcome for and from your customers.

    We do this by looking at value streams, which refer to the specific set of activities an industry player undertakes to create and capture value for and from the end consumer (and so the question to ask is, how do you make money as an organization?).

    Our approach helps you to strengthen and transform those value streams that generate the most value for your organization.

    Understand how you deliver value today

    An organization can have more than one set of streams.
    For example, an enterprise can provide both retail shopping and financial services, such as credit cards.

    Define the organization’s value streams

    • Value streams connect business goals to the organization’s value realization activities. They enable an organization to create and capture value in the market place by engaging in a set of interconnected activities. Those activities are dependent on the specific industry segment an organization operates within. Value streams can extend beyond the organization into the supporting ecosystem, whereas business processes are contained within and the organization has complete control over them.
    • There are two types of value streams: core value streams and support value streams. Core value streams are mostly externally facing: they deliver value to either an external or internal customer and they tie to the customer perspective of the strategy map. Support value streams are internally facing and provide the foundational support for an organization to operate.
    • An effective method for ensuring all value streams have been considered is to understand that there can be different end-value receivers. Info-Tech recommends identifying and organizing the value streams with customers and partners as end-value receivers.

    Example: Value stream descriptions for the retail industry

    Value Streams Create or Purchase the Product Manage Inventory Distribute Product Sell Product, Make Product Available to Customers
    • Product is developed before company sells it.
    • Make these products by obtaining raw materials from external suppliers or using their own resources.
    • Retailers purchase the products they are going to sell to customers from manufacturers or wholesale distributors.
    • Retailer success depends on its ability to source products that customers want and are willing to buy.
    • Inventory products are tracked as they arrive in the warehouse, counted, stored, and prepared for delivery.
    • Estimate the value of your inventory using retail inventory management software.
    • Optimizing distribution activities is an important capability for retailers. The right inventory needs to be at a particular store in the right quantities exactly when it is needed. This helps to maximize sales and minimize how much cash is held up in inventory.
    • Proper supply chain management can not only reduce costs for retailers but drive revenues by enhancing shopping experiences.
    • Once produced, retailers need to sell the products. This is done through many channels including physical stores, online, the mail, or catalogs.
    • After the sale, retailers typically have to deliver the product, provide customer care, and manage complaints.
    • Retailers can use loyalty programs, pricing, and promotions to foster repeat business.

    Value streams describe your core business

    Value streams describe your core business

    Value streams – the activities we do to provide value to customers – require business capabilities.

    Value streams are broken down further into value stages, for example, the Sell Product value stream has value stages Evaluate Options, Place Order, and Make Payment.

    Think of value streams as the core operations: the reason for your organization’s being. A professional consulting organization may have a legal team but it does not brand itself as a law firm. A core value stream is providing research products and services; a business capability that supports it is legal counsel.

    Decompose the value stream into stages

    The stages of a value stream are usually action-oriented statements or verbs that make up the individual steps involved throughout the scope of the value stream, e.g. Place Order or Make Payment.

    Each value stream should have a trigger or starting point and an end result for a client or receiver.

    Decompose the value stream into stages

    There should be measurable value or benefits at each stage. These are key performance indicators (KPIs). Spot problem areas in the stream.

    Value streams usually fall into one of these categories:

    1. Fulfillment of products and services
    2. Manufacturing
    3. Software products
    4. Supporting value streams (procurement of supplies, product planning)

    Value streams need capabilities

    • Value streams connect business goals to the organization’s value realization activities. They enable an organization to create and capture value in the market place by engaging in a set of interconnected activities.
    • There are two types of value streams: core value streams and support value streams. Core value streams are mostly externally facing: they deliver value to either an external or internal customer and they tie to the customer perspective of the strategy map. Support value streams are internally facing and provide the foundational support for an organization to operate.
    • There can be different end-value receivers. Info-Tech recommends identifying and organizing the value streams with customers and partners as end-value receivers.

    Value streams need business capabilities

    Business capabilities are built up to allow the business to perform the activities that bring value to customers. Map capabilities to the value-add activities in the value stream. Business capabilities lie at the top layer of the business architecture:

    • They are the most stable reference for planning organizations.
    • They make strategy more tangible.
    • If properly defined, they can help overcome organizational silos.

    Value streams need business capabilities

    Example business capability map – Higher Education

    A business capability map can be thought of as a visual representation of your organization’s business capabilities and represents a view of what your data program must support.

    Validate your business capability map with the right stakeholders, including your executive team, business unit leaders, and/or other key stakeholders.

    Example business capability map for: Higher Education

    Example business capability map for Higher Education

    Example business capability map – Local Government

    Validate your business capability map with the right stakeholders, including your executive team, business unit leaders, and/or other key stakeholders.

    A business capability map can be thought of as a visual representation of your organization’s business capabilities and represents a view of what your data program must support.

    Example business capability map for: Local Government

    Example business capability map for Local Government

    Value streams need business capabilities

    Value streams – the activities we do to provide value to customers – require business capabilities. Value streams are broken down further into value stages.

    Business capabilities are built up to allow the business to perform the activities that bring value to customers. Map capabilities to the activities in the value stage to spot opportunities and problems in delivering services and value.

    Business processes fulfill capabilities. They are a step-by-step description of who is performing what to achieve a goal. Capabilities consist of networks of processes and the resources – people, technology, materials – to execute them.

    Capability = Processes + Software, Infrastructure + People

    Prioritize a value stream and identify its supporting capabilities

    Prioritize your improvement objectives and business goals and identify a value stream to transform.

    Align the business objectives of your organization to your value streams (the critical actions that take place within your organization to add value to a customer).

    Prioritize a value stream to transform based on the number of priorities aligned to a value stream, and/or the business value (e.g. revenue, EBITDA earnings, competitive differentiation, or cost efficiency).

    Decompose the selected value stream into value stages.

    Align capabilities level 1 and 2 to value stages. One capability may support several value stages in the stream.

    Build a business architecture for the prioritized value stream with a map of business capabilities up to level 2.

    NOTE: We can’t map all capabilities all at once: business architecture is an ongoing practice; select key mapping initiatives each year based on business goals.

    Prioritize a value stream and identify its supporting capabilities

    Map business capabilities to Level 2

    Map business capabilities to Level 2

    Map capabilities to value stage

    Map capabilities to value stage

    Business value realization

    Business value defines the success criteria of an organization as manifested through organizational goals and outcomes, and it is interpreted from four perspectives:

    • Profit generation: The revenue generated from a business capability with a product that is enabled with modern technologies.
    • Cost reduction: The cost reduction when performing business capabilities with a product that is enabled with modern technologies.
    • Service enablement: The productivity and efficiency gains of internal business operations from products and capabilities enhanced with modern technologies.
    • Customer and market reach: The improved reach and insights of the business in existing or new markets.

    Business Value Matrix

    Value, goals, and outcomes cannot be achieved without business capabilities

    Break down your business goals into strategic and achievable initiatives focused on specific value streams and business capabilities.

    Business goals and outcomes

    Accelerate the process with an industry business architecture

    It’s never a good idea to start with a blank page.

    The business capability map available from Info-Tech and with industry standard models can be used as an accelerator. Assemble the relevant stakeholders – business unit leads and product/service owners – and modify the business capability map to suit your organization’s context.

    Acceleration path: Customize generic capability maps with the assistance of our industry analysts.

    Accelerate the process with an industry business architecture

    Identify goals and drivers

    Consider organizational goals and industry forces when planning.

    Business context Define value streams Build business capability map
    1.1 Select key stakeholders
    1.2 Collect and understand corporate goals     		2.1 Update or define value streams
    2.2 Decompose and analyze selected value stream     		3.1 Build level 1 capability map
    3.2 Build level 2 capability map
    3.3 Heatmap capability map
    3.4 Roadmap

    Use inputs from business goals and strategies to understand priorities.

    It is not necessary to have a comprehensive business strategy document to start – with key stakeholders, the business architect should be able to gather a one-page business value canvas or customer journey.

    Determine how the organization creates value

    Begin the process by identifying and locating the business mission and vision statements.

    What is business context?

    “The business context encompasses an understanding of the factors impacting the business from various perspectives, including how decisions are made and what the business is ultimately trying to achieve. The business context is used by IT to identify key implications for the execution of its strategic initiatives.”

    Source: Businesswire, 2018

    Identify the key stakeholders who can help you promote the value of business architecture

    First, as the CIO, you must engage executive stakeholders and secure their support.
    Focus on key players who have high power and high interest in business architecture.

    Engage the stakeholders who are impacted the most and have the power to impede the success of business architecture.

    For example, if the CFO – who has the power to block funding – is disengaged, business architecture will be put at risk.

    Use Info-Tech’s Stakeholder Power Map Template to help prioritize time spent with stakeholders.

    Sample power map

    Identify the key stakeholders concerned with the business architecture project

    A business architecture project may involve the following stakeholders:

    Business architecture project stakeholders

    You must identify who the stakeholders are for your business architecture work.

    Think about:

    • Who are the decision makers and key influencers?
    • Who will impact the business architecture work? Who will the work impact?
    • Who has vested interest in the success or failure of the practice?
    • Who has the skills and competencies necessary to help us be successful?

    Avoid these common mistakes:

    • Don’t focus on the organizational structure and hierarchy. Often stakeholder groups don’t fit the traditional structure.
    • Don’t ignore subject-matter experts on either the business or IT side. You will need to consider both.

    1.1 Identify and assemble key stakeholders

    1-3 hours

    Build an accurate depiction of the business.

    1. It is important to make sure the right stakeholders participate in this exercise. The exercise of identifying capabilities for an organization is very introspective and requires deep analysis.
    2. Consider:
      1. Who are the decision makers and key influencers?
      2. Who will impact the business capability work? Who has a vested interest in the success or failure of the outcome?
      3. Who has the skills and competencies necessary to help you be successful?
    3. Avoid:
      1. Don’t focus on the organizational structure and hierarchy. Often stakeholder groups don’t fit the traditional structure.
      2. Don’t ignore subject matter experts on either the business or IT side. You will need to consider both.
    Input Output
    • List of who is accountable for key business areas and decisions
    • Organizational chart
    • List of who has decision-making authority
    • A list of the key stakeholders
    Materials Participants
    • Whiteboard/Flip Charts
    • Modeling software (e.g. Visio, ArchiMate)
    • Business capability map industry models
    • CIO
    • Enterprise/Business Architect
    • Business Analysts
    • Business Unit Leads
    • Departmental Executives & Senior Managers

    Conduct interviews with the business to gather intelligence for strategy

    Talking to key stakeholders will allow you to get a holistic view of the business strategy.

    Stakeholder interviews provide holistic view of business strategy

    Build a strategy on a page through executive interviews and document reviews

    Understanding the business mandate and priorities ensures alignment across the enterprise.

    A business strategy must articulate the long-term destination the business is moving into. This illustration shapes all the strategies and activities in every other part of the business, including what IT capabilities and resources are required to support business goals. Ultimately, the benefits of a well-defined business strategy increase as the organization scales and as business units or functions are better equipped to align the strategic planning process in a manner that reflects the complexity of the organization.

    Using the Business Strategy on a Page canvas, consider the questions in each bucket to elicit the overall strategic context of the organization and uncover the right information to build your digital strategy. Interview key executives including your CEO, CIO, CMO, COO, CFO, and CRO, and review documents from your board or overall organizational strategy to uncover insights.

    Info-Tech Insight
    A well-articulated and clear business strategy helps different functional and business units work together and ensures that individual decisions support the overall direction of the business.

    Focus on business value and establish a common goal

    Business architecture is a strategic planning function and the focus must be on delivering business value.

    Examples business objectives:

    • Digitally transform the business, redefining its customer interactions.
    • Identify the root cause for escalating customer complaints and eroding satisfaction.
    • Identify reuse opportunities to increase operational efficiency.
    • Identify capabilities to efficiently leverage suppliers to handle demand fluctuations.

    Info-Tech Insight
    CIOs are ideally positioned to be the sponsors of business architecture given that their current top priorities are digital transformation, innovation catalyzation, and business alignment.

    1.2 Collect and understand business objectives

    1-3 hours

    Having a clear understanding of the business is crucial to executing on the strategic IT initiatives.

    1. Discover the strategic CIO initiatives your organization will pursue:
    • Schedule interviews.
    • Use the CIO Business Vision diagnostic or Business Context Discovery Tool.
  • Document the business goals.
  • Update and finalize business goals.
    • InputOutput
    • Existing business goals and strategies
    • Existing IT strategies
    • Interview findings
    • Diagnostic results
    • List of business goals
    • Strategy on a page
    • Business model canvas
    • Customer journey
    MaterialsParticipants
    • CIO Business Vision diagnostic
    • Interview questionnaire
    • CIO
    • Enterprise/Business Architect
    • Business Analysts
    • Business Unit Leads
    • Departmental Executives & Senior Managers

    CIO Business Vision Diagnostic

    CEO

    Vision

    Where do you want to go?
    What is the problem your organization is addressing?

    Mission/Mandate

    What do you do?
    How do you do?
    Whom do you do it for?

    Value Streams

    Why are you in business? What do you do?
    What products and services do you provide?
    Where has your business seen persistent demand?

    Key Products & Services

    What are your top three to five products and services?

    Key Customer Segments

    Who are you trying to serve or target?
    What are the customer segments that decide your value proposition?

    Value Proposition

    What is the value you deliver to your customers?

    Future Value Proposition

    What is your value proposition in three to five years’ time?

    Digital Experience Aspirations

    How can you create a more effective value stream?
    For example, greater value to customers or better supplier relationships.

    Business Resilience Aspirations

    How can you reduce business risks?
    For example, compliance, operational, security, or reputational.

    Sustainability (or ESG) Aspirations

    How can you deliver ESG and sustainability goals?

    Interview the following executives for each business goal area.

    CEO
    CRO
    COO

    Core Business Goals

    What are the core business goals to meet business objectives?

    Top Priorities & Initiatives

    What are the top initiatives and priorities over the planning horizon?

    Performance Insights/Metrics

    What do we need to achieve?
    How can the success be measured?

    CMO
    COO
    CFO

    Shared Business Goals

    What are the shared (operational) business goals to meet business objectives?

    Top Priorities & Initiatives

    What are the top initiatives and priorities over the planning horizon?

    Performance Insights/Metrics

    What do we need to achieve?
    How can the success be measured?

    CFO
    CIO
    COO
    CHRO

    Enabling Business Goals

    What are the enabling (supporting/enterprise) business goals to meet business objectives?

    Top Priorities & Initiatives

    What are the top initiatives and priorities over the planning horizon?

    Performance Insights/Metrics

    What do we need to achieve?
    How can the success be measured?

    Craft a strategy to increase stakeholder support and participation

    The BA practice’s supporters are potential champions who will help you market the value of BA; engage with them first to create positive momentum. Map out the concerns of each group of stakeholders so you can develop marketing tactics and communications vehicles to address them.

    Example Communication Strategy

    Stakeholder Concerns Tactics to Address Concerns Communication Vehicles Frequency
    Supporters
    (High Priority)
    • Build ability to execute BA techniques
    • Build executive support
    • Build understanding of how they can contribute to the success of the BA practice
    • Communicate the secured executive support
    • Help them apply BA techniques in their projects
    • Show examples of BA work (case studies)
    • Personalized meetings and interviews
    • Department/functional meetings
    • Communities of practice or centers of excellent (education and case studies)
    		 Bi-Monthly
    Indifferent
    (Medium Priority)
    • Build awareness and/or confidence
    • Feel like BA has nothing to do with them
    • Show quick wins and case studies
    • Centers of excellence (education and case studies
    • Use the support of the champions
    		 Quarterly
    Resistors
    (Medium Priority)
    • BA will cause delays
    • BA will step in their territory
    • BA’s scope is too broad
    • Lack of understanding
    • Prove the value of BA – case studies and metrics
    • Educate how BA complements their work
    • Educate them on the changes resulting from the BA practice’s work, and involve them in crafting the process
    • Individual meetings and interviews
    • Political jockeying
    • Use the support of the champions
    		 Tailored to individual groups

    1.3 Craft a strategy to increase stakeholder support and participation

    1-2 hours

    Now that you have organized and categorized your stakeholders based on their power, influence, interest, and knowledge of business architecture, it is time to brainstorm how you are going to gain their support and participation.

    Think about the following:

    • What are your stakeholders’ concerns?
    • How can you address them?
    • How will you deliver the message?
    • How often will you deliver the message?

    Avoid these common mistakes:

    • Your communication strategy development should be an iterative process. Do not assume to know the absolute best way to get through to every resistor right away. Instead, engage with your supporters for their input on how to communicate to resistors and repeat the process for indifferent stakeholders as well.
    Input Output
  • Stakeholder Engagement Map
    		•
    • Stakeholder Communications Strategy
    Materials Participants
    • Stakeholder Engagement Strategy Template
    • A computer
    • A whiteboard and markers CIO
    • Business Architect
    • IT Department Leads

    Download the Stakeholder Engagement Strategy Template for this project.

    Engaging the right stakeholders

    CASE STUDY

    Industry
    Financial - Banking

    Source
    Anonymous

    Situation Complication Result

    To achieve success with the business architecture initiative, the bank’s CIO needed to put together a plan to engage the right stakeholders in the process.

    Without the right stakeholders, the initiative would suffer from inadequate information and thus would run the risk of delivering an ineffective solution.

    The bank’s culture was resistant to change and each business unit had its own understanding of the business strategy. This was a big part of the problem that led to decreasing customer satisfaction.

    The CIO needed a unified vision for the business architecture practice involving people, process, and technology that all stakeholders could support.

    Starting with enlisting executive support in the form of a business sponsor, the CIO identified the rest of the key stakeholders, in this case, the business unit heads, who were necessary to engage for the initiative.

    Once identified, the CIO promoted the benefits of business architecture to each of the business unit heads while taking stock of their individual needs.

    1.4 Develop a plan to engage key stakeholders

    1 hour

    Using your stakeholder power map as a starting point, focus on the three most important quadrants: those that contain stakeholders you must keep informed, those to keep satisfied, and the key players.

    Plot the stakeholders from those quadrants on a stakeholder engagement map.

    Think about the following:

    • Who are your resistors? These individuals will actively detract from project’s success if you don’t address their concerns.
    • Who is indifferent? These individuals need to be educated more on the benefits of business architecture to have an opinion either way.
    • Who are your supporters? These individuals will support you and spread your message if you equip them to do so.

    Avoid these common mistakes:

    • Do not jump to addressing resistor concerns first. Instead, equip your supporters with the info they need to help your cause and gain positive momentum before approaching resistors.
    InputOutput
    • Stakeholder Engagement Map
    • Stakeholder Communications Strategy
    MaterialsParticipants
    • Stakeholder Engagement Strategy Template
    • A computer
    • A whiteboard and markers
    • CIO
    • Business Architect
    • IT Department Leads

    Download the Stakeholder Engagement Strategy Template for this project.

    1.5 Craft a strategy to increase stakeholder support and participation

    1-2 hours

    Now that you have organized and categorized your stakeholders based on their power, influence, interest, and knowledge of business architecture, it is time to brainstorm how you are going to gain their support and participation.

    Think about the following:

    • What are your stakeholders’ concerns?
    • How can you address them?
    • How will you deliver the message?
    • How often will you deliver the message?

    Avoid these common mistakes:

    • Your communication strategy development should be an iterative process. Do not assume to know the absolute best way to get through to every resistor right away. Instead, engage with your supporters for their input on how to communicate to resistors and repeat the process for indifferent stakeholders as well.
    InputOutput
    • Stakeholder Engagement Map
    • Stakeholder Communications Strategy
    MaterialsParticipants
    • Stakeholder Engagement Strategy Template
    • A computer
    • A whiteboard and markers
    • CIO
    • Business Architect
    • IT Department Leads

    Download the Stakeholder Engagement Strategy Template for this project.

    Define value streams

    Identify the core activities your organization does to provide value to your customers.

    Business context Define value streams Build business capability map

    1.1 Select key stakeholders
    1.2 Collect and understand corporate goals

    2.1 Update or define value streams
    2.2 Decompose and analyze selected value stream

    3.1 Build Level 1 capability map
    3.2 Build Level 2 capability map
    3.3 Heatmap capability map
    3.4 Roadmap

    This phase will walk you through the following activities:

    • Note: It is recommended that you gather and leverage relevant industry standard business architecture models you may have available to you. Example: Info-Tech Industry Business Architecture, BIZBOK, APQC.
    • Defining or updating the organization’s value streams.
    • Selecting priority value streams for deeper analysis.

    This phase involves the following participants:

    • Business Architect, Enterprise Architect
    • Relevant Business Stakeholder(s): Business Unit Leads, Departmental Executives, Senior Mangers, Business Analysts

    Define the organization’s value streams

    • Value streams connect business goals to the organization’s value realization activities. They enable an organization to create and capture value in the marketplace by engaging in a set of interconnected activities. Those activities are dependent on the specific industry segment an organization operates within. Value streams can extend beyond the organization into the supporting ecosystem, whereas business processes are contained within and the organization has complete control over them.
    • There are two types of value streams: core value streams and support value streams. Core value streams are mostly externally facing: they deliver value to either an external or internal customer and they tie to the customer perspective of the strategy map. Support value streams are internally facing and provide the foundational support for an organization to operate.
    • An effective method for ensuring all value streams have been considered is to understand that there can be different end-value receivers. Info-Tech recommends identifying and organizing the value streams with customers and partners as end-value receivers.

    Connect business goals to value streams

    Example strategy map and value stream

    Identifying value streams

    Value streams connect business goals to organization’s value realization activities. They enable an organization to create and capture value in the market place by engaging in a set of interconnected activities.

    There are several key questions to ask when endeavoring to identify value streams.

    Key Questions
    • Who are your customers?
    • What are the benefits we deliver to them?
    • How do we deliver those benefits?
    • How does the customer receive the benefits?

    Example: Value stream descriptions for the retail industry

    Value StreamsCreate or Purchase ProductManage InventoryDistribute ProductSell Product
    • Retailers need to purchase the products they are going to sell to customers from manufacturers or wholesale distributors.
    • A retailer’s success depends on its ability to source products that customers want and are willing to buy.
    • In addition, they need to purchase the right amount and assortment of products based on anticipated demand.
    • The right inventory needs to be at a particular store in the right quantities exactly when it is needed. This helps to maximize sales and minimize how much cash is held up in inventory.
    • Inventory management includes tracking, ordering, and stocking products, e.g. raw materials, finished products, buffer inventory.
    • Optimizing distribution activities is important for retailers.
    • Proper supply chain management can not only reduce costs for retailers but also drive revenues by enhancing shopping experiences.
    • Distribution includes transportation, packaging and delivery.
    • As business becomes global, it is important to ensure the whole distribution channel is effective.
    • Once produced, retailers need to sell the products. This is done through many channels including physical stores, online, the mail, or catalogs.
    • After the sale, retailers typically have to deliver the product, provide customer care, and manage complaints.
    • Retailers can use loyalty programs, pricing, and promotions to foster repeat business.

    Value streams describe your core business

    Value streams – the activities we do to provide value to customers – require business capabilities.

    Value streams are broken down further into value stages, for example, Sell Product value stream has value stages Evaluate Options, Place Order, and Make Payment.

    Think of value streams as the core operations, the reason for our organization’s being. A professional consulting organization may have a legal team but it does not brand itself as a law firm. A core value stream is providing research products and services – a business capability that supports it is legal counsel.

    2.1 Define value streams

    1-3 hours

    Unify the organization’s perspective on how it creates value.

    1. Write a short description of the value stream that includes a statement about the value provided and a clear start and end for the value stream. Validate the accuracy of the descriptions with your key stakeholders.
    2. Consider:
      1. How does the organization deliver those benefits?
      2. How does the customer receive the benefits?
      3. What is the scope of your value stream? What will trigger the stream to start and what will the final value be?
    3. Avoid: Don’t start with a blank page. Use Info-Tech’s business architecture models for sample value streams.
    Input Output
    • Business strategy or goals
    • Financial statements
    • Info-Tech’s industry-specific business architecture
    • List of organizational specific value streams
    • Detailed value stream definition(s)
    Materials Participants
    • Whiteboard / Kanban Board
    • Reference Architecture Template – See your Account Representative for details
    • Other industry standard reference architecture models: BIZBOK, APQC, etc.
    • Info-Tech Archi Models
    • Enterprise/Business Architect
    • Business Analysts
    • Business Unit Leads
    • CIO
    • Departmental Executives & Senior Managers

    See your Info-Tech Account Representative for access to the Reference Architecture Template

    Decompose the value stream into stages

    The stages of a value stream are usually action-oriented statements or verbs that make up the individual steps involved throughout the scope of the value stream, e.g. Place Order or Make Payment.

    Each value stream should have a trigger or starting point and an end result for a client or receiver.

    Decompose the value stream into stages

    There should be measurable value or benefits at each stage.
    These are key performance indicators (KPIs).
    Spot problem areas in the stream.

    Value streams usually fall into one of these categories:

    1. Fulfillment of products and services
    2. Manufacturing
    3. Software products
    4. Supporting value streams (procurement of supplies, product planning)

    Value stream and value stages examples

    Customer Acquisitions
    Identify Prospects > Contact Prospects > Verify Interests

    Sell Product
    Identify Options > Evaluate Options > Negotiate Price and Delivery Date > Place Order > Get Invoice > Make Payment

    Product Delivery
    Confirm Order > Plan Load > Receive Warehouse > Fill Order > Ship Order > Deliver Order > Invoice Customer

    Product Financing
    Initiate Loan Application > Decide on Application > Submit Documents > Review & Satisfy T&C > Finalize Documents > Conduct Funding > Conduct Funding Audits

    Product Release
    Ideate > Design > Build > Release

    Sell Product is a value stream, made up of value stages Identify options, Evaluate options, and so on.

    2.2 Decompose selected value streams

    1-3 hours

    Once we have a good understanding of our value streams, we need to decide which ones to focus on for deeper analysis and modeling, e.g. extend the business architecture to more detailed level 2 capabilities.

    Organization has goals and delivers products or services.

    1. Identify which value propositions are most important, e.g. be more productive or manage money more simply.
    2. Identify the value stream(s) that create the value proposition.
    3. Break the selected value stream into value stages.
    4. Analyze value stages for opportunities.

    Practical Guide to Agile Strategy Execution

    InputOutput
    • Value stream maps and definitions
    • Business goals, business model canvas, customer journey (value proposition) Selected value streams decomposed into value stages
    • Analysis of selected value streams for opportunities
    • Value stream map
    MaterialsParticipants
    • Whiteboard / Kanban Board
    • Reference Architecture Template – See your Account Representative for details
    • Other industry standard reference architecture models: BIZBOK, APQC, etc.
    • Enterprise/Business Architect
    • Business Analysts
    • Business Unit Leads
    • CIO
    • Departmental Executives & Senior Managers

    Build your value stream one layer at a time to ensure clarity and comprehensiveness

    The first step of creating a value stream is defining it.

    • In this step, you create the parameters around the value stream and document them in a list format.
    • This allows you to know where each value stream starts and ends and the unique value it provides.

    The second step is the value stream mapping.

    • The majority of the mapping is done here where you break down your value stream into each of its component stages.
    • Analysis of these stages allows for a deeper understanding of the value stream.
    • The mapping layer connects the value stream to organizational capabilities.

    Define the value streams that are tied to your strategic goals and document them in a list

    Title

    • Create a title for your value stream that indicates the value it achieves.
    • Ensure your title is clear and will be understood the same way across the organization.
    • The common naming convention for value streams is to use nouns, e.g. product purchase.

    Scope

    • Determine the scope of your value stream by defining the trigger to start the value stream and final value delivered to end the value stream.
    • Be precise with your trigger to ensure you do not mistakenly include actions that would not trigger your value stream.
    • A useful tip is creating a decision tree and outlining the path that results in your trigger.

    Objectives

    • Determine the objectives of the value stream by highlighting the outcome it delivers.
    • Identify the desired outcomes of the value stream from the perspective of your organization.

    Example Value Streams List

    Title Scope Objectives
    Sell Product From option identification to payment Revenue Growth
    … … …
    … … …

    Create a value stream map

    A Decompose the Value Stream Into Stages B Add the Customer Perspective
    • Determine the different stages that comprise the value stream.
    • Place the stages in the correct order.
    • Outline the likely sentiment and meaningful needs of the customer at each value stage.
    C Add the Expected Outcome D Define the Entry and Exit Criteria
    • Define the desired outcome of each stage from the perspective of the organization.
    • Define both the entry and exit criteria for each stage.
    • Note that the entry criteria of the first stage is what triggers the value stream.
    E Outline the Metrics F Assess the Stages
    • For each stage of the value stream, outline the metrics the organization can use to identify its ability to attain the desired outcome.
    • Assess how well each stage of the value stream is performing against its target metrics and use this as the basis to drill down into how/where improvements can be made.

    Decompose the value stream into its value stages

    The first step in creating a value stream map is breaking it up into its component stages.

    The stages of a value stream are usually action-oriented statements or verbs that make up the individual steps involved throughout the scope of the value stream.

    Illustration of decomposing value stream into its value stages

    The Benefit
    Segmenting your value stream into individual stages will give you a better understanding of the steps involved in creating value.

    Connect the stages of the value stream to a specific customer perspective

    Example of a sell product value stream

    The Benefit
    Adding the customer’s perspective will inform you of their priorities at each stage of the value stream.

    Connect the stages of the value stream to a desired outcome

    Example of a sell product value stream

    The Benefit
    Understanding the organization’s desired outcome at each stage of the value stream will help set objectives and establish metrics.

    Define the entry and exit criteria of each stage

    Example of entry and exit criteria for each stage

    The Benefit
    Establishing the entry and exit criteria for each stage will help you understand how the customer experience flows from one end of the stream to the other.

    Outline the key metric(s) for each stage

    Outline the key metrics for each stage

    The Benefit
    Setting metrics for each stage will facilitate the tracking of success and inform the business architecture practitioner of where investments should be made.

    Example value stream map: Sell Product

    Assess the stages of your value stream map to determine which capabilities to examine further

    To determine which specific business capabilities you should seek to assess and potentially refine, you must review performance toward target metrics at each stage of the value stream.

    Stages that are not performing to their targets should be examined further by assessing the capabilities that enable them.

    Value Stage Metric Description Metric Target Current Measure Meets Objective?
    Evaluate Options Number of Product Demonstrations 12,000/month 9,000/month No
    Identify Options Google Searches 100K/month 100K/month Yes
    Identify Options Product Mentions 1M/month 1M/month Yes
    … Website Traffic (Hits) … … …
    Average Deal Size
    Number of Deals
    Time to Complete an Order
    Percentage of Invoices Without Error
    Average Time to Acquire Payment in Full

    Determine the business capabilities that support the value stage corresponding with the failing metric

    Sell Product

    Identify Options > Evaluate Options > Negotiate Price and Delivery Date > Place Order > Get Invoice > Make Payment

    The value stage(s) that doesn’t meet its objective metrics should be examined further.

    • This is done through business capability mapping and assessment.
    • Starting at the highest level (level 0) view of a business, the business architecture practitioner must drill down into the lower level capabilities that support the specific value stage to diagnose/improve an issue.

    Info-Tech Insight
    In the absence of tangible metrics, you will have to make a qualitative judgement about which stage(s) of the value stream warrant further examination for problems and opportunities.

    Build business capability map

    Align supporting capabilities to priority activities.

    Business context Define value streams Build business capability map
    1.1 Select key stakeholders
    1.2 Collect and understand corporate goals     		2.1 Update or define value streams
    2.2 Decompose and analyze selected value stream     		3.1 Build Level 1 capability map
    3.2 Build Level 2 capability map
    3.3 Heatmap capability map
    3.4 Roadmap

    This step will walk you through the following activities:

    • Determine which business capabilities support value streams
    • Accelerate the process with an industry reference architecture
    • Validate the business capability map
    • Establish level 2 capability

    This step involves the following participants:

    • Enterprise/Business Architect
    • Business Analysts
    • Business Unit Leads
    • CIO
    • Departmental Executives & Senior Managers

    Outcomes of this step

  • A validated level 1 business capability map
  • Level 2 capabilities for selected value stream(s)
  • Heatmapped business capability map
  • Business architecture initiatives roadmap

    • Develop a business capability map – level 1

    • Business architecture consists of a set of techniques to create multiple views of an organization; the primary view is known as a business capability map.
    • A business capability defines what a business does to enable value creation and achieve outcomes, rather than how. Business capabilities are business terms defined using descriptive nouns such as “Marketing” or “Research and Development.” They represent stable business functions, are unique and independent of each other, and typically will have a defined business outcome. Business capabilities should not be defined as organizational units and are typically longer lasting than organizational structures.
    • A business capability mapping process should begin at the highest-level view of an organization, the level 1, which presents the entire business on a page.
    • An effective method of organizing business capabilities is to split them into logical groupings or categories. At the highest level, capabilities are either “core” (customer-facing functions) or “enabling” (supporting functions).
    • As a best practice, Info-Tech recommends dividing business capabilities into the categories illustrated to the right.

    The Business Capability Map is the primary visual representation of the organization’s key abilities or services that are delivered to stakeholders. This model forms the basis of strategic planning discussions.

    Example of a business capability map

    Example business capability map – Higher Education

    A business capability map can be thought of as a visual representation of your organization’s business capabilities and represents a view of what your data program must support.

    Validate your business capability map with the right stakeholders, including your executive team, business unit leaders, and/or other key stakeholders.

    Example business capability map for: Higher Education

    Example business capability map for higher education

    Example business capability map – Local Government

    A business capability map can be thought of as a visual representation of your organization’s business capabilities and represents a view of what your data program must support.

    Validate your business capability map with the right stakeholders, including your executive team, business unit leaders, and/or other key stakeholders.

    Example business capability map for: Local Government

    Example business capability map for local government

    Map capabilities to value stage

    Example of a value stage

    Source: Lambert, “Practical Guide to Agile Strategy Execution”

    3.1 Build level 1 business capability map

    1-3 hours

    1. Analyze the value streams to identify and describe the organization’s capabilities that support them. This stage requires a good understanding of the business and will be a critical foundation for the business capability map. Use the reference business architecture’s business capability map for your industry for examples of level 1 and 2 business capabilities and the capability map template to work in.
    2. Avoid:
      1. Don’t repeat capabilities. Capabilities are typically mutually exclusive activities.
      2. Don’t include temporary initiatives. Capabilities should be stable over time. The people, processes, and technologies that support capabilities will change continuously.

    Ensure you engage with the right stakeholders:

    Don’t waste your efforts building an inaccurate depiction of the business: The exercise of identifying capabilities for an organization is very introspective and requires deep analysis.

    It is challenging to develop a common language that everyone will understand and be able to apply. Invest in the time to ensure the right stakeholders are brought into the fold and bring their business area expertise and understanding to the table.

    InputOutput
    • Existing business capability maps
    • Value stream map
    • Info-Tech’s industry-specific business architecture
    • Level 1 business capability map for enterprise
    MaterialsParticipants
    • Whiteboard
    • Reference Architecture Template – See your Account Representative for details
    • Other industry standard reference architecture models: BIZBOK, APQC, etc.
    • Archi Models
    • Enterprise/Business Architect
    • Business Analysts
    • Business Unit Leads
    • CIO
    • Departmental Executives & Senior Managers

    Prioritize one value stream and build a business architecture to level 2 capabilities

    Prioritize your innovation objectives and business goals, and identify a value stream to transform.

    Align the innovation goals and business objectives of your organization to your value streams (the critical actions that take place within your organization to add value to a customer).
    Prioritize a value stream to transform based on the number of priorities aligned to a value stream and/or the business value (e.g. revenue, EBITDA earnings, competitive differentiation, or cost efficiency).
    Working alongside a business or enterprise architect, build a reference architecture for the prioritized value stream up to level 2.

    Example of a value stream to business architecture level 2 capabilities

    Info-Tech Insight
    To produce maximum impact, focus on value streams that provide two-thirds of your enterprise value (EBITDA earnings).

    From level 1 to level 2 business capabilities

    Example moving from level 1 to level 2 business capabilities

    3.2 Build level 2 business capability map

    1-3 hours

    It is only at level 2 and further that we can pinpoint the business capabilities – the exact resources, whether applications or data or processes – that we need to focus on to realize improvements in the organization’s performance and customer experience.

    1. Gather industry reference models and any existing business capability maps.
    2. For the selected value stream, further break down its level 1 business capabilities into level 2 capabilities.
    3. You can often represent the business capabilities on a single page, providing a holistic visual for decision makers.
    4. Use meaningful names for business capabilities so that planners, stakeholders, and subject matter experts can easily search the map.
    InputOutput
    • Existing business capability maps
    • Value stream map
    • Info-Tech’s industry-specific business architecture
    • Level 1 business capability map
    • Level 2 Business Capability Map for selected Value Stream
    MaterialsParticipants
    • Whiteboard
    • Reference Architecture Template – See your Account Representative for details.
    • Other industry standard reference architecture models: BIZBOK, APQC, etc.
    • Archi Models
    • Enterprise/Business Architect
    • Business Analysts
    • Business Unit Leads
    • CIO
    • Departmental Executives & Senior Managers

    Download: See your Account Representative for access to Info-Tech’s Reference Architecture Template

    3.3 Heatmap business capability map

    1-3 hours

    Determine the organization’s key capabilities.

    1. Determine cost advantage creators. If your organization has a cost advantage over competitors, the capabilities that enable it should be identified and prioritized. Highlight these capabilities and prioritize the programs that support them.
    2. Determine competitive advantage creators. If your organization does not have a cost advantage over competitors, determine if it can deliver differentiated end-customer experiences. Once you have identified the competitive advantages, understand which capabilities enable them. These capabilities are critical to the success of the organization and should be highly supported.
    3. Define key future state capabilities. In addition to the current and competitive advantage creators, the organization may have the intention to enhance new capabilities. Discuss and select the capabilities that will help drive the attainment of future goals.
    4. Assess how well information, applications, and processes support capabilities.
    InputOutput
    • Business capability map
    • Cost advantage creators
    • Competitive advantage creators
    • IT and business assessments
    • Key business capabilities
    • Business process review
    • Information assessment
    • Application assessment
    • List of IT implications
    MaterialsParticipants
    • Whiteboard
    • Reference Architecture Template – See your Account Representative for details.
    • Other industry standard reference architecture models: BIZBOK, APQC, etc.
    • Archi Models
    • Enterprise/Business Architect
    • Business Analysts
    • Business Unit Leads
    • CIO
    • Departmental Executives & Senior Managers

    Download: See your Account Representative for access to Info-Tech’s Reference Architecture Template

    Business capability map: Education

    Illustrative example of a business capability map for education

    Define key capabilities

    Illustrative example of Define key capabilities

    Note: Illustrative Example

    Business process review

    Illustrative example of a business process review

    Note: Illustrative Example

    Information assessment

    Illustrative example of an Information assessment

    Note: Illustrative Example

    Application assessment

    Illustrative example of an Application assessment

    Note: Illustrative Example

    MoSCoW analysis for business capabilities

    Illustrative example of a MoSCoW analysis for business capabilities

    Note: Illustrative Example

    Ranked list of IT implications

    MoSCoW Rank IT Implication Value Stream Impacted Comments/Actions
    M [Implication] [Value Stream]
    M [Implication] [Value Stream]
    M [Implication] [Value Stream]
    S [Implication] [Value Stream]
    S [Implication] [Value Stream]
    S [Implication] [Value Stream]
    C [Implication] [Value Stream]
    C [Implication] [Value Stream]
    C [Implication] [Value Stream]
    W [Implication] [Value Stream]
    W [Implication] [Value Stream]
    W [Implication] [Value Stream]

    3.4 Roadmap business architecture initiatives

    1-3 hours

    Unify the organization’s perspective on how it creates value.

    1. Write a short description of the value stream that includes a statement about the value provided and a clear start and end for the value stream. Validate the accuracy of the descriptions with your key stakeholders.
    2. Consider:
      1. How does the organization deliver those benefits?
      2. How does the customer receive the benefits?
      3. What is the scope of your value stream? What will trigger the stream to start and what will the final value be?
    3. Don’t start with a blank page. Use Info-Tech’s business architecture models for sample value streams.
    InputOutput
    • Existing business capability maps
    • Value stream map
    • Info-Tech’s industry-specific business architecture
    • Level 1 business capability map
    • Heatmapped business capability map
    MaterialsParticipants
    • Whiteboard
    • Reference Architecture Template – See your Account Representative for details.
    • Other industry standard reference architecture models: BIZBOK, APQC, etc.
    • Archi Models
    • Enterprise/Business Architect
    • Business Analysts
    • Business Unit Leads
    • CIO
    • Departmental Executives & Senior Managers

    Download: See your Account Representative for access to Info-Tech’s Reference Architecture Template

    Example: Business architecture deliverables

    Enterprise Architecture Domain Architectural View Selection
    Business Architecture Business strategy map Required
    Business Architecture Business model canvas Optional
    Business Architecture Value streams Required
    Business Architecture Business capability map Not Used
    Business Architecture Business process flows
    Business Architecture Service portfolio
    Data Architecture Conceptual data model
    Data Architecture Logical data model
    Data Architecture Physical data model
    Data Architecture Data flow diagram
    Data Architecture Data lineage diagram

    Tools and templates to compile and communicate your business architecture work

    The Industry Business Reference Architecture Template for your industry is a place for you to collect all of the activity outputs and outcomes you’ve completed for use in next-steps.

    Download the Industry Business Reference Architecture Template for your industry

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

    DIY Toolkit Guided Implementation Workshop Consulting
    "Our team has already made this critical project a priority, and we have the time and capability, but some guidance along the way would be helpful." "Our team knows that we need to fix a process, but we need assistance to determine where to focus. Some check-ins along the way would help keep us on track." "We need to hit the ground running and get this project kicked off immediately. Our team has the ability to take this over once we get a framework and strategy in place." "Our team does not have the time or the knowledge to take this project on. We need assistance through the entirety of this project."

    Diagnostics and consistent frameworks are used throughout all four options

    Research Contributors and Experts

    Name Role Organization
    Ibrahim Abdel-Kader Research Analyst, Data & Analytics Info-Tech Research Group
    Ben Abrishami-Shirazi Technical Counselor, Enterprise Architecture Info-Tech Research Group
    Andrew Bailey Consulting, Manager Info-Tech Research Group
    Dana Dahar Research & Advisory Director, CIO / Digital Business Strategy Info-Tech Research Group
    Larry Fretz VP Info-Tech Research Group
    Shibly Hamidur Enterprise Architect Toronto Transit Commission (TTC)
    Rahul Jaiswal Principal Research Director, Industry Info-Tech Research Group
    John Kemp Executive Counselor, Executive Services Info-Tech Research Group
    Gerald Khoury Senior Executive Advisor Info-Tech Research Group
    Igor Ikonnikov Principal Advisory Director, Data & Analytics Info-Tech Research Group
    Daniel Lambert VP Benchmark Consulting
    Milena Litoiu Principal Research Director, Enterprise Architecture Info-Tech Research Group
    Andy Neill AVP Data & Analytics, Chief Enterprise Architect Info-Tech Research Group
    Rajesh Parab Research Director, Data & Analytics Info-Tech Research Group
    Rick Pittman VP, Research Info-Tech Research Group
    Irina Sedenko Research Director, Data & Analytics Info-Tech Research Group

    Bibliography

    Andriole, Steve. “Why No One Understands Enterprise Architecture & Why Technology Abstractions Always Fail.” Forbes, 18 September 2020. Web.

    “APQC Process Classification Framework (PCF) – Retail.” American Productivity & Quality Center, 9 January 2019. Web.

    Brose, Cari. “Who’s on First? Architecture Roles and Responsibilities in SAFe.” Business Architecture Guild, 9 March 2017. Web.

    Burlton, Roger, Jim Ryne, and Daniel St. George. “Value Streams and Business Processes: The Business Architecture Perspective.” Business Architecture Guild, December 2019. Web.

    “Business Architecture: An overview of the business architecture professional.” Capstera, 5 January 2022. Web.

    Business Architecture Guild. “What is Business Architecture?” Business Analyst Mentor, 18 November 2022. Web.

    “Business Architecture Overview.” The Business Architecture Working Group of the Object Management Group (OMG), n.d. Web.

    “Delivering on your strategic vision.” The Business Architecture Guild, n.d. Web.

    Ecker, Grant. “Deploying business architecture.” LinkedIn, 11 November 2021. (Presentation)

    IRIS. “Retail Business Architecture Framework and Examples.” IRIS Business Architect, n.d. Web.

    IRIS. “What Is Business Architecture?” IRIS Business Architect, 8 May 2014. Web.

    IRIS. “Your Enterprise Architecture Practice Maturity 2021 Assessment.” IRIS Business Architect, 17 May 2021. Web.

    Khuen, Whynde. “How Business Architecture Breaks Down and Bridges Silos.” Biz Arch Mastery, January 2020. Web.

    Lambert, Daniel. “Practical Guide to Agile Strategy Execution.” 18 February 2020.

    Lankhorst, Marc, and Bernd Ihnen. “Mapping the BIZBOK Metamodel to the ArchiMate Language.” Bizzdesign, 2 September 2021. Web.

    Ramias, Alan, and Andrew Spanyi, “Demystifying the Relationship Between Processes and Capabilities: A Modest Proposal.” BPTrends, 2 February 2015. Web.

    Newman, Daniel. “NRF 2022: 4 Key Trends From This Year’s Big Show.” Forbes, 20 January 2022. Web.

    Research and Markets. “Define the Business Context Needed to Complete Strategic IT Initiatives: 2018 Blueprint.” Business Wire, 1 February 2018. Web.

    Sabanoglu, Tugba. “Retail market worldwide - Statistics & Facts.” Statista, 21 April 2022. Web.

    Spacey, John. “Capability vs Process.” Simplicable, 18 November 2016. Web.

    “The Definitive Guide to Business Capabilities.” LeanIX, n.d. Web.

    TOGAF 9. Version 9.1. The Open Group, 2011. Web.

    “What is Business Architecture?” STA Group, 2017. PDF.

    Whittie, Ralph. “The Business Architecture, Value Streams and Value Chains.” BA Institute, n.d. Web.

    Build a Data Pipeline for Reporting and Analytics

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    • Parent Category Name: Data Management
    • Parent Category Link: /data-management
    • Continuous and disruptive database design updates while trying to have one design pattern to fit all use cases.
    • Sub-par performance while loading, retrieving, and querying data.
    • You want to shorten time-to-market of the projects aimed at data delivery and consumption.
    • Unnecessarily complicated database design limits usability of the data and requires knowledge of specific data structures for their effective use.

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    • Evolve your data architecture. Data pipeline is an evolutionary break away from the enterprise data warehouse methodology.
    • Avoid endless data projects. Building centralized all-in-one enterprise data warehouses takes forever to deliver a positive ROI.
    • Facilitate data self-service. Use-case optimized data delivery repositories facilitate data self-service.

    Impact and Result

    • Understand your high-level business capabilities and interactions across them – your data repositories and flows should be just a digital reflection thereof.
    • Divide your data world in logical verticals overlaid with various speed data progression lanes, i.e. build your data pipeline – and conquer it one segment at a time.
    • Use the most appropriate database design pattern for a given phase/component in your data pipeline progression.

    Build a Data Pipeline for Reporting and Analytics Research & Tools

    Start here – read the Executive Brief

    Build your data pipeline using the most appropriate data design patterns.

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

    1. Understand data progression

    Identify major business capabilities, business processes running inside and across them, and datasets produced or used by these business processes and activities performed thereupon.

    • Build a Data Pipeline for Reporting and Analytics – Phase 1: Understand Data Progression

    2. Identify data pipeline components

    Identify data pipeline vertical zones: data creation, accumulation, augmentation, and consumption, as well as horizontal lanes: fast, medium, and slow speed.

    • Build a Data Pipeline for Reporting and Analytics – Phase 2: Identify Data Pipeline Components

    3. Select data design patterns

    Select the right data design patterns for the data pipeline components, as well as an applicable data model industry standard (if available).

    • Build a Data Pipeline for Reporting and Analytics – Phase 3: Select Data Design Patterns
    [infographic]

    Workshop: Build a Data Pipeline for Reporting and Analytics

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

    1 Understand Data Progression

    The Purpose

    Identify major business capabilities, business processes running inside and across them, and datasets produced or used by these business processes and activities performed thereupon.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Indicates the ownership of datasets and the high-level data flows across the organization.

    Activities

    1.1 Review & discuss typical pitfalls (and their causes) of major data management initiatives.

    1.2 Discuss the main business capabilities of the organization and how they interact.

    1.3 Discuss the business processes running inside and across business capabilities and the datasets involved.

    1.4 Create the Enterprise Business Process Model (EBPM).

    Outputs

    Understanding typical pitfalls (and their causes) of major data management initiatives.

    Business capabilities map

    Business processes map

    Enterprise Business Process Model (EBPM)

    2 Identify Data Pipeline Components

    The Purpose

    Identify data pipeline vertical zones: data creation, accumulation, augmentation, and consumption, as well as horizontal lanes: fast, medium, and slow speed.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Design the high-level data progression pipeline.

    Activities

    2.1 Review and discuss the concept of a data pipeline in general, as well as the vertical zones: data creation, accumulation, augmentation, and consumption.

    2.2 Identify these zones in the enterprise business model.

    2.3 Review and discuss multi-lane data progression.

    2.4 Identify different speed lanes in the enterprise business model.

    Outputs

    Understanding of a data pipeline design, including its zones.

    EBPM mapping to Data Pipeline Zones

    Understanding of multi-lane data progression

    EBPM mapping to Multi-Speed Data Progression Lanes

    3 Develop the Roadmap

    The Purpose

    Select the right data design patterns for the data pipeline components, as well as an applicable data model industry standard (if available).

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Use of appropriate data design pattern for each zone with calibration on the data progression speed.

    Activities

    3.1 Review and discuss various data design patterns.

    3.2 Discuss and select the data design pattern selection for data pipeline components.

    3.3 Discuss applicability of data model industry standards (if available).

    Outputs

    Understanding of various data design patterns.

    Data Design Patterns mapping to the data pipeline.

    Selection of an applicable data model from available industry standards.

    Create an Agile-Friendly Project Gating and Governance Approach

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    • Parent Category Name: Development
    • Parent Category Link: /development
    • Organizations often apply gating and governance to IT projects to ensure resources are being used efficiently and effectively.
    • Agile project teams often complain that traditional project gating and governance interfere with their ability to delivery because traditional gating and governance were designed for Waterfall delivery methods.

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    Imposing a traditional gating and governance approach on an Agile project can eliminate the advantages that Agile delivery methods offer. Make sure to rework your traditional project gating and governance approach to be Agile friendly.

    Impact and Result

    • Create a project gating and governance approach that is Agile friendly and helps your organization realize the most benefit from its Agile transformation.
    • Oversee your Agile projects with confidence by adjusting the level of support and oversight they receive based on their Agilometer score.
    • Define a revised set of project gating artifacts that support Agile delivery methods.
    • Adopt a “trust but verify” approach to Agile project gating that will reduce risk and help ensure value delivery.

    Create an Agile-Friendly Project Gating and Governance Approach Research & Tools

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

    1. Create an Agile-Friendly Project Gating and Governance Approach Deck – A step-by-step guide to creating an Agile-friendly project gating and governance approach that will support Agile delivery methods in your organization.

    This deck is a guide to creating your own Agile-friendly project gating and governance approach using Info-Tech’s Agile Gating Framework.

    • Create an Agile-Friendly Project Gating and Governance Approach – Phases 1-3

    2. Your Gates 3 and 3A Checklists – The Gates 3 and 3A Checklists are used to determine when a project is ready to enter and exit the Risk Reduction & Value Confirmation phase.

    Modify Info-Tech’s Gates 3 and 3A Checklists to meet your organization’s needs, and then use them to determine when Agile projects are ready to enter and exit the RRVC phase.

    • Gates 3 and 3A Checklists

    3. Your Agilometer – The Agilometer is used to determine a project’s readiness to use an Agile delivery method.

    Modify Info-Tech’s Agilometer to meet your organization’s needs, and then use it to determine the level of support and oversight the project will need.

    • Agilometer

    4. Your Agile Project Status Report – An Agile Status Report will be used to monitor project progress.

    Modify Info-Tech’s Agile Project Status Report to meet your organization’s needs, and then use it to monitor in-flight Agile projects.

    • Agile Project Status Report

    5. Project Burndown Chart – A tool to let you monitor project burndown over time.

    Use Info-Tech’s Project Burndown Chart to monitor the progress of your in-flight Agile projects.

    • Project Burndown Chart

    6. Traditional to Agile Gating Artifact Mapping – A tool to help you rework your project gating artifacts to be Agile-friendly.

    Use Info-Tech’s Traditional to Agile Gating Artifact Mapping tool to modify your gating artifacts for Agile projects.

    • Traditional to Agile Gating Artifact Mapping
    [infographic]

    Further reading

    Create an Agile-Friendly Project Gating and Governance Approach

    Use Info-Tech’s Agile Gating Framework as a guide to gating your Agile projects using a “trust but verify” approach.

    Table of Contents

    Analyst Perspective

    Executive Summary

    Phase 1: Establish Your Gating and Governance Purpose

    Phase 2: Understand and Adapt Info-Tech’s Agile Gating Framework

    Phase 3: Complete Your Agile Gating Framework

    Where Do I Go Next?

    Bibliography

    Facilitator Slides

    Analyst Perspective

    Make your gating and governance process Agile friendly by following a “trust but verify” approach

    Most project gating and governance approaches are designed for traditional (Waterfall) delivery methods. However, Agile delivery methods call for a different way of working that doesn’t align well with these approaches.

    Applying traditional project gating and governance to Agile projects is like trying to fit a square peg in a round hole. Not only will it make Agile project delivery less efficient, but in the extreme, it can lead to outright project failure and even derail your organization’s Agile transformation.

    If you want Agile to successfully take root in your organization, be prepared to rethink your current gating and governance practices. This document presents a framework that you can use to rework your approach to provide both effective oversight and support for your Agile projects.

    Photo of Alex Ciraco, Principal Research Director, Application Delivery and Management, Info-Tech Research Group. Alex Ciraco
    Principal Research Director,
    Application Delivery and Management
    Info-Tech Research Group

    Executive Summary

    Your Challenge
    • Many government organizations are adopting Agile project delivery methods because they have proven to be more effective than traditional delivery approaches at responding to today’s fast pace of change.
    • Government organizations have an obligation to govern projects to ensure effective use of public resources, regardless of the delivery method being used.
    		 Common Obstacles
    • Most government gating and governance frameworks were designed around traditional (often called “Waterfall”) delivery methods.
    • Agile and Waterfall work in completely different ways, so imposing traditional gating and governance frameworks on Agile projects will stifle progress and can even lead to project failure.
    • Government organizations must adjust their gating and governance frameworks to accommodate Agile delivery methods.
    		 Info-Tech’s Approach
    • Begin by understanding the fundamental purpose of project gating and governance.
    • Next, understand the major differences between Agile and Waterfall delivery methods.
    • Then, armed with this knowledge, use Info-Tech’s Agile Gating Framework to redefine your gating and governance approach to be Agile friendly.
    Info-Tech Insight

    Imposing a traditional governance approach on an Agile project can eliminate the advantages that Agile delivery methods offer. Make sure to rework your project gating and governance approach to be Agile friendly.

    Info-Tech’s methodology for Creating an Agile-Friendly Project Gating and Governance Approach

    1. Establish Your Gating and Governance Purpose 2. Understand and Adapt Info-Tech’s Agile Gating Framework 3. Complete your Agile Gating Framework
    Phase Steps

    1.1 Understand How We Gate and Govern Projects

    1.2 Compare Traditional to Agile Delivery

    1.3 Realize What Traditional Gating Looks Like and Why

    2.1 Understand How Agile Manages Risk and Ensures Value Delivery

    2.2 Introducing Info-Tech’s Agile Gating Framework

    2.3 Create Your Agilometer

    2.4 Create an Agile-Friendly Project Status Report

    2.5 Select Your Agile Health Check Tool

    3.1 Map Your Traditional Gating Artifacts to Agile Delivery

    3.2 Determine Your Now, Next, Later Roadmap for Implementation

    Phase Outcomes
    1. Your gating/governance purpose statement
    2. A fundamental understanding of the difference between traditional and Agile delivery methods.
    1. An understanding of Info-Tech’s Agile Gating Framework
    2. Your Gates 3 and 3A checklists
    3. Your Agilometer tool
    4. Your Agile project status report template
    5. Your Agile health check tool
    1. Artifact map for your Agile gating framework
    2. Roadmap for Agile gating implementation

    Key Deliverables

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

    Agilometer Tool

    Create your customized Agilometer tool to determine project support and oversight needs.     		Sample of the 'Agilometer Tool' deliverable.

    Gates 3 and 3A Checklists

    Create your customized checklists for projects at Gates 3 and 3A.     		Sample of the 'Gates 3 and 3A Checklists' deliverable.

    Agile-Friendly Project Status Report

    Create your Agile-friendly project status report to monitor progress.     		Sample of the 'Agile-Friendly Project Status Report' deliverable.

    Artifact Mapping Tool

    Map your traditional gating artifacts to their Agile replacements.     		Sample of the 'Artifact Mapping Tool' deliverable.

    Create an Agile-Friendly Project Gating and Governance Approach

    Phase 1

    Establish your gating and governance purpose

    Phase 1

    1.1 Understand How We Gate and Govern Projects

    1.2 Compare Traditional to Agile Delivery

    1.3 Realize What Traditional Gating Looks Like And Why

    		Phase 2

    2.1 Understand How Agile Manages Risk and Ensures Value Delivery

    2.2 Introducing Info-Tech’s Agile Gating Framework

    2.3 Create Your Agilometer

    2.4 Create Your Agile-Friendly Project Status Report

    2.5 Select Your Agile Health Check Tool

    		Phase 3

    3.1 Map Your Traditional Gating Artifacts to Agile Delivery

    3.2 Determine Your Now, Next, Later Roadmap for Implementation

    This phase will walk you through the following activities:

    • Understand why gating and governance are so important to your organization.
    • Compare and contrast traditional to Agile delivery.
    • Identify what form traditional gating takes in your organization.

    This phase involves the following participants:

    • PMO/Gating Body
    • Delivery Managers
    • Delivery Teams
    • Other Interested Parties

    Agile gating–related facts and figures

    73% of organizations created their project gating framework before adopting or considering Agile delivery practices. (Athens Journal of Technology and Engineering)

    71% of survey respondents felt an Agile-friendly gating approach improves both productivity and product quality. (Athens Journal of Technology and Engineering)

    		Moving to an Agile-friendly gating approach has many benefits:
    • Faster response to change
    • Improved productivity
    • Higher team morale
    • Better product quality
    • Faster releases
    (Journal of Product Innovation Management)

    Traditional gating approaches can undermine an Agile project

    • Most existing gating and governance frameworks (often referred to as phase-gate) impose requirements on projects that are anti-patterns to an Agile delivery approach
    • For example, any gating approach that requires a project to deliver a detailed requirements document before coding can begin will make it difficult or impossible for the project to use an Agile delivery method.
    • The same can be said for other common phase-gate requirements including:
      • Imposing a formal (and onerous) change control process on project requirements.
      • Requiring a detailed design document and/or detailed user acceptance test plan at the beginning of the project.
      • Asking the project to produce a detailed project plan.
    (DZone)     		Don’t make the mistake of asking an Agile project to follow a traditional phase-gate approach to project delivery!

    Before reworking your gating approach, you need to consider two important questions

    Answering these questions will help guide your new gating process to both be Agile friendly and meet your organization’s needs

    1. What is the fundamental purpose of gating? By examining the fundamental purpose of gating, you will be better able to adjust your approach to achieve the desired outcomes in an Agile context.
    2. How does Agile delivery differ from traditional? By understanding how Agile delivery differs from traditional, you will be better able to adjust your gating approach to support Agile delivery methods.

    Stock image of speech bubbles hanging on string with a question mark and lightbulb drawn on them.

    Enterprise Application Selection and Implementation

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    • Parent Category Name: Applications
    • Parent Category Link: /applications
    • byline: Govern and manage an enterprise software implementation.

    The challenge

    • Large scale implementations are prone to failure. This is probably also true in your company. Typically large endeavors like this overrun the budget, are late to deliver, or are abandoned altogether. It would be best if you manage your risks when starting such a new project.

    Our advice

    Insight

    • Large-scale software implementations continue to fail at very high rates. A recent report by McKinsey & Company estimates that 66% go over budget, 33% over time, and 17% delivered less value than expected. Most companies will survive a botched implementation, but 17% threatened the existence of the company involved.
    • With all the knowledge sharing that we have today with oodles of data at our disposal, we should expect IT-providers to have clear, standardized frameworks to handle these implementations. But projects that overrun by more than 200% still occur more often than you may think.
    • When you solicit a systems integrator (SI), you want to equip yourself to manage the SI and not be utterly dependent on their methodology.

    Impact and results 

    • You can assume proper accountability for the implementation and avoid over-reliance on the systems integrator.
    • Leverage the collective knowledge and advice of additional IT professionals
    • Review the pitfalls and lessons learned from failed integrations.
    • Manage risk at every stage.
    • Perform a self-assessment at various stages of the integration path.

    The roadmap

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

    Executive Summary

    Determine the rations for your implementation

    See if a custom-of-the-shelf process optimization makes sense.

    • Storyboard: Govern and Manage an Enterprise Software Implementation (ppt)

    Prepare

    Determine the right (level of) governance for your implementation.

    • Large Software Implementation Maturity Assessment Tool (xls)
    • Project Success Measurement Tool (xls)
    • Risk Mitigation Plan Template (xls)

    Plan and analyze

    Prepare for the overall implementation journey and gather your requirements. Then conduct a stage-gate assessment of this phase.

    • Project Phases Entry and Exit Criteria Checklist Tool (xls)
    • Project Lessons Learned Document (doc)

    Design, build and deploy

    Conduct a stage-gate assessment after every step below.

    • Make exact designs of the software implementation and ensure that all stakeholders and the integrator completely understand.
    • Build the solution according to the requirements and designs.
    • Thoroughly test and evaluate that the implementation meets your business expectations. 
    • Then deploy

    Initiate your roadmap

    Review your dispositions to ensure they align with your goals. 

    • Build an Application Rationalization Framework – Phase 4: Initiate Your Roadmap (ppt)
    • Disposition Prioritization Tool (xls)

    Ensure Cloud Security in IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS Environments

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

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

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

    Impact and Result

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

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

    Start here – read the Executive Brief

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

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

    1. Determine your cloud risk profile

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

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

    2. Identify your cloud security requirements

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

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

    3. Evaluate vendors from a security perspective

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

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

    4. Implement your secure cloud program

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

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

    5. Build a cloud security governance program

    Build the organizational structure of your cloud security governance program.

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

    Deliver a Customer Service Training Program to Your IT Department

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    • Parent Category Name: Service Desk
    • Parent Category Link: /service-desk
    • The scope of service that the service desk must provide has expanded. With the growing complexity of technologies to support, it becomes easy to forget the customer service side of the equation. Meanwhile, customer expectations for prompt, frictionless, and exceptional service from anywhere have grown.
    • IT departments struggle to hire and retain talented service desk agents with the right mix of technical and customer service skills.
    • Some service desk agents don’t believe or understand that customer service is an integral part of their role.
    • Many IT leaders don’t ask for feedback from users to know if there even is a customer service problem.

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    • There’s a common misconception that customer service skills can’t be taught, so no effort is made to improve those skills.
    • Even when there is a desire to improve customer service, it’s hard for IT teams to make time for training and improvement when they’re too busy trying to keep up with tickets.
    • A talented service desk agent with both great technical and customer service skills doesn’t have to be a rare unicorn, and an agent without innate customer service skills isn’t a lost cause. Relevant and impactful customer service habits, techniques, and skills can be taught through practical, role-based training.
    • IT leaders can make time for this training through targeted, short modules along with continual on-the-job coaching and development.

    Impact and Result

    • Good customer service is critical to the success of the service desk. How a service desk treats its customers will determine its customers' satisfaction with not only IT but also the company as a whole.
    • Not every technician has innate customer service skills. IT managers need to provide targeted, practical training on what good customer service looks like at the service desk.
    • One training session is not enough to make a change. Leaders must embed the habits, create a culture of engagement and positivity, provide continual coaching and development, regularly gather customer feedback, and seek ways to improve.

    Deliver a Customer Service Training Program to Your IT Department Research & Tools

    Start here – read the Executive Brief

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

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

    • Deliver a Customer Service Training Program to Your IT Department – Executive Brief
    • Deliver a Customer Service Training Program to Your IT Department Storyboard

    1. Deliver customer service training to your IT team

    Understand the importance of customer service training, then deliver Info-Tech's training program to your IT team.

    • Customer Service Training for the Service Desk – Training Deck
    • Customer Focus Competency Worksheet
    • Cheat Sheet: Service Desk Communication
    • Cheat Sheet: Service Desk Written Communication
    [infographic]

    Define Your Digital Business Strategy

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    • Parent Category Name: Innovation
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    • Your organizational digital business strategy sits on the shelf because it fails to guide implementation.
    • Your organization has difficulty adapting new technologies or rethinking their existing business models.
    • Your organization lacks a clear vision for the digital customer journey.
    • Your management team lacks a framework to rethink how your organization delivers value today, which causes annual planning to become an ideation session that lacks focus.

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    • Pre-pandemic digital strategies have been primarily focused on automation. However, your post-pandemic digital strategy must focus on driving resilience for growth opportunities.

    Impact and Result

    • Design a strategy that applies innovation to your business model, streamline and transform processes, and make use of technologies to enhance interactions with customers and employees.
    • Use digital for transforming non-routine cognitive activities and for derisking key elements of the value chain.
    • Create a balanced roadmap that improves digital maturity and prepares you for long-term success in a digital economy.

    Define Your Digital Business Strategy Research & Tools

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

    1. Digital Business Strategy Deck – A step-by-step document that walks you through how to identify top value chains and a digitally enabled growth opportunity, transform stakeholder journeys, and build a digital transformation roadmap.

    This blueprint guides you through a value-driven approach to digital transformation that allows you to identify what aspects of the business to transform, what technologies to embrace, what processes to automate, and what new business models to create. This approach to digital transformation unifies digital possibilities with your customer experiences.

    • Define Your Digital Business Strategy – Phases 1-4

    2. Digital Business Strategy Workbook – A tool to guide you in planning and prioritizing projects to build an effective digital business strategy.

    This tool guides you in planning and prioritizing projects to build an effective digital business strategy. Key activities include conducting a horizon scan, conducting a journey mapping exercise, prioritizing opportunities from a journey map, expanding opportunities into projects, and lastly, building the digital transformation roadmap using a Gantt chart visual to showcase project execution timelines.

    • Digital Strategy Workbook

    3. Digital Business Strategy Final Report Template – Use this template to capture the synthesized content from outputs of the activities.

    This deck is a visual presentation template for this blueprint. The intent is to capture the contents of the activities in a presentation PowerPoint. It uses sample data from “City of X” to demonstrate the digital business strategy.

    • Digital Business Strategy Final Report Template
    [infographic]

    Workshop: Define Your Digital Business Strategy

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

    1 Identify Two Existing Value Chains

    The Purpose

    Understand how your organization creates value today.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Identify opportunities for digital transformation in how you currently deliver value today.

    Activities

    1.1 Validate business context.

    1.2 Assess business ecosystem.

    1.3 Identify and prioritize value streams.

    1.4 Break down value stream into value chains.

    Outputs

    Business context

    Overview of business ecosystem

    Value streams and value chains

    2 Identify a Digitally Enabled Growth Opportunity

    The Purpose

    Leverage strategic foresight to evaluate how complex trends can evolve over time and identify opportunities to leapfrog competitors.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Identify a leapfrog idea to sidestep competitors.

    Activities

    2.1 Conduct a horizon scan.

    2.2 Identify leapfrog ideas.

    2.3 Identify impact to existing or new value chains.

    Outputs

    One leapfrog idea

    Corresponding value chain

    3 Transform Stakeholder Journeys

    The Purpose

    Design a journey map to empathize with your customers and identify opportunities to streamline or enhance existing and new experiences.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Identify a unified view of customer experience.

    Identify opportunities to automate non-routine cognitive tasks.

    Identify gaps in value delivery.

    Improve customer journey.

    Activities

    3.1 Identify stakeholder persona.

    3.2 Identify journey scenario.

    3.3 Conduct one journey mapping exercise.

    3.4 Identify opportunities to improve stakeholder journey.

    3.5 Break down opportunities into projects.

    Outputs

    Stakeholder persona

    Stakeholder scenario

    Journey map

    Journey-based projects

    4 Build a Digital Transformation Roadmap

    The Purpose

    Build a customer-centric digital transformation roadmap.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Keep your team on the same page with key projects, objectives, and timelines.

    Activities

    4.1 Prioritize and categorize initiatives.

    4.2 Build roadmap.

    Outputs

    Digital goals

    Unified roadmap

    Further reading

    Define Your Digital Business Strategy

    After a major crisis, find your place in the digital economy.

    Info-Tech Research Group

    Info-Tech is a provider of best-practice IT research advisory services that make every IT leader’s job easier.

    35,000 members sharing best practices you can leverage

    Millions spent developing tools and templates annually

    Leverage direct access to over 100 analysts as an extension of your team

    Use our massive database of benchmarks and vendor assessments

    Get up to speed in a fraction of the time

    Analyst Perspective

    Build business resilience and prepare for a digital economy.

    This is a picture of Senior Research Analyst, Dana Daher

    Dana Daher
    Senior Research Analyst

    To survive one of the greatest economic downturns since the Great Depression, organizations had to accelerate their digital transformation by engaging with the Digital Economy. To sustain growth and thrive as the pandemic eases, organizations must focus their attention on building business resilience by transforming how they deliver value today.
    This requires a value-driven approach to digital transformation that is capable of identifying what aspects of the business to transform, what technologies to embrace, what processes to automate, and what new business models to create. And most importantly, it needs to unify digital possibilities with your customer experiences.
    If there was ever a time for an organization to become a digital business, it is today.

    Executive Summary

    Your Challenge

    • Your organization has difficulty adapting new technologies or rethinking the existing business models.
    • Your management lacks a framework to rethink how your organization delivers value today, which causes annual planning to become an ideation session that lacks focus.
    • There is uncertainty on how to meet evolving customer needs and how to compete in a digital economy.

    Common Obstacles

    • Your organization might approach digital transformation as if we were still in 2019, not recognizing that the pandemic resulted in a major shift to an end-to-end digital economy.
    • Your senior-most leadership thinks digital is "IT's problem" because digital is viewed synonymously with technology.
    • On the other hand, your IT team lacks the authority to make decisions without the executives’ involvement in the discussion around digital.

    Info-Tech’s Approach

    • Design a strategy that applies innovation to your business model, streamline and transform processes, and make use of technologies to enhance interactions with customers and employees.
    • Use digital for transforming non-routine cognitive activities and for de-risking key elements of the value chain.
    • Create a balanced roadmap that improves digital maturity and prepares you for long-term success in a digital economy.

    Info-Tech Insight

    After a major crisis, focus on restarting the growth engine and bolstering business resilience.

    Your digital business strategy aims to transform the business

    Digital Business Strategy

    • Looks for ways to transform the business by identifying what technologies to embrace, what processes to automate, and what new business models to create.
    • Unifies digital possibilities with your customer experiences.
    • Accountability lies with the executive leadership.
    • Must involve cross-functional participation from senior management from the different areas of the organization.

    IT Strategy

    • Aims to identify how to change, fix, or improve technology in support of the organization’s business strategy.
    • Accountability lies with the CIO.
    • Must involve IT management and gather strategic input from the business.

    Becoming a digital business

    Automate tasks to free up time for innovation.

    Business activities (tasks, procedures, and processes, etc.) are used to create, sell, buy, and deliver goods and services.

    When we convert information into a readable format used by computers, we call this digitization (e.g. converting paper into digital format). When we convert these activities into a format to be processed by a computer, we have digitalization (e.g. scheduling appointments online).

    These two processes alter how work takes place in an organization and form the foundation of the concept digital transformation.

    We maintain that digital transformation is all about becoming a “digital business” – an organization that performs more than 66% of all work activities via executable code.

    As organizations take a step closer to this optimal state, new avenues are open to identify advances to promote growth, enhance customer experiences, secure sustainability, drive operational efficiencies, and unearth potential future business ventures.

    Key Concepts:

    Digital: The representation of a physical item in a format used by computers

    Digitization: Conversion of information and processes into a digital format

    Digitalization: Conversion of information into a format to be processed by a computer

    Why transform your business?

    COVID-19 has irrefutably changed livelihoods, businesses, and the economy. During the pandemic, digital tools have acted as a lifeline, helping businesses and economies survive, and in the process, have acted as a catalyst for digital transformation.

    As organizations continue to safeguard business continuity and financial recovery, in the long term, recovery won’t be enough.

    Although many pandemic/recession recovery periods have occurred before, this next recovery period will present two first-time challenges no one has faced before. We must find ways to:

    • Recover from the COVID-19 recession.
    • Compete in a digital economy.

    To grow and thrive in this post-pandemic world, organizations must provide meaningful and lasting changes to brace for a future defined by digital technologies. – Dana Daher, Info-Tech Research Group

    We are amid an economic transformation

    What we are facing today is a paradigm shift transforming the ways in which we work, live, and relate to one another.

    In the last 60 years alone, performance and productivity have been vastly improved by IT in virtually all economic activities and sectors. And today, digital technologies continue to advance IT's contribution even further by bringing unprecedented insights into economic activities that have largely been untouched by IT.

    As technological innovation and the digitalization of products and services continue to support economic activities, a fundamental shift is occurring that is redefining how we live, work, shop, and relate to one another.

    These rapid changes are captured in a new 21st century term:

    The Digital Economy.

    90% of CEOs believe the digital economy will impact their industry. But only 25% have a plan in place. – Paul Taylor, Forbes, 2020

    Analyst Perspective

    Become a Digital Business

    this is a picture of Research Fellow, Kenneth McGee

    Kenneth McGee
    Research Fellow

    Today, the world faces two profoundly complex, mega-challenges simultaneously:

    1. Ending the COVID-19 pandemic and recession.
    2. Creating strategies for returning to business growth.

    Within the past year, healthcare professionals have searched for and found solutions that bring real hope to the belief the global pandemic/recession will soon end.

    As progress towards ending COVID-19 continues, business professionals are searching for the most effective near-term and long-term methods of restoring or exceeding the rates of growth they were enjoying prior to 2020.

    We believe developing a digital business strategy can deliver cost savings to help achieve near-term business growth while preparing an enterprise for long-term business growth by effectively competing within the digital economy of the future.

    The Digital Economy

    The digital economy refers to a concept in which all economic activity is facilitated or managed through digital technologies, data, infrastructure, services, and products (OECD, 2020).

    The digital economy captures decades of digital trends including:

    • Declining enterprise computing costs
    • Improvements in computing power and performance; unprecedent analytic capabilities
    • Rapid growth in network speeds, affordability, and geographic reach
    • High adoption rates of PCs, mobile, and other computing devices

    These trends among others have set the stage to permanently alter how buying and selling will take place within and between local, regional, national, and international economies.

    The emerging digital economy concept is so compelling that the world economists, financial experts, and others are currently investigating how they must substantially rewrite the rules governing how taxes, trade, tangible and intangible assets, and countless other financial issues will be assessed and valued in a digital economy.

    Download Info-Tech’s Digital Economy Report

    Signals of Change

    60%
    of People on Earth Use the Internet
    (DataReportal, 2021)
    20%
    of Global Retail Sales Performed via E-commerce
    (eMarketer, 2021)
    6.64T
    Global Business-to-Business
    E-commerce Market
    (Derived from The Business Research Company, 2021)
    9.6%
    of US GDP ($21.4T) accounted for by the digital economy ($2.05T)
    (Bureau of Economic Analysis, 2021)

    The digital economy captures technological developments transforming the way in which we live, work, and socialize

    Technological evolution

    this image contains a timeline of technological advances, from computers and information technology, to the digital economy of the future

    Info-Tech’s approach to digital business strategy

    A path to thrive in a digital economy.

    1. Identify top value chains to be transformed
    2. Identify a digitally enabled growth opportunity
    3. Transform stakeholder journeys
    4. Build a digital transformation roadmap

    Info-Tech Insight

    Pre-pandemic digital strategies have been primarily focused on automation. However, your post-pandemic digital strategy must focus on driving resilience for growth opportunities.

    The Info-Tech difference:

    • Understand how your organization creates value today to identify opportunities for digital transformation.
    • Leverage strategic foresight to evaluate how complex trends can evolve over time and identify opportunities to leapfrog competitors.
    • Design a journey map to empathize with your customers and identify opportunities to streamline or enhance existing and new experiences.
    • Create a balanced roadmap that improves digital maturity and prepares you for long-term success in a digital economy.

    A digital transformation starts by transforming how you deliver value today

    As digital transformation is an effort to transform how you deliver value today, it is important to understand the different value-generating activities that deliver an outcome for and from your customers.

    We do this by looking at value streams –which refer to the specific set of activities an industry player undertakes to create and capture value for and from the end consumer (and so the question to ask is, how do you make money as an organization?).

    Our approach helps you to digitally transform those value streams that generate the most value for your organization.

    Higher Education Value stream

    Recruitment → Admission → Student Enrolment → Instruction & Research → Graduation → Advancement

    Local Government Value Stream

    Sustain Land, Property, and the Environment → Facilitate Civic Engagement → Protect Local Health and Safety → Grow the Economy → Provide Regional Infrastructure

    Manufacturing Value Stream

    Design Product → Produce Product → Sell Product

    Visit Info-Tech’s Industry Coverage Research to identify your industry’s value streams

    Assess your external environment to identify new value generators

    Assessing your external environment allows you to identify trends that will have a high impact on how you deliver value today.

    Traditionally, a PESTLE analysis is used to assess the external environment. While this is a helpful tool, it is often too broad as it identifies macro trends that are not relevant to an organization's addressable market. That is because not every factor that affects the macro environment (for example, the country of operation) affects a specific organization’s industry in the same way.

    And so, instead of simply assessing the macro environment and trying to project its evolution along the PESTLE factors, we recommend to:

    • Conduct a PESTLE first and deduce, from the analysis, what are possible shifts in six characteristics of an organization’s industry, or
    • Proceed immediately with identifying evolutionary trends that impact the organization’s direct market.

    the image depicts the relationship of factors from the Macro Environment, to the Industry/Addressable Market, to the Organization. the macro environmental factors are Political; Economic; Social; Technological; Legal; and Environmental. the Industry/addressable market factors are the Customer; Talent; Regulation; technology and; Supply chain.

    Info-Tech Insight

    While PESTLE is helpful to scan the macro environment, the analysis often lacks relevance to an organization’s industry.

    An analysis of evolutionary shifts in five industry-specific characteristics would be more effective for identifying trends that impact the organization

    A Market Evolution Trend Analysis (META) identifies changes in prevailing market conditions that are directly relevant to an organization’s industry, and thus provides some critical input to the strategy design process, since these trends can bring about strategic risks or opportunities.
    Shifts in these five characteristics directly impact an organization:

    ORGANIZATION

    • Customer Expectations
    • Talent Availability
    • Regulatory System
    • Supply Chain Continuity
    • Technological Landscape

    Capture existing and new value generators through a customer journey map

    As we prioritize value streams, we break them down into value chains – that is the “string” of processes that interrelate that work.

    However, once we identify these value chains and determine what parts we wish to digitally transform, we take on the perspective of the user, as the way they interact with your products and services will be different to the view of those within the organization who implement and provide those services.

    This method allows us to build an empathetic and customer-centric lens, granting the capability to uncover challenges and potential opportunities. Here, we may define new experiences or redesign existing ones.

    This image contains an example of how a school might use a value chain and customer journey map. the value streams listed include: Recruitment; Admission; Student Enrolment; Instruction& Research; Graduation; and Advancement. the Value chain for the Instruction and Research Value stream. The value chain includes: Research; Course Creation, Delivery, and assessment. The Customer journey map for curricula delivery includes: Understanding the needs of students; Construct the course material; Deliver course material; Conduct assessment and; Upload Grades into system

    A digital transformation is not just about customer journeys but also about building business resilience

    Pre-pandemic, a digital transformation was primarily focused around improving customer experiences. Today, we are facing a paradigm shift in the way in which we capture the priorities and strategies for a digital transformation.

    As the world grows increasingly uncertain, organizations need to continue to focus on improving customer experience while simultaneously protecting their enterprise value.

    Ultimately, a digital transformation has two purposes:

    1. The classical model – whereby there is a focus on improving digital experiences.
    2. Value protection or the reduction of enterprise risk by systematically identifying how the organization delivers value and digitally transforming it to protect future cashflows and improve the overall enterprise value.
    Old Paradigm → New Paradigm
    Predictable regulatory changes with incremental impact → Unpredictable regulatory changes with sweeping impact
    Reluctance to use digital collaboration → Wide acceptance of digital collaboration
    Varied landscape of brick-and-mortar channels → Last-mile consolidation
    Customers value brand → Customers value convenience/speed of fulfilment
    Intensity of talent wars depends on geography → Broadened battlefields for the war for talent
    Cloud-first strategies → Cloud-only strategies
    Physical assets → Aggressive asset decapitalization
    Digitalization of operational processes → Robotization of operational processes
    Customer experience design as an ideation mechanism → Business resilience for value protection and risk reduction

    Key deliverable:

    Digital Business Strategy Presentation Template

    A highly visual and compelling presentation template that enables easy customization and executive-facing content.

    three images are depicted, which contain slides from the Digital Business Strategy presentation template, which will be available in 2022.

    *Coming in 2022

    Blueprint deliverables

    The Digital Business Strategy Workbook supports each step of this blueprint to help you accomplish your goals:

    Initiative Prioritization

    A screenshot from the Initiative Prioritization blueprint is depicted, no words are legible in the image.

    Use the weighted scorecard approach to evaluate and prioritize your opportunities and initiatives.

    Roadmap Gantt Chart

    A screenshot from the Roadmap Gantt Chart blueprint is depicted, no words are legible in the image.

    Populate your Gantt chart to visually represent your key initiative plan over the next 12 months.

    Journey Mapping Workbook

    A screenshot from the Journey Mapping Workbook blueprint is depicted, no words are legible in the image.

    Populate the journey maps to evaluate a user experience over its end-to-end journey.

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

    DIY Toolkit

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

    Guided Implementation

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

    Workshop

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

    Consulting

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

    Diagnostics and consistent frameworks used throughout all four options

    Guided Implementation

    What does a typical GI on this topic look like?

    Phase 0 Phase 1 Phase 2 Phase 3 Phase 4
    Call #1:
    Discuss business context and customize your organization’s capability map.     		Call #2:
    Assess business ecosystem.     		Call #3:
    Perform horizon scanning and trends identification.     		Call #5:
    Identify stakeholder personas and scenarios.     		Call #7:
    Discuss initiative generation and inputs into roadmap.
    Call #3:
    Identify how your organization creates value.     		Call #4:
    Discuss value chain impact.     		Call #6:
    Complete journey mapping exercise.     		Call #8:
    Summarize results and plan next steps.

    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 2 to 4 months.

    Workshop Requirements

    Business Inputs

    Gather business strategy documents and find information on:

    • Business goals
    • Current transformation initiatives
    • Business capabilities to create or enhance
    • Identify top ten revenue and expense generators
    • Identify stakeholders

    Interview the following stakeholders to uncover business context information:

    • CEO
    • CIO

    Download the Business Context Discovery Tool

    Optional Diagnostic

    • Assess your digital maturity (Concierge Service)

    Visit Assess Your Digital Maturity

    Phase 1

    Identify top value chains to be transformed

    • Understand the business
    • Assess your business ecosystem
    • Identify two value chains for transformation

    This phase will walk you through the following activities:

    Understand how your organization delivers value today and identify value chains to be transformed.

    This phase involves the following participants:

    A cross-functional cohort across all levels of the organization.

    Outcomes

    • Business ecosystem
    • Existing value chains to be transformed

    Step 1.1

    Understand the business

    Activities

    • Review business documents.

    Identify top value chains to be transformed

    This step will walk you through the following activities:

    In this section you will gain an understanding of the business context for your strategy.

    This step involves the following participants:

    A cross-functional cohort across levels in the organization.

    Outcomes of this step

    Business Context

    Understand the business context

    Understanding the business context is a must for all strategic initiatives. A pre-requisite to all strategic planning should be to elicit the business context from your business stakeholders.

    Inputs Document(s)/ Method Outputs
    Key stakeholders Strategy Document Stakeholders that are actively involved in, affected by or influence outcome of the organization, e.g. employers, customers, vendors.
    Vision and mission of the organization Website Strategy Document What the organization wants to achieve and how it strives to accomplish those goals.
    Business drivers CEO Interview Inputs and activities that drive the operational and financial results of the organization.
    Key targets CEO Interview Quantitative benchmarks to support strategic goals, e.g. double the enterprise EBITD, improve top-of-mind brand awareness by 15%,
    Strategic investment goals CFO Interview
    Digital Strategy     		Financial investments corresponding with strategic objectives of the organization, e.g. geographic expansion, digital investments.
    Top three value-generating lines of business Financial Document Identification of your top three value-generating products and services or lines of business.
    Goals of the organization over the next 12 months Strategy Document
    Corporate Retreat Notes     		Strategic goals to support the vision, e.g. hire 100 new sales reps, improve product management and marketing.
    Top business initiatives over the next 12 months Strategy Document
    CEO Interview     		Internal campaigns to support strategic goals, e.g. invest in sales team development, expand the product innovation team.
    Business model Strategy Document Products or services that the organization plans to sell, the identified market and customer segments, price points, channels and anticipated expenses.
    Competitive landscape Internal Research Analysis Who your typical or atypical competitors are.

    1.1 Understand the business context

    Objective: Elicit the business context with a careful review of business and strategy documents.

    1. Gather the strategy creation team and review your business context documents. This includes business strategy documents, interview notes from executive stakeholders, and other sources for uncovering the business strategy.
    2. Brainstorm in smaller groups answers to the question you were assigned:
      • What are the strengths and weaknesses of the organization?
      • What are some areas of improvement or opportunity?
      • What does it mean to have a digital business strategy?
    3. Discuss the questions above with participants and document key findings. Share with the group and work through the balanced scorecard questions to complete this exercise.
    4. Document your findings.

    Assess your digital readiness with Info-Tech’s Digital Maturity Assessment

    Input

    • Business Strategy Documents
    • Executive Stakeholder Interviews

    Output

    • Business Context Information

    Materials

    • Collaboration/ Brainstorming Tool (whiteboard, flip chart, digital equivalent)

    Participants

    • Executive Team

    Step 1.2

    Assess your business ecosystem

    Activities

    • Identify disruptors and incumbents.

    Info-Tech Insight

    Your digital business strategy cannot be formulated without a clear vision of the evolution of your industry.

    Identify top value chains to be transformed

    This step will walk you through the following activities:

    In this section, we will assess who the incumbents and disruptors are in your ecosystem and identify who your stakeholders are.

    This step involves the following participants:

    A cross-functional cohort across levels in the organization.

    Outcomes of this step

    Business Ecosystem

    Assess your business ecosystem

    Understand the nature of your competition.

    Learn what your competitors are doing.

    To survive, grow, or transform in today's digital era, organizations must first have a strong pulse on their business ecosystem. Learning what your competitors are doing to grow their bottom line is key to identifying how to grow your own. Start by understanding who the key incumbents and disruptors in your industry are to identify where your industry is heading.

    Incumbents: These are established leaders in the industry that possess the largest market share. Incumbents often focus their attention to their most demanding or profitable customers and neglect the needs of those down market.

    Disruptors: Disruptors are primarily new entrants (typically startups) that possess the ability to displace the existing market, industry, or technology. Disruptors are often focused on smaller markets that the incumbents aren’t focused on. (Clayton Christenson, 1997)

    An image is shown demonstrating the relationship within an industry between incumbents, disruptors, and the organization. The incumbents are represented by two large purple circles. The disruptors are represented by 9 smaller blue circles, which represent smaller individual customer bases, but overall account for a larger portion of the industry.

    ’Disruption’ specifically refers to what happens when the incumbents are so focused on pleasing their most profitable customers that they neglect or misjudge the needs of their other segments.– Ilan Mochari, Inc., 2015

    Example Business Ecosystem Analysis

    Business Target Market & Customer Product/Service & Key Features Key Differentiators Market Positioning
    University XYZ
    • Local Students
    • Continuous Learner
    • Certificate programs
    • Associate degrees
    • Strong engineering department with access to high-quality labs
    • Strong community impact
    		Affordable education with low tuition cost and access to bursaries & scholarships.
    University CDE University CDE
    • Local students
    • International students
    • Continuous learning students
    • Continuous learning offerings (weekend classes)
    • Strong engineering program
    • Strong continuous learning programs
    		 Outcome focused university with strong co-ops/internship programs and career placements for graduates
    University MNG
    • Local students
    • Non degree, freshman and continuous learning adults
    • Associate degrees
    • Certificate programs (IT programs)
    • Dual credit program
    • More locations/campuses
    • Greater physical presence
    • High web presence
    		 Nurturing university with small student population and classroom sizes. University attractive to adult learners.
    Disruptors Online Learning Company EFG
    • Full-time employees & executives– (online presence important)
    • Shorter courses
    • Full-time employees & executives– (online presence important)
    		 Competitive pricing with an open acceptance policy
    University JKL Online Credential Program
    • High school
    • University students
    • Adult learners
    • Micro credentials
    • Ability to acquire specific skills
    		Borderless and free (or low cost) education

    1.2 Understand your business ecosystem

    Objective: Identify the incumbents and disruptors in your business ecosystem.

    1. Identify the key incumbents and disruptors in your business ecosystem.
      • Incumbents: These are established leaders in the industry that possess the largest market share.
      • Disruptors: Disruptors are primarily new entrants (startups) that possess the ability to displace the existing market, industry, or technology.
    2. Identify target market and key customers. Who are the primary beneficiaries of your products or service offerings? Your key customers are those who keep you in business, increase profits, and are impacted by your operations.
    3. Identify what their core products or services are. Assess what core problem their products solve for key customers and what key features of their solution support this.
    4. Assess what the competitors' key differentiators are. There are many differentiators that an organization can have, examples include product, brand, price, service, or channel.
    5. Identify what the organization’s value proposition is. Why do customers come to them specifically? Leverage insights from the key differentiators to derive this.
    6. Finally, assess how your organization derives value relative to your competitors.

    Input

    • Market Assessment

    Output

    • Key Incumbents and Disruptors

    Materials

    • Collaboration/ Brainstorming Tool (whiteboard, flip chart, digital equivalent)

    Participants

    • Executive Team

    Step 1.3

    Value-chain prioritization

    Activities

    • Identify and prioritize value chains for innovation.

    Identify top value chains to be transformed

    This step will walk you through the following activities:

    Identify and prioritize how your organization currently delivers value today and identify value chains to be transformed.

    This step involves the following participants:

    A cross-functional cohort across levels in the organization.

    Outcomes of this step

    Prioritized Value Chains

    Determine what value the organization creates

    Identify areas for innovation.

    Value streams and value chains connect business goals to the organization’s value realization activities. They enable an organization to create and capture value in the market place by engaging in a set of interconnected activities. Those activities are dependent on the specific industry segment an organization operates within.

    Different types of value your organization creates

    This an example of a value chain which a school would use to analyze how their organization creates value. The value streams listed include: Recruitment; Admission; Student Enrolment; Instruction& Research; Graduation; and Advancement. the Value chain for the Student enrolment stream is displayed. The value chain includes: Matriculation; Enrolment into a Program and; Unit enrolment.

    Value Streams

    A value stream refers to the specific set of activities an industry player undertakes to create and capture value for and from the end consumer.

    Value Chains

    A value chain is a ”string” of processes within a company that interrelate and work together to meet market demand. Examining the value chain of a company will reveal how it achieves competitive advantage.

    Visit Info-Tech’s Industry Coverage Research to identify value streams

    Begin with understanding your industry’s value streams

    Value Streams

    Recruitment

    • The promotion of the institution and the communication with prospective students is accommodated by the recruitment component.
    • Prospective students are categorized as domestic and international, undergraduate and graduate. Each having distinct processes.

    Admission

    • Admission into the university involves processes distinct from recruitment. Student applications are processed and evaluated and the students are informed of the decision.
    • This component is also concerned with transfer students and the approval of transfer credits.

    Student Enrolment

    • Student enrolment is concerned with matriculation when the student first enters the institution, and subsequent enrolment and scheduling of current students.
    • The component is also concerned with financial aid and the ownership of student records.

    Instruction & Research

    • Instruction involves program development, instructional delivery and assessment, and the accreditation of courses of study.
    • The research component begins with establishing policy and degree fundamentals and concerns the research through to publication and impact assessment.

    Graduation

    • Graduation is not only responsible for the ceremony but also the eligibility of the candidate for an award and the subsequent maintenance of transcripts.

    Advancement

    • Alumni relations are the first responsibility of advancement. This involves the continual engagement with former students.
    • Fundraising is the second responsibility. This includes the solicitation and stewardship of gifts from alumni and other benefactors.

    Value stream defined…

    Value streams connect business goals to the organization’s value realization activities in the marketplace. Those activities are dependent on the specific industry segment in which an organization operates.

    There are two types of value streams: core value streams and support value streams.

    • Core value streams are mostly externally facing. They deliver value to either an external or internal customer and they tie to the customer perspective of the strategy map.
    • Support value streams are internally facing and provide the foundational support for an organization to operate.

    An effective method for ensuring all value streams have been considered is to understand that there can be different end-value receivers.

    Leverage your industry’s capability maps to identify value chains

    Business Capability Map Defined

    A business capability defines what a business does to enable value creation, rather than how. Business capabilities:

    • Represent stable business functions.
    • Are unique and independent of each other.
    • Typically, will have a defined business outcome.

    A capability map is a great starting point to identify value chains within an organization as it is a strong indicator of the processes involved to deliver on the value streams.

    this image contains an example of a business capability map using the value streams identified earlier in this blueprint.

    Info-Tech Insight

    Leverage your industry reference architecture to define value streams and value chains.

    Visit Info-Tech’s Industry Coverage Research to identify value streams

    Prioritize value streams to be supported or enhanced

    Use an evaluation criteria that considers both the human and business value generators that these streams provide.

    two identical value streams are depicted. The right most value stream has Student Enrolment and Instruction Research highlighted in green. between the two streams, are two boxes. In these boxes is the following: Business Value: Profit; Enterprise Value; Brand value. Human Value: Faculty satisfaction; Student satisfaction; Community impact.

    Info-Tech Insight

    To produce maximum impact, focus on value streams that provide two-thirds of your enterprise value.

    Business Value

    Assess the value generators to the business, e.g. revenue dollars, enterprise value, cost or differentiation (competitiveness), etc.

    Human Value

    Assess the value generators to people, e.g. student/faculty satisfaction, well-being, and social cohesion.

    Identify value chains for transformation

    Value chains, pioneered by the academic Michael Porter, refer to the ”string” of processes within a company that interrelate and work together to meet market demand. An organization’s value chain is connected to the larger part of the value stream. This perspective of how value is generated encourages leaders to see each activity as a part of a series of steps required deliver value within the value stream and opens avenues to identify new opportunities for value generation.

    this image depicts two sample value chains for the value streams: student enrolment and Instruction & Research. Each value chain has a stakeholder associated with it. This is the primary stakeholder that seeks to gain value from that value chain.

    Prioritize value chains for transformation

    Once we have identified the key value chains within each value stream element, evaluate the individual processes within the value chain to identify opportunities for transformation. Evaluate the value chain processes based on the level of pain experienced by a stakeholder to accomplish that task, and the financial impact that level of the process has on the organization.

    this image depicts the same value chains as the image above, with a legend showing which steps have a financial impact, which steps have a high degree of risk, and which steps are prioritized for transformation. Matriculation and publishing are shown to have a financial impact. Research foundation is shown to have a high degree of risk, and enrollment into a program and conducting research are prioritized for transformation.

    1.3 Value chain analysis

    Objective: Determine how the organization creates value, and prioritize value chains for innovation.

    1. The first step of delivering value is defining how it will happen. Use the organization’s industry segment to start a discussion on how value is created for customers. Working back from the moment value is realized by the customer, consider the sequential steps required to deliver value in your industry segment.
    2. Define and validate the organization’s value stream. Write a short description of the value stream that includes a statement about the value provided and a clear start and end for the value stream.
    3. Prioritize the value streams based on an evaluation criteria that reflects business and human value generators to the organization.
    4. Identify value chains that are associated with each value stream. The value chains refer to a string of processes within the value stream element. Each value chain also captures a particular stakeholder that benefits from the value chain.
    5. Once we have identified the key value chains within each value stream element, evaluate the individual processes within the value chain and identify areas for transformation. Evaluate the value chain processes based on the level of pain or exposure to risk experienced by a stakeholder to accomplish that task and the financial impact that level of the process has on the organization.

    Visit Info-Tech’s Industry Coverage Research to identify value streams and capability maps

    Input

    • Market Assessment

    Output

    • Key Incumbents and Disruptors

    Materials

    • Collaboration/ Brainstorming Tool (whiteboard, flip chart, digital equivalent)

    Participants

    • Executive Team

    Phase 2

    Identify a digitally enabled growth opportunity

    • Conduct horizon scan
    • Identify leapfrog idea
    • Conduct value chain impact analysis

    This phase will walk you through the following activities:

    Assess trends that are impacting your industry and identify strategic growth opportunities.

    This phase involves the following participants:

    A cross-functional cohort across levels in the organization.

    Outcomes

    Identify new growth opportunities and value chains impacted

    Phase 2.1

    Horizon scanning

    Activities

    • Scan the internal and external environment for trends.

    Info-Tech Insight

    Systematically scan your environment to identify avenues or opportunities to skip one or several stages of technological development and stay ahead of disruption.

    Identify a digitally enabled growth opportunity

    This step will walk you through the following activities:

    Scan the environment for external environment for megatrends, trends, and drivers. Prioritize trends and build a trends radar to keep track of trends within your environment.

    This step involves the following participants:

    A cross-functional cohort across levels in the organization.

    Outcomes of this step

    Growth opportunity

    Horizon scanning

    Understand how your industry is evolving.

    Horizon scanning is a systematic analysis of detecting early signs of future changes or threats.

    Horizon scanning involves scanning, analyzing, and communicating changes in an organization’s environment to prepare for potential threats and opportunities. Much of what we know about the future is based around the interactions and trajectory of macro trends, trends, and drivers. These form the foundations for future intelligence.

    Macro Trends

    A macro trend captures a large-scale transformative trend that could impact your addressable market.

    Trends

    A trend captures a business use case of the macro trend. Consider trends in relation to competitors in your industry.

    Drivers

    A driver is an underlying force causing the trend to occur. There can be multiple causal forces, or drivers, that influence a trend, and multiple trends can be influenced by the same causal force.

    Identify signals of change in the present and their potential future impacts.

    Identifying macro trends

    A macro trend captures a large-scale transformative trend that could change the addressable market. Here are some examples of macro trends to consider when horizon scanning for your own organization:

    Talent Availability

    • Decentralized workforce
    • Hybrid workforce
    • Diverse workforce
    • Skills gap
    • Digital workforce
    • Multigenerational workforce

    Customer Expectations

    • Personalization
    • Digital experience
    • Data ownership
    • Transparency
    • Accessibility

    Technological Landscape

    • AI & robotics
    • Virtual world
    • Ubiquitous connectivity,
    • Genomics
    • Materials (smart, nano, bio)

    Regulatory System

    • Market control
    • Economic shifts
    • Digital regulation
    • Consumer protection
    • Global green

    Supply Chain Continuity

    • Resource scarcity
    • Sustainability
    • Supply chain digitization
    • Circular supply chains
    • Agility

    Identifying trends and drivers

    A trend captures a business use case of a macro trend. Assessing trends can reduce some uncertainties about the future and highlight potential opportunities for your organization. A driver captures the internal or external forces that lead the trend to occur. Understanding and capturing drivers is important to understanding why these trends are occurring and the potential impacts to your value chains.

    This image contains a flow chart, demonstrating the relationship between Macro trends, Trends, and Drivers. in this example, the macro trend is Accessibility. The Trends, or patterns of change, are an increase in demands for micro-credentials, and Preference for eLearning. The Drivers, or the why, are addressing skill gaps for increase in demand for micro-credentials, and Accommodating adult/working learners- for Preference for eLearning.

    Leverage industry roundtables and trend reports to understand the art of the possible

    Uncover important business and industry trends that can inform possibilities for technology innovation.

    Explore trends in areas such as:

    • Machine Learning
    • Citizen Dev 2.0
    • Venture Architecture
    • Autonomous Organizations
    • Self-Sovereign Cloud
    • Digital Sustainability

    Market research is critical in identifying factors external to your organization and identifying technology innovation that will provide a competitive edge. It’s important to evaluate the impact each trend or opportunity will have in your organization and market.

    Visit Info-Tech’s Trends & Priorities Research Center

    Visit Info-Tech’s Industry Coverage Research to identify your industry’s value streams

    this image contains three screenshots from Rethinking Higher Education Report and 2021 Tech Trends Report

    Images are from Info-Tech’s Rethinking Higher Education Report and 2021 Tech Trends Report

    Example horizon scanning activity

    Macro Trends Trends Drivers
    Talent Availability Diversity Inclusive campus culture Systemic inequities
    Hybrid workforce Online learning staff COVID-19 and access to physical institutions
    Customer Expectations Digital experience eLearning for working learners Accommodate adult learners
    Accessibility Micro-credentials for non-traditional students Addressing skills gap
    Technological Landscape Artificial intelligence and robotics AI for personalized learning Hyper personalization
    IoT IoT for monitoring equipment Asset tracking
    Augmented reality Immersive education AR and VR Personalized experiences
    Regulatory System Regulatory System Alternative funding for research Changes in federal funding
    Global Green Environmental and sustainability education curricula Regulatory and policy changes
    Supply Chain Continuity Circular supply chains Vendors recycling outdated technology Sustainability
    Cloud-based solutions Cloud-based eLearning software Convenience and accessibility

    Visit Info-Tech’s Industry Coverage Research to identify your industry’s value streams

    Prioritize trends

    Develop a cross-industry holistic view of trends.

    Visualize emerging and prioritize action.

    Moving from horizon scanning to action requires an evaluation process to determine which trends can lead to growth opportunities. First, we need to make a short list of trends to analyze. For your digital strategy, consider trends on the time horizon that are under 24 months. Next, we need to evaluate the shortlisted opportunities by a second set of criteria: relevance to your organization and impact on industry.

    Timing

    The estimated time to disruption this trend will have for your industry. Assess whether the trend will require significant developments to support its entry into the ecosystem.

    Relevance

    The relevance of the trend to your organization. Does the trend fulfil the vision or goals of the organization?

    Impact

    The degree of impact the trend will have on your industry. A trend with high impact will drive new business models, products, or services.

    Prioritize trends to adopt into your organization

    Prioritize trends based on timing, impact, and relevance.

    Trend Timing
    (S/M/L)     		Impact
    (1-5)     		Relevance
    ( 1-5)
    1. Micro-credentialing S 5 5
    2. IoT-connected devices for personalized experience S 1 3
    3. International partnerships with educational institutions M
    4. Use of chatbots throughout enrollment process L
    5. IoT for energy management of campus facilities L
    6. Gamification of digital course content M
    7. Flexible learning curricula S 4 3
    Deprioritize trends
    that have a time frame
    to disruption of more
    than 24 months.
    this image contains a graph demonstrating the relationship between relevance (x axis) and Impact (Y axis).

    2.1 Scanning the horizon

    Objective: Generate trends

    60 minutes

    • Start by selecting macro trends that are occurring in your environment using the five categories. These are the large-scale transformative trends that impact your addressable market. Macro trends have three key characteristics:
      • They span over a long period of time.
      • They impact all geographic regions.
      • They impact governments, individuals, and organizations.
    • Begin to break down these macro trends into trends. Trends should reflect the direction of a macro trend and capture the pattern in events. Consider trends that directly impact your organization.
    • Understand the drivers behind these trends. Why are they occurring? What is driving them? Understanding the drivers helps us understand the value they may generate.
    • Deprioritize trends that are expected to happen beyond 24 months.
    • Prioritize trends that have a high impact and relevance to the organization.
    • If you identify more than one trend, discuss with the group which trend you would like to pursue and limit it to one opportunity.

    Input

    • Macro Trends
    • Trends

    Output

    • Trends Prioritization

    Materials

    • Digital Strategy Workbook

    Participants

    • Executive Team

    Step 2.2

    Leapfrogging ideation

    Activities

    • Identify leapfrog ideas.
    • Identify impact to value chain.

    Info-Tech Insight

    A systematic approach to leapfrog ideation is one of the most critical ways in which an organization can build the capacity for resilient innovation.

    This step will walk you through the following activities:

    Evaluate trend opportunities and determine the strategic opportunities they pose. You will also work towards identifying the impact the trend has on your value chain.

    This step involves the following participants:

    A cross-functional cohort across levels in the organization.

    Outcomes of this step

    • Strategic growth opportunities
    • Value chain impact

    Leapfrog into the future

    Turn trends into growth opportunities.

    To thrive in the digital age, organizations must innovate big, leverage internal creativity, and prepare for flexibility.

    In this digital era, organizations are often playing catch up to a rapidly evolving technological landscape and following a strict linear approach to innovation. However, this linear catch-up approach does not help companies get ahead of competitors. Instead, organizations must identify avenues to skip one or several stages of technological development to leapfrog ahead of their competitors.

    The best way to predict the future is to invent it. – Alan Kay

    Leapfrogging takes place when an organization introduces disruptive innovation into the market and sidesteps competitors who are unable to mobilize to respond to the opportunities.

    Case Study

    Classroom of the Future

    Higher Education: Barco’s Virtual Classroom at UCL

    University College London (UCL), in the United Kingdom, selected Barco weConnect virtual classroom technology for its continuing professional development medical education offering. UCL uses the platform for synchronous teaching, where remote students can interact with a lecturer.

    One of the main advantages of the system is that it enables direct interaction with students through polls, questions, and whiteboarding. The system also allows you to track student engagement in real time.

    The system has also been leveraged for scientific research and publications. In their “Delphi” process, key opinion leaders were able to collaborate in an effective way to reach consensus on a subject matter. The processes that normally takes months were successfully completed in 48 hours (McCann, 2020).

    Results

    The system has been largely successful and has supported remote, real-time teaching, two-way engagement, engagement with international staff, and an overall enriched teaching experience.

    Funnel trends into leapfrog ideas

    Go from trend insights into ideas.

    Brainstorm ways of generating leapfrog ideas from trend insights.

    Dealing with trends is one of the most important tasks for innovation. It provides the basis of developing the future orientation of the organization. However, being aware of a trend is one thing, to develop strategies for response is another.

    To identify the impact the trend has on the organization, consider the four areas of growth strategies for the organization:

    1. New Customers: Leverage the trend to target new customers for existing products or services.
    2. New Business Models: Adjust the business model to capture a change in how the organization delivers value.
    3. New Markets: Enter or create new markets by applying existing products or services to different problems.
    4. New Product or Service Offerings: Introduce new products or services to the existing market.
    A funnel shaped image is depicted. At the top, at the entrance of the funnel, is the word Trend. At the bottom of the image, at the output of the funnel, is the word Opportunity.

    From trend to leapfrog ideas

    Trend New Customer New Market New Business Model New Product or Service
    What trends pose a high-immediate impact to the organization? Target new customers for existing products or services Enter or create new markets by applying existing products or services to different problems Adjust the business model to capture a change in how the organization delivers value Introduce new products or services to the existing market
    Micro-credentials for non-traditional students Target non-traditional learners/students - Online delivery Introduce mini MBA program

    2.2 Identify and prioritize opportunities

    60 minutes

    1. Gather the prioritized trend identified in the horizon scanning exercise (the trend identified to be “adopted” within the organization).
    2. Analyze each trend identified and assess whether the trend provides an opportunity for a new customers, new markets, new business models, or new products and services.

    Input

    • “Adopt” Trends

    Output

    • Trends to pursue
    • Breakdown of strategic opportunities that the trends pose

    Materials

    • Collaboration/ Brainstorming Tool (whiteboard, flip chart, digital equivalent)

    Participants

    • Executive Team

    Step 2.3

    Value chain impact

    Activities

    • Identify impact to value chain.

    This step will walk you through the following activities:

    Evaluate trend opportunities and determine the strategic opportunities they pose. Prioritize the opportunities and identify impact to your value chain.

    This step involves the following participants:

    A cross-functional cohort across levels in the organization.

    Outcomes of this step

    • Strategic growth opportunities

    Value chain analysis

    Identify implications of strategic growth opportunities to the value chains.

    As we identify and prioritize the opportunities available to us, we need to assess their impacts on value chains. Does the opportunity directly impact an existing value chain? Or does it open us to the creation of a new value chain?

    The value chain perspective allows an organization to identify how to best minimize or enhance impacts and generate value.
    As we move from opportunity to impact, it is important to break down opportunities into the relevant pieces so we can see a holistic picture of the sources of differentiation.

    this image depicts the value chain for the value stream, student enrolment.

    2.3 Value chain impact

    Objective: Identify impacts to the value chain from the opportunities identified.
    60 minutes

    1. Once you have identified the opportunity, turn back to the value stream, and with the working group, identify the value stream impacted most by the opportunity. Leverage the human impact/business impact criteria to support the identification of the value stream to be impacted.
    2. Within the value stream, brainstorm what parts of the value chain will be impacted by the new opportunity. Or ask whether this new opportunity provides you with a new value chain to be created.
    3. If this opportunity will require a new value chain, identify what set of new processes or steps will be created to support this new entrant.
    4. Identify any critical value chains that will be impacted by the new opportunity. What areas of the value chain pose the greatest risk? And where can we estimate the financial revenue will be impacted the most?

    Input

    • Opportunity

    Output

    • Value chains impacted

    Materials

    • Collaboration/ Brainstorming Tool (whiteboard, flip chart, digital equivalent)

    Participants

    • Executive Team

    Phase 3

    Transform stakeholder journeys

    • Identify stakeholder personas and scenarios
    • Conduct journey map
    • Identify projects

    This phase will walk you through the following activities:

    Take the prioritized value chains and create a journey map to capture the end-to-end experience of a stakeholder.

    Through a journey mapping exercise, you will identify opportunities to digitize parts of the journey. These opportunities will be broken down into functional initiatives to tackle in your strategy.

    This phase involves the following participants:

    A cross-functional cohort across levels in the organization.

    Outcomes

    1. Stakeholder persona
    2. Stakeholder scenario
    3. Stakeholder journey map
    4. Opportunities

    Step 3.1

    Identify stakeholder persona and journey scenario

    Activities

    • Identify stakeholder persona.
    • Identify stakeholder journey scenario.

    Transform stakeholder journeys

    This step will walk you through the following activities:

    In this step, you with identify stakeholder personas and scenarios relating to the prioritized value chains.

    This step involves the following participants:

    A cross-functional cohort across levels in the organization.

    Outcomes of this step

    • A taxonomy of critical stakeholder journeys.

    Identify stakeholder persona and journey scenario

    From value chain to journey scenario.

    Stakeholder personas and scenarios help us build empathy towards our customers. It helps put us into the shoes of a stakeholder and relate to their experience to solve problems or understand how they experience the steps or processes required to accomplish a goal. A user persona is a valuable basis for stakeholder journey mapping.

    A stakeholder scenario describes the situation the journey map addresses. Scenarios can be real (for existing products and services) or anticipated.

    A stakeholder persona is a fictitious profile to represent a customer or a user segment. Creating this persona helps us understand who your customers really are and why they are using your service or product.

    Learn more about applying design thinking methodologies

    Identify stakeholder scenarios to map

    For your digital strategy, leverage the existing and opportunity value chains identified in phase 1 and 2 for journey mapping.

    Identify two existing value chains to be transformed.
    In section 1, we identified existing value chains to be transformed. For example, your stakeholder persona is a member of the faculty (engineering), and the scenario is the curricula design process.     		this image contains the value chains for instruction (engineering) and enrolment of engineering student. the instruction(engineering) value chain includes curricula research, curricula design, curricula delivery, and Assessment for the faculty-instructor. The enrolment of engineering student value chain includes matriculation, enrolment into a program, and unit enrolment for the student. In the instruction(engineering) value chain, curricula design is highlighted in blue. In the enrolment of engineering student value chain, Enrolment into a program is highlighted.
    Identify one new value chain.
    In section 2, we identified a new value chain. However, for a new opportunity, the scenario is more complex as it may capture many different areas of a value chain. Subsequently, a journey map for a new opportunity may require mapping all parts of the value chain.     		this image contains an example of a value chain for micro-credentialing (mini online MBA)

    Identify stakeholder persona

    Who are you transforming for?

    To define a stakeholder scenario, we need to understand who we are mapping for. In each value chain, we identified a stakeholder who gains value from that value chain. We now need to develop a stakeholder persona: a representation of the end user to gain a strong understanding of who they are, what they need, and their pains and gains.

    One of the best ways to flesh out your stakeholder persona is to engage with the stakeholders directly or to gather the input of those who may engage with them within the organization.

    For example, if we want to define a journey map for a student, we might want to gather the input of students or teaching faculty that have firsthand encounters with different student types and are able to define a common student type.

    Info-Tech Insight

    Run a survey to understand your end users and develop a stronger picture of who they are and what they are seeking to gain from your organization.

    Example Stakeholder Persona

    Name: Anne
    Age: 35
    Occupation: Engineering Faculty
    Location: Toronto, Canada

    Pains

    What are their frustrations, fears, and anxieties?

    • Time restraints
    • Using new digital tools
    • Managing a class while incorporating individual learning
    • Varying levels within the same class
    • Unmotivated students

    What do they need to do?

    What do they want to get done? How will they know they are successful?

    • Design curricula in a hybrid mode without loss of quality of experience of in-classroom learning.

    Gains

    What are their wants, needs, hopes, and dreams?

    • Interactive content for students
    • Curriculum alignment
    • Ability to run a classroom lab (in hybrid format)
    • Self-paced and self-directed learning opportunities for students

    (Adapted from Osterwalder, et al., 2014)

    Define a journey statement for mapping

    Now that we understand who we are mapping for, we need to define a journey statement to capture the stakeholder journey.
    Leverage the following format to define the journey statement.
    As a [stakeholder], I need to [prioritized value chain task], so that I can [desired result or overall goal].

    this image contains the instruction(engineering) value chain shown above. next to it is a stakeholder journey statement, which states: As an engineering faculty member, I want to design my curricula in a hybrid mode of delivery so that I can simulate in-classroom experiences.

    3.1 Identify stakeholder persona and journey scenario

    Objective: Identify stakeholder persona and journey scenario statement for journey mapping exercise.

    1. Start by identifying who your stakeholder is. Give your stakeholder a demographic profile – capture a typical stakeholder for this value chain.
    2. Identify what the gains and pains are during this value chain and what the stakeholder is seeking to accomplish.
    3. Looking at the value chain, create a statement that captures the goals and needs of the stakeholder. Use the following format to create a statement:
      As a [stakeholder], I need to [prioritized value chain task], so that I can [desired result or overall goal].

    Input

    • Prioritized Value Chains (existing and opportunity)

    Output

    • Stakeholder Persona
    • Stakeholder Journey Statement

    Materials

    • Collaboration/ Brainstorming Tool (whiteboard, flip chart, digital equivalent)
    • Stakeholder Persona Canvas

    Participants

    • Executive Team
    • Stakeholders (if possible)
    • Individual who works directly with stakeholders

    Step 3.2

    Map stakeholder journeys

    Activities

    • Map stakeholder journeys.

    Transform stakeholder journeys

    This step will walk you through the following activities:

    Prioritize the journeys by focusing on what matters most to the stakeholders and estimating the organizational effort to improve those experiences.

    This step involves the following participants:

    A cross-functional cohort across levels in the organization.

    Outcomes of this step

    • Candidate journeys identified for redesign or build.

    Leverage customer journey mapping to capture value chains to be transformed

    Conduct a journey mapping exercise to identify opportunities for innovation or automation.

    A journey-based approach helps an organization understand how a stakeholder moves through a process and interacts with the organization in the form of touch points, channels, and supporting characters. By identifying pain points in the journey and the activity types, we can identify opportunities for innovation and automation along the journey.

    Embrace design thinking methodologies to elevate the stakeholder journey and to build a competitive advantage for your organization.

    this image contains an example of the result of a journey mapping exercise. the main headings are Awareness, Consideration, Acquisition, Service and, Loyalty.

    Internal vs. external stakeholder perspective

    In journey mapping, we always start with the stakeholder's perspective, then eventually transition into what the organization does business-wise to deliver value to each stakeholder. It is important to keep in mind both perspectives while conducting a journey mapping exercise as there are often different roles, processes, and technologies associated with each of the journey steps.

    Stakeholder Journey
    (External Perspective)

    • Awareness
    • Consideration
    • Selecting
    • Negotiating
    • Approving

    Business Processes
    (Internal Perspective)

    • Preparation
    • Prospecting
    • Presentation
    • Closing
    • Follow-Up

    Info-Tech Insight

    Take the perspective of an end user, who interacts with your products and services, as it is different from the view of those inside the organization, who implement and provide those services.

    Build a stakeholder journey map

    A stakeholder journey map is a tool used to illustrate the user’s perceptions, emotions, and needs as they move through a process and interact with the organization in the form of touch points, channels, and supporting characters.

    this image depicts an example of a stakeholder journey map, the headings in the map are: Journey Activity; Touch Points; Metrics; Nature of Activity; Key Moments & Pain Points; Opportunities

    Stakeholder Journey Map: Journey Activity

    The journey activity refers to the steps taken to accomplish a goal.

    The journey activity comprises the steps or sequence of tasks the stakeholder takes to accomplish their goal. These steps reflect the high-level process your candidates perform to complete a task or solve a problem.

    Stakeholder Journey Map: Touch Points

    Touch points are the points of interaction between a stakeholder and the organization.

    A touch point refers to any time a stakeholder interacts with your organization or brand. Consider three main points of interaction with the customer in the journey:

    • Before: How did they find out about you? How did they first contact you to start this journey? What channels or mediums were used?
      • Social media
      • Rating & reviews
      • Word of mouth
      • Advertising
    • During: How was the sale or service accomplished?
      • Website
      • Catalog
      • Promotions
      • Point of sale
      • Phone system
    • After: What happened after the sale or service?
      • Billing
      • Transactional emails
      • Marketing emails
      • Follow-ups
      • Thank-you emails

    Stakeholder Journey Map: Nature of Activity

    The nature of activity refers to the type of task the journey activity captures.

    We categorize the activity type to identify opportunities for automation. There are four main types of task types, which in combination (as seen in the table below) capture a task or job to be automated.

    Routine Non-Routine
    Cognitive Routine Cognitive: repeatable tasks that rely on knowledge work, e.g. sales, administration
    Prioritize for automation (2)     		Non-Routine Cognitive: infrequent tasks that rely on knowledge work, e.g. driving, fraud detection
    Prioritize for automation (3)
    Non-Routine Cognitive: infrequent tasks that rely on knowledge work, e.g. driving, fraud detection Prioritize for automation (3) Routine Manual: repeatable tasks that rely on physical work, e.g. manufacturing, production
    Prioritize for automation (1)     		Non-Routine Manual: infrequent tasks that rely on physical work, e.g. food preparation
    Not mature for automation

    Info-Tech Insight

    Where automation makes sense, routine manual activities should be transformed first, followed by routine cognitive activities. Non-routine cognitive activities are the final frontier.

    Stakeholder Journey Map: Metrics

    Metrics are a quantifiable measurement of a process, activity, or initiative.

    Metrics are crucial to justify expenses and to estimate growth for capacity planning and resourcing. There are multiple benefits to identifying and implementing metrics in a journey map:

    • Metrics provide accurate indicators for accurate IT and business decisions.
    • Metrics help you identify stakeholder touch point efficiencies and problems and solve issues before they become more serious.
    • Active metrics tracking makes root cause analysis of issues much easier.

    Example of journey mapping metrics: Cost, effort, turnaround time, throughput, net promoter score (NPS), satisfaction score

    Stakeholder Journey Map: Key Moments & Pain Points

    Key moments and pain points refer to the emotional status of a stakeholder at each stake of the customer journey.

    The key moments are defining pieces or periods in a stakeholder's experience that create a critical turning point or memory.

    The pain points are the critical problems that the stakeholder is facing during the journey or business continuity risks. Prioritize identifying pain points around key moments.

    Info-Tech Insight

    To identify key moments, look for moments that can dramatically influence the quality of the journey or end the journey prematurely. To improve the experience, analyze the hidden needs and how they are or aren’t being met.

    Stakeholder Journey Map: Opportunities

    An opportunity is an investment into people, process, or technology for the purposes of building or improving a business capability and accomplishing a specific organizational objective.

    An opportunity refers to the initiatives or projects that should address a stakeholder pain. Opportunities should also produce a demonstrable financial impact – whether direct (e.g. cost reduction) or indirect (e.g. risk mitigation) – and be evaluated based on how technically difficult it will be to implement.

    Customer

    Create new or different experiences for customers

    Workforce

    Generate new organizational skills or new ways of working

    Operations

    Improve responsiveness and resilience of operations

    Innovation

    Develop different products or services

    Example of stakeholder journey output: Higher Education

    Stakeholder: A faculty member
    Journey: As an engineering faculty member, I want to design my curricula in a hybrid mode of delivery so that I can simulate in-classroom experiences

    Journey activity Understanding the needs of students Construct the course material Deliver course material Conduct assessments Upload grades into system
    Touch Points
    • Research (primary or secondary)
    • Teaching and learning center
    • Training on tools
    • Office suite
    • Video tools
    • PowerPoint live
    • Chat (live)
    • Forum (FAQ
    • Online assessment tool
    • ERP
    • LMS
    Nature of Activity Non-routine cognitive Non-routine cognitive Non-routine cognitive Routine cognitive Routine Manual
    Metrics
    • Time to completion
    • Time to completion
    • Student satisfaction
    • Student satisfaction
    • Student scores
    Ken Moments & Pain Points Lack of centralized repository for research knowledge
    • Too many tools to use
    • Lack of Wi-Fi connectivity for students
    • Loss of social aspects
    • Adjusting to new forms of assessments
    		No existing critical pain points; process already automated
    Opportunities
    • Centralized repository for research knowledge
    • Rationalize course creation tool set
    • Connectivity self-assessment/checklist
    • Forums for students
    • Implement an online proctoring tool

    3.2 Stakeholder journey mapping

    Objective: Conduct journey mapping exercise for existing value chains and for opportunities.

    1. Gather the working group and, with the journey mapping workbook, begin to map out the journey scenario statements identified in the value chain analysis. In total, there should be three journey maps:
      • Two for the existing value chains. Map out the specific point in the value chain that is to be transformed.
      • One for the opportunity value chain. Map out all parts of the value chain to be impacted by the new opportunity.
    2. Start with the journey activity and map out the steps involved to accomplish the goal of the stakeholder.
    3. Identify the touch points involved in the value chain.
    4. Categorize the nature of the activity in the journey activity.
    5. Identify metrics for the journey. How can we measure the success of the journey?
    6. Identify pain points and opportunities in parallel with one another.

    Input

    • Value Chain Analysis
    • Stakeholder Personas
    • Journey Mapping Scenario

    Output

    • Journey Map

    Materials

    • Digital Strategy Workbook, Stakeholder Journey tab

    Participants

    • Executives
    • Individuals in the organization that have a direct interaction with the stakeholders

    Info-Tech Insight

    Aim to build out 90% of the stakeholder journey map with the working team; validate the last 10% with the stakeholder themselves.

    Step 3.3

    Prioritize opportunities

    Activities

    • Prioritize opportunities.

    Transform stakeholder journeys

    This step will walk you through the following activities:

    Prioritize the opportunities that arose from the stakeholder journey mapping exercise.

    This step involves the following participants:

    A cross-functional cohort across levels in the organization.

    Outcomes of this step

    Prioritized opportunities

    Prioritization of opportunities

    Leverage design-thinking methods to prioritize opportunities.

    As there may be many opportunities arising from the journey map, we need to prioritize ideas to identify which ones we can tackle first – or at all. Leverage IDEO’s design-thinking “three lenses of innovation” to support prioritization:

    • Feasibility: Do you currently have the capabilities to deliver on this opportunity? Do we have the right partners, resources, or technology?
    • Desirability: Is this a solution the stakeholder needs? Does it solve a known pain point?
    • Viability: Does this initiative have an impact on the financial revenue of the organization? Is it a profitable solution that will support the business model? Will this opportunity require a complex cost structure?
    Opportunities Feasibility
    (L/M/H)     		Desirability
    (L/M/H)     		Viability
    (L/M/H)
    Centralized repository for research knowledge H H H
    Rationalize course creation tool set H H H
    Connectivity self-assessment/ checklist H M H
    Forums for students M H H
    Exam preparation (e.g. education or practice exams) H H H

    3.3 Prioritization of opportunities

    Objective: Prioritize opportunities for creating a roadmap.

    1. Gather the opportunities identified in the journey mapping exercise
    2. Assess the opportunities based on IDEO’s three lenses of innovation:
      • Feasibility: Do you currently have the capabilities to deliver on this opportunity? Do we have the right partners, resources, or technology?
      • Viability: Does this initiative have an impact on the financial revenue of the organization? Is it a profitable solution that will support the business model? Will this opportunity require a complex cost structure?
      • Desirability: Is this a solution the stakeholder needs? Does it solve a known pain point?
    3. Opportunities that score high in all three areas are prioritized for the roadmap.

    Input

    • Opportunities From Journey Map

    Output

    • Prioritized Opportunities

    Materials

    • Digital Strategy Workbook

    Participants

    • Executives

    Step 3.4

    Define digital goals

    Activities

    Transform stakeholder journeys

    This step will walk you through the following activities:

    Define a digital goal as it relates to the prioritized opportunities and the stakeholder journey map.

    This step involves the following participants:

    A cross-functional cohort across levels in the organization.

    Outcomes of this step

    Digital goals

    Define digital goals

    What digital goals can be derived from the stakeholder journey?

    With the prioritized set of opportunities for each stakeholder journey, take a step back and assess what the sum of these opportunities mean for the journey. What is the overall goal or objective of these opportunities? How do these opportunities change or facilitate the journey experience? From here, identify a single goal statement for each stakeholder journey.

    Stakeholder Scenario Prioritized Opportunities Goal
    Faculty (Engineering) As a faculty (Engineering), I want to prepare and teach my course in a hybrid mode of delivery Centralized repository for research knowledge
    Rationalized course creation tool set     		Support hybrid course curricula development through value-driven toolsets and centralized knowledge

    3.4 Define digital goals

    Objective: Identify digital goals derived from the journey statements.

    1. With the prioritized set of opportunities for each stakeholder journey (the two existing journeys and one opportunity journey) take a step back and assess what the sum of these opportunities means for each journey.
      • What is the overall goal or objective of these opportunities?
      • How do these opportunities change or facilitate the journey experience?
    2. From here, identify a single goal for each stakeholder journey.

    Input

    • Opportunities From Journey Map
    • Stakeholder Persona

    Output

    • Digital Goals

    Materials

    • Prioritization Matrix

    Participants

    • Executives

    Step 3.5

    Breakdown opportunities into series of initiatives

    Activities

    • Identify initiatives from the opportunities.

    Transform stakeholder journeys

    This step will walk you through the following activities:

    Identify people, process, and technology initiatives for the opportunities identified.

    This step involves the following participants:

    A cross-functional cohort across levels in the organization.

    Outcomes of this step

    • People, process, and technology initiatives

    Break down opportunities into a series of initiatives

    Brainstorm initiatives for each high-priority opportunity using the framework below. Describe each initiative as a plan or action to take to solve the problem.

    Opportunity → Initiatives:

    People: What initiatives are required to manage people, data, and other organizational factors that are impacted by this opportunity?

    Process: What processes must be created, changed, or removed based on the data?

    Technology: What systems are required to support this opportunity?

    Break down opportunities into a series of initiatives

    Initiatives
    Centralized repository for research knowledge Technology Acquire and implement knowledge management application
    People Train researchers on functionality
    Process Periodically review and validate data entries into repository
    Initiatives
    Rationalize course creation toolset Technology Retire duplicate or under-used tools
    People Provide training on tool types and align to user needs
    Process Catalog software applications and tools across the organization
    Identify under-used or duplicate tools/applications

    Info-Tech Insight

    Ruthlessly evaluate if a initiative should stand alone or if it can be rolled up with another. Fewer initiatives or opportunities increases focus and alignment, allowing for better communication.

    3.5 Break down opportunities into initiatives

    Objective: Break down opportunities into people, process, and technology initiatives.

    1. Split into groups and identify initiatives required to deliver on each opportunity. Document each initiative on sticky notes.
    2. Have each team answer the following questions to identify initiatives for the prioritized opportunities:
      • People: What initiatives are required to manage people, data, and other organizational factors that are impacted by this opportunity?
      • Process: What processes must be created, changed, or removed based on the data?
      • Technology: What systems are required to support this opportunity?
    3. Document findings in the Digital Strategy Workbook.

    Input

    • Opportunities

    Output

    • Opportunity initiatives categorized by people, process and technology

    Materials

    • Digital Strategy Workbook

    Participants

    • Executive team

    Phase 4

    Build a digital transformation roadmap

    • Detail initiatives
    • Build a unified roadmap roadmap

    This phase will walk you through the following activities:

    Build a digital transformation roadmap that captures people, process, and technology initiatives.

    This phase involves the following participants:

    A cross-functional cohort across levels in the organization.

    Outcomes

    • Digital transformation roadmap

    Step 4.1

    Detail initiatives

    Activities

    • Detail initiatives.

    Build a digital transformation roadmap

    This step will walk you through the following activities:

    Detail initiatives for each priority initiative on your horizon.

    This step involves the following participants:

    A cross-functional cohort across levels in the organization.

    Outcomes of this step

    • A roadmap for your digital business strategy.

    Create initiative profiles for each high-priority initiative on your strategy

    this image contains a screenshot of an example initiative profile

    Step 4.2

    Build a roadmap

    Activities

    • Create a roadmap of initiatives.

    Build a digital transformation roadmap

    Info-Tech Insight

    A roadmap that balances growth opportunities with business resilience will transform your organization for long-term success in the digital economy.

    This step will walk you through the following activities:

    Identify timing of initiatives and build a Gantt chart roadmap.

    This step involves the following participants:

    A cross-functional cohort across levels in the organization.

    Outcomes of this step

    • A roadmap for your digital transformation and the journey canvases for each of the prioritized journeys.

    Build a roadmap to visualize your key initiative plan

    Visual representations of data are more compelling than text alone.

    Develop a high-level document that travels with the initiative from inception through executive inquiry, project management, and finally execution.

    A initiative needs to be discrete: able to be conceptualized and discussed as an independent item. Each initiative must have three characteristics:

    • Specific outcome: Describe an explicit change in the people, processes, or technology of the enterprise.
    • Target end date: When the described outcome will be in effect.
    • Owner: Who on the IT team is responsible for executing on the initiative.
    this image contains screenshots of a sample roadmap for supporting hybrid course curricula development through value-driven toolsets and centralized knowledge.

    4.2 Build your roadmap (30 minutes)

    1. For the Gantt chart:
      • Input the Roadmap Start Year date.
      • Change the months and year in the Gantt chart to reflect the same roadmap start year.
      • Populate the planned start and planned end date for the pre-populated list of high-priority initiatives in each category (people, process, and technology).

    Input

    • Initiatives
    • Initiative start & end dates
    • Initiative category

    Output

    • Digital strategy roadmap visual

    Materials

    • Digital Strategy Workbook

    Participants

    • Senior Executive

    Learn more about project portfolio management strategy

    Step 4.3

    Create a refresh strategy

    Activities

    • Refresh your strategy.

    Build a digital transformation roadmap

    Info-Tech Insight

    A digital strategy is a design process, it must be revisited to pressure test and account for changes in the external environment.

    This step will walk you through the following activities:

    Detail a refresh strategy.

    This step involves the following participants:

    A cross-functional cohort across levels in the organization.

    Outcomes of this step

    • Refresh strategy

    Create a refresh strategy

    It is important to dedicate time to your strategy throughout the year. Create a refresh plan to assess for the changing business context and its impact on the digital business strategy. Make sure the regular planning cycle is not the primary trigger for strategy review. Put a process in place to review the strategy and make your organization proactive. Start by examining the changes to the business context and how the effect would trickle downwards. It’s typical for organizations to build a refresh strategy around budget season and hold planning and touch points to accommodate budget approval time.
    Example:

    this image contains an example of a refresh strategy.

    4.3 Create a refresh strategy (30 minutes)

    1. Work with the digital strategy creation team to identify the time frequencies the organization should consider to refresh the digital business strategy. Time frequencies can also be events that trigger a review (i.e. changing business goals). Record the different time frequencies in the Refresh of the Digital Business Strategy slide of the section.
    2. Discuss with the team the different audience members for each time frequency and the scope of the refresh. The scope represents what areas of the digital business strategy need to be re-examined and possibly changed.

    Example:

    Frequency Audience Scope Date
    Annually Executive Leadership Resurvey, review/ validate, update schedule Pre-budget
    Touch Point Executive Leadership Status update, risks/ constraints, priorities Oct 2021
    Every Year (Re-build) Executive Leadership Full planning Jan 2022

    Input

    • Digital Business Strategy

    Output

    • Refresh Strategy

    Materials

    • Digital Business Strategy Presentation Template
    • Collaboration/ Brainstorming Tool (whiteboard, flip chart, digital equivalent)

    Participants

    • Executive Leaders

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    Research Contributors and Experts

    Kenneth McGee

    this is a picture of Research Fellow, Kenneth McGee

    Research Fellow
    Info-Tech Research Group

    Kenneth McGee is a Research Fellow within the CIO practice at Info-Tech Research Group and is focused on IT business and financial management issues, including IT Strategy, IT Budgets and Cost Management, Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A), and Digital Transformation. He also has extensive experience developing radical IT cost reduction and return-to-growth initiatives during and following financial recessions.

    Ken works with CIOs and IT leaders to help establish twenty-first-century IT organizational charters, structures, and responsibilities. Activities include IT organizational design, IT budget creation, chargeback, IT strategy formulation, and determining the business value derived from IT solutions. Ken’s research has specialized in conducting interviews with CEOs of some of the world’s largest corporations. He has also interviewed a US Cabinet member and IT executives at the White

    House. He has been a frequent keynote speaker at industry conventions, client sales kick-off meetings, and IT offsite planning sessions.

    Ken obtained a BA in Cultural Anthropology from Dowling College, Oakdale, NY, and has pursued graduate studies at Polytechnic Institute (now part of NYU University). He has been an adjunct instructor at State University of New York, Westchester Community College.

    Jack Hakimian

    this is a picture of Vice President of the Info-Tech Research Group, Jack Hakimian

    Vice President
    Info-Tech Research Group

    Jack has more than 25 years of technology and management consulting experience. He has served multi-billion dollar organizations in multiple industries including Financial Services and Telecommunications. Jack also served a number of large public sector institutions.

    Prior to joining the Info-Tech Research Group, he worked for leading consulting players such as Accenture, Deloitte, EY, and IBM.

    Jack led digital business strategy engagements as well as corporate strategy and M&A advisory services for clients across North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. He is a seasoned technology consultant who has developed IT strategies and technology roadmaps, led large business transformations, established data governance programs, and managed the deployment of mission-critical CRM and ERP applications.

    He is a frequent speaker and panelist at technology and innovation conferences and events and holds a Master’s degree in Computer Engineering as well as an MBA from the ESCP-EAP European School of Management.

    Bibliography

    Abrams, Karin von. “Global Ecommerce Forecast 2021.” eMarketer, Insider Intelligence, 7 July 2021. Web.

    Christenson, Clayton. The Innovator's Dilemma: When New Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail. Harvard Business School, 1997. Book.

    Drucker, Peter F., and Joseph A. Maciariello. Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Routledge, 2015.

    Eagar, Rick, David Boulton, and Camille Demyttenaere. “The Trends in Megatrends.” Arthur D Little, Prism, no. 2, 2014. Web.

    Enright, Sara, and Allison Taylor. “The Future of Stakeholder Engagement.” The Business of a Better World, October 2016. Web.

    Hatem, Louise, Daniel Ker, and John Mitchell. “A roadmap toward a common framework for measuring the digital economy.” Report for the G20 Digital Economy Task Force, OECD, 2020. Web.

    Kemp, Simon. “Digital 2021 April Statshot Report.” DataReportal, Global Digital Insights, 21 Apr. 2021. Web.

    Larson, Chris. “Disruptive Innovation Theory: 4 Key Concepts.” Business Insights, Harvard Business School, HBS Online, 15 Nov. 2016. Web.

    McCann, Leah. “Barco's Virtual Classroom at UCL: A Case Study for the Future of All University Classrooms?” rAVe, 2 July 2020. Web.

    Mochari, Ilan. “The Startup Buzzword Almost Everyone Uses Incorrectly.” Inc., 19 Nov. 2015. Web.

    Osterwalder, Alexander, et al. Value Proposition Design. Wiley, 2014.

    Reed, Laura. “Artificial Intelligence: Is Your Job at Risk?” Science Node, 9 August 2017.

    Rodeck, David. “Alphabet Soup: Understanding the Shape of a Covid-19 Recession.” Forbes, 8 June 2020. Web.

    Tapscott, Don. Wikinomics. Atlantic Books, 2014.

    Taylor, Paul. “Don't Be A Dodo: Adapt to the Digital Economy.” Forbes, 27 Aug. 2015. Web.

    The Business Research Company. "Wholesale Global Market Report 2021: COVID-19 Impact and Recovery to 2030." Research and Markets, January 2021. Press Release.

    “Topic 1: Megatrends and Trends.” BeFore, 11 October 2018.

    “Updated Digital Economy Estimates – June 2021.” Bureau of Economic Analysis, June 2021. Web.

    Williamson, J. N. The Leader Manager. John Wiley & Sons, 1984.

    Data and Analytics Trends 2023

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    Data is a unique resource that keeps growing, presenting opportunities along the way. CIOs and IT leaders can use rapidly evolving technologies and capabilities to harness this data and its value for the organization.

    IT leaders must prepare their teams and operations with the right knowledge, capabilities, and strategies to make sure they remain competitive in 2023 and beyond. Nine trends that expand on the three common Vs of data – volume, velocity, and variety – can help guide the way.

    Focus on trends that align with your opportunities and challenges

    The path to becoming more competitive in a data-driven economy differs from one company to the next. IT leaders should use the data and analytics trends that align most with their organizational goals and can lead to positive business outcomes.

    1. Prioritize your investments: Conduct market analysis and prioritize the data and analytics investments that will be critical to your business.
    2. Build a robust strategy: Identify a clear path between your data vision and business outcomes to build a strategy that’s a good fit for your organization.
    3. Inspire practical innovation: Follow a pragmatic approach to implementing trends that range from data gravity and democratization to data monetization and augmented analytics.

    Data and Analytics Trends 2023 Research & Tools

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

    1. Data and Analytics Trends Report 2023 – A report that explores nine data use cases for emerging technologies that can improve on capabilities needed to compete in the data-driven economy.

    Data technologies are rapidly evolving. Understanding data's art of the possible is critical. However, to adapt to these upcoming data trends, a solid data management foundation is required. This report explores nine data trends based on the proven framework of data V's: Volume, Velocity, Variety, Veracity, Value, Virtue, Visualization, Virality, and Viscosity.

    • Data and Analytics Trends Report 2023
    [infographic]

    Further reading

    Data and Analytics Trends Report 2023

    SOONER OR LATER, YOU WILL BE IN THE DATA BUSINESS!

    Nine Data Trends for 2023

    In this report, we explore nine data use cases for emerging technologies that can improve on capabilities needed to compete in the data-driven economy. Use cases combine emerging data trends and modernization of existing capabilities.

    1. VOLUME
      • Data Gravity
    2. VELOCITY
    • Democratizing Real-Time Data
  • VARIETY
    • Augmented Data Management
  • VERACITY
    • Identity Authenticity
  • VALUE
    • Data Monetization
  • VIRTUE
    • Adaptive Data Governance
  • VISUALIZATION
    • AI-Driven Storytelling & Augmented Analytics
  • VIRALITY
    • Data Marketplace
  • VISCOSITY
    • DevOps – DataOps – XOps

    VOLUME

    Data Gravity

    Trend 01 Demand for storage and bandwidth continues to grow

    When organizations begin to prioritize data, they first consider the sheer volume of data, which will influence data system design. Your data systems must consider the existing and growing volume of data by assessing industry initiatives such as digital transformation, Industry 4.0, IoT, consumer digital footprint, etc.

    The largest data center in the world is a citadel in Reno, Nevada, that stretches over 7.2 million square feet!

    Source: Cloudwards, 2022

    IoT devices will generate 79.4 zettabytes of data
    by 2025.

    Source: IDC, 2019

    There were about 97
    zettabytes of data generated worldwide in 2022.

    Source: “Volume of Data,” Statista, 2022

    VOLUME

    Data Gravity

    Data attracts more data and an ecosystem of applications and services

    SharePoint, OneDrive, Google Drive, and Dropbox offer APIs and integration opportunities for developers to enhance their products.

    Social media platforms thought about this early by allowing for an ecosystem of filters, apps, games, and effects that engage their users with little to no additional effort from internal resources.

    The image contains four logos. SharePoint, OneDrive, Google Drive, and Dropbox.

    VOLUME

    Data Gravity

    Focus on data gravity and avoid cloud repatriation

    Data gravity is the tendency of data to attract applications, services, and other data. A growing number of cloud migration decisions will be made based on the data gravity concept. It will become increasingly important in data strategies, with failure potentially resulting in costly cloud repatriations.

    Emerging technologies and capabilities:

    Data Lakehouse, Data Mesh, Data Fabric, Hybrid Data, Cloud Data, Edge Computing

    47%

    Centralized cloud storage going down in 2 years

    		22%
    25%

    Hybrid storage (centralized + edge) going up in 2 years

    		47%

    Source: CIO, 2022

    VOLUME

    Data Gravity

    What worked for terabytes is ineffective for petabytes

    When compared to on-premises infrastructure, cloud computing is less expensive and easier to implement. However, poor data replication and data gravity can significantly increase cloud costs to the point of failure. Data gravity will help organizations make better cloud migration decisions.

    It is also critical to recognize changes in the industry landscape. The goal of data processing and analytics is to generate the right data for users to act on. In most cases, the user is a human being, but in the case of autonomous driving (AD), the car takes on the role of the user (DXC Technology).

    To avoid cloud repatriation, it will become prudent for all organizations to consider data gravity and the timing of cloud migration.

    The image contains a diagram on data gravity.

    VELOCITY

    Democratizing Real-Time Data

    Trend 02 Real-time analytics presents an important differentiator

    The velocity element of data can be assessed from two standpoints: the speed at which data is being generated and how fast the organization needs to respond to the incoming information through capture, analysis, and use. Traditionally data was processed in a batch format (all at once or in incremental nightly data loads). There is a growing demand to process data continuously using streaming data-processing techniques.

    Emerging technologies and capabilities:

    Edge Computing

    Google announced it has a quantum computer that is 100 million times faster than any classical computer in its lab.

    Source: Science Alert, 2015

    The number of qubits in quantum computers has been increasing dramatically, from 2 qubits in 1998 to 128 qubits in 2019.

    Source: Statista, 2019

    IBM released a 433-qubit quantum chip named Osprey in 2022 and expects to surpass 1,000 qubits with its next chip, Condor, in 2023.

    Source: Nature, 2023

    VELOCITY

    Democratizing Real-Time Data

    Make data accessible to everyone in real time

    • 90% of an organization’s data is replicated or redundant.
    • Build API and web services that allow for live access to data.
    • Most social media platforms, like Twitter and Facebook, have APIs that offer access to incredible amounts of data and insights.

    VELOCITY

    Democratizing Real-Time Data

    Trend in Data Velocity

    Data democratization means data is widely accessible to all stakeholders without bottlenecks or barriers. Success in data democratization comes with ubiquitous real-time analytics. Google highlights a need to address democratization in two different frames:

    1. Democratizing stream analytics for all businesses to ensure real-time data at the company level.
    2. Democratizing stream analytics for all personas and the ability of all users to generate real-time insights.

    Emerging technologies and capabilities:

    Data Lakehouse, Streaming API Ecosystem, Industry 4.0, Zero-Copy Cloning

    Nearly 70% of all new vehicles globally will be connected to the internet by 2023.

    Source: “Connected light-duty vehicles,” Statista, 2022

    VELOCITY

    Democratizing Real-Time Data

    Enable real-time processing with API

    In the past, data democratization has largely translated into a free data set and open data portals. This has allowed the government to freely share data with the public. Also, the data science community has embraced the availability of large data sets such as weather data, stock data, etc. In the future, more focus will be on the combination of IoT and steaming analytics, which will provide better responsiveness and agility.

    Many researchers, media companies, and organizations now have easy access to the Twitter/Facebook API platform to study various aspects of human behavior and sentiments. Large technology companies have already democratized their data using real-time APIs.

    Thousands of sources for open data are available at your local municipalities alone.

    6G will push Wi-Fi connectivity to 1 terabyte per second! This is expected to become commercially available by 2030.

    VARIETY

    Augmented Data Management

    Trend 03 Need to manage unstructured data

    The variety of data types is increasingly diverse. Structured data often comes from relational databases, while unstructured data comes from several sources such as photos, video, text documents, cell phones, etc. The variety of data is where technology can drive business value. However, unstructured data also poses a risk, especially for external data.

    The number of IoT devices could rise to 30.9 billion by 2025.

    Source: “IoT and Non-IoT Connections Worldwide,” Statista, 2022

    The global edge computing market is expected to reach $250.6 billion by 2024.

    Source: “Edge Computing,” Statista, 2022

    Genomics research is expected to generate between 2 and 40 exabytes of data within the next decade.

    Source: NIH, 2022

    VARIETY

    Augmented Data Management

    Employ AI to automate data management

    New tools will enhance many aspects of data management:

    • Data preparation, integration, cataloging, and quality
    • Metadata management
    • Master data management

    Enabling AI-assisted decision-making tools

    The image contains logos of the AI-assisted decision-making tools. Informatica, collibra, OCTOPAI.

    VARIETY

    Augmented Data Management

    Trend in Data Variety

    Augmented data management will enhance or automate data management capabilities by leveraging AI and related advanced techniques. It is quite possible to leverage existing data management tools and techniques, but most experts have recognized that more work and advanced patterns are needed to solve many complex data problems.

    Emerging technologies and capabilities:

    Data Factory, Data Mesh, Data Fabric, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning

    VARIETY

    Augmented Data Management

    Data Fabric vs. Data Mesh: The Data Journey continues at an accelerated pace

    Data Fabric

    Data Mesh

    Data fabric is an architecture that facilitates the end-to-end integration of various data pipelines and cloud environments using intelligent and automated systems. It’s a data integration pattern to unify disparate data systems, embed governance, strengthen security and privacy measures, and provide more data accessibility to workers and particularly to business users.

    The data mesh architecture is an approach that aligns data sources by business domains, or functions, with data owners. With data ownership decentralization, data owners can create data products for their respective domains, meaning data consumers, both data scientists and business users, can use a combination of these data products for data analytics and data science.

    More Unstructured Data

    95% of businesses cite the need to manage unstructured data as a problem for their business.

    VERACITY

    Identity Authenticity

    Trend 04 Veracity of data is a true test of your data capabilities

    Data veracity is defined as the accuracy or truthfulness of a data set. More and more data is created in semi-structured and unstructured formats and originates from largely uncontrolled sources (e.g. social media platforms, external sources). The reliability and quality of the data being integrated should be a top concern. The veracity of data is imperative when looking to use data for predictive purposes. For example, energy companies rely heavily on weather patterns to optimize their service outputs, but weather patterns have an element of unpredictability.

    Data quality affects overall labor productivity by as much as 20%, and 30% of operating expenses are due to insufficient data.

    Source: Pragmatic Works, 2017

    Bad data costs up to
    15% to 25% of revenue.

    Source: MIT Sloan Management Review, 2017

    VERACITY

    Identity Authenticity

    Veracity of data is a true test of your data capabilities

    • Stop creating your own identity architectures and instead integrate a tried-and-true platform.
    • Aim for a single source of truth for digital identity.
    • Establish data governance that can withstand scrutiny.
    • Imagine a day in the future where verified accounts on social media platforms are available.
    • Zero-trust architecture should be used.

    VERACITY

    Identity Authenticity

    Trend in Data Veracity

    Veracity is a concept deeply linked to identity. As the value of the data increases, a greater degree of veracity is required: We must provide more proof to open a bank account than to make friends on Facebook. As a result, there is more trust in bank data than in Facebook data. There is also a growing need to protect marginalized communities.

    Emerging technologies and capabilities:

    Zero Trust, Blockchain, Data Governance, IoT, Cybersecurity

    The image contains a screenshot of Info-Tech's blueprint slide on Zero Trust.

    VERACITY

    Identity Authenticity

    The identity discussion is no longer limited to people or organizations. The development of new technologies, such as the IoT phenomenon, will lead to an explosion of objects, from refrigerators to shipping containers, coming online as well. If all these entities start communicating with each other, standards will be needed to establish who or what they are.

    IDENTITY
    IS

    Age

    Gender

    Address

    Fingerprint

    Face

    Voice

    Irises

    IDENTITY
    KNOWS

    Password

    Passphrase

    PIN

    Sequence

    IDENTITY
    HAS

    Access badge

    Smartcard

    Security token

    Mobile phone

    ID document

    IDENTITY
    DOES

    Motor skills

    Handwriting

    Gestures

    Keystrokes

    Applications use

    The IoT market is expected to grow 18% to 14.4 billion in 2022 and 27 billion by 2025.

    Source: IoT Analytics, 2022

    VALUE

    Data Monetization

    Trend 05 Not Many organization know the true value of their data

    Data can be valuable if used effectively or dangerous if mishandled. The rise of the data economy has created significant opportunities but also has its challenges. It has become urgent to understand the value of data, which may vary for stakeholders based on their business model and strategy. Organizations first need to understand ownership of their data by establishing a data strategy, then they must improve data maturity by developing a deeper understanding of data value.

    94% of enterprises say data is essential to business growth.

    Source: Find stack, 2021

    VALUE

    Data Monetization

    Start developing your data business

    • Blockbuster ran its business well, but Netflix transformed the video rental industry overnight!
    • Big players with data are catching up fast.
    • You don’t have to be a giant to monetize data.
    • Data monetization is probably closer than you think.
    • You simply need to find it, catalog it, and deliver it.

    The image contains logos of companies related to data monetization as described in the text above. The companies are Amazon Prime, Netflix, Disney Plus, Blockbuster, and Apple TV.

    VALUE

    Data Monetization

    Trend in Data Value

    Data monetization is the transformation of data into financial value. However, this does not imply selling data alone. Monetary value is produced by using data to improve and upgrade existing and new products and services. Data monetization demands an organization-wide strategy for value development.

    Emerging technologies and capabilities:

    Data Strategy, Data Monetization Strategy, Data Products

    Netflix uses big data to save $1 billion per year on customer retention.

    Source: Logidots, 2021

    VALUE

    Data Monetization

    Data is a strategic asset

    Data is beyond currency, assets, or commodities and needs to be a category
    of its own.

    • Data always outlives people, processes, and technology. They all come and go while data remains.
    • Oil is a limited resource. Data is not. Unlike oil, data is likely to grow over time.
    • Data is likely to outlast all other current popular financial instruments, including currency, assets, or commodities.
    • Data is used internally and externally and can easily be replicated or combined.

    Data monetization is currently in the speculative territory, which is unacceptable. It should instead be guided by sound data management theory.

    VIRTUE

    Adaptive Data Governance

    Trend 06 Five Core Virtues: Resilience, Humility, Grit, Liberal Education, Empathy (Forbes, 2020)

    We have become more and more dependent on data, analytics, and organizational protection policies. Data virtue is about leveraging data securely and ethically. This topic has become more critical with the advent of GDPR, the right to be forgotten, and related regulations. Data governance, which seeks to establish an oversight framework that manages the creation, acquisition, integrity, security, compliance, and quality of data, is essential for any organization that makes decisions about data.

    Cultural obstacles are the greatest barrier to becoming data-driven, according to 91.9% of executives.

    Source: Harvard Business Review, 2022

    Fifty million Facebook profiles were harvested for Cambridge Analytica in a major data breach.

    Source: The Guardian, 2018

    VIRTUE

    Adaptive Data Governance

    Encourage noninvasive and automated data governance

    • Data governance affects the entire organization, not just data.
    • The old model for data governance was slow and clumsy.
    • Adaptive data governance encourages faster decision making and a more collaborative approach to governance.
    • Agile data governance allows for faster and more flexible decision making.
    • Automated data governance will simplify execution across the organization.
    • It is great for compliance, quality, impact tracking, and cross-referencing and offers independence to data users.

    VIRTUE

    Adaptive Data Governance

    Trend in Data Virtue

    Adaptive data governance encourages a flexible approach that allows an organization to employ multiple data governance strategies depending on changing business situations. The other aspect of adaptive data governance is moving away from manual (and often slow) data governance and toward aggressive automation.

    Emerging technologies and capabilities:

    AI-Powered Data Catalog and Metadata Management,
    Automated Data Policy Enforcement

    “To effectively meet the needs and velocity of digital organizations and modern practices, IT governance must be embedded and automated where possible to drive success and value.”

    Source: Valence Howden, Info-Tech Research Group

    “Research reveals that the combination of AI and big data technologies can automate almost 80% of all physical work, 70% of data processing, and 64% of data collection tasks.”

    Source: Forbes, 2021

    VIRTUE

    Data Governance Automation

    Simple and easy Data Governance

    Tools are not the ultimate answer to implementing data governance. You will still need to secure stakeholders' buy-in and engagement in the data process. Data governance automation should be about simplifying the execution of roles and responsibilities.

    “When you can see where your data governance strategy can be improved, it’s time to put in place automation that help to streamline processes.”

    Source: Nintex, 2021

    VISUALIZATION

    AI-Driven Storytelling & Augmented Analytics

    Trend 07 Automated and augmented data storytelling is not that far away

    Today, data storytelling is led by the user. It’s the manual practice of combining narrative with data to deliver insights in a compelling form to assist decision makers in engaging with data and analytics. A story backed by data is more easily consumed and understood than a dashboard, which can be overwhelming. However, manual data storytelling has some major shortcomings.

    Problem # 1: Telling stories on more than just the insights noticed by people

    Problem # 2: Poor data literacy and the limitations of manual self-service

    Problem # 3: Scaling data storytelling across the business

    VISUALIZATION

    AI-Driven Storytelling & Augmented Analytics

    Use AI to enhance data storytelling

    • Tableau, Power BI, and many other applications already use
      AI-driven analytics.
    • Power BI and SharePoint can use AI to generate visuals for any SharePoint list in a matter of seconds.

    VISUALIZATION

    AI-Driven Storytelling & Augmented Analytics

    Trend in Data Visualization

    AI and natural language processing will drive future visualization and data storytelling. These tools and techniques are improving rapidly and are now designed in a streamlined way to guide people in understanding what their data means and how to act on it instead of expecting them to do self-service analysis with dashboards and charts and know what to do next. Ultimately, being able to understand how to translate emotion, tropes, personal interpretation, and experience and how to tell what’s most relevant to each user is the next frontier for augmented and automated analytics

    Emerging technologies and capabilities:

    AI-Powered Data Catalog and Metadata Management,
    Automated Data Policy Enforcement

    VISUALIZATION

    Data Storytelling

    Augmented data storytelling is not that far away

    Emotions are a cornerstone of human intelligence and decision making. Mastering the art of storytelling is not easy.

    Industry experts predict the combination of data storytelling with augmented and automated techniques; these capabilities are more than capable of generating and automating parts of a data story’s creation for end users.

    The next challenge for AI is translating emotion, tropes, personal interpretation, and experience into what is most essential to end users.

    Source: Yellowfin, 2021

    VIRALITY

    Data Marketplace

    Trend 08 Missing data marketplace

    Data virality measures data spread and popularity. However, for data virality to occur, an ecosystem comparable to that of traditional or modern digital marketplaces is required. Organizations must reevaluate their data strategies to ensure investment in appropriate data domains by understanding data virality. Data virality is the exact opposite of dark data.

    Dark data is “all the information companies collect in their regular business processes, don’t use, have no plans to use, but will never throw out.”

    Source: Forbes, 2019

    VIRALITY

    Data Marketplace

    Make data easily accessible

    • Making data accessible to a broader audience is the key to successful virality.
    • Data marketplaces provide a location for you to make your data public.
    • Why do this? Contributing to public data marketplaces builds credibility, just like contributing to public GitHub projects.
    • Big players like Microsoft, Amazon, and Snowflake already do this!
    • Snowflake introduced zero-copy cloning, which allows users to interact with source data without compromising the integrity of the original source.

    The image contains the logos of Microsoft, Amazon, and Snowflake.

    VIRALITY

    Data Marketplace

    Trend in Data Virality

    The data marketplace can be defined as a dynamic marketplace where users decide what has the most value. Companies can gauge which data is most popular based on usage and decide where to invest. Users can shop for data products within the marketplace and then join these products with other ones they’ve created to launch truly powerful data-driven projects.

    Emerging technologies and capabilities:

    AI-Powered Data Catalog and Metadata Management,
    Automated Data Policy Enforcement

    The image contains a screenshot of Info-Tech's Data-as-a-Service (DaaS) Framework.

    “Data is like garbage. You’d better know what you are going to do with it before you collect it.”

    – Mark Twain

    VIRALITY

    Data Marketplace

    Journey from siloed data platforms to dynamic data marketplaces

    Data remains a complex topic due to many missing foundational components and infrastructure. Interoperability, security, quality, discoverability, speed, and ease are some of those missing foundational components that most organizations face daily.

    Data lacks an ecosystem that is comparable to those of traditional assets or commodities. Data must be available in open or closed data marketplaces to measure its value. These data marketplaces are still in their infancy.

    “Data markets are an important component of the data economy that could unleash the full potential of data generated by the digital economy and human activity in general.”

    Source: ITU Journal, 2018

    VISCOSITY

    DevOps – DataOps – XOps

    Trend 09 Increase efficiency by removing bottlenecks

    Compared to water, a fluid with a high viscosity flows more slowly, like honey. Data viscosity measures the resistance to flow in a volume of data. The data resistance may come from other Vs (variety, velocity, etc.).

    VISCOSITY

    DevOps – DataOps – XOps

    Increase efficiency by removing bottlenecks

    Consider XOps for a second. It makes no difference what X is. What's important is matching operational requirements to enterprise capabilities.

    • For example, Operations must meet the demands of Sales – hence SalesOps
      or S&Op.
    • Development resources must meet the demands of Operations – hence DevOps.
    • Finally, Data must also meet the demand of Operations.

    These Operations guys are demanding!!

    VISCOSITY

    DevOps – DataOps – XOps

    Trend in Data Viscosity

    The merger of development (Dev) and IT Operations (Ops) started in software development with the concept of DevOps. Since then, new Ops terms have formed rapidly (AIOps, MLOps, ModelOps, PlatformOps, SalesOps, SecOps, etc.). All these methodologies come from Lean manufacturing principles, which seek to identify waste by focusing on eliminating errors, cycle time, collaboration, and measurement. Buzzwords are distractions, and the focus must be on the underlying goals and principles. XOps goals should include the elimination of errors and improving efficiencies.

    Emerging technologies and capabilities:

    Collaborative Data Management, Automation Tools

    VISCOSITY

    DataOps → Data Observability

    Data observability, a subcomponent of DataOps, is a set of technical practices, cultural norms, and architecture that enables low error rates. Data observability focuses on error rates instead of only measuring data quality at a single point in time.

    Data Quality Dimensions

    • Uniqueness
    • Timeliness
    • Validity
    • Accuracy
    • Consistency
    		→

    ERROR RATES

    Lateness: Missing Your SLA

    System Processing Issues

    Code Change That Broke Something

    Data Quality

    What’s next? Go beyond the buzzwords.

    Avoid following trends solely for the sake of following them. It is critical to comprehend the concept and apply it to your industry. Every industry has its own set of problems and opportunities.

    Highlight the data trends (or lack thereof) that have been most beneficial to you in your organizations. Follow Info-Tech’s approach to building a data practice and platform to develop your data capabilities through the establishment of data goals.

    The image contains a screenshot of Info-Tech's Build Your Data Pracrice and Platform.

    Research Authors

    Rajesh Parab Chris Dyck

    Rajesh Parab

    Director, Research & Advisory

    Data and Analytics

    Chris Dyck

    Research Lead

    Data and Analytics

    “Data technologies are rapidly evolving. Understanding what’s possible is critical. Adapting to these upcoming data trends requires a solid data management foundation.”

    – Rajesh Parab

    Contributing Experts

    Carlos Thomas John Walsh

    Carlos Thomas

    Executive Counselor

    Info-Tech Research Group

    John Walsh

    Executive Counselor

    Info-Tech Research Group

    Bibliography

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    Brown, Annie. “Utilizing AI And Big Data To Reduce Costs And Increase Profits In Departments Across An Organization.” Forbes, 13 April 2021.
    Accessed Oct. 2022.
    Burciaga, Aaron. “Five Core Virtues For Data Science And Artificial Intelligence.” Forbes, 27 Feb. 2020. Accessed Aug. 2022.
    Cadwalladr, Carole, and Emma Graham-Harrison. “Revealed: 50 million Facebook profiles harvested for Cambridge Analytica in major data breach.”
    The Guardian, 17 March 2018. Accessed Aug. 2022.
    Carlier, Mathilde. “Connected light-duty vehicles as a share of total vehicles in 2023.” Statista, 31 Mar. 2021. Accessed Oct. 2022.
    Carter, Rebekah. “The Ultimate List of Big Data Statistics for 2022.” Findstack, 22 May 2021. Accessed Oct. 2022.
    Castelvecchi, Davide. “Underdog technologies gain ground in quantum-computing race.” Nature, 6 Nov. 2023. Accessed Feb. 2023.
    Clark-Jones, Anthony, et al. “Digital Identity:” UBS, 2016. Accessed Aug 2022.
    “The Cost of Bad Data – Infographic.” Pragmatic Works, 25 May 2017. Accessed Oct. 2022.
    Demchenko, Yuri, et al. “Data as Economic Goods: Definitions, Properties, Challenges, Enabling Technologies for Future Data Markets.“ ITU Journal: ICT Discoveries, Special Issue, no. 2, vol. 23, Nov. 2018. Accessed Aug 2022.
    Feldman, Sarah. ”20 Years of Quantum Computing Growth.” Statista, 6 May 2019. Accessed Oct. 2022.
    “Genomic Data Science.” NIH, National Human Genome Research Institute, 5 April 2022. Accessed Oct. 2022.

    Bibliography

    Hasbe, Sudhir, and Ryan Lippert. “The democratization of data and insights: making real-time analytics ubiquitous.” Google Cloud, 15 Jan. 2021.
    Accessed Aug. 2022.
    Helmenstine, Anne. “Viscosity Definition and Examples.” Science Notes, 3 Aug. 2021. Accessed Aug. 2022.
    “How data storytelling and augmented analytics are shaping the future of BI together.” Yellowfin, 19 Aug. 2021. Accessed Aug. 2022.
    “How Netflix Saves $1B Annually using AI?” Logidots, 24 Sept. 2021. Accessed Oct. 2022
    Hui, Kenneth. “The AWS Love/Hate Relationship with Data Gravity.” Cloud Architect Musings, 30 Jan. 2017. Accessed Aug 2022.
    ICD. “The Growth in Connected IoT Devices Is Expected to Generate 79.4ZB of Data in 2025, According to a New IDC Forecast.” Business Wire, 18 June 2019. Accessed Oct 2022.
    Internet of Things (IoT) and non-IoT active device connections worldwide from 2010 to 2025” Statista, 27 Nov. 2022. Accessed Nov. 2022.
    Koch, Gunter. “The critical role of data management for autonomous driving development.” DXC Technology, 2021. Accessed Aug. 2022.
    Morris, John. “The Pull of Data Gravity.” CIO, 23 Feb. 2022. Accessed Aug. 2022.
    Nield, David. “Google's Quantum Computer Is 100 Million Times Faster Than Your Laptop.” ScienceAlert, 9 Dec. 2015. Accessed Oct. 2022.
    Redman, Thomas C. “Seizing Opportunity in Data Quality.” MIT Sloan Management Review, 27 Nov. 2017. Accessed Oct. 2022.
    Segovia Domingo, Ana I., and Álvaro Martín Enríquez. “Digital Identity: the current state of affairs.” BBVA Research, 2018. Accessed Aug. 2022.

    Bibliography

    “State of IoT 2022: Number of connected IoT devices growing 18% to 14.4 billion globally.” IOT Analytics, 18 May 2022. Accessed. 14 Nov. 2022.
    Strod, Eran. “Data Observability and Monitoring with DataOps.” DataKitchen, 10 May 2021. Accessed Aug. 2022.
    Sujay Vailshery, Lionel. “Edge computing market value worldwide 2019-2025.” Statista, 25 Feb. 2022. Accessed Oct 2022.
    Sujay Vailshery, Lionel. “IoT and non-IoT connections worldwide 2010-2025.” Statista, 6 Sept. 2022. Accessed Oct. 2022.
    Sumina, Vladimir. “26 Cloud Computing Statistics, Facts & Trends for 2022.” Cloudwards, 7 June 2022. Accessed Oct. 2022.
    Taulli, Tom. “What You Need To Know About Dark Data.” Forbes, 27 Oct. 2019. Accessed Oct. 2022.
    Taylor, Linnet. “What is data justice? The case for connecting digital rights and freedoms globally.“ Big Data & Society, July-Dec 2017. Accessed Aug 2022.
    “Twitter: Data Collection With API Research Paper.” IvyPanda, 28 April 2022. Accessed Aug. 2022.
    “Using governance automation to reduce data risk.” Nintex, 15 Nov. 2021. Accessed Oct. 2022
    “Volume of data/information created, captured, copied, and consumed worldwide from 2010 to 2020, with forecasts from 2021 to 2025.” Statista, 8 Sept. 2022. Accessed Oct 2022.
    Wang, R. “Monday's Musings: Beyond The Three V's of Big Data – Viscosity and Virality.” Forbes, 27 Feb. 2012. Accessed Aug 2022.
    “What is a data fabric?” IBM, n.d. Accessed Aug 2022.
    Yego, Kip. “Augmented data management: Data fabric versus data mesh.” IBM, 27 April 2022. Accessed Aug 2022.

    Identify and Manage Reputational Risk Impacts on Your Organization

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    Access to information about companies is more available to consumers than ever. Organizations must implement mechanisms to monitor and manage how information is perceived to avoid potentially disastrous consequences to their brand reputation.

    A negative event could impact your organization's reputation at any given time. Make sure you understand where such events may come from and have a plan to manage the inevitable consequences.

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    • Identifying and managing a vendor’s potential impact on your organization’s reputation requires efforts from multiple people in the organization across several functions. Those people all need coaching on the potential changes in the market and how social media can affect your brand.
    • Organizational leadership is often caught unaware during crises, and their response plans lack the flexibility to adjust to significant market upheavals.

    Impact and Result

    • Vendor management practices educate organizations on the different potential risks to vendors in your market and suggest creative and alternative ways to avoid and help manage them.
    • Prioritize and classify your vendors with quantifiable, standardized rankings.
    • Prioritize focus on your high-risk vendors.
    • Standardize your processes for identifying and monitoring vendor risks to manage potential impacts on your reputation and brand with our Reputational Risk Impact Tool.

    Identify and Manage Reputational Risk Impacts on Your Organization Research & Tools

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

    1. Identify and Manage Reputational Risk Impacts on Your Organization Deck – Use the research to better understand the negative impacts of vendor actions on your brand reputation.

    Use this research to identify and quantify the potential reputational impacts caused by vendors. Use Info-Tech's approach to look at the reputational impact from various perspectives to better prepare for issues that may arise.

    • Identify and Manage Reputational Risk Impacts on Your Organization Storyboard

    2. Reputational Risk Impact Tool – Use this tool to help identify and quantify the reputational impacts of negative vendor actions.

    By playing the “what if” game and asking probing questions to draw out – or eliminate - possible negative outcomes, everyone involved adds their insight into parts of the organization to gather a comprehensive picture of potential impacts.

    • Reputational Risk Impact Tool
    [infographic]

    Further reading

    Identify and Manage Reputational Risk Impacts on Your Organization

    Brand reputation is the most valuable asset an organization can protect.

    Analyst Perspective

    Organizations must diligently assess and protect their reputations, both in the market and internally.

    Social media, unprecedented access to good and bad information, and consumer reliance on others’ online opinions force organizations to dedicate more resources to protecting their brand reputation than ever before. Perceptions matter, and you should monitor and protect the perception of your organization with as much rigor as possible to ensure your brand remains recognizable and trusted.

    Photo of Frank Sewell, Research Director, Vendor Management, Info-Tech Research Group.

    Frank Sewell
    Research Director, Vendor Management
    Info-Tech Research Group

    Executive Summary

    Your Challenge

    Access to information about companies is more available to consumers than ever. A negative event could impact your organizational reputation at any time. As a result, organizations must implement mechanisms to monitor and manage how information is perceived to avoid potentially disastrous consequences to their brand reputation.

    Make sure you understand where negative events may come from and have a plan to manage the inevitable consequences.

    		 Common Obstacles

    Identifying and managing a vendor’s potential impact on your organization’s reputation requires efforts from multiple people in the organization across several functions. Those people all need coaching on the potential changes in the market and how social media can affect your brand.

    Organizational leadership is often caught unaware during crises, and their response plans lack the flexibility to adjust to significant market upheavals.

    		 Info-Tech’s Approach

    Vendor management practices educate organizations on the different potential risks to vendors in your market and suggest creative and alternative ways to avoid and help manage them.

    Prioritize and classify your vendors with quantifiable, standardized rankings.

    Prioritize focus on your high-risk vendors.

    Standardize your processes for identifying and monitoring vendor risks to manage potential impacts on your reputation and brand with our Reputational Risk Impact Tool.

    Info-Tech Insight

    Organizations must evolve their risk assessments to be more adaptive to respond to rapid changes in online media. Ongoing monitoring of social media and the vendors tied to their company is imperative to achieving success and avoiding reputational disasters.

    Info-Tech’s multi-blueprint series on vendor risk assessment

    There are many individual components of vendor risk beyond cybersecurity.

    Cube with each multiple colors on each face, similar to a Rubix cube, and individual components of vendor risk branching off of it: 'Financial', 'Reputational', 'Operational', 'Strategic', 'Security', and 'Regulatory & Compliance'.

    This series will focus on the individual components of vendor risk and how vendor management practices can facilitate organizations’ understanding of those risks.

    Out of scope:
    This series will not tackle risk governance, determining overall risk tolerance and appetite, or quantifying inherent risk.

    Reputational risk impacts

    Potential losses to the organization due to risks to its reputation and brand

    In this blueprint, we’ll explore reputational risks (risks to the brand reputation of the organization) and their impacts.

    Identify potentially negative events to assess the overall impact on your organization and implement adaptive measures to respond and correct.

    Cube with each multiple colors on each face, similar to a Rubix cube, and the vendor risk component 'Reputational' highlighted.

    Protect your most valuable asset: your brand

    25%

    of a company’s market value is due to reputation (Transmission Private, 2021)

    94%

    of consumers say that a bad review has convinced them to avoid a business (ReviewTrackers, 2022)

    14 hours

    is the average time it takes for a false claim to be corrected on social media (Risk Analysis, 2018)
    Image of an umbrella covering the word 'BRAND' and three arrows approaching from above.

    What is brand recognition?

    And the cost of rebranding

    “Brand recognition is the ability of consumers to recognize an identifying characteristic of one company versus a competitor.” (Investopedia)

    “Most trademark valuation is based directly on its projected future earning power, based on income history. For a new brand with no history, evaluators must apply experience and common sense to predict the brand's earning potential. They can also use feedback from industry experts, market surveys, and other studies.” (UpCounsel)

    The cost of rebranding for small to medium businesses is about 10 to 20% of the recommended overall marketing budget and can take six to eight months (Ignyte).

    		 Stock image of a house with a money sign chimney.

    "All we are at our core is our reputation and our brand, and they are intertwined." (Phil Bode, Principal Research Director, Info-Tech Research Group)

    What your vendor associations say about you

    Arrows of multiple colors coalescing in an Earth labelled 'Your Brand', and then a red arrow that reads 'Reputation' points to the terms on the right.

    Bad Customer Reviews

    Breach of Data

    Poor Security Posture

    Negative News Articles

    Public Lawsuits

    Poor Performance

    How a major vendor protects its brand

    An ideal state
    • There is a dedicated brand protection department.
    • All employees are educated annually on brand protection policies and procedures.
    • Brand protection is tied to cybersecurity.
    • The organization actively monitors its brand and reputation through various media formats.
    • The organization has criteria for assessing x-party vendors and holds them accountable through ongoing monitoring and validation of their activities.

    Brand Protection
    Done Right

    Sticker for a '5 Star Rating'.

    Never underestimate the power of local media on your profits

    Info-Tech Insight

    Keep in mind that too much exposure to media can be a negative in that it heightens the awareness of your organization to outside actors. If you do go through a period of increased exposure, make sure to advance your monitoring practices and vigilance.

    Story: Restaurant data breach

    Losing customer faith

    A popular local restaurant’s point of service (POS) machines were breached and the credit card data of their customers over a two-week period was stolen. The restaurant did the right thing: they privately notified the affected people, helped them set up credit monitoring services, and replaced their compromised POS system.

    Unfortunately, the local newspaper got wind of the breach. It published the story, leaving out that the restaurant had already notified affected customers and had replaced their POS machines.

    In response, the restaurant launched a campaign in the local paper and on social media to repair their reputation in the community and reassure people that they could safely transact at their business.

    For at least a month, the restaurant experienced a drastic decrease in revenue as customers either refused to come in to eat or paid only in cash. During this same period the restaurant was spending outside their budget on the advertising.
    Broken trust.

    Story: Monitor your subcontractors

    Trust but verify

    A successful general contractor with a reputation for fairness in their dealings needed a specialist to perform some expert carpentry work for a few of their clients.

    The contractor gave the specialist the clients’ contact information and trusted them to arrange the work.

    Weeks later, the contractor checked in with the clients and received a ton of negative feedback:

    • The specialist called them once and never called back.
    • The specialist refused to do the work as described and wanted to charge extra.
    • The specialist performed work to “fix” the issue but cut corners to lessen their costs.

    As a result, the contractor took extreme measures to regain the clients’ confidence and trust and lost other opportunities in the process.

    		 Stock image of a sad construction site supervisor.

    You work hard for your reputation. Don’t let others ruin it.

    Don’t forget to look within as well as without

    Stock image of a frustrated desk worker.

    Story: Internal reputation is vital

    Trust works both ways

    An organization’s relatively new IT and InfoSec department leadership have been upgrading the organization's systems and policies as fast as resources allow when the organization encounters a major breach of security.

    Trust in the developing IT and InfoSec departments' leadership wanes throughout the organization as people search for the root cause and blame the systems. This degradation of trust limits the effectiveness of the newly implemented process, procedures, and tools of the departments.

    The new leaders' abilities are called into question, and they must now rigorously defend and justify their decisions and positions to the executives and board.

    It will be some time before the two departments gain their prior trust and respect, and the new leaders face some tough times ahead regaining the organization's confidence.

    How could the new leaders approach the situation to mend their reputations in the wake of this (perhaps unfair) reputational hit?

    It is not enough to identify the potential risks; there must also be adequate controls in place to monitor and manage them

    Stock image of a fingerprint on a computer chip under a blacklight.

    Identify, manage, and monitor reputational risks

    Global markets
    • Organizations need to learn how to assess the likelihood of potential risks in the changing global markets and recognize how their partnerships and subcontracts affect their brand.
    • Now more than ever, organizations need to be mindful of the larger global landscape and how their interactions within various regions can impact their reputation.
    Social media
    • Understanding how to monitor social media activity and online content will give you an edge in the current environment.
    • Changes in social media generally happen faster than companies can recognize them. If you are not actively monitoring those risks, the damage could set in before you even have a chance to respond.
    Global shortages
    • Organizations need to accept that shortages will recur periodically and that preparing for them will significantly increase the success potential of long-term plans.
    • Customers don’t always understand what is happening in the global supply chain and may blame you for poor service if you cannot meet demands as you have in the past.

    Which way is your reputation heading?

    • Do you understand and track items that might affect your reputation?
    • Do you understand the impact they may have on your business?

    Visualization of a Newton's Cradle perpetual motion device, aka clacky balls. The lifted ball is colored green with a smiley face and is labelled 'Your Brand Reputation'. The other four balls are red with a frowny face and are labelled 'Data Breach/ Lawsuit', 'Service Disruption', 'Customer Complaint', and 'Poor Delivery'.

    Identifying and understanding potential risks is essential to adapting to the ever-changing online landscape

    Info-Tech Insight

    Few organizations are good at identifying risks. As a result, almost none realistically plan to monitor, manage, and adapt their plans to mitigate those risks.

    Reputational risks

    Not protecting your brand can have disastrous consequences to your organization

    • Data breaches & lawsuits
    • Poor vendor performance
    • Service disruptions
    • Negative reviews

    Stock image of a smiling person on their phone rating something five stars.

    What to look for in vendors

    Identify potential reputational risk impacts
    • Check online reviews from both customers and employees.
    • Check news sites:
      • Has the vendor been affected by a breach?
      • Is the vendor frequently in the news – good or bad? Greater exposure can cause an uptick in hostile attacks, so make sure the vendor has adequate protections in line with its exposure.
    • Review its financials. Is it prime for an acquisition/bankruptcy or other significant change?
    • Review your contractual protections to ensure that you are made whole in the event something goes wrong. Has anything changed with the vendor that requires you to increase your protections?
    • Has anything changed in the vendor’s market? Is a competitor taking its business, or are its resources stretched on multiple projects due to increased demand?
    		 Illustration of business people in a city above various icons.

    Assessing Reputational Risk Impacts

    Zigzagging icons and numbers one through 7 alternating sides downward. Review Organizational Strategy
    Understand the organizational strategy to prepare for the “what if” game exercise.
    Identify & Understand Potential Risks
    Play the “what if” game with the right people at the table.
    Create a Risk Profile Packet for Leadership
    Pull all the information together in a presentation document.
    Validate the Risks
    Work with leadership to ensure that the proposed risks are in line with their thoughts.
    Plan to Manage the Risks
    Lower the overall risk potential by putting mitigations in place.
    Communicate the Plan
    It is important not only to have a plan but also to socialize it in the organization for awareness.
    Enact the Plan
    Once the plan is finalized and socialized put it in place with continued monitoring for success.
    (Adapted from Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance)

    Insight Summary

    Reputational risk impacts are often unanticipated, causing catastrophic downstream effects. Continuously monitoring your vendors’ actions in the market can help organizations head off brand disasters before they occur.
    Insight 1

    Understanding how to monitor social media activity and online content will give you an edge in the current environment.

    Do you have dedicated individuals or teams to monitor your organization's online presence? Most organizations review and approve the online content, but many forget the need to have analysts reviewing what others are saying about them.

    Insight 2

    Organizations need to learn how to assess the likelihood of potential risks in the rapidly changing online environments and recognize how their partnerships and subcontractors’ actions can affect their brand.

    For example, do you understand how a simple news article raises your profile for short-term and long-term adverse events?

    Insight 3

    Socialize the risk management process throughout the organization to heighten awareness and enable employees to help protect the company’s reputation.

    Do you include a social media and brand protection policy in your annual education?

    Identify reputational risk

    Who should be included in the discussion?
    • While it is true that executive-level leadership defines the strategy for an organization, it is vital for those making decisions to make INFORMED decisions.
    • Getting input from your organization's marketing experts will enhance your brand's long-term protection.
    • Involving those who directly manage vendors and understand the market will aid in determining the forward path for relationships with your current vendors and identifying new emerging potential partners.
    • Organizations have a wealth of experience in their marketing departments that can help identify real-world negative scenarios.
    • Include vendor relationship managers to help track what is happening in the media for those vendors.
    		 Keep in mind: (R=L*I)
    Risk = Likelihood x Impact

    Impact tends to remain the same, while likelihood is a very flexible variable.

    Stock image of a flowchart asking 'Risk?', 'Yes', 'No'.

    Manage and monitor reputational risk impacts

    What can we realistically do about the risks?
    • Re-evaluate corporate policies frequently.
    • Ensure proper protections in contracts:
      • Limit the use of your brand name in the publicity and trademark clauses.
      • Make sure to include security protections for your data in the event of a breach; understand that reputation can rarely be made whole again once trust is breached.
    • Introduce continual risk assessment to monitor the relevant vendor markets.
    • Be adaptable and allow for innovations that arise from the current needs.
      • Capture lessons learned from prior incidents to improve over time and adjust your strategy based on the lessons.
    • Monitor your company’s and associated vendors’ online presence.
    • Track similar companies’ brand reputations to see how yours compares in the market.

    Social media is driving the need for perpetual diligence.

    Organizations need to monitor their brand reputation considering the pace of incidents in the modern age.

    Stock image of a person on a phone that is connected to other people.

    The “what if” game

    1-3 hours

    Input: List of identified potential risk scenarios scored by likelihood and financial impact, List of potential management of the scenarios to reduce the risk

    Output: Comprehensive reputational risk profile on the specific vendor solution

    Materials: Whiteboard/flip charts, Reputational Risk Impact Tool to help drive discussion

    Participants: Vendor Management Coordinator, Organizational Leadership, Operations Experts (SMEs), Legal/Compliance/Risk Manager, Marketing

    Vendor management professionals are in an excellent position to help senior leadership identify and pull together resources across the organization to determine potential risks. By playing the "what if" game and asking probing questions to draw out – or eliminate – possible negative outcomes, everyone involved adds their insight into parts of the organization to gather a comprehensive picture of potential impacts.

    1. Break into smaller groups (or if too small, continue as a single group).
    2. Use the Reputational Risk Impact Tool to prompt discussion on potential risks. Keep this discussion flowing organically to explore all potential risk but manage the overall process to keep the discussion on track.
    3. Collect the outputs and ask the subject matter experts for management options for each one in order to present a comprehensive risk strategy. You will use this to educate senior leadership so that they can make an informed decision to accept or reject the solution.

    Download the Reputational Risk Impact Tool

    Example: Low reputational risk

    We can see clearly in this example that the contractor suffered minimal impact from the specialist's behavior. Though they did take a hit to their overall reputation with a few customers, they should be able to course-correct with a minimal outlay of effort and almost no loss of revenue.

    		 Stock image of construction workers.

    Sample table of 'Sample Questions to Ask to Identify Reputational Impacts'. Column headers are 'Score', 'Weight', 'Question', and 'Comments or Notes'. At the bottom the 'Reputational Score' row has a low average score of '1.3' and '%100' total weight in their respective columns.

    Example: High reputational risk

    Note in the example how the tool can represent different weights for each of the criteria depending on your needs.

    		 Stock image of an older person looking out a window.

    Sample table of 'Sample Questions to Ask to Identify Reputational Impacts'. Column headers are 'Score', 'Weight', 'Question', and 'Comments or Notes'. At the bottom the 'Reputational Score' row has a high average score of '3.1' and '%100' total weight in their respective columns.

    Summary

    Be vigilant and adaptable to change
    • Organizations need to learn how to assess the likelihood of potential risks in the changing global markets and recognize how their partnerships and subcontracts affect their brand.
    • Understanding how to monitor social media activity and online content will give you an edge in the current environment.
    • Bring the right people to the table to outline potential risks to your organization’s brand reputation.
    • Socialize the risk management process throughout the organization to heighten awareness and enable employees to help protect the company’s reputation.
    • Incorporate lessons learned from incidents into your risk management process to build better plans for future issues.
    		 Stock image of a person's face overlaid with many different images.

    Organizations must evolve their risk assessments to be more adaptive to respond to global factors in the market.

    Ongoing monitoring of online media and the vendors tied to company visibility is imperative to avoiding disaster.

    Bibliography

    "The CEO Reputation Premium: Gaining Advantage in the Engagement Era." Weber Shandwick, March 2015. Accessed June 2022.

    Glidden, Donna. "Don't Underestimate the Need to Protect Your Brand in Publicity Clauses." Info-Tech Research Group, June 2022.

    Greenaway, Jordan. "Managing Reputation Risk: A start-to-finish guide." Transmission Private, July 2020. Accessed June 2022.

    Jagiello, Robert D., and Thomas T. Hills. “Bad News Has Wings: Dread Risk Mediates Social Amplification in Risk Communication.” Risk Analysis, vol. 38, no. 10, 2018, pp. 2193-2207.

    Kenton, Will. "Brand Recognition.” Investopedia, Aug. 2021. Accessed June 2022.

    Lischer, Brian. "How Much Does it Cost to Rebrand Your Company?" Ignyte, October 2017. Accessed June 2022.

    "Powerful Examples of How to Respond to Negative Reviews." ReviewTrackers, 16 Feb. 2022. Accessed June 2022.

    Tonello, Matteo. “Strategic Risk Management: A Primer for Directors.” Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance, 23 Aug. 2012. Web.

    "Valuation of Trademarks: Everything You Need to Know." UpCounsel, 2022. Accessed June 2022.

    Related Info-Tech Research

    Sample of 'Assessing Financial Risk Management'. Identify and Manage Financial Risk Impacts on Your Organization
    • Identifying and managing a vendor’s potential financial impact requires multiple people in the organization across several functions – and those people all need educating on the potential risks.
    • Organizational leadership is often unaware of decisions on organizational risk appetite and tolerance, and they assume there are more protections in place against risk impact than there truly are.
    Sample of 'How to Assess Strategic Risk'. Identify and Manage Strategic Risk Impacts on Your Organization
    • Identifying and managing a vendor’s potential strategic impact requires multiple people in the organization across several functions – and those people all need coaching on the potential changes in the market and how these changes affect strategic plans.
    • Organizational leadership is often caught unaware during crises, and their plans lack the flexibility needed to adjust to significant market upheavals.
    Research coming soon. Jump Start Your Vendor Management Initiative
    • Vendor management is not “plug and play” – each organization’s vendor management initiative (VMI) needs to fit its culture, environment, and goals. The key is to adapt vendor management principles to fit your needs…not the other way around.
    • All vendors are not of equal importance to an organization. Classifying or segmenting your vendors allows you to focus your efforts on the most important vendors first, allowing your VMI to have the greatest impact possible.

    Research Contributors and Experts

    Frank Sewell

    Research Director
    Info-Tech Research Group

    		 Donna Glidden

    Research Director
    Info-Tech Research Group
    Steven Jeffery

    Principal Research Director
    Info-Tech Research Group

    		 Mark Roman

    Managing Partner
    Info-Tech Research Group
    Phil Bode

    Principal Research Director
    Info-Tech Research Group

    		 Sarah Pletcher

    Executive Advisor
    Info-Tech Research Group
    Scott Bickley

    Practice Lead
    Info-Tech Research Group

    Identify and Manage Regulatory and Compliance Risk Impacts on Your Organization

    • Buy Link or Shortcode: {j2store}366|cart{/j2store}
    • member rating overall impact: N/A
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    • Parent Category Name: Vendor Management
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    More than at any other time, our world is changing. As a result, organizations – and their vendors – need to be able to adapt their plans to accommodate risk on an unprecedented level.

    It is increasingly likely that one of your vendors, or their n-party support vendors, will fall out of regulatory compliance. Therefore, organizations must protect themselves by creating better mechanisms to hold their n-party vendors accountable and validate that they comply.

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    • Identifying and managing a vendor’s potential regulatory impact on your organization requires multiple people in the organization across several functions. Those people all need coaching on the potential changes in the market and how these changes may affect operations.
    • Organizational leadership is often taken unaware by changes, and their plans lack the flexibility to adjust to significant regulatory upheavals.

    Impact and Result

    Vendor management practices educate organizations on the different potential risks from vendors in your market and suggest creative and alternative ways to avoid and help manage them.

    • Prioritize and classify your vendors with quantifiable, standardized rankings.
    • Prioritize focus on your high-risk vendors.
    • Standardize your processes for identifying and monitoring vendor risks with our Regulatory Risk Impact Tool to manage potential impacts.

    Identify and Manage Regulatory and Compliance Risk Impacts on Your Organization Research & Tools

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

    1. Identify and Manage Regulatory and Compliance Risk Impacts to Your Organization Storyboard – Use the research to better understand the negative impacts of vendor actions to your brand reputation.

    Use this research to identify and quantify the potential regulatory impacts caused by vendors. Use Info-Tech's approach to look at the regulatory impact from various perspectives to better prepare for issues that may arise.

    • Identify and Manage Regulatory and Compliance Risk Impacts on Your Organization Storyboard

    2. Regulatory Risk Impact Tool – Use this tool to help identify and quantify the operational impacts of negative vendor actions.

    By playing the “what if” game and asking probing questions to draw out – or eliminate – possible negative outcomes, everyone involved adds their insight into parts of the organization to gather a comprehensive picture of potential impacts.

    • Regulatory Risk Impact Tool
    [infographic]

    Further reading

    Identify and Manage Risk Impacts on Your Organization

    It is easier for prospective clients to find out what you did wrong than that you fixed the issue.

    Analyst perspective

    Organizations must understand the regulatory damage vendors may cause from lack of compliance.

    Frank Sewell.

    The sheer number of regulations on the international market is immense, ever-changing, and make it almost impossible for any organization to consistently keep up with compliance.

    As regulatory enforcement increases, organizations must hold their vendors accountable for compliance through ongoing monitoring and validation of regulatory compliance to the relevant standards in their industries, or face increasing penalties for non-compliance.

    Frank Sewell,

    Research Director, Vendor Management

    Info-Tech Research Group

    Executive Summary

    Your Challenge

    Common Obstacles

    Info-Tech’s Approach

    More than at any previous time, our world is changing rapidly. As a result, organizations – and their vendors – need to be able to adapt their plans to accommodate risk on an unprecedented level.

    It is increasingly likely that one of your vendors, or their n-party support vendors, will fall out of regulatory compliance. Organizations must protect themselves by creating better mechanisms to hold their n-party vendors accountable and validate that they comply.

    Identifying and managing a vendor’s potential regulatory impact on your organization requires multiple people in the organization across several functions. Those people all need coaching on the potential changes in the market and how these changes may affect operations.

    Organizational leadership is often taken unaware by changes, and their plans lack the flexibility to adjust to significant regulatory upheavals.

    Vendor management practices educate organizations on the different potential risks from vendors in your market and suggest creative and alternative ways to avoid and help manage them.

    Prioritize and classify your vendors with quantifiable, standardized rankings.

    Prioritize focus on your high-risk vendors.

    Standardize your processes for identifying and monitoring vendor risks with our Regulatory Risk Impact Tool to manage potential impacts.

    Info-Tech Insight

    Organizations must evolve their risk assessments to be more adaptive to respond to regulatory changes in the global market. Ongoing monitoring of the vendors who must comply with industry and governmental regulations is crucial to avoiding penalties and maintaining your regulatory compliance.

    Info-Tech’s multi-blueprint series on vendor risk assessment

    There are many individual components of vendor risk beyond cybersecurity.

    The image contains a cube that is divided into 6 asymmetrical to highlight the six components of vendor risk. Strategic, Security, Regulatory & Compliance, Financial, Reputational, Operational.

    This series will focus on the individual components of vendor risk and how vendor management practices can facilitate organizations’ understanding of those risks.

    Out of Scope:

    This series will not tackle risk governance, determining overall risk tolerance and appetite, or quantifying inherent risk.

    Regulatory and Compliance risk impacts

    Potential losses to the organization due regulatory and compliance incidents.

    • In this blueprint we’ll:
      • Explore regulatory and compliance risks and their impacts.
      • Identify potentially disruptive events to assess the overall impact on organizations and implement adaptive measures to identify, manage, and monitor vendor performance.

    The image contains a cube that is divided into 6 asymmetrical to highlight the six components of vendor risk. Strategic, Security, Regulatory & Compliance, Financial, Reputational, Operational. Regulatory & Compliance is highlighted on the cube.

    The world is constantly changing

    The IT market is constantly reacting to global influences. By anticipating changes, leaders can set expectations and work with their vendors to accommodate them and avoid penalties.

    When the unexpected happens, being able to adapt quickly to new priorities and regulations ensures continued long-term business success.

    Below are some things no one expected to happen in the last few years:

    45%

    Have no visibility into their upstream supply chain, or they can only see as far as their first-tier suppliers.

    2022 McKinsey

    61%

    Of compliance officers expect to increase investment in their compliance function over the next two years.

    2022 Accenture

    $770k+

    Breaches involving third-party vendors cost more on average.

    2022 HIT Consultant.net

    Regulatory Compliance

    Consider implementing vendor management initiatives and practices in your organization to help gain compliance with your expanding vendor landscape.

    Your organizational risks may be monitored but are your n-party vendors?

    The image contains a cube that is divided into 6 asymmetrical to highlight the six components of vendor risk. Strategic, Security, Regulatory & Compliance, Financial, Reputational, Operational.

    Review your expectations with your vendors and hold them accountable.

    Regulatory entities are looking beyond your organization’s internal compliance these days. More and more they are diving into your third-party and downstream relationships, particularly as awareness of downstream breaches increases globally.

    • Are you assessing your vendors regularly?
    • Are you validating those assessments?
    • Do your vendors have a map of their downstream support vendors?
    • Do they have the mechanisms to hold those downstream vendors accountable to your standards?

    Regulatory Guidance and Industry Standards

    Are you confident your vendors meet your standards?

    Identify and manage regulatory and compliance risks

    Environmental, Social, Governance (ESG)
    Regulatory agencies are putting more enforcement on ESG practices across the globe. As a result, organizations will need to monitor the changing regulations and validate that their vendors and n-party support vendors are adhering to these regulations, or face penalties for non-compliance.

    Data Protection
    Data Protection remains an issue in the world. Organizations should ensure that the data their vendors obtain remains protected throughout the vendor’s lifecycle, including post-termination. Otherwise, they could be monitoring for a data breach in perpetuity.

    Mergers and Acquisitions
    More prominent vendors continuously buy smaller companies to control the market in the IT industry. Therefore, organizations should put protections in their contracts to ensure that an IT vendor’s acquisition does not put them in a relationship with someone that could cause them an issue.

    What to look for

    Identify regulatory and compliance risk impacts.

    • Is there a record of complaints against the vendor from their employees or customers?
    • Has the vendor been cited for regulatory compliance issues in the past?
    • Does the vendor have a comprehensive list of their n-party vendor partners?
      • Are they willing to accept appropriate contractual protections regarding them?
    • Does the vendor self-audit, or do they use a vetted third-party audit firm to issue a SOC report annually?
    • Does the vendor operate in regions known for regulatory violations?
    • Is the vendor willing to make concessions on contractual protections, or are they only offering “one-sided” agreements with “as-is” warranties?

    Prepare your vendor risk management for success

    Due diligence will enable successful outcomes.

    1. Obtain top-level buy-in; it is critical to success.
    2. Build enterprise risk management (ERM) through incremental improvement.
    3. Focus initial efforts on the “big wins” to prove the process works.
    4. Use existing resources.
    5. Build on any risk management activities that already exist in the organization.
    6. Socialize ERM throughout the organization to gain additional buy‑in.
    7. Normalize the process long term, with ongoing updates and continuing education for the organization.

    (Adapted from COSO)

    How to assess third-party risk

    1. Review Organizational Regulations

      2. Understand the organization’s regulatory risks to prepare for the “What If” game exercise.

    2. Identify & Understand Potential Regulatory-Compliance Risks

      3. Play the “What If” game with the right people at the table.

    3. Create a Risk Profile Packet for Leadership

      4. Pull all the information together in a presentation document.

    4. Validate the Risks

      5. Work with leadership to ensure that the proposed risks are in line with their thoughts.

    5. Plan to Manage the Risks

      6. Lower the overall risk potential by putting mitigations in place.

    6. Communicate the Plan

      7. It is important not only to have a plan but also to socialize it in the organization for awareness.

    7. Enact the Plan

      8. Once the plan is finalized and socialized, put it in place with continued monitoring for success.

    Adapted from Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance

    Insight summary

    Regulatory risk impacts often come from unexpected places and have significant consequences. Knowing who your vendors are using for their support and supply chain could be crucial in eliminating the risk of non-compliance for your organization. Having a plan to identify and validate the regulatory compliance of your vendors is a must for any organization, to avoid penalties.

    Insight 1

    Organizations fail to plan for vendor acquisitions appropriately.

    Vendors routinely get acquired in the IT space. Does your organization have appropriate safeguards from inadvertently entering a negative relationship? Do you have plans around replacing critical vendors purchased in such a manner?

    Insight 2

    Organizations often fail to understand how n-party vendors could place them in non-compliance.

    Even if you know your complete third-party vendor landscape, you may not be aware of the downstream vendors in play. Ensure that you get visibility into this space as well and hold your direct vendors accountable for the actions of their vendors.

    Insight 3

    Organizations need to know where their data lives and ensure it is protected.

    Make sure you know which vendors are accessing/storing your data, where they are keeping it, and that you can get it back and have the vendors destroy it when the relationship is over. Without adequate protection throughout the lifecycle of the vendor, you could be monitoring for breaches in perpetuity.

    Identifying regulatory and compliance risks

    Who should be included in the discussion.

    • While it is true that executive-level leadership defines the strategy for an organization, it is vital for those making decisions to make informed decisions.
    • Getting input from regulatory risk experts within your organization will enhance your long-term potential for successful compliance.
    • Involving those who not only directly manage vendors but also understand your regulatory requirements will aid in determining the path forward for relationships with your current vendors, and identifying new emerging potential partners.

    See the blueprint Build an IT Risk Management Program

    Review your risk management plans for new risks on a regular basis.

    Keep in mind Risk = Likelihood x Impact (R=L*I).

    Impact (I) tends to remain the same, while Likelihood (L) is becoming closer to 100% as threat actors become more prevalent

    Managing vendor regulatory and compliance risk impacts

    How could your vendors fall out of compliance?

    • Review vendors’ downstream connections to understand thoroughly with whom you are in business.
      • Monitor their regulatory stance as it could reflect on your organization.
    • Institute proper vendor lifecycle management.
      • Make sure to follow corporate due diligence and risk assessment policies and procedures.
      • Failure to consistently do so is a recipe for disaster.
    • Develop IT risk governance and change control.
    • Introduce continual risk assessment to monitor the relevant vendor markets.
      • Regularly review your regulatory requirements for new and changing risks.
    • Be adaptable and allow for innovations that arise from the current needs.
      • Capture lessons learned from prior incidents to improve over time, and adjust your plans accordingly.

    Organizations must review their regulatory risk appetite and tolerance levels, considering their complete landscape.

    Changing regulations, acquisitions, and events that affect global supply chains are current realities, not unlikely scenarios.

    Ongoing Improvement

    Incorporating lessons learned.

    • Over time, despite everyone’s best observations and plans, incidents will catch us off guard.
    • When it happens, follow your incident response plans and act accordingly.
    • An essential step is to document what worked and what did not – collectively known as the “lessons learned.”
    • Use the lessons learned document to devise, incorporate, and enact a better risk management process.

    Sometimes disasters occur despite our best plans to manage them.

    When this happens, it is important to document the lessons learned and update our plans.

    The “what if” game

    1-3 hours

    Vendor management professionals are in an excellent position to help senior leadership identify and pull together resources across the organization to determine potential risks. By playing the "what if" game and asking probing questions to draw out – or eliminate – possible adverse outcomes, everyone involved adds their insight into parts of the organization to gather a comprehensive picture of potential impacts.

    1. Break into smaller groups (or if too small, continue as a single group).
    2. Use the Regulatory Risk Impact Tool to prompt discussion on potential risks. Keep this discussion flowing organically to explore all potentials but manage the overall process to keep the discussion pertinent and on track.
    3. Collect the outputs and ask the subject matter experts (SMEs) for management options for each one in order to present a comprehensive risk strategy. You will use this to educate senior leadership so that they can make an informed decision to accept or reject the solution.
    Input Output
    • List of identified potential risk scenarios scored by regulatory-compliance impact
    • List of potential mitigations of the scenarios to reduce the risk
    • Comprehensive regulatory risk profile on the specific vendor solution
    Materials Participants
    • Whiteboard/flip charts
    • Regulatory Risk Impact Tool to help drive discussion
    • Vendor Management – Coordinator
    • Organizational Leadership
    • Operations Experts (SMEs)
    • Legal/Compliance/Risk Manager

    High risk example from tool

    The image contains a screenshot demonstrating high risk example from the tool.

    How to mitigate:

    Contractually insist that the vendor have a third-party security audit performed annually, with the stipulation that they will not denigrate below your acceptable standards.

    Note: Even though a few items are “scored” they have not been added to the overall weight, signaling that the company has noted but does not necessarily hold them against the vendor.

    Low risk example from tool

    The image contains a screenshot demonstrating low risk example from the tool.

    Summary

    Seek to understand all regulatory requirements to obtain compliance.

    • Organizations need to understand and map out their entire vendor landscape.
    • Understand where all your data lives and how you can control it throughout the vendor lifecycle.
    • Those organizations that consistently follow their established risk assessment and due diligence processes are better positioned to avoid penalties.
    • Bring the right people to the table to outline potential risks in the market and your organization.
    • Incorporate “lessons learned” from prior incidents into your risk management process to build better plans for future issues.

    Keeping up with the ever-changing regulations can make compliance a difficult task.

    Organizations should increase the resources dedicated to monitoring these regulations as agencies continue to hold them more accountable.

    Related Info-Tech Research

    Identify and Manage Financial Risk Impacts on Your Organization

    • Vendor management practices educate organizations on potential financial impacts that vendors may incur and suggest systems to help manage them.
    • Standardize your processes for identifying and monitoring vendor risks to manage financial impacts with our Financial Risk Impact Tool.

    Identify and Manage Reputational Risk Impacts on Your Organization

    • Vendor management practices educate organizations on potential risks to vendors in your market and suggest creative and alternative ways to avoid and help manage them.
    • Standardize your processes for identifying and monitoring vendor risks to manage potential impacts on your reputation and brand with our Reputational Risk Impact Tool.

    Identify and Manage Strategic Risk Impacts on Your Organization

    • Vendor management practices educate organizations on potential risks to vendors in your market and suggest creative and alternative ways to avoid and help manage them.
    • Standardize your processes for identifying and monitoring vendor risks to manage potential impacts on your strategic plan with our Strategic Risk Impact Tool.

    Info-Tech Insight

    It is easier for prospective clients to find out what you did wrong than that you fixed the issue.


    Bibliography

    Alicke, Knut, et al. "Taking the pulse of shifting supply chains", McKinsey & Company, August 26th 2022. Accessed October 31st
    Regan, Samantha, et al. "Can compliance keep up with warp-speed Change?", accenture, May 18th 2022. Accessed Oct 31st 2022.
    Feria, Nathalie, and Rosenberg, Daniel. "Mitigating Healthcare Cyber Risk Through Vendor Management", HIT Consultant, October 17th 2022. Accessed Oct 31st 2022.
    Tonello, Matteo. “Strategic Risk Management: A Primer for Directors.” Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance, 23 Aug. 2012.
    Frigo, Mark L., and Richard J. Anderson. “Embracing Enterprise Risk Management: Practical Approaches for Getting Started.” COSO, 2011.

    Define a Sourcing Strategy for Your Development Team

    • Buy Link or Shortcode: {j2store}161|cart{/j2store}
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    • Parent Category Name: Development
    • Parent Category Link: /development
    • Hiring quality development team resources is becoming increasingly difficult and costly in most domestic markets.
    • Firms are seeking to do more with less and increase their development team throughput.
    • Globalization and increased competition are driving a need for more innovation in your applications.
    • Firms want more cost certainty and tighter control of their development investment.

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    • Choosing the right sourcing strategy is not just a question of technical skills! Successful sourcing is based on matching your organization’s culture, knowledge, and experiences to the right choice of internal or external partnership.

    Impact and Result

    • We will help you build a sourcing strategy document for your application portfolio.
    • We will examine your portfolio and organization from three different perspectives to enable you to determine the right approach:
      • From a business perspective, reliance on the business, strategic value of the product, and maturity of product ownership are critical.
      • From an organizational perspective, you must examine your culture for communication processes, conflict resolution methods, vendor management skills, and geographic coverage.
      • From a technical perspective, consider integration complexity, environmental complexity, and testing processes.

    Define a Sourcing Strategy for Your Development Team Research & Tools

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

    1. Define a Sourcing Strategy for Your Development Team Storyboard – A guide to help you choose the right resourcing strategy to keep pace with your rapidly changing application and development needs.

    This project will help you define a sourcing strategy for your application development team by assessing key factors about your products and your organization, including critical business, technical, and organizational factors. Use this analysis to select the optimal sourcing strategy for each situation.

    • Define a Sourcing Strategy for Your Development Team Storyboard

    2. Define a Sourcing Strategy Workbook – A tool to capture the results of activities to build your sourcing strategy.

    This workbook is designed to capture the results of the activities in the storyboard. Each worksheet corresponds with an activity from the deck. The workbook is also a living artifact that should be updated periodically as the needs of your team and organization change.

    • Define a Sourcing Strategy Workbook
    [infographic]

    Further reading

    Define a Sourcing Strategy for Your Development Team

    Choose the right resourcing strategy to keep pace with your rapidly changing application and development needs.

    Analyst Perspective

    Choosing the right sourcing strategy for your development team is about assessing your technical situation, your business needs, your organizational culture, and your ability to manage partners!

    Photo of Dr. Suneel Ghei, Principal Research Director, Application Development, Info-Tech Research Group

    Firms today are under continuous pressure to innovate and deliver new features to market faster while at the same time controlling costs. This has increased the need for higher throughput in their development teams along with a broadening of skills and knowledge. In the face of these challenges, there is a new focus on how firms source their development function. Should they continue to hire internally, offshore, or outsource? How do they decide which strategy is the right fit?

    Info-Tech’s research shows that the sourcing strategy considerations have evolved beyond technical skills and costs. Identifying the right strategy has become a function of the characteristics of the organization, its culture, its reliance on the business for knowledge, its strategic value of the application, its vendor management skills, and its ability to internalize external knowledge. By assessing these factors firms can identify the best sourcing mix for their development portfolios.

    Dr. Suneel Ghei
    Principal Research Director, Application Development
    Info-Tech Research Group

    Executive Summary

    Your Challenge
    • Hiring quality development team resources is becoming increasingly difficult and costly in most domestic markets.
    • Firms are seeking to do more with less and increase their development team throughput.
    • Globalization and increased competition is driving a need for more innovation in your applications.
    • Firms want more cost certainty and tighter control of their development investment.
    		 Common Obstacles
    • Development leaders are encouraged to manage contract terms and SLAs rather than build long-term relationships.
    • People believe that outsourcing means you will permanently lose the knowledge around solutions.
    • Moving work outside of the current team creates motivational and retention challenges that can be difficult to overcome.
    		 Info-Tech’s Approach
    • Looking at this from these three perspectives will enable you to determine the right approach:
      1. From a business perspective, reliance on the business, strategic value of the product, and maturity of product ownership are critical.
      2. From an organizational perspective, you must examine your culture for communication processes, conflict resolution methods, vendor management skills, and geographic coverage
      3. From a technical perspective, consider integration complexity, environment complexity, and testing processes.

    Info-Tech Insight

    Choosing the right sourcing strategy is not just a question of technical skills! Successful sourcing is based on matching your organization’s culture, knowledge, and experiences to the right choice of internal or external partnership.

    Define a sourcing strategy for your development team

    Business
    • Business knowledge/ expertise required
    • Product owner maturity
    Technical
    • Complexity and maturity of technical environment
    • Required level of integration
    Organizational
    • Company culture
    • Desired geographic proximity
    • Required vendor management skills
    1. Assess your current delivery posture for challenges and impediments.
    2. Decide whether to build or buy a solution.
    3. Select your desired sourcing strategy based on your current state and needs.
    		 Example sourcing strategy with initiatives like 'Client-Facing Apps' and 'ERP Software' assigned to 'Onshore Dev', 'Outsource Team', 'Offshore Dev', 'Outsource App (Buy)', 'Outsource Dev', or 'Outsource Roles'.

    Three Perspectives +

    Three Steps =

    Your Sourcing Strategy

    Diverse sourcing is used by many firms

    Many firms across all industries are making use of different sourcing strategies to drive innovation and solve business issues.

    According to a report by ReportLinker the global IT services outsourcing market reached US$413.8 billion in 2021.

    In a recent study of Canadian software firms, it was found that almost all firms take advantage of outside knowledge in their application development process. In most cases these firms also use outside resources to do development work, and about half the time they use externally built software packages in their products (Ghei, 2020)!

    Info-Tech Insight

    In today’s diverse global markets, firms that wish to stay competitive must have a defined ability to take advantage of external knowledge and to optimize their IT services spend.

    		Modeling Absorptive Capacity for Open Innovation in the Canadian Software Industry (Source: Ghei, 2020; n=54.)

    56% of software development firms are sourcing applications instead of resources.

    68% of firms are sourcing external resources to develop software products.

    91% of firms are leveraging knowledge from external sources.

    Internal sourcing models

    Insourcing comes in three distinct flavors

    Geospatial map giving example locations for the three internal sourcing models. In this example, 'Head Office' is located in North America, 'Onshore' is 'Located in the same area or even office as your core business resources. Relative Cost: $$$', 'Near Shore' is 'Typically, within 1-3 time zones for ease of collaboration where more favorable resource costs exist. Relative Cost: $$', and 'Offshore' is 'Located in remote markets where significant labor cost savings can be realized. Relative Cost: $'.

    Info-Tech Insight

    Insourcing allows you to stay close to more strategic applications. But choosing the right model requires a strong look inside your organization and your ability to provide business knowledge support to developers who may have different skills and cultures and are in different geographies.

    Outsourcing models

    External sourcing can be done to different degrees

    Outsource Roles
    • Enables resource augmentation
    • Typically based on skills needs
    • Short-term outsourcing with eventual integration or dissolution
    Outsource Teams (or Projects)
    • Use of a full team or multiple teams of vendor resources
    • Meant to be temporary, with knowledge transfer at the end of the project
    Outsource Products
    • Use of a vendor to build, maintain, and support the full product
    • Requires a high degree of contract management skill

    Info-Tech Insight

    Outsourcing represents one of the most popular ways for organizations to source external knowledge and skills. The choice of model is a function of the organization’s ability to support the external resources and to absorb the knowledge back into the organization.

    Defining your sourcing strategy

    Follow the steps below to identify the best match for your organization

    Review Your Current Situation

    Review the issues and opportunities related to application development and categorize them based on the key factors.

    		 Arrow pointing right. Assess Build Versus Buy

    Before choosing a sourcing model you must assess whether a particular product or function should be bought as a package or developed.

    		 Arrow pointing right. Choose the Right Sourcing Strategy

    Based on the research, use the modeling tool to match the situation to the appropriate sourcing solution.

    Step 1.1

    Review Your Current Situation

    Activities
    • 1.1.1 Identify and categorize your challenges

    This step involves the following participants:

    • Product management team
    • Software development leadership team
    • Key stakeholders
    Outcomes of this step

    Review your current delivery posture for challenges and impediments.

    Define a Sourcing Strategy for Your Development Team
    Step 1.1 Step 1.2 Step 1.3

    Review your situation

    There are three key areas to examine in your current situation:

    Business Challenges
    • Do you need to gain new knowledge to drive innovation?
    • Does your business need to enhance its software to improve its ability to compete in the market?
    • Do you need to increase your speed of innovation?

    Technology Challenges

    • Are you being asked to take tighter control of your development budgets?
    • Does your team need to expand their skills and knowledge?
    • Do you need to increase your development speed and capacity?

    Market Challenges

    • Is your competition seen as more innovative?
    • Do you need new features to attract new clients?
    • Are you struggling to find highly skilled and knowledgeable development resources?
    		Stock image of multi-colored arrows travelling in a line together before diverging.

    Info-Tech Insight

    Sourcing is a key tool to solve business and technical challenges and enhance market competitiveness when coupled with a robust definition of objectives and a way to measure success.

    1.1.1 Identify and categorize your challenges

    60 minutes

    Output: List of the key challenges in your software lifecycle. Breakdown of the list into categories to identify opportunities for sourcing

    Participants: Product management team, Software development leadership team, Key stakeholders

    1. What challenge is your firm is facing with respect to your software that you think sourcing can address? (20 minutes)
    2. Is the challenge related to a business outcome, development methodology, or technology challenge? (10 minutes)
    3. Is the challenge due to a skills gap, budget or resource challenge, throughput issue, or a broader organizational knowledge or process issue? (10 minutes)
    4. What is the specific objective for the team/leader in addressing this challenge? (15 minutes)
    5. How will you measure progress and achievement of this objective? (5 minutes)

    Document results in the Define a Sourcing Strategy Workbook

    Identify and categorize your challenges

    Sample table for identifying and categorizing challenges, with column groups 'Challenge' and 'Success Measures' containing headers 'Issue, 'Category', 'Breadth', and 'Stakeholder' in the former, and 'Objective' and 'Measurement' in the latter.

    Step 1.2

    Assess Build Versus Buy

    Activities
    • 1.2.1 Understand the benefits and drawbacks of build versus buy in your organizational context

    This step involves the following participants:

    • Product management team
    • Software development leadership team
    • Key stakeholders

    Outcomes of this step

    Understand in your context the benefits and drawbacks of build versus buy, leveraging Info-Tech’s recommended definitions as a starting point.

    Define a Sourcing Strategy for Your Development Team

    Step 1.1 Step 1.2 Step 1.3

    Look vertically across the IT hierarchy to assess the impact of your decision at every level

    IT Hierarchy with 'Enterprise' at the top, branching out to 'Portfolio', then to 'Solution' at the bottom. The top is 'Strategic', the bottom 'Operational'.

    Regardless of the industry, a common and challenging dilemma facing technology teams is to determine when they should build software or systems in-house versus when they should rely wholly on an outside vendor for delivering on their technology needs.

    The answer is not as cut and dried as one would expect. Any build versus buy decision may have an impact on strategic and operational plans. It touches every part of the organization, starting with individual projects and rolling up to the enterprise strategy.

    Info-Tech Insight

    Do not ignore the impact of a build or buy decision on the various management levels in an IT organization.

    Deciding whether to build or buy

    It is as much about what you gain as it is about what problem you choose to have

    BUILD BUY

    Multi-Source Best of Breed

    Integrate various technologies that provide subset(s) of the features needed for supporting the business functions.

    Vendor Add-Ons & Integrations

    Enhance an existing vendor’s offerings by using their system add-ons either as upgrades, new add-ons, or integrations.
    Pros
    • Flexibility in choice of tools
    • In some cases, cost may be lower
    • Easier to enhance with in-house teams
    		 Cons
    • Introduces tool sprawl
    • Requires resources to understand tools and how they integrate
    • Some of the tools necessary may not be compatible with one another
    		 Pros
    • Reduces tool sprawl
    • Supports consistent tool stack
    • Vendor support can make enhancement easier
    • Total cost of ownership may be lower
    		 Cons
    • Vendor lock-in
    • The processes to enhance may require tweaking to fit tool capability

    Multi-Source Custom

    Integrate systems built in-house with technologies developed by external organizations.

    Single Source

    Buy an application/system from one vendor only.
    Pros
    • Flexibility in choice of tools
    • In some cases, cost may be lower
    • Easier to enhance with in-house teams
    		 Cons
    • May introduce tool sprawl
    • Requires resources to have strong technical skills
    • Some of the tools necessary may not be compatible with one another
    		 Pros
    • Reduces tool sprawl
    • Supports consistent tool stack
    • Vendor support can make enhancement easier
    • Total cost of ownership may be lower
    		 Cons
    • Vendor lock-in
    • The processes to enhance may require tweaking to fit tool capability

    1.2.1 Understand the benefits and drawbacks of build versus buy in your organizational context

    30 minutes

    Output: A common understanding of the different approaches to build versus buy applied to your organizational context

    Participants: Product management team, Software development leadership team, Key stakeholders

    1. Look at the previous slide, Deciding whether to build or buy.
    2. Discuss the pros and cons listed for each approach.
      1. Do they apply in your context? Why or why not?
      2. Are there some approaches not applicable in terms of how you wish to work?
    3. Record the curated list of pros and cons for the different build/buy approaches.
    4. For each approach, arrange the pros and cons in order of importance.

    Document results in the Define a Sourcing Strategy Workbook

    Step 1.3

    Choose the Right Sourcing Strategy

    Activities
    • 1.3.1 Determine the right sourcing strategy for your needs

    This step involves the following participants:

    • Product management team
    • Software development leadership team
    • Key stakeholders

    Outcomes of this step

    Choose your desired sourcing strategy based on your current state and needs.

    Define a Sourcing Strategy for Your Development Team

    Step 1.1 Step 1.2 Step 1.3

    Choose the right sourcing strategy

    • Based on our research, finding the right sourcing strategy for a particular situation is a function of three key areas:
      • Business drivers
      • Organizational drivers
      • Technical drivers
    • Each area has key characteristics that must be assessed to confirm which strategy is best suited for the situation.
    • Once you have assessed the factors and ranked them from low to high, we can then match your results with the best-fit strategy.
    		Business
    • Business knowledge/ expertise required
    • Product owner maturity

    Technical

    • Complexity and maturity of technical environment
    • Required level of integration

    Organizational

    • Your culture
    • Desired geographic proximity
    • Required vendor management skills

    Business drivers

    To choose the right sourcing strategy, you need to assess your key drivers of delivery

    Product Knowledge
    • The level of business involvement required to support the development team is a critical factor in determining the sourcing model.
    • Both the breadth and depth of involvement are critical factors.
    Strategic Value
    • The strategic value of the application to the company is also a critical component.
    • The more strategic the application is to the company, the closer the sourcing should be maintained.
    • Value can be assessed based on the revenue derived from the application and the depth of use of the application by the organization.
    Product Ownership Maturity
    • To support sourcing models that move further from organizational boundaries a strong product ownership function is required.
    • Product owners should ideally be fully allocated to the role and engaged with the development teams.
    • Product owners should be empowered to make decisions related to the product, its vision, and its roadmap.
    • The higher their allocation and empowerment, the higher the chances of success in external sourcing engagements.
    		 Stock image of a person running up a line with a positive trend.

    Case Study: The GoodLabs Studio Experience Logo for GoodLabs Studio.

    INDUSTRY: Software Development | SOURCE: Interview with Thomas Lo, Co-Founder, GoodLabs Studio
    Built to Outsource Development Teams
    • GoodLabs is an advanced software innovation studio that provides bespoke team extensions or turnkey digital product development with high-caliber software engineers.
    • Unlike other consulting firms, GoodLabs works very closely with its customers as a unified team to deliver the most significant impact on clients’ projects.
    • With this approach, it optimizes the delivery of strong software engineering skills with integrated product ownership from the client, enabling long-term and continued success for its clients.
    		 Results
    • GoodLabs is able to attract top engineering talent by focusing on a variety of complex projects that materially benefit from technical solutions, such as cybersecurity, fraud detection, and AI syndrome surveillance.
    • Taking a partnership approach with the clients has led to the successful delivery of many highly innovative and challenging projects for the customers.

    Organizational drivers

    To choose the right sourcing strategy for a particular problem you need to assess the organization’s key capabilities

    Stock photo of someone placing blocks with illustrated professionals one on top of the other. Vendor Management
    • Vendor management is a critical skill for effective external sourcing.
    • This can be assessed based on the organization’s ability to cultivate and grow long-term relationships of mutual value.
    • The longevity and growth of existing vendor relationships can be a good benchmark for future success.
    Absorptive Capacity
    • To effectively make use of external sourcing models, the organization must have a well-developed track record of absorbing outside knowledge.
    • This can be assessed by looking at past cases where external knowledge was sourced and internalized, such as past vendor development engagements or use of open-source code.
    Organizational Culture
    • Another factor in success of vendor engagements and long-term relationships is the matching of organizational cultures.
    • It is key to measure the organization’s current position on items like communication strategy, geographical dispersal, conflict resolution strategy, and hierarchical vs flat management.
    • These factors should be documented and matched with partners to determine the best fit.

    Case Study: WCIRB California Logo for WCIRB California.

    INDUSTRY: Workers Compensation Insurance | SOURCE: Interview with Roger Cottman, Senior VP and CIO, WCIRB California
    Trying to Find the Right Match
    • WCIRB is finding it difficult to hire local resources in California.
    • Its application is a niche product. Since no off-the-shelf alternatives exist, the organization will require a custom application.
    • WCIRB is in the early stages of a digital platform project and is looking to bring in a partner to provide a full development team, with the goal of ideally bringing the application back in-house once it is built.
    • The organization is looking for a local player that will be able to integrate well with the business.
    • It has engaged with two mid-sized players but both have been slow to respond, so it is now considering alternative approaches.
    		 Info-Tech’s Recommended Approach
    • WCIRB is finding that mid-sized players don’t fit its needs and is now looking for a larger player
    • Based on our research we have advised that WCIRB should ensure the partner is geographically close to its location and can be a strategic partner, not simply work on an individual project.

    Technical drivers

    To choose the right sourcing strategy for a particular problem you need to assess your technical situation and capabilities

    Environment Complexity
    • The complexity of your technical environment is a hurdle that must be overcome for external sourcing models.
    • The number of environments used in the development lifecycle and the location of environments (physical, virtual, on-premises, or cloud) are key indicators.
    Integration Requirements
    • The complexity of integration is another key technical driver.
    • The number of integrations required for the application is a good measuring stick. Will it require fewer than 5, 5-10, or more than 10?
    Testing Capabilities
    • Testing of the application is a key technical driver of success for external models.
    • Having well-defined test cases, processes, and shared execution with the business are all steps that help drive success of external sourcing models.
    • Test automation can also help facilitate success of external models.
    • Measure the percentage of test cases that are standardized, the level of business involvement, and the percentage of test cases that are automated.
    		 Stock image of pixelated light.

    Case Study: Management Control Systems (MC Systems) Logo for MC Systems.

    INDUSTRY: Technology Services | SOURCE: Interview with Kathryn Chin See, Business Development and Research Analyst, MC Systems
    Seeking to Outsource Innovation
    • MC Systems is seeking to outsource its innovation function to get budget certainty on innovation and reduce costs. It is looking for a player that has knowledge of the application areas it is looking to enhance and that would augment its own business knowledge.
    • In previous outsourcing experiences with skills augmentation and application development the organization had issues related to the business depth and product ownership it could provide. The collaborations did not lead to success as MC Systems lacked product ownership and the ability to reintegrate the outside knowledge.
    • The organization is concerned about testing of a vendor-built application and how the application will be supported.
    		 Info-Tech’s Recommended Approach
    • To date MC Systems has had success with its outsourcing approach when outsourcing specific work items.
    • It is now looking to expand to outsourcing an entire application.
    • Info-Tech’s recommendation is to seek partners who can take on development of the application.
    • MC Systems will still need resources to bring knowledge back in-house for testing and to provide operational support.

    Choosing the right model
    Legend for the table below using circles with quarters to represent Low (0 quarters) to High (4 quarters).
    Determinant Key Questions to Ask Onshore Nearshore Offshore Outsource Role(s) Outsource Team Outsource Product(s)
    Business Dependence How much do you rely on business resources during the development cycle? Circle with 4 quarters. Circle with 3 quarters. Circle with 1 quarter. Circle with 2 quarters. Circle with 1 quarter. Circle with 0 quarters.
    Absorptive Capacity How successful has the organization been at bringing outside knowledge back into the firm? Circle with 0 quarters. Circle with 1 quarter. Circle with 1 quarter. Circle with 2 quarters. Circle with 1 quarter. Circle with 4 quarters.
    Integration Complexity How many integrations are required for the product to function – fewer than 5, 5-10, or more than 10? Circle with 4 quarters. Circle with 3 quarters. Circle with 3 quarters. Circle with 2 quarters. Circle with 1 quarter. Circle with 0 quarters.
    Product Ownership Do you have full-time product owners in place for the products? Do product owners have control of their roadmaps? Circle with 1 quarter. Circle with 2 quarters. Circle with 3 quarters. Circle with 2 quarters. Circle with 4 quarters. Circle with 4 quarters.
    Organization Culture Fit What are your organization’s communication and conflict resolution strategies? Is your organization geographically dispersed? Circle with 1 quarter. Circle with 1 quarter. Circle with 3 quarters. Circle with 1 quarter. Circle with 3 quarters. Circle with 4 quarters.
    Vendor Mgmt Skills What is your skill level in vendor management? How long are your longest-standing vendor relationships? Circle with 0 quarters. Circle with 1 quarter. Circle with 1 quarter. Circle with 2 quarters. Circle with 3 quarters. Circle with 4 quarters.

    1.3.1 Determine the right sourcing strategy for your needs

    60 minutes

    Output: A scored matrix of the key drivers of the sourcing strategy

    Participants: Development leaders, Product management team, Key stakeholders

    Choose one of your products or product families and assess the factors below on a scale of None, Low, Medium, High, and Full.

    • 3.1 Assess the business factors that drive selection using these key criteria (20 minutes):
      • 3.1.1 Product knowledge
      • 3.1.2 Strategic value
      • 3.1.3 Product ownership
    • 3.2 Assess the organizational factors that drive selection using these key criteria (20 minutes):
      • 3.2.1 Vendor management
      • 3.2.2 Absorptive capacity
      • 3.2.3 Organization culture
    • 3.3 Assess the technical factors that drive selection using these key criteria (20 minutes):
      • 3.3.1 Environments
      • 3.3.2 Integration
      • 3.3.3 Testing

    Document results in the Define a Sourcing Strategy Workbook

    Things to Consider When Implementing

    Once you have built your strategy there are some additional things to consider

    Things to Consider Before Acting on Your Strategy

    By now you understand what goes into an effective sourcing strategy. Before implementing one, there are a few key items you need to consider:

    Example 'Sourcing Strategy for Your Portfolio' with initiatives like 'Client-Facing Apps' and 'ERP Software' assigned to 'Onshore Dev', 'Outsource Team', 'Offshore Dev', 'Outsource App (Buy)', 'Outsource Dev', or 'Outsource Roles'. Start with a pilot
    • Changing sourcing needs to start with one team.
    • Grow as skills develop to limit risk.
    Build an IT workforce plan Enhance your vendor management skills Involve the business early and often
    • The business should feel they are part of the discussion.
    • See our Agile/DevOps Research Center for more information on how the business and IT can better work together.
    Limit sourcing complexity
    • Having too many different partners and models creates confusion and will strain your ability to manage vendors effectively.

    Bibliography

    Apfel, Isabella, et al. “IT Project Member Turnover and Outsourcing Relationship Success: An Inverted-U Effect.” Developments, Opportunities and Challenges of Digitization, 2020. Web.

    Benamati, John, and Rajkumar, T.M. “The Application Development Outsourcing Decision: An Application of the Technology Acceptance Model.” Journal of Computer Information Systems, vol. 42, no. 4, 2008, pp. 35-43. Web.

    Benamati, John, and Rajkumar, T.M. “An Outsourcing Acceptance Model: An Application of TAM to Application Development Outsourcing Decisions.” Information Resources Management Journal, vol. 21, no. 2, pp. 80-102, 2008. Web.

    Broekhuizen, T. L. J., et al. “Digital Platform Openness: Drivers, Dimensions and Outcomes.” Journal of Business Research, vol. 122, July 2019, pp. 902-914. Web.

    Brook, Jacques W., and Albert Plugge. “Strategic Sourcing of R&D: The Determinants of Success.” Business Information Processing, vol. 55, Aug. 2010, pp. 26-42. Web.

    Delen, G. P A.J., et al. “Foundations for Measuring IT-Outsourcing Success and Failure.” Journal of Systems and Software, vol. 156, Oct. 2019, pp. 113-125. Web.

    Elnakeep, Eman, et al. “Models and Frameworks for IS Outsourcing Structure and Dimensions: A Holistic Study.” Lecture notes in Networks and Systems, 2019. Web.

    Ghei, Suneel. Modeling Absorptive Capacity for Open Innovation in the Software Industry. 2020. Faculty of Graduate Studies, Athabasca University, 2020. DBA Dissertation.

    “IT Outsourcing Market Research Report by Service Model, Organization Sizes, Deployment, Industry, Region – Global Forecast to 2027 – Cumulative Impact of COVID-19.” ReportLinker, April 2022. Web.

    Jeong, Jongkil Jay, et al. “Enhancing the Application and Measurement of Relationship Quality in Future IT Outsourcing Studies.” 26th European Conference on Information Systems: Beyond Digitization – Facets of Socio-Tehcnical Change: Proceedings of ECIS 2018, Portsmouth, UK, June 23-28, 2018. Edited by Peter Bednar, et al., 2018. Web.

    Könning, Michael. “Conceptualizing the Effect of Cultural Distance on IT Outsourcing Success.” Proceedings of Australasian Conference on Information Systems 2018, Sydney, Australia, Dec. 3-5, 2018. Edited by Matthew Noble, UTS ePress, 2018. Web.

    Lee, Jae-Nam, et al. “Holistic Archetypes of IT Outsourcing Strategy: A Contingency Fit and Configurational Approach.” MIS Quarterly, vol. 43, no. 4, Dec. 2019, pp. 1201-1225. Web.

    Loukis, Euripidis, et al. “Determinants of Software-as-a-Service Benefits and Impact on Firm Performance.” Decision Support Systems, vol. 117, Feb. 2019, pp. 38-47. Web.

    Martensson, Anders. “Patterns in Application Development Sourcing in the Financial Industry.” Proceedings of the 13th European Conference of Information Systems, 2004. Web.

    Martínez-Sánchez, Angel, et al. “The Relationship Between R&D, the Absorptive Capacity of Knowledge, Human Resource Flexibility and Innovation: Mediator Effects on Industrial Firms.” Journal of Business Research, vol. 118, Sept. 2020, pp. 431-440. Web.

    Moreno, Valter, et al. “Outsourcing of IT and Absorptive Capacity: A Multiple Case Study in the Brazilian Insurance Sector.” Brazilian Business Review, vol. 17, no. 1, Jan.-Feb. 2020, pp. 97-113. Web.

    Ozturk, Ebru. “The Impact of R&D Sourcing Strategies on Basic and Developmental R&D in Emerging Economies.” European Journal of Innovation Management, vol. 21, no. 7, May 2018, pp. 522-542. Web.

    Ribas, Imma, et al. “Multi-Step Process for Selecting Strategic Sourcing Options When Designing Supply Chains.” Journal of Industrial Engineering and Management, vol. 14, no. 3, 2021, pp. 477-495. Web.

    Striteska, Michaela Kotkova, and Viktor Prokop. “Dynamic Innovation Strategy Model in Practice of Innovation Leaders and Followers in CEE Countries – A Prerequisite for Building Innovative Ecosystems.” Sustainability, vol. 12, no. 9, May 2020. Web.

    Thakur-Wernz, Pooja, et al. “Antecedents and Relative Performance of Sourcing Choices for New Product Development Projects.” Technovation, 2020. Web.

    Explore the Secrets of Oracle Cloud Licensing

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    • Parent Category Name: Licensing
    • Parent Category Link: /licensing
    • Organizations are considering moving workloads to the cloud; however, they often struggle to understand Oracle's licensing and services models.
    • Complexity of licensing and high price tags can make the renewal process an overwhelming experience.
    • Oracle’s SaaS applications are the most mature, but Oracle’s on-premises E-Business Suite still has functionality gaps in comparison to Oracle’s cloud apps.

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    • Understand the Oracle agenda. Oracle has established a unique approach to their cloud offerings – they want all of your workloads on the Red Stack.
    • Communicate effectively. Be aware that Oracle will reach out to members at your organization at various levels. Having your executives on the same page is critical to successfully managing Oracle.
    • Negotiate hard. Oracle needs the deal more than the customer. Oracle's top leaders are heavily incentivized to drive massive cloud adoption and increase Oracle's share price. Use this to your advantage.

    Impact and Result

    • Conducting business with Oracle is not typical compared to other vendors. To emerge successfully from a commercial transaction with Oracle, customers must learn the “Oracle way” of conducting business, which includes a best-in-class sales structure, highly unique contracts, and license use policies coupled with a hyper-aggressive compliance function.
    • Leverage cloud spend to retire support on shelf-ware licenses, or gain virtualization rights for an on-premises environment.
    • Map out the process of how to negotiate from a position of strength, examining terms and conditions, discount percentages, and agreement pitfalls.
    • Carefully review key clauses in the Oracle Cloud Services Agreement to avoid additional spend and compliance risks.

    Explore the Secrets of Oracle Cloud Licensing Research & Tools

    Start here – read the Executive Brief

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

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

    1. Evaluate licensing requirements

    Review current licensing options and models to determine which cloud products will most appropriately fit the organization's environment.

    • Oracle Cloud Services Agreement Terms and Conditions Evaluation Tool
    [infographic]

    Drive Real Business Value with an HRIS Strategy

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    • member rating average dollars saved: $43,457 Average $ Saved
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    • Parent Category Name: Human Resource Systems
    • Parent Category Link: /human-resource-systems
    • In most organizations, the HR application portfolio has evolved tactically on an as-needed basis, resulting in un-integrated systems and significant effort spent on manual workarounds.
    • The relationship between HR and IT is not optimal for technology decision making. System-related decisions are made by HR and IT is typically involved only post-purchase to fix issues as they arise and offer workarounds.
    • IT systems for HR are not viewed as a strategic differentiator or business enabler, thereby leading to a limited budget and resources for HR IT systems and subsequently hindering the adoption of a strategic, holistic perspective.
    • Some organizations overinvest, while others underinvest in lightweight, point-to-point solutions. Finding the sweet spot between a full suite and lightweight functionality is no easy task.

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    • Align HRIS goals with the business. Organizations must position HR as a partner prior to embarking on an HRIS initiative, aligning technology goals with organizational objectives before looking at software.
    • Communication is key. Often, HR and IT speak different languages. Maintain a high degree of communication by engaging stakeholder groups early.
    • Plan where you want to go. Designing a roadmap based on clear requirements, alignment with the business, and an understanding of priorities will contribute to success.

    Impact and Result

    • Evaluate the current state of HRIS, understand the pain points, and visualize your ideal processes prior to choosing a solution.
    • Explore the different solution alternatives: maintain current system, integrate and consolidate, augment, or replace system entirely.
    • Create a plan to engage IT and HR throughout the project. Equip HR with the decision-making tools to meet business objectives and drive business strategy. Establish a common language for IT and HR to effectively communicate.
    • Develop a practical and actionable roadmap that the entire organization can buy into.

    Drive Real Business Value with an HRIS Strategy Research & Tools

    Start here – read the Executive Brief

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

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

    1. Conduct an environmental scan

    Create a clear project vision that outlines the goals and objectives for the HRIS strategy. Subsequently, construct an HRIS business model that is informed by enablers, barriers, and the organizational, IT, and HR needs.

    • Drive Real Business Value with an HRIS Strategy – Phase 1: Conduct an Environmental Scan
    • Establish an HRIS Strategy Project Charter Template
    • HRIS Readiness Assessment Checklist

    2. Design the future state

    Gather high-level requirements to determine the ideal future state. Explore solution alternatives and choose the path that is best aligned with the organization's needs.

    • Drive Real Business Value with an HRIS Strategy – Phase 2: Design the Future State
    • HRIS Strategy Stakeholder Interview Guide
    • Process Owner Assignment Guide

    3. Finalize the roadmap

    Identify roadmap initiatives. Prioritize initiatives based on importance and effort.

    • Drive Real Business Value with an HRIS Strategy – Phase 3: Finalize the Roadmap
    • Initiative Roadmap Tool
    • HRIS Stakeholder Presentation Template
    [infographic]

    Workshop: Drive Real Business Value with an HRIS Strategy

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

    1 Conduct an Environmental Scan

    The Purpose

    Understand the importance of creating an HRIS strategy before proceeding with software selection and implementation.

    Learn why a large percentage of HRIS projects fail and how to avoid common mistakes.

    Set expectations for the HRIS strategy and understand Info-Tech’s HRIS methodology.

    Complete a project charter to gain buy-in, build a project team, and track project success.   

    Key Benefits Achieved

    A go/no-go decision on the project appropriateness.

    Project stakeholders identified.

    Project team created with defined roles and responsibilities.

    Finalized project charter to gain buy-in.  

    Activities

    1.1 Set a direction for the project by clarifying the focus.

    1.2 Identify the right stakeholders for your project team.

    1.3 Identify HRIS needs, barriers, and enablers.

    1.4 Map the current state of your HRIS.

    1.5 Align your business goals with your HR goals and objectives.

    Outputs

    Project vision

    Defined project roles and responsibilities

    Completed HRIS business model

    Completed current state map and thorough understanding of the HR technology landscape

    Strategy alignment between HR and the business

    2 Design the Future State

    The Purpose

    Gain a thorough understanding of the HRIS-related pains felt throughout the organization.

    Use stakeholder-identified pains to directly inform the HRIS strategy and long-term solution.

    Visualize your ideal processes and realize the art of the possible.  

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Requirements to strengthen the business case and inform the strategy.

    The art of the possible.

    Activities

    2.1 Requirements gathering.

    2.2 Sketch ideal future state processes.

    2.3 Establish process owners.

    2.4 Determine guiding principles.

    2.5 Identify metrics.

    Outputs

    Pain points classified by data, people, process, and technology

    Ideal future process vision

    Assigned process owners, guiding principles, and metrics for each HR process in scope

    3 Create Roadmap and Finalize Deliverable

    The Purpose

    Brainstorm and prioritize short- and long-term HRIS tasks.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Understand next steps for the HRIS project.

    Activities

    3.1 Create a high-level implementation plan that shows dependencies.

    3.2 Identify risks and mitigation efforts.

    3.3 Finalize stakeholder presentation.

    Outputs

    Completed implementation plan

    Completed risk management plan

    HRIS stakeholder presentation

    Master the Secrets of Adobe’s Creative Cloud Contracts to Right-Size Your Adobe Spend

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    • Parent Category Name: Licensing
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    • Adobe operates in its own niche in the creative space, and Adobe users have grown accustomed to their products, making switching very difficult.
    • With Adobe’s transition to a cloud-based subscription model, it’s important for organizations to actively manage licenses, software provisioning, and consumption.
    • Without a detailed understanding of Adobe’s various purchasing models, overspending often occurs.
    • Organizations have experienced issues in identifying commercial licensed packages with their install files, making it difficult to track and assign licenses.

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    • Focus on user needs first. Examine which products are truly needed versus nice to have to prevent overspending on the Creative Cloud suite.
    • Examine what has been deployed. Knowing what has been deployed and what is being used will greatly aid in completing your true-up.
    • Compliance is not automatic with products that are in the cloud. Shared logins or computers that have desktop installs that can be access by multiple users can cause noncompliance.

    Impact and Result

    • Visibility into license deployments and needs
    • Compliance with internal audits

    Master the Secrets of Adobe’s Creative Cloud Contracts to Right-Size Your Adobe Spend Research & Tools

    Start here – read the Executive Brief

    Procuring Adobe software is not the same game as it was just a few years ago. Adopt a comprehensive approach to understanding Adobe licensing to avoid overspending and to maximize negotiation leverage.

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

    1. Manage your Adobe agreements

    Use Info-Tech’s licensing best practices to avoid overspending on Adobe licensing and to remain compliant in case of audit.

    • Adobe ETLA vs. VIP Pricing Table
    • Adobe ETLA Forecasted Costs and Benefits
    • Adobe ETLA Deployment Forecast
    [infographic]

    Further reading

    Master the Secrets of Adobe’s Creative Cloud Contracts to Right-Size Your Adobe Spend

    Learn the essential steps to avoid overspending and to maximize negotiation leverage with Adobe.

    ANALYST PERSPECTIVE

    Only 18% of Adobe licenses are genuine copies: are yours?

    "Adobe has designed and executed the most comprehensive evolution to the subscription model of pre-cloud software publishers with Creative Cloud. Adobe's release of Document Cloud (replacement for the Acrobat series of software) is the final nail in the coffin for legacy licensing for Adobe. Technology procurement functions have run out of time in which to act while they still retain leverage, with the exception of some late adopter organizations that were able to run on legacy versions (e.g. CS6) for the past five years. Procuring Adobe software is not the same game as it was just a few years ago. Adopt a comprehensive approach to understanding Adobe licensing, contract, and delivery models in order to accurately forecast your software needs, transact against the optimal purchase plan, and maximize negotiation leverage. "

    Scott Bickley

    Research Lead, Vendor Practice

    Info-Tech Research Group

    Our understanding of the problem

    This Research is Designed For:

    • IT managers scoping their Adobe licensing requirements and compliance position.
    • CIOs, CTOs, CPOs, and IT directors negotiating licensing agreements in search of cost savings.
    • ITAM/Software asset managers responsible for tracking and managing Adobe licensing.
    • IT and business leaders seeking to better understand Adobe licensing options (Creative Cloud).
    • Vendor management offices in the process of a contract renewal.

    This Research Will Help You:

    • Understand and simplify licensing per product to help optimize spend.
    • Ensure agreement type is aligned to needs.
    • Navigate the purchase process to negotiate from a position of strength.
    • Manage licenses more effectively to avoid compliance issues, audits, and unnecessary purchases.

    This Research Will Also Assist:

    • CFOs and the finance department
    • Enterprise architects
    • ITAM/SAM team
    • Network and IT architects
    • Legal
    • Procurement and sourcing

    This Research Will Help Them:

    • Understand licensing methods in order to make educated and informed decisions.
    • Understand the future of the cloud in your Adobe licensing roadmap.

    Executive summary

    Situation

    • Adobe’s dominant market position and ownership of the creative software market is forcing customers to refocus the software acquisition process to ensure a positive ROI on every license.
    • In early 2017, Adobe announced it would stop selling perpetual Creative Suite 6 products, forcing future purchases to be transitioned to the cloud.

    Complication

    • Adobe operates in its own niche in the creative space, and Adobe users have grown accustomed to their products, making switching very difficult.
    • With transition to a cloud-based subscription model, organizations need to actively manage licenses, software provisioning, and consumption.
    • Without a detailed understanding of Adobe’s various purchasing models, overspending often occurs.
    • Organizations have experienced issues in identifying commercial licensed packages with their install files, making it difficult to track and assign licenses.

    Resolution

    • Gain visibility into license deployments and needs with a strong SAM program/tool; this will go a long way toward optimizing spend.
      • Number of users versus number of installs are not the same, and confusing the two can result in overspending. Device-based licensing historically would have required two licenses, but now only one may be required.
    • Ensure compliance with internal audits. Adobe has a very high rate of piracy stemming from issues such as license overuse, misunderstanding of contract language, using cracks/keygens, virtualized environments, indirect access, and sharing of accounts.
    • A handful of products are still sold as perpetual – Acrobat Standard/Pro, Captivate, ColdFusion, Photoshop, and Premiere Elements – but be aware of what is being purchased and used in the organization.
      • Beware of products deployed on server, where the number of users accessing that product cannot easily be counted.

    Info-Tech Insight

    1. Your user-need analysis has shifted in the new subscription-based model. Determine which products are needed versus nice to have to prevent overspending on the Creative Cloud suite.
    2. Examine what you need, not what you have. You can no longer mix and match applications.
    3. Compliance is not automatic with products that are in the cloud. Shared logins or computers with desktop installs that can be accessed by multiple users can cause noncompliance.

    The aim of this blueprint is to provide a foundational understanding of Adobe

    Why Adobe

    In 2011 Adobe took the strategic but radical move toward converting its legacy on-premises licensing to a cloud-based subscription model, in spite of material pushback from its customer base. While revenues initially dipped, Adobe’s resolve paid off; the transition is mostly complete and revenues have doubled. This was the first enterprise software offering to effect the transition to the cloud in a holistic manner. It now serves as a case study for those following suit, such as Microsoft, Autodesk, and Oracle.

    What to know

    Adobe elected to make this market pivot in a dramatic fashion, foregoing a gradual transition process. Enterprise clients were temporarily allowed to survive on legacy on-premises editions of Adobe software; however, as the Adobe Creative Cloud functionality was quickly enhanced and new applications were launched, customer capitulation to the new subscription model was assured.

    The Future

    Adobe is now leveraging the power of connected customers, the availability of massive data streams, and the ongoing digitalization trend globally to supplement the core Creative Cloud products with online services and analytics in the areas of Creative Cloud for content, Marketing Cloud for marketers, and Document Cloud for document management and workflows. This blueprint focuses on Adobe's Creative Cloud and Document Cloud solutions and the enterprise term license agreement (ETLA).

    Info-Tech Insight

    Beware of your contract being auto-renewed and getting locked into the quantities and product subset that you have in your current agreement. Determining the number of licenses you need is critical. If you overestimate, you're locked in for three years. If you underestimate, you have to pay a big premium in the true-up process.

    Learn the “Adobe way,” whether you are reviewing existing spend or considering the purchase of new products

    1. Legacy on-premises Adobe Creative Suite products used to be available in multiple package configurations, enabling right-sized spend with functionality. Adobe’s support for legacy Creative Suites CS6 products ended in May 2017.
    2. While early ETLAs allowed customer application packaging at a lower price than the full Creative Cloud suite, this practice has been discontinued. Now, the only purchasing options are the full suite or single-application subscriptions.
    3. Buyers must now assess alternative Adobe products as an option for non-power users. For example, QuarkXPress, Corel PaintShop Pro, CorelDRAW, Bloom, and Affinity Designer are possible replacements for some Creative Cloud applications.
    4. Document Cloud, Adobe’s latest step in creating an Acrobat-focused subscription model, limits the ability to reduce costs with an extended upgrade cycle. These changes go beyond the licensing model.
    5. Organizations need to perform a cost-benefit analysis of single app purchases vs. the full suite to right-size spend with functionality.

    As Adobe’s dominance continues to grow, organizations must find new ways to maintain a value-added relationship

    Adobe estimates the total addressable market for creative and document cloud to be $21 billion. With no sign of growth slowing down, Adobe customers must learn how to work within the current design monopoly.

    The image contains two pie graphs. The first is labelled FY2014 Revenue Mix, and the second graph is titled FY2017E Revenue Mix.

    Source: Adobe, 2017

    "Adobe is not only witnessing a steady increase in Creative Cloud subscriptions, but it also gained more visibility into customers’ product usage, which enables it to consistently push out software updates relevant to user needs. The company also successfully transformed its sales organization to support the recurring revenue model."

    – Omid Razavi, Global Head of Success, ServiceNow

    Consider your route forward

    Consider your route forward, as ETLA contract commitments, scope, and mechanisms differ in structure to the perpetual models previously utilized. The new model shortchanges technology procurement leaders in their expectations of cost-usage alignment and opex flexibility (White, 2016).

    ☑ Implement a user profile to assign licenses by version and limit expenditures. Alternatives can include existing legacy perpetual and Acrobat classic versions that may already be owned by the organization.

    ☑ Examine the suitability and/or dependency on Document Cloud functions, such as existing business workflows and e-signature integration.

    ☑ Involve stakeholders in the evaluation of alternate products for use cases where dependency on Acrobat-specific functionality is limited.

    ☑ Identify not just the installs and active use of the applications but also the depth and breadth of use across the various features so that the appropriate products can be selected.

    The image contains a screenshot of a diagram listing the adobe toolkit. The toolkit includes: Adobe ETLA Deployment Forecast Tool, Adobe ETLA Forecasted Cost and Benefits, Adobe ETLA vs. VIP Pricing Table.

    Use Info-Tech’s Adobe toolkit to prepare for your new purchases or contract renewal

    Info-Tech Insight

    IT asset management (ITAM) and software asset management (SAM) are critical! An error made in a true-up can cost the organization for the remaining years of the ETLA. Info-Tech worked with one client that incurred a $600k error in the true-up that they were not able to recoup from Adobe.

    Apply licensing best practices and examine the potential for cost savings through an unbiased third-party perspective

    Establish Licensing Requirements

    • Understand Adobe’s product landscape and transition to cloud.
    • Analyze users and match to correct Adobe SKU.
    • Conduct an internal software assessment.
    • Build an effective licensing position.

    Evaluate Licensing Options

    • Value Incentive Plan (VIP)
    • Cumulative Licensing Program (CLP)
    • Transactional Licensing Program (TLP)
    • Enterprise Term License Agreement (ETLA)

    Evaluate Agreement Options

    • Price
    • Discounts
    • Price protection
    • Terms and conditions

    Purchase and Manage Licenses

    • Learn negotiation tactics to enhance your current strategy.
    • Control the flow of communication.
    • Assign the right people to manage the environment.

    Preventive practices can help find measured value ($)

    Time and resource disruption to business if audited

    Lost estimated synergies in M&A

    Cost of new licensing

    Cost of software audit, penalties, and back support

    Lost resource allocation and time

    Third party, legal/SAM partners

    Cost of poor negotiation tactics

    Lost discount percentage

    Terms and conditions improved

    Explore Adobe licensing and optimize spend – project overview

    Establish Licensing Requirements

    Evaluate Licensing Options

    Evaluate Agreement Options

    Purchase and Manage Licenses

    Best-Practice Toolkit
    • Assess current state and align goals; review business feedback.
    • Interview key stakeholders to define business objectives and drivers.
    • Review licensing options.
    • Review licensing rules.
    • Determine the ideal contract type.
    • Review final contract.
    • Discuss negotiation points.
    • License management.
    • Future licensing strategy.

    Guided Implementations
    • Engage in a scoping call.
    • Assess the current state.
    • Determine licensing position.
    • Review product options.
    • Review licensing rules.
    • Review contract option types.
    • Determine negotiation points.
    • Finalize the contract.
    • Discuss license management.
    • Evaluate and develop a roadmap for future licensing.

    PHASE 1

    Manage Your Adobe Agreements

    Phase 1 outline

    Call 1-888-670-8889 or email GuidedImplementations@InfoTech.com for more information.

    Complete these steps on your own, or call us to complete a guided implementation. A guided implementation is a series of 2-3 advisory calls that help you execute each phase of a project. They are included in most advisory memberships.

    Guided Implementation 1: Managing Adobe Contracts

    Proposed Time to Completion: 3-6 weeks

    Step 1.1: Establish Licensing Requirements

    Start with a kick-off call:

    • Assess the current state.
    • Determine licensing position.

    Then complete these activities…

    • Complete a deployment count, needs analysis, and internal audit.

    With these tools & templates:

    Adobe ETLA Deployment Forecast

    Step 1.2: Determine Licensing Options

    Review findings with analyst:

    • Review licensing options.
    • Review licensing rules.
    • Review contract option types.

    Then complete these activities…

    • Select licensing option.
    • Document forecasted costs and benefits.

    With these tools & templates:

    Adobe ETLA vs. VIP Pricing Table

    Adobe ETLA Forecasted Costs and Benefits

    Step 1.3: Purchase and Manage Licenses

    Review findings with analyst:

    • Review final contract.
    • Discuss negotiation points.
    • Plan a roadmap for SAM.

    Then complete these activities…

    • Negotiate final contract.
    • Evaluate and develop a roadmap for SAM.

    With these tools & templates:

    Adobe ETLA Deployment Forecast

    Adobe’s Cloud – Snapshot of what has changed

    1. Since Adobe has limited the procurement and licensing options with the introduction of Creative Cloud, there are three main choices:
      1. Direct online purchase at Adobe.com
      2. Value Incentive Plan (VIP): Creative Cloud for teams–based purchase with a volume discount (minimal, usually ~10%); may have some incentives or promotional pricing
      3. Enterprise Term License Agreement (ETLA): Creative Cloud for Enterprise (CCE)
    2. Adobe has discontinued support for legacy perpetual licenses, with the latest version being CS6, which is steering organizations to prioritize their options for products in the creative and document management space.
    3. Document Cloud (DC) is the cloud product replacing the Acrobat perpetual licensing model. DC extends the subscription-based model further and limits options to extend the lifespan of legacy on-premises licenses through a protracted upgrade process.
    4. The subscription model, coupled with limited discount options on transactional purchases, forces enterprises to consider the ETLA option. The ETLA brings with it unique term commitments, new pricing structures, and true-up mechanisms and inserts the "land and expand" model vs. license reassignment.

    Info-Tech Insight

    Adobe’s move from a perpetual license to a per-user subscription model can be positive in some scenarios for organizations that experienced challenges with deployment, management of named users vs. devices, and license tracking.

    Core concepts of Adobe agreements: Discounting, pricing, and bundling

    ETLA

    Adobe has been systematically reducing discounts on ETLAs as they enter the second renewal cycle of the original three-year terms.

    Adobe Cloud Bundling

    Adobe cloud services are being bundled with ETLAs with a mandate that companies that do not accept the services at the proposed cost have Adobe management’s approval to unbundle the deal, generally with no price relief.

    Custom Bundling

    The option for custom bundling of legacy Creative Suite component applications has been removed, effectively raising the price across the board for licensees that require more than two Adobe applications who must now purchase the full Creative Cloud suite.

    Higher and Public Education

    Higher education/public education agreements have been revamped over the past couple of years, increasing prices for campus-wide agreements by double-digit percentages (~10-30%+). While they still receive an 80% discount over list price, IT departments in this industry are not prepared to absorb the budget increase.

    Info-Tech Insight

    Adobe has moved to an all-or-one bundle model. If you need more than two application products, you will likely need to purchase the full Creative Cloud suite. Therefore, it is important to focus on creating accurate user profiles to identify usage needs.

    Use Info-Tech’s Adobe deployment tool for SAM: Track deployment and needs

    The image contains a screenshot of Info-Tech's Adobe deployment tool for SAM: Track deployment and needs.

    Use Info-Tech’s Adobe deployment tool for SAM: Audit

    The image contains a screenshot of the Adobe Deployment Tool for SAM, specifically the Audit tab.

    Use Info-Tech’s Adobe deployment tool for SAM: Cost

    The image contains a screenshot of the Adobe Deployment Tool for SAM, specifically the Cost tab.

    Use Info-Tech’s tools to compare ETLA vs. VIP and to document forecasted costs and benefits

    Is the ETLA or VIP option better for your organization?

    Use Info-Tech’s Adobe ETLA vs. VIP Pricing Table tool to compare ETLA costs against VIP costs.

    The image contains a screenshot of Info-Tech's Adobe ETLA vs. VIP Pricing Table.

    Your ETLA contains multiple products and is a multi-year agreement.

    Use Info-Tech’s ETLA Forecasted Costs and Benefits tool to forecast your ETLA costs and document benefits.

    The image contains a screenshot of Info-Tech's ETLA Forecasted Costs and Benefits.

    Adobe’s Creative Cloud Complete offering provides access to all Adobe creative products and ongoing upgrades

    Why subscription model?

    The subscription model forces customers to an annuity-based pricing model, so Adobe has recurring revenue from a subscription-based product. This increases customer lifetime value (CLTV) for Adobe while providing ongoing functionality updates that are not version/edition dependent.

    Key Characteristics:

    • Available as a month-to-month or annual subscription license
    • Can be purchased for one user, for a team, or for an enterprise
    • Subject to annual payment and true-up of license fees
    • Can only true-up during lifespan of contract; quantities cannot be reduced until renewal
    • May contain auto-renewal clauses – beware!

    Key things to know:

    1. Applications can be purchased individually if users require only one specific product. A few products continue to have on-premises licensing options, but most are offered by per-user subscriptions.
    2. At the end of the subscription period, the organization no longer has any rights to the software and would have to return to a previously owned version.
    3. True-downs are not possible (in contrast to Microsoft’s Office 365).
    4. Downgrade rights are not included or are limited by default.

    Which products are in the Creative Cloud bundle?

    Adobe Acrobat® XI Pro

    Adobe After Effects® CC

    Adobe Audition® CC

    Adobe Digital Publishing Suite, Single Edition

    Adobe InDesign® CC

    Adobe Dreamweaver® CC

    Adobe Edge Animate

    Adobe Edge Code preview

    Adobe Edge Inspect

    Adobe Photoshop CC

    Adobe Edge Reflow preview

    Adobe Edge Web Fonts

    Adobe Extension Manager

    ExtendScript Toolkit

    Adobe Fireworks® CS6

    Adobe Flash® Builder® 4.7 Premium Edition

    Adobe Flash Professional CC

    Adobe Illustrator® CC

    Adobe Prelude® CC

    Adobe Premiere® Pro CC

    Adobe Scout

    Adobe SpeedGrade® CC

    Adobe Muse CC

    Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 6

    Adobe offers different solutions for teams vs. enterprise licensing

    Evaluate the various options for Creative Cloud, as they can be purchased individually, for teams, or for enterprise.

    Bundle Name

    Target Customer

    Included Applications

    Features

    CC (for Individuals)

    Individual users

    The individual chooses
    • Sync, store, and share assets
    • Adobe Portfolio website
    • Adobe Typekit font collection
    • Microsoft Teams integration
    • Can only be purchased through credit card

    CC for Teams (CCT)

    Small to midsize organizations with a small number of Adobe users who are all within the same team

    Depends on your team’s requirements. You can select all applications or specific applications.

    Everything that CC (for individuals) does, plus

    • One license per user; can reassign CC licenses
    • Web-based admin console
    • Centralized deployment
    • Usage tracking and reporting
    • 100GB of storage per user
    • Volume discounts for 10+ seats

    CC for Enterprise (CCE)

    Large organizations with users who regularly use multiple Adobe products on multiple machines

    All applications including Adobe Stock for images and Adobe Enterprise Dashboard for managing user accounts

    Everything that CCT does, plus

    • Employees can activate a second copy of software on another device (e.g. home computer) as long as they share the same Adobe ID and are not used simultaneously
    • Ability to reassign licenses from old users to new users
    • Custom storage options
    • Greater integration with other Adobe products
    • Larger volume discounts with more seats

    For further information on specific functionality differences, reference Adobe’s comparison table.

    A Cloud-ish solution: Considerations and implications for IT organizations

    ☑ True cloud products are typically service-based, scalable and elastic, shared resources, have usage metering, and rely upon internet technologies. Currently, Adobe’s Creative Cloud and Document Cloud products lack these characteristics. In fact, the core products are still downloaded and physically installed on endpoint devices, then anchored to the cloud provisioning system, where the software can be automatically updated and continuously verified for compliance by ensuring the subscription is active.

    ☑ Adobe Cloud allows Adobe to increase end-user productivity by releasing new features and products to market faster, but the customer will increase lock-in to the Adobe product suite. The fast-release approach poses a different challenge for IT departments, as they must prepare to test and support new functionality and ensure compatibility with endpoint devices.

    ☑ There are options at the enterprise level that enable IT to exert more granular control over new feature releases, but these are tied to the ETLA and the provided enterprise portal and are not available on other subscription plans. This is another mechanism by which Adobe has been able to spur ETLA adoption.

    ☑ Not all CIOs consider SaaS/subscription applications their first choice, but the Adobe’s dominant position in the content and document management marketplace is forcing the shift regardless. It is significant that Adobe bypassed the typical hybrid transition model by effectively disrupting the ability to continue with perpetual licensing without falling behind the functionality curve.

    ☑ VIP plans do allow for annual terms and payment, but you lose the price elasticity that comes with multi-year terms.

    Download Info-Tech’s Adobe ETLA vs. VIP Pricing Table tool to compare ETLA costs against VIP costs.

    When moving to Adobe cloud, validate that license requirements meet organizational needs, not a sales quota

    Follow these steps in your transition to Creative Cloud.

    Step 1: Make sure you have a software asset management (SAM) tool to determine Adobe installs and usage within your environment.

    Step 2: Look at the current Adobe install base and usage. We recommend reviewing three months’ worth of reliable usage data to decide which users should have which licenses going forward.

    Step 3: Understand the changes in Adobe packages for Creative Cloud (CC). Also, take into account that the license types are based on users, not devices.

    Step 4: Identify those users who only need a single license for a single application (e.g. Photoshop, InDesign, Muse).

    Step 5: Identify the users who require CC suites. Look at their usage of previous Adobe suites to get an idea of which CC suite they require. Did they have Design Suite Standard installed but only use one or two elements? This is a good way to ensure you do not overspend on Adobe licenses.

    Source: The ITAM Review

    Download Info-Tech’s Adobe ETLA Deployment Forecast tool to track Adobe installs within your environment and to determine usage needs.

    Acquiring Adobe Software

    Adobe offers four common licensing methods, which are reviewed in detail in the following slides.

    Most common purchasing models

    Points for consideration
    • Value Incentive Plan (VIP)
    • Cumulative Licensing Program (CLP)
    • Transactional Licensing Program (TLP)
    • Enterprise Term License Agreement (ETLA)
    • Adobe, as with many other large software providers, includes special benefits and rights when its products are purchased through volume licensing channels.
    • Businesses should typically refrain from purchasing individual OEM (shrink wrap) licenses or those meant for personal use.
    • Purchase record history is available online, making it easier for your organization to manage entitlements in the case of an audit.

    "Customers are not even obliged to manage all the licenses themselves. The reseller partners have access to the cloud console and can manage licenses on behalf of their customers. Even better, they can seize cross and upsell opportunities and provide good insight into the environment. Additionally, Adobe itself provides optimization services."

    – B-lay

    CLP and TLP

    The CLP and TLP are transactional agreements generally used for the purchase of perpetual licenses. For example, they could be used for making Acrobat purchases if Creative Suite products are purchased on the ETLA.

    The image contains a screenshot of a table comparing CLP and TLP.

    Source: “Adobe Buying Programs Comparison Guide for Commercial and Government Organizations”

    VIP and ETLA

    The Value Incentive Plan is aimed at small- to medium-sized organizations with no minimum quantity required. However, there is limited flexibility to reduce licenses and limited price protection for future purchases. The ETLA is aimed at large organizations who wish to have new functionality as it comes out, license management portal, services, and security/IT control aspects.

    The image contains a screenshot of a table comparing VIP and ETLA.

    Source: “Adobe Buying Programs Comparison Guide for Commercial and Government Organizations”

    ETLA commitments risk creating “shelfware-as-a-service”

    The Adobe ETLA’s rigid contract parameters, true-up process, and unique deployment/provisioning mechanisms give technology/IT procurement leaders fewer options to maximize cost-usage alignment and to streamline opex costs.

    ☑ No ETLA price book is publicly published; pricing is controlled by the Adobe enterprise sales team.

    ☑ Adobe's retail pricing is a good starting point for negotiating discounted pricing.

    ☑ ETLA commitments are usually for three years, and the lack of a true-down option increases the risk involved in overbuying licenses should the organization encounter a business downturn or adverse event.

    ☑ Pricing discounts are the highest at the initial ETLA signing for the upfront volume commitment. The true-up pricing is discounted from retail but still higher than the signing cost per license.

    ☑ Technical support is included in the ETLA.

    ☑ While purchases typically go through value-added resellers (VARs), procurement can negotiate directly with Adobe.

    "For cloud products, it is less complex when it comes to purchasing and pricing. If larger quantities are purchased on a longer term, the discount may reach up to 15%. As soon as you enroll in the VIP program, you can control all your licenses from an ‘admin console’. Any updates or new functionalities are included in the original price. When the licenses expire, you may choose to renew your subscriptions or remove them. Partial renewal is also accepted. Of course, you can also re-negotiate your price if more subscriptions are added to your console."

    – B-lay

    ETLA recommendations

    1. Assess the end-user requirements with a high degree of scrutiny. Perform an analysis that matches the licensee with the correct Adobe product SKU to reduce the risk of overspending.
    • Leverage metering data that identifies actual usage and lack thereof, match to user profile functional requirements, and then determine end users’ actual license requirements.
  • Build in time to evaluate alternative products where possible and position the organization to leverage a Plan B vendor to replace or mitigate growth on the Adobe platform. Re-evaluate options well in advance of the ETLA renewal.
  • Secure price protection through negotiating a price cap or an extended ETLA term beyond the standard three-year term. Short of obtaining an escalation cap, which Adobe is strongly resisting, build in price increases for the ETLA renewal years.
    • Demand price transparency and granularity in the proposal process.
    • Validate that volume discounts are appropriate and show through to the true-up line item pricing.
  • Negotiate a true-down mechanism upfront with Adobe if usage decline is inevitable or expected due to a merger or acquisition, divestiture, or material restructuring event.

    • INFO-TECH TIP: For further guidance on ETLAs and pricing, contact your Info-Tech representative to set up a call with an analyst.

    Use Info-Tech’s Adobe ETLA Deployment Forecast tool to match licensees with Adobe product SKUs.

    Prepare for Adobe’s true-up process

    How the true-up process works

    When adding a license, the true-up price will be prorated to 50% of the license cost for previous year’s usage plus 100% of the license cost for the next year. This back-charging adds up to 150% of the overall true-up license cost. In some rare cases, Adobe has provided an “unlimited” quantity for certain SKUs; these Unlimited ETLAs generally align with FTE counts and limit FTE increases to about 5%. Procurement must monitor and work with SAM/ITAM and stakeholder groups to restrain unnecessary growth during the term of an Unlimited ETLA to avoid the risk of cost escalation at renewal time.

    Higher-education specific

    Higher-education clients can license under the ETLA based on a prescribed number of user and classroom/lab devices and/or on a FTE basis. In these cases, the combination of Creative Cloud and Acrobat Pro volume must equal the FTE total, creating an enterprise footprint. FTE calculations establish the full-time faculty plus one-third of part-time faculty plus one-half of part-time staff.

    Info-Tech Insight

    Compliance takes a different form in terms of the ETLA true-up process. The completion of Adobe's transition to cloud-based licensing and verification has improved compliance rates via phone home telemetry such that pirated software is less available and more easily detected. Adobe has actually decommissioned its audit arm in the Americas and EMEA.

    Audits and software asset management with Adobe

    Watch out for:

    • Virtual desktops, freeware, and test and trial licenses
    • Adobe products that may be bundled into a suite; a manual check will be needed to ensure the suite isn’t recognized as a standalone license
    • Pirated licenses with a “crack” built into the software

    Simplify your process – from start to finish – with these steps:

    Determine License Entitlements

    Obtain documentation from internal records and Adobe to track licenses and upgrades to determine what licenses you own and have the right to use.

    Gather Deployment Information

    Leverage a software asset management tool or process to determine what software is deployed and what is/is not being used.

    Determine Effective License Position

    Compare license entitlements with deployment data to uncover surpluses and deficits in licensing. Look for opportunities.

    Plan Changes to License Position

    Meet with IT stakeholders to discuss the enterprise license program (ELP), short- and long-term project plans, and budget allocation. Plan and document licensing requirements.

    Adobe Genuine Software Integrity Service

    • This service was started in 2014 to combat non-genuine software sold by non-authorized resellers.
    • The service works hand in hand with the cloud movement to reduce piracy.
    • Every Adobe product now contains an executable file that will scan your machine for non-genuine software.
    • If non-genuine software is detected, the user will be notified and directed to the official Adobe website for next steps.

    Detailed list of Adobe licensing contract types

    The table below describes Adobe contract types beyond the four typical purchasing models explained in the previous slides:

    Option

    What is it?

    What’s included?

    For

    Term

    CLP (Cumulative Licensing Program)

    10,000 plus points, support and maintenance optional

    Select Adobe perpetual desktop products

    Business

    2 years

    EA (Adobe Enterprise Agreement)

    100 licenses plus maintenance and support for eligible Adobe products

    All applications

    100+ users requirement

    3 years

    EEA (Adobe Enterprise Education Agreement)

    Creative Cloud enterprise agreement for education establishments

    Creative Cloud applications without services

    Education

    1 or 2 years

    ETLA (Enterprise Term License Agreement)

    Licensing program designed for Adobe’s top commercial, government, and education customers

    All Creative Cloud applications

    Large enterprise companies

    3 years

    K-12 – Enterprise Agreement

    Enterprise agreement for primary and secondary schools

    Creative Cloud applications without services

    Education

    1 year

    K-12 – School Site License

    Allows a school to install a Creative Cloud on up to 500 school-owned computers regardless of school size

    Creative Cloud applications without services

    Education

    1 year

    TLP (Transactional Licensing Program)

    Agreement for SMBs that want volume licensing bonuses

    Perpetual desktop products only

    Aimed at SMBs, but Enterprise customers can use the TLP for smaller requirements

    N/A

    Upgrade Plan

    Insurance program for software purchased under a perpetual license program such as CLP or TLP for Creative Cloud upgrade

    Dependent on the existing perpetual estate

    Anyone

    N/A

    VIP (Value Incentive Plan)

    VIP allows customers to purchase, deploy, and manage software through a term-based subscription license model

    Creative Cloud of teams

    Business, government, and education

    Insight breakdown

    Insight 1

    Adobe operates in its own niche in the creative space, and Adobe users have grown accustomed to their products, making switching very difficult.

    Insight 2

    Adobe has transitioned the vast majority of its software offerings to the cloud-based subscription model. Active management of licenses, software provisioning, and consumption of cloud services is now an ongoing job.

    Insight 3

    With the vendor lock-in process nearly complete via the transition to a SaaS subscription model, Adobe is raising prices on an annual basis. Advance planning and strategic use of the ETLA is key to avoid budget-breaking surprises.

    Summary of accomplishment

    Knowledge Gained

    • The key pieces of licensing information that should be gathered about the current state of your own organization.
    • An in-depth understanding of the required licenses across all of your products.
    • Clear methodology for selecting the most effective contract type.
    • Development of measurable, relevant metrics to help track future project success and identify areas of strength and weakness within your licensing program.

    Processes Optimized

    • Understanding of the importance of licensing in relation to business objectives.
    • Understanding of the various licensing considerations that need to be made.
    • Contract negotiation.

    Deliverables Completed

    • Adobe ETLA Deployment Forecast
    • Adobe ETLA Forecasted Cost and Benefits
    • Adobe ETLA vs. VIP Pricing Table

    Related Info-Tech Research

    Take Control of Microsoft Licensing and Optimize Spend

    Create an Effective Plan to Implement IT Asset Management

    Establish an Effective System of Internal IT Controls to Mitigate Risks

    Optimize Software Asset Management

    Take Control of Compliance Improvement to Conquer Every Audit

    Cut PCI Compliance and Audit Costs in Half

    Bibliography

    “Adobe Buying Programs: At-a-glance comparison guide for Commercial and government organizations.” Adobe Systems Incorporated, 2014. Web. 1 Feb. 2018.

    “Adobe Buying Programs Comparison Guide for Commercial and Government Organizations.” Adobe Systems Incorporated, 2018. Web.

    “Adobe Buying Programs Comparison Guide for Education.” Adobe Systems Incorporated, 2018. Web. 1 Feb 2018.

    “Adobe Education Enterprise Agreement: Give your school access to the latest industry-leading creative tools.” Adobe Systems Incorporated, 2014. Web. 1 Feb. 2018.

    “Adobe Enterprise Term License Agreement for commercial and government organizations.” Adobe Systems Incorporated, 2016. Web. 1 Feb. 2018.

    Adobe Investor Presentation – October 2017. Adobe Systems Incorporated, 2017. Web. 1 Feb. 2018.

    Cabral, Amanda. “Students react to end of UConn-Adobe contract.” The Daily Campus (Uconn), 5 April 2017. Web. 1 Feb. 2018.

    de Veer, Patrick and Alecsandra Vintilescu. “Quick Guide to Adobe Licensing.” B-lay, Web. 1 Feb. 2018.

    “Find the best program for your organization.” Adobe, Web. 1 Feb 2018.

    Foxen, David. “Adobe Upgrade Simplified.” Snow Software, 7 Oct. 2016. Web.

    Frazer, Bryant. “Adobe Stops Reporting Subscription Figures for Creative Cloud.” Studio Daily. Access Intelligence, LLC. 17 March 2016. Web.

    “Give your students the power to create bright futures.” Adobe, Web. 1 Feb 2018.

    Jones, Noah. “Adobe changes subscription prices, colleges forced to pay more.” BG Falcon Media. Bowling Green State University, 18 Feb. 2015. Web. 1 Feb. 2018.

    Mansfield, Adam. “Is Your Organization Prepared for Adobe’s Enterprise Term License Agreements (ETLA)?” UpperEdge,30 April 2013. Web. 1 Feb. 2018.

    Murray, Corey. “6 Things Every School Should Know About Adobe’s Move to Creative Cloud.” EdTech: Focus on K-12. CDW LLC, 10 June 2013. Web.

    “Navigating an Adobe Software Audit: Tips for Emerging Unscathed.” Nitro, Web. 1 Feb. 2018.

    Razavi, Omid. “Challenges of Traditional Software Companies Transitioning to SaaS.” Sand Hill, 12 May 2015. Web. 1 Feb. 2018.

    Rivard, Ry. “Confusion in the Cloud.” Inside Higher Ed. 22 May 2013. Web. 1 Feb. 2018.

    Sharwood, Simon. “Adobe stops software licence audits in Americas, Europe.” The Register. Situation Publishing. 12 Aug. 2016. Web. 1 Feb. 2018.

    “Software Licensing Challenges Faced In The Cloud: How Can The Cloud Benefit You?” The ITAM Review. Enterprise Opinions Limited. 20 Nov. 2015. Web.

    White, Stephen. “Understanding the Impacts of Adobe’s Cloud Strategy and Subscriptions Before Negotiating an ETLA.” Gartner, 22 Feb. 2016. Web.

    Build a Continual Improvement Program

    • Buy Link or Shortcode: {j2store}463|cart{/j2store}
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    • Parent Category Name: Operations Management
    • Parent Category Link: /i-and-o-process-management
    • IT managers must work hard to maintain and improve service quality or risk performance deterioration over time.
    • Leadership may feel lost about what to do next and which initiatives have higher priority for improvement.
    • The backlog of improvement initiatives makes the work even harder. Managers should involve the right people in the process and build a team that is responsible to monitor, measure, prioritize, implement, and test improvements.

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    • Without continual improvement, sustained service quality will be temporary. Organizations need to put in place an ongoing process to detect potential services, enhance their procedures, and sustain their performance, whatever the process maturity is.

    Impact and Result

    • Set strategic vision for the continual improvement program.
    • Build a team to set regulations, processes, and audits for the program.
    • Set measurable targets for the program.
    • Identify and prioritize improvement initiatives.
    • Measure and monitor progress to ensure initiatives achieve the desired outcome.
    • Apply lessons learned to the next initiatives.

    Build a Continual Improvement Program Research & Tools

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

    1. Build a Continual Improvement Program – A step-by-step document to walk you through building a plan for efficient IT continual improvement.

    This storyboard will help you craft a continual improvement register and a workflow to ensure sustained service improvements that fulfill ongoing increases in stakeholder expectations.

    • Build a Continual Improvement Program Storyboard

    2. Continual Improvement Register and Workflow – Structured documents to help you outline improvement initiatives, prioritize them, and build a dashboard to streamline tracking.

    Use the Continual Improvement Register and Continual Improvement Workflow to help you brainstorm improvement items, get a better visibility into the items, and plan to execute improvements.

    • Continual Improvement Register
    • Continual Improvement Workflow (Visio)
    • Continual Improvement Workflow (PDF)
    [infographic]

    Further reading

    Build a Continual Improvement Program

    Don’t stop with process standardization; plan to continually improve and help those improvements stick.

    Analyst Perspective

    Go beyond standardizing basics

    IT managers often learn how to standardize IT services. Where they usually fail is in keeping these improvements sustainable. It’s one thing to build a quality process, but it’s another challenge entirely to keep momentum and know what to do next.

    To fill the gap, build a continual improvement plan to continuously increase value for stakeholders. This plan will help connect services, products, and practices with changing business needs.

    Without a continual improvement plan, managers may find themselves lost and wonder what’s next. This will lead to misalignment between ongoing and increasingly high stakeholder expectations and your ability to fulfill these requirements.

    Build a continual improvement program to engage executives, leaders, and subject matter experts (SMEs) to go beyond break fixes, enable proactive enhancements, and sustain process changes.

    Photo of Mahmoud Ramin, Ph.D., Senior Research Analyst, Infrastructure and Operations, Info-Tech Research Group. Mahmoud Ramin, Ph.D.
    Senior Research Analyst
    Infrastructure and Operations
    Info-Tech Research Group

    Executive Summary

    Your Challenge

    • Even high-quality services and products need to be aligned with rising stakeholder expectations to sustain operational excellence.
    • Without the right leadership, commitment, and processes, improvements in service quality can be difficult to sustain.
    • Continual improvement is not only a development plan but also an organizational culture shift, which makes stakeholder buy-in even challenging.

    Common Obstacles

    • IT managers must work hard to maintain and improve service quality or risk performance deterioration over time.
    • Leadership feels lost about what to do next and which initiatives have higher priority for improvement.
    • A backlog of improvement initiatives makes the work even harder. Managers should involve the right people in the process and build a team that is responsible for monitoring, measuring, prioritizing, implementing, and testing improvements.

    Info-Tech’s Approach

    • Set a strategic vision for the continual improvement program.
    • Build a team to set regulations, processes, and audits for the program.
    • Set measurable targets for the program.
    • Identify and prioritize improvement initiatives.
    • Measure and monitor progress to ensure initiatives achieve the desired outcome.
    • Apply lessons learned to the next initiatives.

    Info-Tech Insight

    Without continual improvement, any process maturity achieved around service quality will not be sustained. Organizations need to put in place an ongoing program to maintain their current maturity and continue to grow and improve by identifying new services and enhancing existing processes.

    Purpose of continual improvement

    There should be alignment between ongoing improvements of business products and services and management of these products and services. Continual improvement helps service providers adapt to changing environments. No matter how critical the service is to the business, failure to continually improve reduces the service value.

    Image of a notebook with an illustration titled 'Continuous Improvement'.

    Continual improvement is one of the five elements of ITIL’s Service Value System (SVS).

    Continual improvement should be documented in an improvement register to record and manage improvement initiatives.

    Continual improvement is a proactive approach to service management. It involves measuring the effectiveness and efficiency of people, processes, and technology to:

    • Identify areas for improvement.
    • Adapt to changes in the business environment.
    • Align the IT strategy to organizational goals.
      •

    A continual improvement process helps service management move away from a reactive approach that focuses only on fixing problems as they occur.

    Info-Tech Insight

    Make sure the basics are in place before you embark on a continual improvement initiative.

    Benefits of embedding a cross-organizational continual improvement approach

    Icon of a computer screen. Encourage end users to provide feedback on service quality. Icon of a crossed pencil and wrench.

    Provide an opportunity to stakeholders to define requirements and raise their concerns.

    		Icon of a storefront.

    Embed continual improvement in all service delivery procedures.

    		Icon of chevrons moving backward.

    Turn failures into improvement opportunities rather than contributing to a blame culture.

    		Icon of a telescope.

    Improve practice effectiveness that enhances IT efficiency.

    		Icon of a thumbs up in a speech bubble.

    Improve end-user satisfaction that positively impacts brand reputation.

    		Icon of shopping bags.

    Improve operational costs while maintaining a high level of satisfaction.

    		Icon of a magnifying glass over a map marker.

    Help the business become more proactive by identifying and improving services.

    Info-Tech Insight

    It’s the responsibility of the organization’s leaders to develop and promote a continual improvement culture. Work with the business unit leads and communicate the benefits of continual improvement to get their buy-in for the practice and achieve the long-term impact.

    Build a feedback program to get input into where improvement initiatives are needed

    A well-maintained continual improvement process creates a proper feedback mechanism for the following stakeholder groups:
    • Users
    • Suppliers
    • Service delivery team members
    • Service owners
    • Sponsors
    		 An efficient feedback mechanism should be constructed around the following initiatives:
    Target with an arrow in the bullseye. The arrow has four flags: 'Perceived value by users', 'Service effectiveness', 'Service governance', and 'Service demand'.     		Stakeholders who participate in feedback activities should feel comfortable providing suggestions for improvement.

    Work closely with the service desk team to build communication channels to conduct surveys. Avoid formal bureaucratic communications and enforce openness in communicating the value of feedback the stakeholders can provide.

    Info-Tech Insight

    When conducting feedback activities with users, keep surveys anonymous and ensure users’ information is kept confidential. Make sure everyone else is comfortable providing feedback in a constructive way so that you can seek clarification and create a feedback loop.

    Implement an iterative continual improvement model and ensure that your services align with your organizational vision

    Build a six-step process for your continual improvement plan. Make it a loop, in which each step becomes an input for the next step. A cycle around a dartboard with numbered steps: '01 Determine your goals', '02 Define the process team', '03 Determine initiatives', '04 Prioritize initiatives', '05 Execute improvement', '06 Establish a learning culture'.

    1. Determine your goals

    A vision statement communicates your desired future state of the IT organization.

    Your IT goals should always support your organizational goals. IT goals are high-level objectives that the IT organization needs to achieve to reach a target state.
    A cycle of the bolded statements on the right surrounding a dartboard with two bullseyes.

    Understand the high-level business objectives to set the vision for continual improvement in a way that will align IT strategies with business strategies.

    Obtaining a clear picture of your organization’s goals and overall corporate strategy is one of the crucial first steps to continual improvement and will set the stage for the metrics you select. Document your continual improvement program goals and objectives.

    Knowing what your business is doing and understanding the impact of IT on the business will help you ensure that any metrics you collect will be business focused.

    Understanding the long-term vision of the business and its appetite for commitment and sponsorship will also inform your IT strategy and continual improvement goals.

    Assess the future state

    At this stage, you need to visualize improvement, considering your critical success factors.

    Critical success factors (CSFs) are higher-level goals or requirements for success, such as improving end-user satisfaction. They’re factors that must be met in order to reach your IT and business strategic vision.

    Select key performance indicators (KPIs) that will identify useful information for the initiative: Define KPIs for each CSF. These will usually involve a trend, as an increase or decrease in something. If KPIs already exist for your IT processes, re-evaluate them to assess their relevance to current strategy and redefine if necessary. Selected KPIs should provide a full picture of the health of targeted practice.

    KPIs should cover these four vectors of practice performance:

    1. Quantity
      How many continual improvement initiatives are in progress
    2. Quality
      How well you implemented improvements
    3. Timeliness
      How long it took to get continual improvement initiatives done
    4. Compliance
      How well processes and controls are being executed, such as system availability
    		 Cross-section of a head split into sections with icons in the middle sections.

    Examples of key CSFs and KPIs for continual improvement

    CSF

    KPI
    Adopt and maintain an effective approach for continual improvement Improve stakeholder satisfaction due to implementation of improvement initiatives.
    Enhance stakeholder awareness about continual improvement plan and initiatives.
    Increase continual improvement adoption across the organization.
    Commit to effective continual improvement across the business Improve the return on investment.
    Increase the impact of the improvement initiatives on process maturity.
    Increase the rate of successful improvement initiatives.

    Prepare a vision statement to communicate the improvement strategy

    IT Implications + Business Context –› IT Goals
    • IT implications are derived from the business context and inform goals by aligning the IT goals with the business context.
    • Business context encompasses an understanding of the factors impacting the business from various perspectives, how the business makes decisions, and what it is trying to achieve.
    • IT goals are high-level, specific objectives that the IT organization needs to achieve to reach the target state. IT goals begin a process of framing what IT as an organization needs to be able to do in the target state.

    IT goals will help identify the target state, IT capabilities, and the initiatives that will need to be implemented to enable those capabilities.

    The vision statement is expressed in the present tense. It seeks to articulate the desired role of IT and how IT will be perceived.

    		Strong IT vision statements have the following characteristics:
    Arrow pointing right. Describe a desired future
    Arrow pointing right. Focus on ends, not means
    Arrow pointing right. Communicate promise
    Arrow pointing right. Work as an elevator pitch:
    • Concise; no unnecessary words
    • Compelling
    • Achievable
    • Inspirational
    • Memorable

    2. Define the process team

    The structure of each continual improvement team depends on resource availability and competency levels.

    Make sure to allocate continual improvement activities to the available resources and assess the requirement to bring in others to fulfill all tasks.

    Brainstorm what steps should be included in a continual improvement program:

    • Who is responsible for identifying, logging, and prioritizing improvement opportunities?
    • Who makes the business case for improvement initiatives?
    • Who is the owner of the register, responsible for documenting initiatives and updating their status?
    • Who executes implementation?
    • Who evaluates implementation success?
    		 Match stakeholder skill sets with available resources to ensure continual improvement processes are handled properly. Brainstorm skills specific to the program:
    • Knowledge of provided products and services.
    • Good understanding of organization’s goals and objectives.
    • Efficiency in collecting and measuring metrics, understanding company standards and policies, and presenting them to impacted stakeholders.
    • Competency in strategic thinking and aligning the organization’s goals with improvement initiatives.

    Enable the continual improvement program by clarifying responsibilities

    Determine roles and responsibilities to ensure accountability

    The continual improvement activities will only be successful if specific roles and responsibilities are clearly identified.

    Depending on available staff and resources, you may be able to have full-time continual improvement roles, or you may include continual improvement activities in individuals’ job descriptions.

    Each improvement action that you identify should have clear ownership and accountability to ensure that it is completed within the specified timeframe.

    Roles and responsibilities can be reassigned throughout the continual improvement process.

    Info-Tech Insight

    Create cross-functional teams to improve perspective and not focus on only one small group when trying to problem solve. Having other teams hear and reframe the issue or talk about how they can help to solve issues as a team can create bigger solutions that will help the entire IT team, not just one group.

    		Consider assigning dedicated continual improvement roles

    Silhouette of a business person.
    CI Coordinator

    Continual improvement coordinators are responsible for moving projects to the implementation phase and monitoring all continual improvement roles.

    Silhouette of a business person.
    Business Owner

    Business owners are accountable for business governance, compliance, and ROI analysis. They are responsible for operational and monetary aspects of the business.

    Silhouette of a business person.
    IT Owner

    IT owners are responsible for developing the action plan and ensuring success of the initiatives. They are usually the subject matter experts, focusing on technical aspects.

    3. Determine improvement initiatives

    Businesses usually make the mistake of focusing too much on making existing processes better while missing gaps in their practices.

    Gather stakeholder feedback to help you evaluate the maturity levels of IT practices Sample of the End User Satisfaction Survey.

    You need to understand the current state of service operations to understand how you can provide value through continual improvement. Give everyone an opportunity to provide feedback on IT services.

    Use Info-Tech’s End User Satisfaction Survey to define the state of your core IT services.

    Info-Tech Insight

    Become proactive to improve satisfaction. Continual improvement is not only about identifying pain points and improving them. It enables you to proactively identify initiatives for further service improvement using both practice functionality and technology enablement.

    		Understand the current state of your IT practices

    Determine the maturity level of your IT areas to help you understand which processes need improvement. Involve the practice team in maturity assessment activities to get ideas and input from them. This will also help you get their buy-in and engagement for improvement.

    Leverage performance metrics to analyze performance level. Metrics play a key role in understanding what needs improvement. After you implement metrics, have an impact report regularly generated to monitor them.

    Use problem management to identify root causes for the identified gaps. Potential sources of problems can be:

    • Recurring issues that may be an indicator of an underlying problem.
    • Business processes or service issues that are not IT related, such as inefficient business process or service design issues.

    Establish an improvement roadmap and execute initiatives

    Build a continual improvement register (CIR) for your target initiatives

    A CIR is a document used for recording your action plan from the beginning to the end of the improvement project.

    If you just sit and plan for improvements without acting on them, nothing will improve. CIR helps you create an action plan and allows you to manage, track, and prioritize improvement suggestions.

    Consider tracking the following information in your CIR, adjusted to meet the needs of your organization:

    Information

    Description
    Business value impact Identify approved themes or goals that each initiative should apply to. These can and should change over time based on changing business needs.
    Effort/cost Identify the expected effort or cost the improvement initiative will require.
    Priority How urgent is the improvement? Categorize based on effort, cost, and risk levels.
    Status Ensure each initiative has a status assigned that reflects its current state.
    Timeline List the timeframe to start the improvement initiative based on the priority level.
    CI functional groups Customize the functional groups in your CI program

    Populate your register with ideas that come from your first round of assessments and use this document to continually add and track new ideas as they emerge.

    You can also consider using the register to track the outcomes and benefits of improvement initiatives after they have been completed.

    Activity: Use the Continual Improvement Register template to brainstorm responsibilities, generate improvement initiatives, and action plan

    1-3 hours
    1. Open the Continual Improvement Register template and navigate to tab 2, Setup.
    2. Brainstorm your definitions for the following items to get a clear understanding of these items when completing the CIR. The more quantification you apply to the criteria, the more tangible evaluation you will do:
      • Business value impact categories
      • Effort/cost
      • Priority
      • Status
      • Timeline
    3. Discuss the teams that the upcoming initiatives will belong to and update them under CI Functional Groups.
    1. Analyze the assessment data collected throughout stakeholder feedback and your current-state evaluation.
    2. Use this data to generate a list of initiatives that should be undertaken to improve the performance of the targeted processes.
    3. Use sticky notes to record identified CI initiatives.
    4. Record each initiative in tab 3, CI Register, along with associated information:
      • A unique ID number for the initiative
      • The individual who submitted the idea
      • The team the initiative belongs to
      • A description of the initiative

    Download the Continual Improvement Register template

    Activity: Use the Continual Improvement Register template to brainstorm responsibilities, generate improvement initiatives, and action plan

    Input

    • List of key stakeholders for continual improvement
    • Current state of services and processes

    Output

    • Continual improvement register setup
    • List of initiatives for continual improvement

    Materials

    • Continual improvement register
    • Whiteboard/flip charts
    • Markers
    • Laptops

    Participant

    • CIO
    • IT managers
    • Project managers
    • Continual improvement manager/coordinator

    4. Prioritize initiatives

    Prioritization should be transparent and available to stakeholders.

    Some initiatives are more critical than others to achieve and should be prioritized accordingly. Some improvements require large investments and need an equally large effort, while some are relatively low-cost, low-effort improvements. Focus on low-hanging fruit and prioritize low-cost, low-effort improvements to help the organization with rapid growth. This will also help you get stakeholder buy-in for the rest of your continual improvement program.

    Prioritize improvement initiatives in your CIR to increase visibility and ensure larger improvement initiatives are done the next cycle. As one improvement cycle ends, the next cycle begins, which allows the continual improvement team to keep pace with changing business requirements.

    		Stock image of a person on a ladder leaning against a bookshelf.

    Identify “quick wins” that can provide immediate improvement

    Prioritize these quick wins to immediately demonstrate the success of the continual service improvement effort to the business.

    01

    		 Keep the scope of the continual improvement process manageable at the beginning by focusing on a few key areas that you want to improve.
    • If you have identified pain points, addressing these will demonstrate the value of the project to the business to gain their support.
    • Choose the services or processes that continue to disrupt or threaten service – focus on where pain points are evident and where there is a need for improvement.
    • Critical services to improve should emerge from the current-state assessments.

    02

    		 From your list of proposed improvements, focus on a few of the top pain points and plan to address those.

    03

    		 Choose the right services to improve at the first stage of continual improvement to ensure that the continual improvement process delivers value to the business.

    Activity: Prioritize improvement initiatives

    2-3 hours

    Input: List of initiatives for continual improvement

    Output: Prioritized list of initiatives

    Materials: Continual improvement register, Whiteboard/flip charts, Markers, Laptops

    Participants: CIO, IT managers, Project managers, Continual improvement manager

    1. In the CI Register tab of the Continual Improvement Register template, define the status, priority, effort/cost, and timeline according to the definition of each in the data entry tab.
    2. Review improvement initiatives from the previous activity.
    3. Record the CI coordinator, business owner, and IT owner for each initiative.
    4. Fill out submission date to track when the initiative was added to the register.
    5. According to the updated items, you will get a dashboard of items based on their categories, effort, priority, status, and timeline. You will also get a visibility into the total number of improvement initiatives.
    6. Focus on the short-term initiatives that are higher priority and require less effort.
    7. Refer to the Continual Improvement Workflow template and update the steps.

    Download the Continual Improvement Register template

    Download the Continual Improvement Workflow template

    5. Execute improvement

    Develop a plan for improvement

    Determine how you want to reach your improvement objectives. Define how to make processes work better.
    Icons representing steps. Descriptions below.
    Make a business case for your action plan Determine budget for implementing the improvement and move to execution. Find out how long it takes to build the improvement in the practice. Confirm the resources and skill sets you require for the improvement. Communicate the improvement plan across the business for better visibility and for seamless organizational change management, if needed. Lean into incremental improvements to ensure practice quality is sustained, not temporary. Put in place an ongoing process to audit, enhance, and sustain the performance of the target practice.

    Create a specific action plan to guide your improvement activities

    As part of the continual improvement plan, identify specific actions to be completed, along with ownership for each action.

    The continual improvement process must:

    • Define activities to be completed.
    • Create roles and assign ownership to complete activities.
    • Provide training and awareness about the initiative.
    • Define inputs and outputs.
    • Include reporting.

    For each action, identify:

    • The problem.
    • Who will be responsible and accountable.
    • Metric(s) for assessment.
    • Baseline and target metrics.
    • Action to be taken to achieve improvement (training, new templates, etc.).

    Choose timelines:

    • Firm timelines are important to keep the project on track.
    • One to two months for an initiative is an ideal length of time to maintain interest and enthusiasm for the specific project and achieve a result.

    Info-Tech Insight

    Every organization is unique in terms of its services, processes, strengths, weaknesses, and needs, as well as the expectations of its end users. There is no single action plan that will work for everyone. The improvement plan will vary from organization to organization, but the key elements of the plan (i.e. specific priorities, timelines, targets, and responsibilities) should always be in place.

    Build a communication plan to ensure the implementation of continual improvement stakeholder buy-in

    1. Throughout the improvement process, share information about both the status of the project and the impact of the improvement initiatives.
    Icon of a group of people. Encourage a collaborative environment across all members of the practice team.
    Icon of an ascending graph. Motivate every individual to continue moving upward and taking ownership over their roles.
    Icon of overlapping speech bubbles. Communication among team members ensures that everyone is on the same page working together toward a common goal.
    Icon of a handshake. The most important thing is to get the support of your team. Unless you have their support, you won’t be able to deliver any of the solutions you draw up.
    		2. The end users should be kept in the loop so they can feel that their contribution is valued.
    Icon of an arrow pointing right. When improvements happen and only a small group of people are involved in the results and action plan, misconceptions will arise.
    Icon of a thumbs up in a speech bubble. If communication is lacking, end users will provide less feedback on the practice improvements.
    Icon of a cone made of stacked layers. For end users to feel their concerns are being considered, you must communicate the findings in a way that conveys the impact of their contribution.

    Info-Tech Insight

    To be effective, continual improvement requires open and honest feedback from IT staff. Debriefings work well for capturing information about lessons learned. Break down the debriefings into smaller, individual activities completed within each phase of the project to better capture the large amount of data and lessons learned within that phase.

    Measure the success of your improvement program

    Continual improvement is everybody’s job within the organization.

    Determine how improvements impacted stakeholders. Build a relationship pyramid to analyze how improvements impacted external users and narrow down to the internal users, implementing team, and leaders.
    1. How did we make improvements with our partners and suppliers? –› Look into your contracts and measure the SLAs and commitments.
    2. How could improvement initiatives impact the organization? –› Involve everybody to provide feedback. Rerun the end-user satisfaction survey and compare with the baseline that you obtained before improvement implementation.
    3. How does the improvement team feel about the whole process? –› What were the lessons learned, and can the team apply the lessons in the next improvement initiatives?
    4. How did the leaders manage and lead improvements? –› Were they able to provide proper vision to guide the improvement team through the process?
    		 A relationship pyramid with the initial questions on the left starting from '1' at the bottom to '4' at the 2nd highest level.

    Measure changes in selected metrics to evaluate success

    Measuring and reporting are key components in the improvement process.

    Adjust improvement priority based on updated objectives. Justify the reason. Refer to your CIR to document it.

    Did you get there?

    Part of the measurement should include a review of CSFs and KPIs determined in step 1 (assess the future state). Some may need to be replaced.

    • After an improvement has been implemented, it is important to regularly monitor and evaluate the CSFs and KPIs you chose and run reports to evaluate whether the implemented improvement has actually resolved the service/process issues or helped you achieve your objectives.
    • Establish a schedule for regularly reviewing key metrics that were identified in Step 1 and assessing change in those metrics and progress toward reaching objectives.
    • In addition to reviewing CSFs, KPIs, and metrics, check in with the IT organization and end users to measure their perceptions of the change once an appropriate amount of time has passed.
    • Ensure that metrics are telling the whole story and that reporting is honest in order to be informative.
    		Outcomes of the continual improvement process should include:
    • Improved efficiency, effectiveness, and quality of processes and services.
    • Processes and services more aligned with the business needs and strategy.
    • Maturity of processes and services.

    For a guideline to determine a list of metrics, refer to Info-Tech’s blueprints:

    Info-Tech Insight

    Make sure you’re measuring the right things and considering all sources of information. Don’t rely on a single or very few metrics. Instead, consider a group of metrics to help you get a better holistic view of improvement initiatives and their impact on IT operations.

    6. Establish a learning culture and apply it to other practices

    Reflect on lessons learned to drive change forward

    What did you learn?
    Icon of a checklist and pencil. Ultimately, continual improvement is an ongoing educational program.
    Icon of a brain with a lighting bolt.
    Icon of a wrench in a speech bubble. By teaching your team how to learn better and identify sources of new knowledge that can be applied going forward, you maximize the efficacy of your team and improvement plan effort.
    		What obstacles prevented you from reaching your target condition?
    Icon of a map marker. If you did not reach your target goals, reflect as a team on what obstacles prevented you from reaching that target.
    Icon of a wrench in a gear. Focus on the obstacles that are preventing your team from reaching the target state.
    Icon of a sun behind clouds. As obstacles are removed, new ones will appear, and old ones will disappear.

    Compare expectations versus reality

    Compare the EC (expected change) to the AC (actual change)
    Arrow pointing down.
    Arrow pointing left and down labelled 'Small'. Evaluate the differences: how large is the difference from what you expected? Arrow pointing right and down labelled 'Large'.
    Things are on track and the issue could have simply been an issue with timing of the improvement. More reflection is needed. Perhaps it is a gap in understanding the goal or a poor execution of the action plan.

    Info-Tech Insight

    Regardless of the cause, large differences between the EC and the AC provide great learning opportunities about how to approach change in the future.

    A cycle around a dartboard with numbered steps: '01 Determine your goals', '02 Define the process team', '03 Determine initiatives', '04 Prioritize initiatives', '05 Execute improvement', '06 Establish a learning culture'.

    Think long-term to sustain changes

    The continual improvement process is ongoing. When one improvement cycle ends, the next should begin in order to continually measure and evaluate processes.

    The goal of any framework is steady and continual improvement over time that resets the baseline to the current (and hopefully improved) level at the end of each cycle.

    Have processes in place to ensure that the improvements made will remain in place after the change is implemented. Each completed cycle is just another step toward your target state.
    Icon of a group of people. Ensure that there is a continual commitment from management.
    Icon of a bar chart. Regularly monitor metrics as well as stakeholder feedback after the initial improvement period has ended. Use this information to plan the next improvement.
    Icon of gears. Continual improvement is a combination of attitudes, behavior, and culture.

    Related Info-Tech Research

    Sample of 'Build a Business-Aligned IT Strategy'. Build a Business-Aligned IT Strategy

    Success depends on IT initiatives clearly aligned to business goals, IT excellence, and driving technology innovation.

    Sample of 'Develop Meaningful Service Metrics'. Develop Meaningful Service Metrics

    Reinforce service orientation in your IT organization by ensuring your IT metrics generate value-driven resource behavior.

    Sample of 'Common Challenges to incident management success'. Improve Incident and Problem Management

    Rise above firefighter mode with structured incident management to enable effective problem management.

    Works Cited

    “Continual Improvement ITIL4 Practice Guide.” AXELOS, 2020. Accessed August 2022.

    “5 Tips for Adopting ITIL 4’s Continual Improvement Management Practice.” SysAid, 2021. Accessed August 2022.

    Jacob Gillingham. “ITIL Continual Service Improvement And 7-Step Improvement Process” Invensis Global Learning Services, 2022. Accessed August 2022.

    Adopt Design Thinking in Your Organization

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    • Parent Category Name: Innovation
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    • End users often have a disjointed experience while interacting with your organization in using its products and services.
    • You have been asked by your senior leadership to start a new or revive an existing design or innovation function within your organization. However, your organization has dismissed design thinking as the latest “management fad” and does not buy into the depth and rigor that design thinking brings.
    • The design or innovation function lives on the fringes of your organization due to its apathy towards design thinking or tumultuous internal politics.
    • You, as a CIO, want to improve the user satisfaction with the IT services your team provides to both internal and external users.

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    • A user’s perspective while interacting with the products and services is very different from the organization’s internal perspective while implementing and provisioning those. A design-based organization balances the two perspectives to drive user-satisfaction over end-to-end journeys.
    • Top management must have a design thinker – the guardian angel of the balance between exploration (i.e. discovering new business models) and exploitation (i.e. leveraging existing business models).
    • Your approach to adopt design thinking must consider your organization’s specific goals and culture. There’s no one-size-fits-all approach.

    Impact and Result

    • User satisfaction, with the end-to-end journeys orchestrated by your organization, will significantly increase.
    • Design-centric organizations enjoy disproportionate financial rewards.

    Adopt Design Thinking in Your Organization Research & Tools

    Start here – read the Executive Brief

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

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

    1. What is design thinking?

    The focus of this phase is on revealing what designers do during the activity of designing, and on building an understanding of the nature of design ability. We will formally examine the many definitions of design thinking from experts in this field. At the core of this phase are several case studies that illuminate the various aspects of design thinking.

    • Adopt Design Thinking in Your Organization – Phase 1: What Is Design Thinking?
    • Victor Scheinman's Experiment for Design

    2. How does an organization benefit from design thinking?

    This phase will illustrate the relevance of design in strategy formulation and in service-design. At the core of this phase are several case studies that illuminate these aspects of design thinking. We will also identify the trends impacting your organization and establish a baseline of user-experience with the journeys orchestrated by your organization.

    • Adopt Design Thinking in Your Organization – Phase 2: How Does an Organization Benefit From Design Thinking?
    • Trends Matrix (Sample)

    3. How do you build a design organization?

    The focus of this phase is to:

  • Measure the design-centricity of your organization and subsequently, identify the areas for improvement.
  • Define an approach for a design program that suites your organization’s specific goals and culture.

    • Adopt Design Thinking in Your Organization – Phase 3: How Do You Build a Design Organization?
    • Report on How Design-Centric Is Your Organization (Sample)
    • Approach for the Design Program (Sample)
    • Interview With David Dunne on Design Thinking
    • Interview With David Dunne on Design Thinking (mp3)
    [infographic]

    Workshop: Adopt Design Thinking in Your Organization

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

    1 What Is Design Thinking?

    The Purpose

    The focus of this module is on revealing what designers do during the activity of designing, and on building an understanding of the nature of design ability. We will also review the report on the design-centricity of your organization and subsequently, earmark the areas for improvement.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    An intimate understanding of the design thinking

    An assessment of design-centricity of your organization and identification of areas for improvement

    Activities

    1.1 Discuss case studies on how designers think and work

    1.2 Define design thinking

    1.3 Review report from Info-Tech’s diagnostic: How design-centric is your organization?

    1.4 Earmark areas for improvement to raise the design-centricity of your organization

    Outputs

    Report from Info-Tech’s diagnostic: ‘How design-centric is your organization?’ with identified areas for improvement.

    2 How Does an Organization Benefit From Design Thinking?

    The Purpose

    In this module, we will discuss the relevance of design in strategy formulation and service design. At the core of this module are several case studies that illuminate these aspects of design thinking. We will also identify the trends impacting your organization. We will establish a baseline of user experience with the journeys orchestrated by your organization.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    An in-depth understanding of the relevance of design in strategy formulation and service design

    An understanding of the trends that impact your organization

    A taxonomy of critical customer journeys and a baseline of customers’ satisfaction with those

    Activities

    2.1 Discuss relevance of design in strategy through case studies

    2.2 Articulate trends that impact your organization

    2.3 Discuss service design through case studies

    2.4 Identify critical customer journeys and baseline customers’ satisfaction with those

    2.5 Run a simulation of design in practice

    Outputs

    Trends that impact your organization.

    Taxonomy of critical customer journeys and a baseline of customers’ satisfaction with those.

    3 How to Build a Design Organization

    The Purpose

    The focus of this module is to define an approach for a design program that suits your organization’s specific goals and culture.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    An approach for the design program in your organization. This includes aspects of the design program such as its objectives and measures, its model (one of the five archetypes or a hybrid one), and its governance.

    Activities

    3.1 Identify objectives and key measures for your design thinking program

    3.2 Structure your program after reviewing five main archetypes of a design program

    3.3 Balance between incremental and disruptive innovation

    3.4 Review best practices of a design organization

    Outputs

    An approach for your design thinking program: objectives and key measures; structure of the program, etc.

    Create an Effective SEO Keyword Strategy

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    • Parent Category Name: Marketing Solutions
    • Parent Category Link: /marketing-solutions

    Digital Marketers working with an outdated or bad SEO strategy often see:

    • Declining keyword ranking and traffic
    • Poor keyword strategy
    • On-page errors

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    Most marketers fail in their SEO efforts because they focus on creating content for computers, not people.

    Impact and Result

    Using the SoftwareReviews methodology, digital marketers are able to break up their SEO project and data into bite-sized, actionable steps that focus on long-term improvement. Our methodology includes:

    • Competitive keyword research and identification of opportunities
    • On-page keyword strategy

    Create an Effective SEO Keyword Strategy Research & Tools

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

    1. Create an Effective SEO Keyword Strategy

    Update your on-page SEO strategy with competitively relevant keywords.

    • Create an Effective SEO Keyword Strategy Storyboard
    [infographic]

    Further reading

    Create an Effective SEO Keyword Strategy
    Update your on-page SEO strategy with competitively relevant keywords.

    Analyst Perspective

    Most marketers fail in their SEO efforts because they focus on creating content for computers, not people.

    Leading search engine optimization methods focus on creating and posting relevant keyword-rich content, not just increasing page rank. Content and keywords should move a buyer along their journey, close a sale, and develop long-term relationships. Unfortunately, many SEO specialists focus on computers, not the buyer. What's even more concerning is that up to 70% of SaaS businesses have already been impacted by outdated and inefficient SEO techniques. Poor strategies often focus on ballooning SEO metrics in the short-term instead of building the company's long-term PageRank.

    Best-in-class digital marketers stop chasing the short-term highs and focus on long-term growth. This starts with developing a competitive keyword strategy and updating website content with the new keywords.

    SEO is a large topic, so we have broken the strategy into small, easy-to-implement steps, taking the guesswork out of how to use the data from SEO tools and giving CMOs a solid path to increase their SEO results.

    This is a picture of Terra Higginson

    Terra Higginson
    Marketing Research Director
    SoftwareReviews

    Executive Summary

    Your Challenge

    Digital marketers working with an outdated or bad SEO strategy often see:

    • Declining keyword ranking and traffic
    • Poor keyword strategy
    • On-page errors

    Search algorithms change all the time, which means that the strategy is often sitting on the sifting sands of technology, making SEO strategies quickly outdated.

    Common Obstacles

    Digital marketers are responsible for developing and implementing a competitive SEO strategy but increasingly encounter the following obstacles:

    • SEO practitioners that focus on gaming the system
    • Ever-changing SEO technology
    • Lack of understanding of the best SEO techniques
    • SEO techniques focus on the needs of computers, not people
    • Lack of continued investment

    SoftwareReviews' Approach

    Using the SoftwareReviews methodology, digital marketers are able to break up their SEO project and data into bite-sized, actionable steps that focus on long-term improvement. Our methodology includes:

    • Competitive keyword research and identification of opportunities
    • On-page keyword strategy

    Our methodology will take a focused step-by-step strategy in a series of phases that will increase PageRank and competitive positioning.

    SoftwareReviews' SEO Methodology

    In this blueprint, we will cover:

    Good SEO vs. Poor SEO Techniques

    The difference between good and bad SEO techniques.

    Common Good
    SEO Techniques

    Common Poor
    SEO Techniques

    • Writing content for people, not machines.
    • Using SEO tools to regularly adjust and update SEO content, keywords, and backlinks.
    • Pillar and content cluster strategy in addition to a basic on- and off-page strategy.
    • Keyword stuffing and content duplication.
    • A strategy that focuses on computers first and people second.
    • Low-quality or purchased backlinks.

    Companies With Great SEO…

    Keyword Strategy

    • Have identified a keyword strategy that carves out targets within the white space available between themselves and the competition.

    Error-Free Site

    • Have error-free sites without duplicate content. Their URLs and redirects are all updated. Their site is responsive, and every page loads in under two seconds.

    Pillar & Content Clusters

    • Employ a pillar and content cluster strategy to help move the buyer through their journey.

    Authentic Off-Page Strategy

    • Build an authentic backlink strategy that incorporates the right information on the right sites to move the buyer through their journey.

    SEO Terms Defined

    A glossary to define common Phase 1 SEO terms.

    Search Volume: this measures the number of times a keyword is searched for in a certain time period. Target keywords with a volume of between 100-100,000. A search volume greater than 100,000 will be increasingly difficult to rank (A Beginner's Guide to Keyword Search Volume, 2022, Semrush).

    Keyword Difficulty: the metric that quantifies how difficult it will be to rank for a certain keyword. The keyword difficulty percentage includes the number of competitors attempting to rank for the same keyword, the quality of their content, the search intent, backlinks, and domain authority (Keyword Difficulty: What Is It and Why Is It Important? 2022, Semrush).

    Intent: this metric focuses on the intent of the user's search. All search intent is categorized into Informational, Commercial, Navigational, and Transactional (What Is Search Intent? A Complete Guide, 2022, Semrush).

    On-Page SEO: refers to the practice of search engine optimizing elements of your site such as title tags, internal links, HTML code, URL optimization, on-page content, images, and user experience.

    Off-Page SEO: refers to the practice of optimizing brand awareness (What Is Off-Page SEO? A Comprehensive Guide, 2022, Semrush).

    H1: HTML code that tells a search engine the title of the page (neilpatel.com).

    SEO Tool: A subscription-based all-in-one search engine optimization MarTech tool.

    Google's mission is to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful… We believe Search should deliver the most relevant and reliable information available.
    – An excerpt from Google's mission statement

    Your Challenge

    Google makes over 4.5k algorithm changes per year1, directly impacting digital marketing search engine optimization efforts.

    Digital marketers with SEO problems will often see the following issues:

    • Keyword ranking – A decline in keyword ranking is alarming and results in decreased PageRank.
    • Bounce rate – Attracting the wrong audience to your site will increase the bounce rate because the H1 doesn't resonate with your audience.
    • Outdated keywords – Many companies are operating on a poor keyword strategy, or even worse, no keyword strategy. In addition, many marketers haven't updated their strategy to include pillar and cluster content.
    • Errors – Neglected sites often have a large number of errors.
    • Bad backlinks – Neglected sites often have a large number of toxic backlinks.

    The best place to hide a dead body is on page two of the search results.
    – Huffington Post

    Common Obstacles

    Digital marketers are responsible for developing and executing a competitive SEO strategy but increasingly encounter the following obstacles:

    • Inefficient and ineffective SEO practitioners.
    • Changing SEO technology and search engine algorithms.
    • Lack of understanding of the best-in-class SEO techniques.
    • Lack of a sustainable plan to manage the strategy and invest in SEO.

    SEO is a helpful activity when it's applied to people-first content. However, content created primarily for search engine traffic is strongly correlated with content that searchers find unsatisfying.
    – Google Search Central Blog

    Benefits of Proper SEO

    A good SEO keyword strategy will create long-term, sustainable SEO growth:

    • Write content for people, not algorithms – Good SEO prioritizes the needs of humans over the needs of computers, being ever thoughtful of the meaning of content and keywords.
    • Content that aligns with intent – Content and keyword intent will align with the buyer journey to help move prospects through the funnel.
    • Competitive keyword strategy – Find keyword white space for your brand. Keywords will be selected to optimize your ranking among competition with reasonable and sustainable targets.
    • Actionable and impactful fixes – By following the SoftwareReviews phases of SEO, you will be able to take a very large task and divide it into conquerable actions. Small improvements everyday lead to very large improvements over time.

    Digital Marketing SEO Stats

    61%
    61% of marketers believe that SEO is the key to online success.
    Source: Safari Digital

    437%
    Updating an existing title tag with an SEO optimised one can increase page clicks by more than 437%.
    Source: Safari Digital

    Good SEO Aligns With Search Intent

    What type of content is the user searching for? Align your keyword to the logical search objective.

    Informational

    This term categorizes search intent for when a user wants to inform or educate themselves on a specific topic.

    Commercial

    This term categorizes search intent for when a user wants to do research before making a purchase.

    Transactional

    This term categorizes search intent for when a user wants to purchase something.

    Navigational

    This term categorizes search intent for when a user wants to find a specific page.

    SoftwareReviews' Methodology toCreate an Effective SEO Strategy

    1. Competitive Analysis & Keyword Discovery 2. On-Page Keyword Optimization
    Phase Steps
    1. Make a list of keywords in your current SEO strategy – including search volume, keyword difficulty percentage, intent.
    2. Research the keywords of top competitors.
    3. Make a list of target keywords you would like to own – including the search volume, keyword difficulty percentage, and intent. Make sure that these keywords align with your buyer persona.
    1. List product and service pages, along with the URL and current ranking(s) for the keyword(s) for that URL.
    2. Create a new individual page strategy for each URL. Record the current keyword, rank, title tag, H1 tag, and meta description. Then, with keyword optimization in mind, develop the new title tag, new H1 tag, and new meta description. Build the target keywords into the pages and tags.
    3. Record the current ranking for the pages' keywords then reassess after three to six months.
    Phase Outcomes
    • Understanding of competitive landscape for SEO
    • A list of target new keywords
    • Keyword optimized product and service pages

    Guided Implementation

    What does a typical GI on this topic look like?

    Phase 1 Phase 2

    Call #1: Identify your current SEO keyword strategy.

    Call #2: Discuss how to start a competitive keyword analysis.

    Call #4: Discuss how to build the list of target keywords.

    Call #6: Discuss keyword optimization of the product & services pages.

    Call #8: (optional)

    Schedule a call to update every three to six months.

    Call #3: Discuss the results of the competitive keyword analysis.

    Call #5: Discuss which pages to update with new target keywords.

    Call #7: Review final page content and tags.

    Call #9: Schedule a call for SEO Phase 2: On-Page Technical Refinement.

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

    A typical GI is between 8 to 12 calls over the course of 1 to 2 months.

    Guided Implementation

    What does a typical GI on this topic look like?

    Phase 1 Phase 2

    Call #1: Identify your current SEO keyword strategy.

    Call #2: Discuss how to start a competitive keyword analysis.

    Call #4: Discuss how to build the list of target keywords.

    Call #6: Discuss keyword optimization of the product & services pages.

    Call #8: (optional)

    Schedule a call to update every three to six months.

    Call #3: Discuss the results of the competitive keyword analysis.

    Call #5: Discuss which pages to update with new target keywords.

    Call #7: Review final page content and tags.

    Call #9: Schedule a call for SEO Phase 2: On-Page Technical Refinement.

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

    A typical GI is between 8 to 12 calls over the course of 1 to 2 months.

    SoftwareReviews offers various levels of support to best suit your needs

    Included Within an Advisory Membership Optional Add-Ons
    DIY Toolkit Guided Implementation Workshop Consulting
    "Our team has already made this critical project a priority, and we have the time and capability, but some guidance along the way would be helpful." "Our team knows that we need to fix a process, but we need assistance to determine where to focus. Some check-ins along the way would help keep us on track." "We need to hit the ground running and get this project kicked off immediately. Our team has the ability to take this over once we get a framework and strategy in place." "Our team does not have the time or the knowledge to take this project on. We need assistance through the entirety of this project."

    Insight Summary

    People-First Content

    Best-in-class SEO practitioners focus on people-first content, not computer-first content. Search engine algorithms continue to focus on how to rank better content first, and a strategy that moves your buyers through the funnel in a logical and cohesive way will beat any SEO trick over the long run.

    Find White Space

    A good SEO strategy uses competitive research to carve out white space and give them a competitive edge in an increasingly difficult ranking algorithm. An understanding of the ideal client profile and the needs of their buyer persona(s) sit as a pre-step to any good SEO strategy.

    Optimize On-Page Keywords

    By optimizing the on-page strategy with competitively relevant keywords that target your ideal client profile, marketers are able to take an easy first step at improving the SEO content strategy.

    Understand the Strategy

    If you don't understand the strategy of your SEO practitioner, you are in trouble. Marketers need to work hand in hand with their SEO specialists to quickly uncover gaps, create a strategy that aligns with the buyer persona(s), and execute the changes.

    Quality Trumps Quantity

    The quality of the prospect that your SEO efforts bring to your site is more important than the number of people brought to your site.

    Stop Here and Ask Yourself:

    • Do I have an updated (completed within the last two years) buyer persona and journey?
    • Do I know who the ICP (ideal client profile) is for my product or company?

    If not, stop here, and we can help you define your buyer persona and journey, as well as your ideal client profile before moving forward with SEO Phase 1.

    The Steps to SEO Phase 1

    The Keyword Strategy

    1. Current Keywords
      • Identify the keywords your SEO strategy is currently targeting.
    2. Competitive Analysis
      • Research the keywords of competitor(s). Identify keyword whitespace.
    3. New Target Keywords
      • Identify and rank keywords that will result in more quality leads and less competition.
    4. Product & Service Pages
      • Identify your current product and service pages. These pages represent the easiest content to update on your site.
    5. Individual Page Update
      • Develop an SEO strategy for each of your product and service pages, include primary target keyword, H1, and title tags, as well as keyword-rich description.

    Resources Needed for Search Engine Optimization

    Consider the working skills required for search engine optimization.

    Required Skills/Knowledge

    • SEO
    • Web development
    • Competitive analysis
    • Content creation
    • Understanding of buyer persona and journey
    • Digital marketing

    Suggested Titles

    • SEO Analyst
    • Competitive Intelligence Analyst
    • Content Marketing Manager
    • Website Developer
    • Digital Marketing Manager

    Digital Marketing Software

    • CMS that allows you to easily access and update your content

    SEO Software

    • SEO tool

    Step 1: Current Keywords

    Use this sheet to record your current keyword research.

    Use your SEO tool to research keywords and find the following:
    Use a quality tool like SEMRush to obtain SEO data.

    1. Keyword difficulty
    2. Search volume
    3. Search intent

    This is a screenshot of the SEO tool SEMRush, which can be used to identify current keywords.

    Step 2: Competitive Analysis

    Use this sheet to guide the research on your competitors' keywords.

    Use your SEO tool to find the following:

    1. Top organic keywords
    2. Ranking of keywords
    3. Domain authority and trust
    4. Position changes

    This is a screenshot of the SEO tool SEMRush, which can be used to perform an competitive analysis

    Step 3: New Target Keywords

    Use this sheet to record target keywords that have a good volume but are less competitive. The new target keywords should align with your buyer persona and their journey.

    Use your SEO tool to research keywords and find the following:
    Use a quality tool like SEMRush to obtain SEO data.

    1. Keyword difficulty
    2. Search volume
    3. Search intent

    This is a screenshot of the SEO tool SEMRush, which can be used to identify new target keywords.

    Step 4: Product & Service Pages

    Duplicate this page so that you have a separate page for each URL from Step 4

    Use this sheet to identify your current product and service pages.

    Use your SEO tool to find the following:

    1. Current rank
    2. Current keywords

    This is a screenshot of the SEO tool SEMRush, showing where you can display product and service pages.

    Step 5: Individual Page Strategy

    Develop a keyword strategy for each of your product and service pages. Use a fresh page for each URL.

    Date last optimized:
    mm/dd/yyyy

    This is a screenshot of the SEO tool SEMRush, with an example of how you can use an individual page strategy to develop a keyword strategy.

    Bibliography

    Council, Y. "Council Post: The Rundown On Black Hat SEO Techniques And Why You Should Avoid Them." Forbes, 2022. Accessed September 2022.

    "Our approach – How Google Search works." Google Search. Accessed September 2022.

    "The Best Place to Hide a Dead Body is Page Two of Google." HuffPost, 2022. Accessed September 2022.

    Patel, Neil. "How to Create the Perfect H1 Tag for SEO." neilpatel.com. Accessed September 2022.

    Schwartz, B. "Google algorithm updates 2021 in review: Core updates, product reviews, page experience and beyond." Search Engine Land, 2022. Accessed September 2022.

    Schwartz, B. "Google algorithm updates 2021 in review: Core updates, product reviews, page experience and beyond." Search Engine Land, 2022. Accessed September 2022.

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    Infrastructure & Operations Priorities 2022

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    • Parent Category Name: Disruptive & Emerging Technologies
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    • The expectation amongst IT professionals for permanent transformational change has gone up 30% year over year. Further, 47% expect a lot of permanent change in 2022.
    • We are experiencing a great rate of change concurrent with a low degree of predictability.
    • How do you translate a general trend into a specific priority you can work on?

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    • Trends don’t matter but pressure does: Trends can be analyzed based on the pressure they exert (or not) on your I&O practice. Organizing trends into categories based on source makes for a more successful and contextual analysis.
    • Different prioritization is being demanded in 2022. For the foreseeable future prioritization is about drawing a line, below which you can ignore items with a clean conscience.
    • The priorities you choose to advocate for will be how your leadership is evaluated in the upcoming year.

    Impact and Result

    • By reading through this publication, you will begin to address the age-old problem “You don’t know what you don’t know.”
    • More importantly you will have a framework to dive deeper into the trends most relevant to you and your organization.
    • Info-Tech can help you turn your strong opinion into a compelling case for your stakeholders.

    Infrastructure & Operations Priorities 2022 Research & Tools

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

    1. Infrastructure & Operations Priorities 2022 – A framework to dive deeper into the trends most relevant to you and your organization

    Discover Info-Tech's four trends for Infrastructure & Operations leaders.

    • Infrastructure & Operations Priorities Report for 2022

    Infographic

    Build a Data Warehouse

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    • Parent Category Name: Big Data
    • Parent Category Link: /big-data
    • Relational data warehouses, although reliable, centralized repositories for corporate data, were not built to handle the speed and volume of data and analytics today.
    • IT is under immense pressure from business units to provide technology that will yield greater agility and insight.
    • While some organizations are benefitting from modernization technologies, the majority of IT departments are unfamiliar with the technologies and have not yet defined clear use cases.

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    • The vast majority of your corporate data is not being properly leveraged. Modernize the data warehouse to get value from the 80% of unstructured data that goes unused.
    • Avoid rip and replace. Develop a future state that complements your existing data warehouse with emerging technologies.
    • Be flexible in your roadmap. Create an implementation roadmap that’s incremental and adapts to changing business priorities.

    Impact and Result

    • Establish both the business and IT perspectives of today’s data warehouse environment.
    • Explore the art-of-the-possible. Don’t get stuck trying to gather technical requirements from business users who don’t know what they don’t know. Use Info-Tech’s interview guide to discuss the pains of the current environment, and more importantly, where stakeholders want to be in the future.
    • Build an internal knowledgebase with respect to emerging technologies. The technology landscape is constantly shifting and often difficult for IT staff to keep track of. Use Info-Tech’s Data Warehouse Modernization Technology Education Deck to ensure that IT is able to appropriately match the right tools to the business’ use cases.
    • Create a compelling business case to secure investment and support.

    Build a Data Warehouse Research & Tools

    Start here – read the Executive Brief

    Read our concise Executive Brief to find out why you should be looking to modernize the relational data warehouse, review Info-Tech’s framework for identifying modernization opportunities, and understand the four ways we can support you in completing this project.

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

    1. Assess the current data warehouse environment

    Review the business’ perception and architecture of the current data warehouse environment.

    • Drive Business Innovation With a Modernized Data Warehouse Environment – Phase 1: Assess the Current Data Warehouse Environment
    • Data Warehouse Maturity Assessment Tool

    2. Define modernization drivers

    Collaborate with business users to identify the strongest motivations for data warehouse modernization.

    • Drive Business Innovation With a Modernized Data Warehouse Environment – Phase 2: Define Modernization Drivers
    • Data Warehouse Modernization Stakeholder Interview Guide
    • Data Warehouse Modernization Technology Education Deck
    • Data Warehouse Modernization Initiative Building Tool

    3. Create the modernization future state

    Combine business ideas with modernization initiatives and create a roadmap.

    • Drive Business Innovation With a Modernized Data Warehouse Environment – Phase 3: Create the Modernization Future State
    • Data Warehouse Modernization Technology Architectural Template
    • Data Warehouse Modernization Deployment Plan
    [infographic]

    Workshop: Build a Data Warehouse

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

    1 Assess the Current Data Warehouse Environment

    The Purpose

    Discuss the general project overview for data warehouse modernization.

    Establish the business and IT perspectives of the current state.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Holistic understanding of the current data warehouse.

    Business user engagement from the start of the project.

    Activities

    1.1 Review data warehouse project history.

    1.2 Evaluate data warehouse maturity.

    1.3 Draw architecture diagrams.

    1.4 Review supporting data management practices.

    Outputs

    Data warehouse maturity assessment

    Data architecture diagrams

    2 Explore Business Opportunities

    The Purpose

    Conduct a user workshop session to elicit the most pressing needs of business stakeholders.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Modernization technology selection is directly informed by business drivers.

    In-depth IT understanding of the business pains and opportunities.

    Activities

    2.1 Review general trends and drivers in your industry.

    2.2 Identify primary business frustrations, opportunities, and risks.

    2.3 Identify business processes to target for modernization.

    2.4 Capture business ideas for the future state.

    Outputs

    Business ideas for modernization

    Defined strategic direction for data warehouse modernization

    3 Review the Technology Landscape

    The Purpose

    Educate IT staff on the most common technologies for data warehouse modernization.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Improved ability for IT to match technology with business ideas.

    Activities

    3.1 Appoint Modernization Advisors.

    3.2 Hold an open education and discussion forum for modernization technologies.

    Outputs

    Modernization Advisors identified

    Modernization technology education deck

    4 Define Modernization Solutions

    The Purpose

    Consolidate business ideas into modernization initiatives.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Refinement of the strategic direction for data warehouse modernization.

    Activities

    4.1 Match business ideas to technology solutions.

    4.2 Group similar ideas to create modernization initiatives.

    4.3 Create future-state architecture diagrams.

    Outputs

    Identified strategic direction for data warehouse modernization

    Defined modernization initiatives

    Future-state architecture for data warehouse

    5 Establish a Modernization Roadmap

    The Purpose

    Validate and build out initiatives with business users.

    Define benefits and costs to establish ROI.

    Identify enablers and barriers to modernization.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Completion of materials for a compelling business case and roadmap.

    Activities

    5.1 Validate use cases with business users.

    5.2 Define initiative benefits.

    5.3 Identify enablers and barriers to modernization.

    5.4 Define preliminary activities for initiatives.

    5.5 Evaluate initiative costs.

    5.6 Determine overall ROI.

    Outputs

    Validated modernization initiatives

    Data warehouse modernization roadmap

    Manage Third-Party Service Security Outsourcing

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    • Parent Category Name: Security Processes & Operations
    • Parent Category Link: /security-processes-and-operations
    • A lack of high-skill labor increases the cost of internal security, making outsourcing more appealing.
    • It is unclear what processes could or should be outsourced versus what functions should remain in-house.
    • It is not feasible to have 24/7/365 monitoring in-house for most firms.

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    • You are outsourcing support, not accountability, unless you preface that with your customer.
    • For most of you, you won’t have a choice – you’ll have to outsource high-end security skills to meet future needs.
    • Third-party service providers may be able to more effectively remediate threats because of their large, disparate customer base and wider scope.

    Impact and Result

    • Documented obligations and processes. This will allow you to determine which solution (outsourcing vs. insourcing) allows for the best use of resources, and maintains your brand reputation.
    • A list of variables and features to rank potential third-party providers vs. internal delivery to find which solution provides the best fit for your organization.
    • Current limitations of your environment and the limitations of third parties identified for the environments you are looking to mature.
    • Security responsibilities determined that can be outsourced, and which should be outsourced in order to gain resource allocation and effectiveness, and to improve your overall security posture.
    • The limitations or restrictions for third-party usage understood.

    Manage Third-Party Service Security Outsourcing Research & Tools

    Start here – read the Executive Brief

    Read our concise Executive Brief to understand how to avoid common mistakes when it comes to outsourcing security, review Info-Tech’s methodology, and understand the four ways we can support you in completing this project.

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

    1. What to outsource

    Identify different responsibilities/functions in your organization and determine which ones can be outsourced. Complete a cost analysis.

    • Manage Third-Party Service Security Outsourcing – Phase 1: What to Outsource
    • Insourcing vs. Outsourcing Costing Tool

    2. How to outsource

    Identify a list of features for your third-party provider and analyze.

    • Manage Third-Party Service Security Outsourcing – Phase 2: How to Outsource
    • MSSP Selection Tool
    • Checklist for Third-Party Providers

    3. Manage your third-party provider

    Understand how to align third-party providers to your organization.

    • Manage Third-Party Service Security Outsourcing – Phase 3: Manage Your Third-Party Provider
    • Security Operations Policy for Third-Party Outsourcing
    • Third-Party Security Policy Charter Template
    [infographic]

    Structure the Role of the DBA

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    • The traditional role of Database Administrators (DBAs) is shifting due to a variety of changes such as cloud databases, increased automation, close relations with development, and the need for more integration with the business at large. All this means that organizations will have to adapt to integrate a new type of DBA into IT.
    • Organizations often have difficulty establishing a refined and effective DBA structure based on repeatable and well-grounded processes.
    • The relationship between DBAs and the rest of IT (especially development) can often be problematic due to a lack of mutual co-operation and clear communication.
    • There is often confusion in organizations as how to approach staffing DBAs.

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    • An organization’s relative focus on operations or development is essential in determining many DBA related decisions. This focus can determine what kinds of DBAs to hire, what staffing ratios to use, the viability of outsourcing, and the appropriate reporting structure for DBAs.
    • Utilizing technological strategies such as database automation, effective auditing, and database consolidation to bolster the DBA team helps make efficient use of DBA staff and can turn a reactive environment into a proactive one.
    • Ensuring refined and regularly assessed processes are in place for change and incident management is essential for maintaining effective and structured database administration.

    Impact and Result

    • Right-size, support, and structure your DBA team for increased cost effectiveness and optimal productivity.
    • Develop a superior level of co-operation between DBAs and the rest of IT as well as the business at large.
    • Build an environment in which DBAs will be motivated and flourish.

    Structure the Role of the DBA Research & Tools

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

    1. Understand how Database Administrators are evolving

    Develop an effective structure for managing and supporting Database Administrators.

    • Storyboard: Structure the Role of the DBA

    2. Create the right Database Administrator roles to meet organizational needs

    Build a team that is relevant to the focus of the organization.

    • System Database Administrator
    • Application Database Administrator
    [infographic]

    Right-Size the Service Desk for Small Enterprise

    • Buy Link or Shortcode: {j2store}487|cart{/j2store}
    • member rating overall impact: N/A
    • member rating average dollars saved: N/A
    • member rating average days saved: N/A
    • Parent Category Name: Service Desk
    • Parent Category Link: /service-desk

    The service desk is a major function within IT. Small enterprises with constrained resources need to look at designing a service desk that enables consistency in supporting the business and finds the right balance of documentation.

    Determining the right level of documentation to provide backup and getting the right level of data for good reporting may seem like a waste of time when the team is small, but this is key to knowing when to invest in more people, upgraded technology, and whether your efforts to improve service are successful.

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    It’s easy to lose sight of the client experience when working as a small team supporting a variety of end users. Changing from a help desk to a service desk requires a focus on what it means to be a customer centric service desk and a change to the way the technicians think about providing support.

    • Make the best use of the team. Clearly define roles and responsibilities and monitor those wearing multiple hats to make sure they don’t burn out.
    • Build cross training and documentation into your culture to preserve service levels while giving team members time off to recharge.
    • Don’t discount the benefit of good tools. As volume increases, so does the likelihood of issues and requests getting missed. Look for tools that will help to keep a customer focus.

    Impact and Result

    • Improved workload distribution for technicians and enable prioritization based on work type, urgency, and impact.
    • Improved communications methods and messaging will help the technicians to set expectations appropriately and reduce friction between each other and their supported end users.
    • Best practices and use of industry standard tools will reduce administrative overhead while improving workload management.

    Right-Size the Service Desk for Small Enterprise Research & Tools

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

    1. Right-Size the Service Desk for Small Enterprise Storyboard – A step-by-step guide to help you identify and prioritize initiatives to become more customer centric.

    This blueprint provides a framework to quickly identify a plan for service desk improvements. It also provides references to build out additional skills and functionality as a continual improvement initiative.

    • Right-Size the Service Desk for Small Enterprise Storyboard

    2. Maturity Assessment – An assessment to determine baseline maturity.

    The maturity assessment will provide a baseline and identify areas of focus based on level of current and target maturity.

    • IT Service Desk Maturity Assessment for Small Enterprise

    3. Standard Operating Procedure – A template to build out a clear, concise SOP right-sized for a small enterprise.

    The SOP provides an excellent guide to quickly inform new team members or contractors of your support approach.

    • Incident Management and Service Desk SOP for Small Enterprise

    4. Categorization Scheme – A template to build out an effective categorization scheme.

    The categorization scheme template provides examples of asset-based categories, resolution codes and status.

    • Service Desk Asset-Based Categories Template

    5. Improvement Plan – A template to present the improvement plan to stakeholders.

    This template provides a starting point for building your communications on planned improvements.

    • Service Desk Improvement Initiative
    [infographic]

    Further reading

    Right-Size the Service Desk for Small Enterprise

    Turn your help desk into a customer-centric service desk.

    Analyst Perspective

    Small enterprises have many of the same issues as large ones, but with far fewer resources. Focus on the most important aspects to improve customer service.

    The service desk is a major function within IT. Small enterprises with constrained resources need to look at designing a service desk that enables consistency in supporting the business and finds the right balance of documentation.

    Evaluate documentation to ensure there is always redundancy built in to cover absences. Determining coverage will be an important factor, especially if vendors will be brought into the organization to assist during shortages. They will not have the same level of knowledge as teammates and may have different requirements for documentation.

    It is important to be customer centric, thinking about how services are delivered and communicated with a focus on providing self-serve at the appropriate level for your users and determining what information the business needs for expectation-setting and service level agreements, as well as communications on incidents and changes.

    And finally, don’t discount the value of good reporting. There are many reasons to document issues besides just knowing the volume of workload and may become more important as the organization evolves or grows. Stakeholder reporting, regulatory reporting, trend spotting, and staff increases are all good reasons to ensure minimum documentation standards are defined and in use.

    Photo of Sandi Conrad, Principal Research Director, Info-Tech Research Group. Sandi Conrad
    Principal Research Director
    Info-Tech Research Group

    Table of Contents

    Title Page Title Page
    Blueprint benefits 6 Incident management 25
    Start / Stop / Continue exercise 10 Prioritization scheme 27
    Complete a maturity assessment 11 Define SLAs 29
    Select an ITSM tool 13 Communications 30
    Define roles & responsibilities 15 Reporting 32
    Queue management 17 What can you do to improve? 33
    Ticket handling best practices 18 Staffing 34
    Customer satisfaction surveys 19 Knowledge base & self-serve 35
    Categorization 20 Customer service 36
    Separate ticket types 22 Ticket analysis 37
    Service requests 23 Problem management 38
    Roadmap 39

    Insight summary

    Help desk to service desk

    It’s easy to lose sight of the client experience when working as a small team supporting a variety of end users. Changing from a help desk to a service desk requires a focus on what it means to be a customer-centric service desk and a change to the way the technicians think about providing support.

    Make the best use of the team

    • Clearly define primary roles and responsibilities, and identify when and where escalations should occur.
    • Divide the work in a way that makes the most sense based on intake patterns and categories of incidents or service requests.
    • Recognize who is wearing multiple hats, and monitor to make sure they don’t burn out or struggle to keep up.
    • Determine the most appropriate areas to outsource based on work type and skills required.

    Build cross-training into your culture

    • Primary role holders need time off and need to know the day-to-day work won’t be waiting for them when they come back.
    • The knowledge base is your first line of defense to make sure incidents don’t have to wait for resolution and to avoid having technicians remote in on their day off.
    • When volumes spike for incidents and service requests, everyone needs to be prepared to pitch in. Train the team to recognize and step up to the call to action.

    Don’t discount the benefit of good tools

    • When volume increases, so does the likelihood of missing issues and requests.
    • Designate a single solution to manage the workload, so there is one place to go for work orders, incident reporting, asset data, and more.
    • Set up self-serve for users so they have access to how-to articles and can check the status of tickets themselves.
    • Create a service catalog to make it easy for them to request the most frequent items easily.

    Blueprint deliverables

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

    Standard Operating Procedures

    Sample of the Standard Operating Procedures deliverable.

    Maturity Assessment

    Sample of the Maturity Assessment deliverable.

    Categorization scheme

    Sample of the Categorization scheme deliverable.

    Improvement Initiative

    Sample of the Improvement Initiative deliverable.
    Create a standard operating procedure to ensure the support team has a consistent understanding of how they need to engage with the business.

    Blueprint benefits

    IT benefits

    • Improve workload distribution for technicians and enable prioritization based on work type, urgency, and impact.
    • Improved communications methods and messaging will help the technicians set expectations appropriately and reduce friction between each other and their supported end users.
    • Best practices and use of industry-standard tools will reduce administrative overhead while improving workload management.

    Business benefits

    • IT taking a customer-centric approach will improve access to support and reduce interruptions to the way they do business.
    • Expectation setting and improved communications will allow the business to better plan their work around new requests and will have a better understanding of service level agreements.

    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 six to ten calls over the course of three to four months.

    The current state discussion will determine the path.

    What does a typical GI on this topic look like?

    Current State & Vision

    Best Practices

    Service Requests & Incidents

    Communications

    Next Steps & Roadmap
    Call #1: Discuss current state & create a vision

    Call #2: Document roles & responsibilities

    		 Call #3:Review and define best practices for ticket handling Call #4: Review categorization

    Call #5: Discuss service requests & self-serve

    Call #6: Assess incident management processes    		 Call #7: Assess and document reporting and metrics

    Call #8: Discuss communications methods

    		 Call #9: Review next steps

    Call #10: Build roadmap for updates
    For a workshop on this topic, see the blueprint Standardize the Service Desk

    Executive Brief Case Study

    Southwest CARE Center    		 Logo for Southwest Care.
    INDUSTRY
    Healthcare

    Service Desk Project

    After relying on a managed service provider (MSP) for a number of years, the business hired Kevin to repatriate IT. As part of that mandate, his first strategic initiative was to build a service desk. SCC engaged Info-Tech Research Group to select and build a structure; assign roles and responsibilities; implement incident management, request fulfilment, and knowledge management processes; and integrate a recently purchased ITSM tool.

    Over the course of a four-day onsite engagement, SCC’s IT team worked with two Info-Tech analysts to create and document workflows, establish ticket handling guidelines, and review their technological requirements.

    Results

    The team developed a service desk standard operating procedure and an implementation roadmap with clear service level agreements.

    		 Southwest CARE Center (SCC) is a leading specialty healthcare provider in New Mexico. They offer a variety of high-quality services with a focus on compassionate, patient-centered healthcare.

    “Info-Tech helped me to successfully rebrand from an MSP help desk to an IT service desk. Sandi and Michel provided me with a customized service desk framework and SOP that quickly built trust within the organization. By not having to tweak and recalibrate my service desk processes through trial and error, I was able to save a year’s worth of work, resulting in cost savings of $30,000 to $40,000.” (Kevin Vigil, Director of Information Technology, Southwest CARE Center)

    The service desk is the cornerstone for customer satisfaction

    Bar charts comparing 'Dissatisfied' vs 'Satisfied End Users' in both 'Service Desk Effectiveness' and 'Timeliness'.
    N=63, small enterprise organizations from the End-User Satisfaction Diagnostic, at December 2021
    Dissatisfied was classified as those organizations with an average score less than 7.
    Satisfied was classified as those organizations with an average score greater or equal to 8.
    • End users who were satisfied with service desk effectiveness rated all other IT processes 36% higher than dissatisfied end users.
    • End users who were satisfied with service desk timeliness rated all other IT processes 34% higher than dissatisfied end-users.

    Improve the service desk with a Start, Stop, Continue assessment

    Use this exercise as an opportunity to discuss what’s working and what isn’t with your current help desk. Use this to define your goals for the improvement project, with a plan to return to the results and rerun the exercise on a regular basis.

    STOP
    • What service desk processes are counterproductive?
    • What service blockers exist that consistently undermine good results?
    • Are end-user relationships with individual team members negatively impacting satisfaction?
    • Make notes on initial ideas for improvement.

    START
    • What service process improvements could be implemented immediately?
    • What technical qualifications do individual staff members need to improve?
    • What opportunities exist to improve service desk communications with end users?
    • How can escalation and triage be more efficient?

    CONTINUE
    • What aspects of your current service desk are positive?
    • What processes are efficient and can be emulated elsewhere?
    • Where can you identify high levels of end-user satisfaction?

    Complete a maturity assessment to create a baseline and areas of focus

    The Service Desk Maturity Assessment tool helps organizations assess their service desk process maturity and focus the project on the activities that matter most.

    The tool will help guide improvement efforts and measure your progress.

    • The second tab of the tool walks through a qualitative assessment of your service desk practices. Questions will prompt you to evaluate how you are executing key activities. Select the answer in the drop-down menus that most closely aligns with your current state.
    • The third tab displays your rate of process completeness and maturity. You will receive a score for each phase, an overall score, and advice based on your performance.
    • Document the results of the efficiency assessment in the Service Desk Improvement Initiative.
    • The tool is intended for periodic use. Review your answers each year and devise initiatives to improve the process performance where you need it most.
    		 Sample of the Service Desk Maturity Assessment.

    Define your vision for the support structure

    Use this vision for communicating with the business and your IT team

    Consider service improvements and how those changes can be perceived by the organization. For example, offering multiple platforms, such as adding Macs to end-user devices, could translate to “Providing the right IT solutions for the way our employees want to work.”

    To support new platforms, you might need to look at the following steps to get there:
    • Evaluate skills needed – can you upskill generalists quickly, or will specialists be required? Determine training needs for support staff on new platforms.
    • Estimate uptake of the new platform and adjusting budgets – will these mostly be role-based decisions?
    • Determine what applications will work on the new platform and which will have a parity offering, which will require a solution like Parallels or VirtualBox, and which might need substitute applications.
    • What utilities will be needed to secure your solutions such as for encryption, antivirus, and firewalls?
    • What changes in the way you deploy and patch machines?
    • What level of support do you need to provide – just platform, or applications as well? What self-serve training can be made available?
    If you need to change the way you deploy equipment, you may want to review the blueprint Simplify Remote Deployment With Zero-Touch Provisioning

    Info-Tech Insight

    Identify some high-level opportunities and plan out how these changes will impact the way you provide support today. Document steps you’ll need to follow to make it happen. This may include new offerings and product sourcing, training, and research.

    Facilitate service desk operations with an ITSM tool

    You don’t need to spend a fortune. Many solutions are free or low-cost for a small number of users, and you don’t necessarily have to give up functionality to save money.

    Encourage users to submit requests through email or self-serve to keep organized. Ensure that reporting will provide you with the basics without effort, but ensure report creation is easy enough if you need to add more.

    Consider tools that do more than just store tickets. ITSM tools for small enterprises can also assist with:
    • Equipment and software license management
    • Self-serve for password reset and improving the experience for end users to submit tickets
    • Software deployment
    • Onboarding and offboarding workflows
    • Integration with monitoring tools
    Info-Tech Insight Buying rather than building allows you the greatest flexibility and can provide enterprise-level functionality at small-enterprise pricing. Use Info-Tech’s IT Service Management Selection Guide to create a business case and list of requirements for your ITSM purchase.
    Logo for Spiceworks.
    Logo for ZenDesk. Logo for SysAid.
    Logo for ManageEngine.
    Logo for Vector Networks.
    Logo for Freshworks.
    Logo for Squadcast.
    Logo for Jira Software.
    Logos contain links

    ITSM implementations are the perfect time to fix processes

    Consider engaging a partner for the installation and setup as they will have the expertise to troubleshoot and get you to value quickly.

    Even with a partner, don’t rely on them to set up categories, prioritizations, and workflows. If you have unique requirements, you will need to bring your design work to the table to avoid getting a “standard install” that will need to be modified later.

    When we look at what makes a strong and happy product launch, it boils down to a few key elements:
    • Improving customer service, or at least avoiding a decline
    • Improving access to information for technical team and end users
    • Successfully taking advantage of workflows, templates, and other features designed to improve the technician and user experience
    • Using existing processes with the new tools, without having to completely reengineer how things are done
    For a complete installation guide, visit the blueprint Build an ITSM Implementation Plan    		 To prepare for a quick time to value in setting up the new ITSM tool, prioritize in this order:
    1. Categorization and status codes
    2. Prioritization
    3. Divide tickets into incidents and service requests
    4. Create workflows for onboarding and offboarding (automate where you can)
    5. Track escalations to vendors
    6. Reporting
    7. Self-serve
    8. Equipment inventory (leading to hardware asset management)

    Define roles looking to balance between customer service and getting things done

    The team will need to provide backfill for each other with high volume, vacations, and leave, but also need to proactively manage interruptions appropriately as they work on projects.
    Icon of a bullseye. First contact – customer service, general knowledge
    Answers phones, chats, responds to email, troubleshooting, creates knowledge articles for end users.
    Icon of a pie chart. Analyst – experienced troubleshooter, general knowledge
    Answers phone when FC isn’t available, responds to email, troubleshooting, creates knowledge articles for first contact, escalates to other technicians or vendors.
    Icon of a lightbulb. Analyst – experienced troubleshooter, specialist
    Answers phones only when necessary, troubleshooting, creates knowledge articles for anyone in IT, consults with peers, escalates to vendors.
    Icon of gear on a folder. Engineer – deep expertise, specialist
    Answers phones only when necessary, troubleshooting, creates knowledge articles for anyone in IT, consults with peers, escalates to vendors.
    Icon of a handshake. Vendor, Managed Service Providers
    Escalation point per contract terms, must meet SLAs, communicate regularly with analysts and management as appropriate. Who escalates and who manages them?
    		Row of colorful people.

    Note roles in the Incident Management and Service Desk – Standard Operating Procedure Template

    Keep customers happy and technicians calm by properly managing your queue

    If ticket volume is too high or too dispersed to effectively have teams self-select tickets, assign a queue manager to review tickets throughout the day to ensure they’re assigned and on the technician’s schedule. This is particularly important for technicians who don’t regularly work out of the ticketing system. Follow up on approaching or missed SLAs.

    • Separate incidents (break fix) and service requests: Prioritize incidents over service requests to focus on getting users doing business as soon as possible. Schedule service requests for slower times or assign to technicians who are not working the front lines.
    • First in/first out…mostly: We typically look to prioritize incidents over service requests and only prioritize incidents if there are multiple people or VIPs affected. Where everything is equal, deal with the oldest first. Pause occasionally to deal with quick wins such as password resets.
    • Update ticket status and notes: Knowing what tickets are in progress and which ones are waiting on information or parts is important for anyone looking to pick up the next ticket. Make sure everyone is aware of the benefits of keeping this information up to date, so technicians know what to work on next without duplicating each other’s work.
    • Implement solutions quickly by using knowledge articles: Continue to build out the knowledge base to be able to resolve end-user issues quickly, check to see if additional information is needed before escalating tickets to other technicians.
    • Encourage end users to create tickets through the portal: Issues called in are automatically moved to the front of the queue, regardless of urgency. Make it easy for users to report issues using the portal and save the phone for urgent issues to allow appropriate prioritization of tickets.
    • Create a process to add additional resources on a regular basis to keep control of the backlog: A few extra hours once a week may be enough if the team is focused without interruptions.
    • Determine what backlog is acceptable to your users: Set that as a maximum time to resolve. Ideally, set up automated escalations for tickets that are approaching target SLAs, and build flexibility into schedules to have an “all hands on deck” option if the volume gets too high.

    Info-Tech Insight

    Make sure your queue manager has an accurate escalation list and has the authority to assign tickets and engage with the technical team to manage SLAs; otherwise, SLAs will never be consistently managed.

    Best practices for ticket handling

    Accurate data leads to good decisions. If working toward adding staff members, reducing recurring incidents, gaining access to better tools, or demonstrating value to the business, tickets will enable reporting and dashboards to manage your day-to-day business and provide reports to stakeholders.
    • Provide an easy way for end users to electronically submit tickets and encourage them to do so. This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t still accept phone calls, but that should be encouraged for time sensitive issues.
    • Create and update tickets, but not at the expense of good customer service. Agents can start the ticket but shouldn’t spend five minutes creating the ticket when they should be troubleshooting the problem.
    • Update the ticket when the issue is resolved or needs to be escalated. If agents are escalating, they should make sure all relevant information is passed along to the next technician.
    • Update user of ETA if issue cannot be resolved quickly.
    • Update categories to reflect the actual issue and resolution.
    • Reference or link to the knowledge base article as the documented steps taken to resolve the incident.
    • Validate incident is resolved with client. Automate this process with ticket closure after a certain time.
    • Close or resolve the ticket on time.
    		 Ticket templates (or quick tickets) for common incidents can lead to fast creation, data input, and categorizations. Templates can reduce the time it takes to create tickets from two minutes to 30 seconds.
    Sample ticket template.

    Create a right-sized self-service portal

    Review tickets and talk to the team to find out the most frequent requests and the most frequent incidents that could be solved by the end user if there were clear instructions. Check with your user community to see what they would like to see in the portal.

    A portal is only as attractive as it is useful. Enabling ticket creation and review is the bare minimum and may not entice users to the portal if email is just as easy to use for ticket creation.

    Consider opening the portal to groups other than IT. HR, finance, and others may have information they want to share or forms to fill in or download where an employee portal rather than an IT portal could be helpful. Work with other departments to see if they would find value. Make sure your solution is easy to use when adding content. Low-code options are useful for this.

    Portals could be built in the ITSM solution or SharePoint/Teams and should include:

    • Easy ways to create and see status on all tickets
    • Manuals, how-to articles, links to training
    • Answers to common questions, could be a wiki or Q&A for users to help each other as well as IT
    • Could have a chatbot to help people find documents or to create a ticket

    Info-Tech Insight

    Consider using video capture software to create short how-to videos for common questions. Vendors such as TechSmith Snagit , Vimeo Screen Recorder, Screencast-O-Matic Video Recording, and Movavi Screen Recording may be quick and easy to learn.

    49%

    49% of employees have trouble finding information at work

    35%

    Employees can cut time spent looking for information by 35% with quality intranet

    (Source: Liferay)

    Use customer satisfaction surveys to monitor service levels

    Transactional surveys are tied to specific interactions and provide a means of communication to help users communicate satisfaction or dissatisfaction with single interactions.
    • Keep it simple: One question to rate the service with opportunity to add a comment is enough to understand the sentiment and potential issues, and it will be more likely that the user will fill it out.
    • Follow up: Feedback will only be provided if customers think it’s being read and actioned. Set an alert to receive notification of any negative feedback and follow up within one or two business days to show you’re listening.

    A simple customer feedback form with smiley face scale.

    		 Relationship surveys can be run annually to obtain feedback on the overall customer experience.

    Inform yourself of how well you are doing or where you need improvement in the broad services provided.

    Provide a high-level perspective on the relationship between the business and IT.

    Help with strategic improvement decisions.

    Should be sent over a duration of time and to the entire customer base after they’ve had time to experience all the services provided by the service desk. This can be done on an annual basis.

    For example: Info-Tech’s End User Satisfaction Diagnostic. Included in your membership.

    Keep categorizations simple

    Asset categorization provides reports that are straightforward and useful for IT and that are typically used where the business isn’t demanding complex reports.

    Too many options can cause confusion; too few options provide little value. Try to avoid using “miscellaneous” – it’s not useful information. Test your tickets against your new scheme to make sure it works for you. Effective classification schemes are concise, easy to use correctly, and easy to maintain.

    Build out the categories with these questions:
    • What kind of asset am I working on? (type)
    • What general asset group am I working on? (category)
    • What particular asset am I working on? (sub-category)

    Create resolution codes to further modify the data for deeper reporting. This is typically a separate field, as you could use the same code for many categories. Keep it simple, but make sure it’s descriptive enough to understand the type of work happening in IT.

    Create and define simple status fields to quickly review tickets and know what needs to be actioned. Don’t stop the clock for any status changes unless you’re waiting on users. The elapsed time is important to measure from a customer satisfaction perspective.

    Info-Tech Insight

    Think about how you will use the data to determine which components need to be included in reports. If components won’t be used for reporting, routing, or warranty, reporting down to the component level adds little value.

    		Example table of categorizations.


    Need to make quick progress? Use Info-Tech Research Group’s Service Desk Asset-Based Categories template.

    1.1 Build or review your categories

    1-3 hours

    Input: Existing tickets

    Output: Categorization scheme

    Materials: Whiteboard/Flip charts, Markers, Sample categorization scheme

    Participants: CIO, Service desk manager, Technicians

    Discuss:

    • How can you use categories and resolution information to enhance reporting?
    • What level of detail do you need to be able to understand the data and take action? What level of detail is too much?
    • Are current status fields allowing you to accurately assess pending work at a glance?

    Draft:

    1. Start with existing categories and review, identifying duplicates and areas of inconsistency.
    2. Write out proposed resolution codes and status fields and critically assess their value.
    3. Test categories and resolution codes against a few recent tickets.
    4. Record the ticket categorization scheme in the Incident Management and Service Desk – Standard Operating Procedure.

    Download the Incident Management and Service Desk – Standard Operating Procedure Template

    Separate tickets into service requests and incidents

    Tickets should be separated into different ticket types to be able to see briefly what needs to be prioritized. This may seem like a non-issue if you have a small team, but if you ever need to report how quickly you’re solving break-fix issues or whether you’re doing root cause analysis, this will save on future efforts. Separating ticket types may make it easier to route tickets automatically or to a new provider in the future.

    INCIDENTS

    SERVICE REQUESTS
    Icon of a bullseye.

    PRIORITIZATION

    		 Incidents will be prioritized based on urgency and impact to the organization. Service requests will be scheduled and only increase in prioritization if there is an issue with the request process (e.g. new hire start).
    Icon of a handshake.

    SLAs

    		 Did incidents get resolved according to prioritization rules? REPONSE & RESOLUTION Did service requests get completed on time? SCHEDULING & FULFILMENT
    Icon of a lightbulb.

    TRIAGE & ROOT CAUSE ANALYSIS

    		 Incidents will typically need triage at the service desk unless something is set up to go directly to a specialist. Service requests don’t need triage and can be routed automatically for approvals and fulfillment.

    “For me, the first key question is, is this keeping you from doing business? Is this a service request? Is it actually something that's broken? Well, okay. Now let's have the conversation about what's broken and keeping you from doing business.” (Anonymous CIO)

    Determine how service requests will be fulfilled

    Process steps for service requests: 'Request, Approve, Schedule, Fulfill, Notify requester, Close ticket'.

    • Identify standard requests, meaning any product approved for use and deployment in the organization.
    • Determine whether this should be published and how. Consider a service catalog with the ability to create tickets right from the request page. If there is an opportunity to automate fulfillment, build that into your workflow and project plans.
    • Create workflows for complicated requests such as onboarding, and build them into a template in the service desk tool. This will allow you to reduce the administrative work to deploy tasks.
    • Who will fulfill requests? There may be a need for more than one technician to be able to fulfill if volume dictates, but it’s important to determine what will be done by each level to quickly assign those tickets for scheduling. Define what will be done by each group of technicians.
    • Determine reasonable SLAs for most service requests. Identify which ones will not meet “normal” SLAs. As you build out a service catalog or automate fulfillment, SLAs can be refined.

    Info-Tech Insight

    Service requests are not as urgent as incidents and should be scheduled.

    Set the SLA based on time to fulfill, plus a buffer to schedule around more urgent service requests.

    1.2 Identify service requests and routing needs

    2-3 hours

    Input: Ticket data, Existing workflow diagrams

    Output: Workflow diagrams

    Materials: Whiteboard/Flip charts, Markers, Visio

    Participants: CIO, Service desk manager, Technicians

    Identify:

    1. Create your list of typical service requests and identify the best person to fulfill, based on complexity, documentation, specialty, access rights.
    2. Review service requests which include multiple people or departments, such as onboarding and offboarding
    3. Draw existing processes.
    4. Discuss challenges and critique existing process.
    5. Document proposed changes and steps that will need to be taken to improve the process.

    Download the Incident Management and Service Desk – Standard Operating Procedure Template

    Incident management

    Critical incidents and normal incidents

    Even with a small team, it’s important to define a priority for response and resolution time for SLA and uptime reporting and extracting insights for continual improvement efforts.

    • Mission-critical systems or problems that affect many people should always come first (i.e. Severity Level 1).
    • The bulk of reported problems, however, are often individual problems with desktop PCs (i.e. Severity Level 3 or 4).
    • Some questions to consider when deciding on problem severity include:
      • How is productivity affected?
      • How many users are affected?
      • How many systems are affected?
      • How critical are the affected systems to the organization?
    • Decide how many severity levels the organization needs the service desk to have. Four levels of severity is ideal for most organizations.
    		 Go to incident management for SE

    Super-specialization of knowledge is also a common factor in smaller teams and is caused by complex architectures. While helpful, if that knowledge isn’t documented, it can walk out the door with the resource and the rest of the team is left scrambling.

    Lessons learned may be gathered for critical incidents but often are not propagated, which impacts the ability to solve recurring incidents.

    Over time, repeated incidents can have a negative impact on the customer’s perception that the service desk is a credible and essential service to the business.

    Cover image for 'Incident Management for Small Enterprise'.
    Click picture for a link to the blueprint

    1.3 Activity: Identify critical systems

    1 hour

    Input: Ticket data, Business continuity plan

    Output: Service desk SOP

    Materials: Whiteboard/Flip charts, Markers

    Participants: CIO, Service desk manager, Technicians

    Discuss and document:

    1. Create a list of the most critical systems, and identify and document the escalation path.
    2. Review inventory of support documents for critical systems and identify any that require runbooks to ensure quick resolution in the event of an outage or major performance issue. Refer to the blueprint Incident Management for Small Enterprise to prioritize and document runbooks as needed.
    3. Review vendor agreements to determine if SLAs are appropriate to support needs. If there is a need for adjustments, determine options for modifying or renegotiating SLAs.

    Download the Incident Runbook Prioritization Tool

    Prioritization scheme

    Keep the priority scheme simple and meaningful, using this framework to communicate and report to stakeholders and set SLAs for response and resolution.
    1. Focus primarily on incidents. Service requests should always be medium urgency, unless there is a valid reason to move one to high level.
    2. Separate major outages from all other tickets as these are a major factor in business impact.
    3. Decide how many levels of severity are appropriate for your organization.
    4. Build a prioritization matrix, breaking down priority levels by impact and urgency.
    5. Build out the definitions of “impact” and “urgency” to complete the prioritization matrix.
    6. Run through examples of each priority level to make sure everyone is on the same page.
    		 A matrix of prioritization with rows as levels of 'IMPACT' and columns as levels of 'URGENCY'. Ratings range from 'Critical' at 'Extensive/Critical' to 'Low' at 'Low Impact/Low'.

    Document escalation rules and contacts

    Depending on the size of the team, escalations may be mostly to internal technical colleagues or could be primarily to vendors.

    • Ensure the list of escalation rules and contacts is accurate and available, adding expected SLAs for quick reference
    • If tickets are being escalated but shouldn’t be, ensure knowledge articles and training materials are up to date
    • Follow up on all external escalations, ensuring SLAs are respected
    • Publish an escalation path for clients if service is not meeting their needs (for internal and external providers) and automate escalations for tickets breaching SLAs
    Escalation rules strung together.
    User doesn’t know who will fix the issue but expects to see it done in a reasonable time. If issue cannot be resolved right away, set expectations for resolution time.
    • Document information so next technician doesn’t need to ask the same questions.
    • Escalate to the right technician the first time.
    • Check notes to catch up on the issue.
    • Run tests if necessary.
    • Contact user to troubleshoot and fix.
    • Meet SLAs or update client on new ETA.
    • Provide complete information to vendor.
    • Monitor resolution.
    • Follow up with vendor if delays.
    • Update client as needed.
    • Vendor will provide support according to agreement.
    • Encourage vendor to provide regular updates to IT.
    • Review vendor performance regularly.
    • IT will validate issue is resolved and close ticket.
    		 Validate user is happy with the experience

    Define, measure, and report on service level agreements

    Improving communications is the most effective way to improve customer service
    1. Set goals for time to respond and time to resolve for different incident levels, communicate to the technical team, and test ability to meet these goals.
    2. Set goals for time to fulfil for most service requests, document exceptions (e.g. onboarding).
    3. Create reports to measure against goals and determine what information will be most effective for reporting to the business.
    4. Management: Communicate expectations to the business leaders and end users.
    5. Management: Set regular cadence to meet with stakeholders to discuss expectations and review relevant metrics.
    6. Management: Determine how metrics will be tracked and reviewed to manage technical partners.
    		 Keep messaging simple
    • Be prepared with detailed reporting if needed, but focus on a few key metrics to inform stakeholders of progress against goals.
    • Use trending to tell a story, especially when presenting success stories.
    • Use appropriate media for each type of message. For example: SLAs can be listed on automated ticket responses or in a banner on the portal.

    Determine what communications are most important and who will do them

    Icon of a bperson ascending a staircase.

    PROACTIVE, PLANNED CHANGES

    		 From: Service Desk

    Messaging provided by engineer or director, sent to all employees; proactive planning with business unit leaders.
    Icon of a bullseye.

    OUTAGES & UPDATES

    		 From: Service Desk

    Use templates to send out concise messaging and updates hourly, with input from technical team working on restoring services to all; director to liaise with business stakeholders.
    Icon of a lightbulb.

    UPDATES TO SERVICES, SELF-SERVE

    		 From: Director

    Send announcements no more than monthly about new services and processes.
    Icon of a handshake.

    REGULAR STAKEHOLDER COMMUNICATIONS

    		 From: Director

    Monthly reporting to business and IT stakeholders on strategic and project goals, manage escalations.

    1.4 Create communications plan

    2 hours

    Input: Sample past communications

    Output: Communications templates

    Materials: Whiteboard/flip charts, Markers

    Participants: CIO, Service desk manager, Technicians

    Determine where templates are needed to ensure quick and consistent communications. Review sample templates and modify to suit your needs:

    1. Proactive, planned changes
    2. Outages and updates
    3. Updates to services, self-serve
    4. Regular stakeholder communications

    Download the communications templates

    Create reports that are useful and actionable

    Reporting serves two purposes:

    1. Accountability to stakeholders
    2. Identification of items that need action

    To determine what reports are needed, ask yourself:

    • What are your goals?
    • What story are you trying to tell?
    • What do you need to manage day to day?
    • What do you need to report to get funding?
    • What do you need to report to your stakeholders for service updates?

    Determine which metrics will be most useful to suit your strategic and operational goals

    STRATEGIC GOAL (stakeholders): Improve customer service evidenced by:

    TIME

    • Aged backlog
    • Service requests solved within SLA (could also look for quick ones, e.g. tickets solved in one day, % solved within one hour)
    • Volume of incidents and time to solve each type
    • Critical incidents solved in 4 hours
    • Incidents solved same day

    QUALITY

    • Percentage of tickets solved at first contact
    • SLAs missed
    • Percentage of services available to request through catalog
    • Percentage of tickets created through portal (speaks to quality of experience)
    • Customer satisfaction survey results – transactional and annual

    RESOURCES

    • Knowledge articles used by technicians
    • Knowledge articles used by end users
    • Tickets resolved at each technician level (volume)
    • Non-standard requests evaluated and fulfilled by volume & time served
    • Volume of recurring incidents
    OPERATIONAL GOALS: Report to director & technicians

    What else can you do to improve service?

    Review the next few pages to see if you need additional blueprints to help you:
    • Evaluate staffing and training needs to ensure the right number of resources are available and they have the skills they need for your environment.
    • Create self-service for end users to get quick answers and create tickets.
    • Create a knowledge base to ensure backup for technical expertise.
    • Develop customer service skills through training.
    • Perform ticket analysis to better understand your technical environment.

    Be agile in your approach to service

    It’s easy for small teams to get overwhelmed when covering for vacations, illness, or leave. Determine where priorities may be adjusted during busy or short-staffed times.

    • Have a plan to cross-train technicians and create comprehensive knowledge articles for coverage during vacations and unexpected absences.
    • Know where it makes sense to bring in vendors, such as for managed print services, or to cover for extended absences.
    • Look for opportunities to automate functions or reduce administrative overhead through workflows.
    • Identify any risks and determine how to mitigate, such as managing or changing administrative passwords.
    • Create self-serve to enable ticket creation and self-solve for those users who wish to use it.

    Staff the service desk to meet demand

    • With increasing complexity of support and demand on service desks, staff are often left feeling overwhelmed and struggling to keep up with ticket volume, resulting in long resolution times and frustrated end users.
    • However, it’s not as simple as hiring more staff to keep up with ticket volume. IT managers must have the data to support their case for increasing resources or even maintaining their current resources in an environment where many executives are looking to reduce headcount.
    • Without changing resources to match demand, IT managers will need to determine how to maximize the use of their resources to deliver better service.

    Cover image for 'Staff the Service Desk to Meet Demand'.
    Click picture for a link to the blueprint

    Create and manage a knowledge base

    With a small team, it may seem redundant to create a knowledge base, but without key system and process workflows and runbooks, an organization is still at risk of bottlenecks and knowledge failure.

    • Use a knowledge base to document pre-escalation troubleshooting steps, known errors and workarounds, and runbook solutions.
    • Where incidents may have many root causes, document which are the most frequent solutions and where variations are typically used.
    • Start with an inventory of personal documents, compare and consolidate into the knowledge base, and ensure they are accurate and up to date.
    • Assign someone to review articles on a regular basis and flag for editing and archiving as the technical environment changes.
    • Supplement with vendor-provided or purchased content. Two options for purchased content include RightAnswers or Netformx.

    Info-Tech Insight

    Appeal to a broad audience. Use non-technical language whenever possible to help less technical readers. Identify error messages and use screenshots where it makes sense. Take advantage of social features like voting buttons to increase use.

    Optimize the service desk with a shift-left strategy

    • “Shift left” is a strategy which moves appropriate technical work to users through knowledge articles, automation and service catalogs, freeing up time for technicians to work on more complex issues.
    • Many organizations have built a great knowledge base but fail to see the value of it over time as it becomes overburdened with overlapping and out-of-date information. Knowledge capture, updating, and review must be embedded into your processes if you want to keep the knowledge base useful.
    • Similarly, the self-service portal is often deployed out of the box with little input from end users and fails to deliver its intended benefits. The portal needs to be designed from the end user’s point of view with the goal of self-resolution if it will serve its purpose of deflecting tickets.

    Cover image for 'Optimize the Service Desk With a Shift-Left Strategy'.
    Click picture for a link to the blueprint

    Customer service isn’t just about friendliness

    Your team will all need to deal with end users at some point, and that may occur in times of high stress. Ensure the team has the skills they need to actively listen, stay positive, and de-escalate.

    Info-Tech’s customer service program is a modular approach to improve skills one area at a time. Delivering good customer service means being effective in these areas:
    • Customer focus – Focus on the customer and use a positive, caring, and helpful attitude.
    • Listening and verbal communication skills – Demonstrate empathy and patience, actively listen, and speak in user-friendly ways to help get your point across.
    • Written communication skills – Use appropriate tone, language, and terms in writing (whether via chat, email, or other).
    • Manage difficult situations – Remain calm and in control when dealing with difficult customers and situations.
    • Go the extra mile – Go beyond simply resolving the request to make each interaction positive and memorable.

    Deliver a customer service training program to your IT department

    • There’s a common misconception that customer service skills can’t be taught, so no effort is made to improve those skills.
    • Even when there is a desire to improve customer service, it’s hard for IT teams to make time for training and improvement when they’re too busy trying to keep up with tickets.
    • A talented service desk agent with both great technical and customer service skills doesn’t have to be a rare unicorn, and an agent without innate customer service skills isn’t a lost cause. Relevant and impactful customer service habits, techniques, and skills can be taught through practical, role-based training.
    • IT leaders can make time for this training through targeted, short modules along with continual on-the-job coaching and development.

    Cover image for 'Deliver Customer Service Training Program to Your IT Department'.
    Click picture for a link to the blueprint

    Improve your ticket analysis

    Once you’ve got great data coming into the ticketing system, it’s important to rethink your metrics and determine if there are more insights to be found.

    Analyzing ticket data involves:
    • Collecting ticket data and keeping it clean. Based on the metrics you’re analyzing, define ticket expectations and keep the data up to date.
    • Showing the value of the service desk. SLAs are meaningless if they are not met consistently. The prerequisite to implementing proper SLAs is fully understanding the proper workload of the service desk.
    • Understanding – and improving – the user experience. You cannot improve the user experience without meaningful metrics that allow you to understand the user experience. Different user groups will have different needs and different expectations of the level of service. Your metrics should reflect those needs and expectations.

    Analyze your service desk ticket data

    Properly analyzing ticket data is challenging for the following reasons:
    • Poor ticket hygiene and unclear ticket handling
    • Service desk personnel are not sure where to start with analysis
    • Too many metrics are tracked to parse actionable data from the noise
    Ticket data won’t give you a silver bullet, but it can help point you in the right direction.

    Cover image for 'Analyze Your Service Desk Ticket Data'.
    Click picture for a link to the blueprint

    Start doing problem management

    Proactively focusing on root cause analysis will reduce the most disruptive incidents to the organization.

    • A focus on elimination of critical incidents and the more disruptive recurring incidents will reduce future workloads for the team and improve customer satisfaction.
    • This can be challenging when the team is already struggling with workload; however, setting a regular cadence to review tickets, looking for trends, and identifying at least one focus area a month can be a positive outcome for everyone.
    • Focus on the most impactful ticket or service first. The initial goal should be to reduce or eliminate critical and high-impact incidents. Once the high-stress situations are reduced, proactively scheduling the smaller but still time-consuming repeatable incidents can be done.
    • Where you have vendors involved, work with them to determine when root cause analysis must happen and where they’ll need to coordinate with your team or other supporting vendors.

    Problem management

    Problem management can be challenging because it requires skills and knowledge to go deep into a problem and troubleshoot the root cause of an issue, but it also requires uninterrupted time.
    • Problem management, however, can be taught, and the issue isn’t always hard to spot if you have time to look.
    • Using tried and true methods for walking through an issue step by step will enable the team to improve their investigative and troubleshooting skills.
    • Reduction of one or two major incidents and recurring incidents per month will pay off quickly in reducing reactive ticket volume and improve customer satisfaction.

    Cover image for 'Problem Management'.
    Click picture for a link to the blueprint

    Create your roadmap with high-level requirements

    Determine what tasks and projects need to be completed to meet your improvement goals. Create a high-level project plan and balance with existing resources.

    Roadmap of high-level requirements with 'Goals' as row headers and their timelines mapped out across fiscal quarters.

    Bibliography

    Taylor, Sharon and Ivor Macfarlane. ITIL Small Scale Implementation. Office of Government Commerce, 2005.

    “Share, Collaborate, and Communicate on One Consistent Platform.” Liferay, n.d. Accessed 19 July 2022.

    Rodela, Jimmy. “A Beginner’s Guide to Customer Self-Service.” The Ascent, 18 May 2022. Web.

    Manage Poor Performance While Working From Home

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    • For many, emergency WFH comes with several new challenges such as additional childcare responsibilities, sudden changes in role expectations, and negative impacts on wellbeing. These new challenges, coupled with previously existing ones, can result in poor performance. Owing to the lack of physical presence and cues, managers may struggle to identify that an employee’s performance is suffering. Even after identifying poor performance, it can be difficult to address remotely when such conversations would ideally be held in person.

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    • Poor performance must be managed, despite the pandemic. Evaluating root causes of performance issues is more important than ever now that personal factors such as lack of childcare and eldercare for those working from home are complicating the issue.

    Impact and Result

    • Organizations need to have a clear process for improving performance for employees working remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic. Provide managers with resources to help them identify performance issues and uncover their root causes as part of addressing overall performance. This will allow managers to connect employees with the required support while working with them to improve performance.

    Manage Poor Performance While Working From Home Research & Tools

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

    1. Follow the remote performance improvement process

    Determine how managers can identify poor performance remotely and help them navigate the performance improvement process while working from home.

    • Manage Poor Performance While Working From Home Storyboard
    • Manage Poor Performance While Working From Home: Manager Guide
    • Manage Poor Performance While Working From Home: Infographic

    2. Clarify roles and leverage resources

    Clarify roles and responsibilities in the performance improvement process and tailor relevant resources.

    • Wellness and Working From Home
    [infographic]

    Further reading

    Manage Poor Performance While Working From Home

    Assess and improve remote work performance with our ready-to-use tools.

    Executive Summary

    McLean & Company Insight

    Poor performance must be managed, despite the pandemic. Evaluating root causes of performance issues is more important than ever now that personal factors such as lack of childcare and eldercare for those working from home are complicating the issue.

    Situation

    COVID-19 has led to a sudden shift to working from home (WFH), resulting in a 72% decline in in-office work (Ranosa, 2020). While these uncertain times have disrupted traditional work routines, employee performance remains critical, as it plays a role in determining how organizations recover. Managers must not turn a blind eye to performance issues but rather must act quickly to support employees who may be struggling.

    Complication

    For many, emergency WFH comes with several new challenges such as additional childcare responsibilities, sudden changes in role expectations, and negative impacts on wellbeing. These new challenges, coupled with previously existing ones, can result in poor performance. Owing to the lack of physical presence and cues, managers may struggle to identify that an employee’s performance is suffering. Even after identifying poor performance, it can be difficult to address remotely when such conversations would ideally be held in person.

    Solution

    Organizations need to have a clear process for improving performance for employees working remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic. Provide managers with resources to help them identify performance issues and uncover their root causes as part of addressing overall performance. This will allow managers to connect employees with the required support while working with them to improve performance.

    Manage Poor Performance While Working From Home is made up of the following resources:

    1

    Identify

    2

    Initiate

    3

    Deploy

    4

    a) Follow Up
    b) Decide    		 Storyboard

    This storyboard is organized by the four steps of the performance improvement process: identify, initiate, deploy, and follow up/decide. These will appear on the left-hand side of the slides as a roadmap.

    The focus is on how HR can design the process for managing poor performance remotely and support managers through it while emergency WFH measures are in place. Key responsibilities, email templates, and relevant resources are included at the end.

    Adapt the process as necessary for your organization.

    		 Manager Guide

    The manager guide contains detailed advice for managers on navigating the process and focuses on the content of remote performance discussions.

    It consists of the following sections:

    • Identifying poor performance.
    • Conducting performance improvement discussions.
    • Uncovering and addressing root causes of poor performance.
    		 Manager Infographic

    The manager infographic illustrates the high-level steps of the performance improvement process for managers in a visually appealing and easily digestible manner.

    This can be used to easily outline the process, providing managers with a resource to quickly reference as they navigate the process with their direct reports.

    In this blueprint, “WFH” and “remote working” are used interchangeably.

    This blueprint will not cover the performance management framework; it is solely focused on managing performance issues.

    For information on adjusting the regular performance management process during the pandemic, see Performance Management for Emergency Work-From-Home.

    Identify how low performance is normally addressed

    A process for performance improvement is not akin to outlining the steps of a performance improvement plan (PIP). The PIP is a development tool used within a larger process for performance improvement. Guidance on how to structure and use a PIP will be provided later in this blueprint.

    Evaluate how low performance is usually brought to the attention of HR in a non-remote situation:
    • Do managers approach HR for an employee transfer or PIP without having prior performance conversations with the employee?
    • Do managers come to HR when they need support in developing an employee in order to meet expectations?
    • Do managers proactively reach out to HR to discuss appropriate L&D for staff who are struggling?
    • Do some departments engage with the process while others do not?
    		 Poor performance does not signal the immediate need to terminate an employee. Instead, managers should focus on helping the struggling employee to develop so that they may succeed.
    Evaluate how poor performance is determined:
    • Do managers use performance data or concrete examples?
    • Is it based on a subjective assessment by the manager?
    		 Keep in mind that “poor performance” now might look different than it did before the pandemic. Employees must be aware of the current expectations placed on them before they can be labeled as underperforming – and the performance expectations must be assessed to ensure they are realistic.

    For information on adjusting performance expectations during the pandemic, see Performance Management for Emergency Work-From-Home.

    The process for non-union and union employees will likely differ. Make sure your process for unionized employees aligns with collective agreements.

    Determine how managers can identify poor performance of staff working remotely

    1

    Identify

    2

    Initiate

    3

    Deploy

    4

    a) Follow Up
    b) Decide    		Identify: Determine how managers can identify poor performance.
    In person, it can be easy to see when an employee is struggling by glancing over at their desk and observing body language. In a remote situation, this can be more difficult, as it is easy to put on a brave face for the half-hour to one-hour check-in. Advise managers on how important frequent one-one-ones and open communication are in helping identify issues when they arise rather than when it’s too late.

    Managers must clearly document and communicate instances where employees aren’t meeting role expectations or are showing other key signs that they are not performing at the level expected of them.

    		What to look for:
    • PM data/performance-related assessments
    • Continual absences
    • Decreased quality or quantity of output
    • Frequent excuses (e.g. repeated internet outages)
    • Lack of effort or follow-through
    • Missed deadlines
    • Poor communication or lack of responsiveness
    • Failure to improve
    It’s crucial to acknowledge an employee might have an “off week” or need time to adjust to working from home, which can be addressed with performance management techniques. Managers should move into the process for performance improvement when:
    • Performance fluctuates frequently or significantly.
    • Performance has dropped for an extended period of time.
    • Expectations are consistently not being met.

    While it’s important for managers to keep an eye out for decreased performance, discourage them from over-monitoring employees, as this can lead to a damaging environment of distrust.

    Support managers in initiating performance conversations and uncovering root causes

    1

    Identify

    2

    Initiate

    3

    Deploy

    4

    a) Follow Up
    b) Decide    		Initiate: Require that managers have several conversations about low performance with the employee.
    Before using more formal measures, ensure managers take responsibility for connecting with the employee to have an initial performance conversation where they will make the performance issue known and try to diagnose the root cause of the issue.

    Coach managers to recognize behaviors associated with the following performance inhibitors:

    Personal Factors

    Personal factors, usually outside the workplace, can affect an employee’s performance.

    		Lack of clarity

    Employees must be clear on performance expectations before they can be labeled as a poor performer.

    		Low motivation

    Lack of motivation to complete work can impact the quality of output and/or amount of work an employee is completing.

    		Inability

    Resourcing, technology, organizational change, or lack of skills to do the job can all result in the inability of an employee to perform at their best.

    		Poor people skills

    Problematic people skills, externally with clients or internally with colleagues, can affect an employee’s performance or the team’s engagement.

    Personal factors are a common performance inhibitor due to emergency WFH measures. The decreased divide between work and home life and the additional stresses of the pandemic can bring up new cases of poor performance or exacerbate existing ones. Remind managers that all potential root causes should still be investigated rather than assuming personal factors are the problem and emphasize that there can be more than one cause.

    Ensure managers continue to conduct frequent performance conversations

    Once an informal conversation has been initiated, the manager should schedule frequent one-on-one performance conversations (above and beyond performance management check-ins).

    1

    Identify

    2

    Initiate

    3

    Deploy

    4

    a) Follow Up
    b) Decide    		Explain to managers the purpose of these discussions is to:
    • Continue to probe for root causes.
    • Reinforce role expectations and performance targets.
    • Follow up on any improvements.
    • Address the performance issue and share relevant resources (e.g. HR or employee assistance program [EAP]).
    		Given these conversations will be remote, require managers to:
    • Use video whenever possible to read physical cues and body language.
    • Bookend the conversation. Starting each meeting by setting the context for the discussion and finishing with the employee reiterating the key takeaways back will ensure there are no misunderstandings.
    • Document the conversation and share with HR. This provides evidence of the conversations and helps hold managers accountable.
    What is HR’s role? HR should ensure that the manager has had multiple conversations with the employee before moving to the next step. Furthermore, HR is responsible for ensuring manages are equipped to have the conversations through coaching, role-playing, etc.

    For more information on the content of these conversations or for material to leverage for training purposes, see Manage Poor Performance While Working From Home: Manager Guide.

    McLean & Company Insight

    Managers are there to be coaches, not therapists. Uncovering the root cause of poor performance will allow managers to pinpoint supports needed, either within their expertise (e.g. coaching, training, providing flexible hours) or by directing the employee to proper external resources such as an EAP.

    Help managers use formal performance improvement tools with remote workers

    1

    Identify

    2

    Initiate

    3

    Deploy

    4

    a) Follow Up
    b) Decide    		Deploy: Use performance improvement tools.
    If initial performance conversations were unsuccessful and performance does not improve, refer managers to performance improvement tools:
    • Suggest any other available support and resources they have not yet recommended (e.g. EAP).
    • Explore options for co-creation of a development plan to increase employee buy-in. If the manager has been diligent about clarifying role expectations, invite the employee to put together their own action plan for meeting performance goals. This can then be reviewed and finalized with the manager.
    • Have the manager use a formal PIP for development and to get the employee back on track. Review the development plan or PIP with the manager before they share it with the employee to ensure it is clear and has time bound, realistic goals for improvement.
    Using a PIP solely to avoid legal trouble and terminate employees isn’t true to its intended purpose. This is what progressive discipline is for.In the case of significant behavior problems, like breaking company rules or safety violations, the manager will likely need to move to progressive discipline. HR should advise managers on the appropriate process.

    When does the issue warrant progressive discipline? If the action needs to stop immediately, (e.g. threatening or inappropriate behavior) and/or as outlined in the collective agreement.

    Clarify remote PIP stages and best practices

    1

    Identify

    2

    Initiate

    3

    Deploy

    4

    a) Follow Up
    b) Decide    		Sample Stages:
    1. Written PIP
    • HR reviews and signs off on PIP
    • Manager holds meeting to provide employee with PIP
    • Employee reviews the PIP
    • Manager and employee provide e-signatures
    • Signed PIP is given to HR
    2. Possible Extension
    3. Final Notice
    • Manager provides employee with final notice if there has been no improvement in agreed time frame
    • Copy of signed final notice letter given to HR

    Who is involved?

    The manager runs the meeting with the employee. HR should act as a support by:

    • Ensuring the PIP is clear, aligned with the performance issue, and focused on development, prior to the meeting.
    • Pointing to resources and making themselves available prior to, during, and after the meeting.
      • When should HR be involved? HR should be present in the meeting if the manager has requested it or if the employee has approached HR beforehand with concerns about the manager. Keep in mind that if the employee sees HR has been unexpectedly invited to the video call, it could add extra stress for them.
    • Reviewing documentation and ensuring expectations and the action plan are reasonable and realistic.

    Determine the length of the PIP

    • The length of the initial PIP will often depend on the complexity of the employee’s role and how long it will reasonably take to see improvements. The minimum (before a potential extension) should be 30-60 days.
    • Ensure the action plan takes sustainment into account. Employees must be able to demonstrate improvement and sustain improved performance in order to successfully complete a PIP.

    Timing of delivery

    Help the manager determine when the PIP meeting will occur (what day, time of day). Take into account the schedule of the employee they will be meeting with (e.g. avoid scheduling right before an important client call).

    1

    Identify

    2

    Initiate

    3

    Deploy

    4

    a) Follow Up
    b) Decide

    Follow up: If the process escalated to step 3 and is successful.

    What does success look like? Performance improvement must be sustained after the PIP is completed. It’s not enough to simply meet performance improvement goals and expectations; the employee must continue to perform.

    Have the manager schedule a final PIP review with the employee. Use video, as this enables the employee and manager to read body language and minimize miscommunication/misinterpretation.

    • If performance expectations have been met, instruct managers to document this in the PIP, inform the employee they are off the PIP, and provide it to HR.

    The manager should also continue check-ins with the employee to ensure sustainment and as part of continued performance management.

    • Set a specific timeline, e.g. every two weeks or every month. Choose a cadence that works best for the manager and employee.

    OR

    Decide: Determine action steps if the process is unsuccessful.

    If at the end of step 3 performance has not sufficiently improved, the organization (HR and the manager) should either determine if the employee could/should be temporarily redeployed while the emergency WFH is still in place, if a permanent transfer to a role that is a better fit is an option, or if the employee should be let go.

    See the Complete Manual for COVID-19 Layoffs blueprint for information on layoffs in remote environments.

    Managers, HR, and employees all have a role to play in performance improvement

    Managers
    • Identify the outcomes the organization is looking for and clearly outline and communicate the expectations for the employee’s performance.
    • Diagnose root cause(s) of the performance issue.
    • Support employee through frequent conversations and feedback.
    • Coach for improved performance.
    • Visibly recognize and broadcast employee achievements.
    Employees
    • Have open and honest conversations with their manager, acknowledge their accountability, and be receptive to feedback.
    • Set performance goals to meet expectations of the role.
    • Prepare for frequent check-ins regarding improvement.
    • Seek support from HR as required.
    HR
    • Provide managers with a process, training, and support to improve employee performance.
    • Coach managers to ensure employees have been made aware of their role expectations and current performance and given specific recommendations on how to improve.
    • Reinforce the process for improving employee performance to ensure that adequate coaching conversations have taken place before the formal PIP.
    • Coach employees on how to approach their manager to discuss challenges in meeting expectations.

    HR should conduct checkpoints with both managers and employees in cases where a formal PIP was initiated to ensure the process for performance improvement is being followed and to support both parties in improving performance.

    Email templates

    Use the templates found on the next slides to draft communications to employees who are underperforming while working from home.

    Customize all templates with relevant information and use them as a guide to further tailor your communication to a specific employee.

    Customization Recommendations

    Review all slides and adjust the language or content as needed to suit the needs of the employee, the complexity of their role, and the performance issue.

    • The pencil icon to the left denotes slides requiring customization of the text. Customize text in grey font and be sure to convert all font to black when you are done.

    Included Templates

    1. Performance Discussion Follow-Up
    2. PIP Cover Letter

    This template is not a substitute for legal advice. Ensure you consult with your legal counsel, labor relations representative, and union representative to align with collective agreements and relevant legislation.

    Sample Performance Discussion Follow-Up

    Hello [name],

    Thank you for the commitment and eagerness in our meeting yesterday.

    I wanted to recap the conversation and expectations for the month of [insert month].

    As discussed, you have been advised about your recent [behavior, performance, attendance, policy, etc.] where you have demonstrated [state specific issue with detail of behavior/performance of concern]. As per our conversation, we’ll be working on improvement in this area in order to meet expectations set out for our employees.

    It is expected that employees [state expectations]. Please do not hesitate to reach out to me if there is further clarification needed or you if you have any questions or concerns. The management team and I are committed to helping you achieve these goals.

    We will do a formal check-in on your progress every [insert day] from [insert time] to review your progress. I will also be available for daily check-ins to support you on the right track. Additionally, you can book me in for desk-side coaching outside of my regular desk-side check-ins. If there is anything else I can do to help support you in hitting these goals, please let me know. Other resources we discussed that may be helpful in meeting these objectives are [summarize available support and resources]. By working together through this process, I have no doubt that you can be successful. I am here to provide support and assist you through this.

    If you’re unable to show improvements set out in our discussion by [date], we will proceed to a formal performance measure that will include a performance improvement plan. Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns; I am here to help.

    Please acknowledge this email and let me know if you have any questions.

    Thank you,

    PIP Cover Letter

    Hello [name] ,

    This is to confirm our meeting on [date] in which we discussed your performance to date and areas that need improvement. Please find the attached performance improvement plan, which contains a detailed action plan that we have agreed upon to help you meet role expectations over the next [XX days]. The aim of this plan is to provide you with a detailed outline of our performance expectations and provide you the opportunity to improve your performance, with our support.

    We will check in every [XX days] to review your progress. At the end of the [XX]-day period, we will review your performance against the role expectations set out in this performance improvement plan. If you don’t meet the performance requirements in the time allotted, further action and consequences will follow.

    Should you have any questions about the performance improvement plan or the process outlined in this document, please do not hesitate to discuss them with me.

    [Employee name], it is my personal objective to help you be a fully productive member of our team. By working together through this performance improvement plan, I have no doubt that you can be successful. I am here to provide support and assist you through the process. At this time, I would also like to remind you about the [additional resources available at your organization, for example, employee assistance program or HR].

    Please acknowledge this email and let me know if you have any questions.

    Thank you,

    Prepare and customize manager guide and resources

    Sample of Manage Poor Performance While Working From Home: Manager Guide. Manage Poor Performance While Working From Home: Manager Guide

    This tool for managers provides advice on navigating the process and focuses on the content of remote performance discussions.

    		 Sample of Set Meaningful Employee Performance Measures. Set Meaningful Employee Performance Measures

    See this blueprint for information on setting holistic measures to inspire employee performance.
    Sample of Manage Poor Performance While Working From Home: Infographic. Manage Poor Performance While Working From Home: Infographic

    This tool illustrates the high-level steps of the performance improvement process.

    		Sample of Wellness and Working From Home: Infographic. Wellness and Working From Home: Infographic

    This tool highlights tips to manage physical and mental health while working from home.
    Sample of Build a Better Manager: Team Essentials. Build a Better Manager: Team Essentials

    See this solution set for more information on kick-starting the effectiveness of first-time IT managers with essential management skills.

    		Sample of Leverage Agile Goal Setting for Improved Employee Engagement & Performance. Leverage Agile Goal Setting for Improved Employee Engagement & Performance

    See this blueprint for information on dodging the micromanaging foul and scoring with agile short-term goal setting.

    Bibliography

    Arringdale, Chris. “6 Tips For Managers Trying to Overcome Performance Appraisal Anxiety.” TLNT. 18 September 2015. Accessed 2018.

    Borysenko, Karlyn. “What Was Management Thinking? The High Cost of Employee Turnover.” Talent Management and HR. 22 April 2015. Accessed 2018.

    Cook, Ian. “Curbing Employee Turnover Contagion in the Workplace.” Visier. 20 February 2018. Accessed 2018.

    Cornerstone OnDemand. Toxic Employees in the Workplace. Santa Monica, California: Cornerstone OnDemand, 2015. Web.

    Dewar, Carolyn and Reed Doucette. “6 elements to create a high-performing culture.” McKinsey & Company. 9 April 2018. Accessed 2018.

    Eagle Hill. Eagle Hill National Attrition Survey. Washington, D.C.: Eagle Hill, 2015. Web.

    ERC. “Performance Improvement Plan Checklist.” ERC. 21 June 2017. Accessed 2018.

    Foster, James. “The Impact of Managers on Workplace Engagement and Productivity.” Interact. 16 March 2017. Accessed 2018.

    Godwins Solicitors LLP. “Employment Tribunal Statistics for 2015/2016.” Godwins Solicitors LLP. 8 February 2017. Accessed 2018.

    Mankins, Michael. “How to Manage a Team of All-Stars.” Harvard Business Review. 6 June 2017. Accessed 2018.

    Maxfield, David, et al. The Value of Stress-Free Productivity. Provo, Utah: VitalSmarts, 2017. Web.

    Murphy, Mark. “Skip Your Low Performers When Starting Performance Appraisals.” Forbes. 21 January 2015. Accessed 2018.

    Quint. “Transforming into a High Performance Organization.” Quint Wellington Redwood. 16 November 2017. Accessed 2018.

    Ranosa, Rachel. "COVID -19: Canadian Productivity Booms Despite Social Distancing." Human Resources Director, 14 April 2020. Accessed 2020.

    IT Asset Management (ITAM) Market Overview

    • Buy Link or Shortcode: {j2store}62|cart{/j2store}
    • member rating overall impact: 8.5/10 Overall Impact
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    • member rating average days saved: 24 Average Days Saved
    • Parent Category Name: Asset Management
    • Parent Category Link: /asset-management
    • Data management is challenging at the best of times but managing assets that change on a daily basis are difficult without automation and a good asset tool.
    • For organizations moving beyond basic hardware inventory, knowing what to look for to prepare for future processes seems impossible.
    • Using price as the leading criteria or just as an add-on to your ITSM solution may frustrate your efforts, especially if managing complex licensing is part of your mandate.

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    • If the purchase is happening independent of process design or review, it’s easy to end up with a solution that doesn’t fit your environment.
    • The complexity of your environment should be a significant factor in choosing an IT asset management solution.
    • Imagining the possibilities and understanding the differences between IT asset tools will drive you to the right solution for long term gain in managing dynamic assets.

    Impact and Result

    • Regardless of whether your IT environment is on-premises, in the cloud, or a complex hybrid of the two, knowing where your asset funds are allocated is key to right-sizing costs and reducing risks of non-compliance or lost assets.
    • Choosing the right tools for the job will be key to your success.

    IT Asset Management (ITAM) Market Overview Research & Tools

    Start here: Read the Market Overview

    Read the Market Overview to understand what features and capabilities are available in ITAM tools. The right features match is key to making a data heavy and challenging process easier for your team.

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

    • IT Asset Management Market Overview

    1. Prepare your project plan and selection process

    Use the Info-Tech templates to identify and document your requirements, plan your project, and prepare to engage with vendors.

    • ITAM Project Charter Template
    • ITAM Demonstration Script Template
    • Proof of Concept Template
    • ITAM Vendor Evaluation Workbook
    [infographic]

    Implement the Next-Generation IT Operating Model

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    • Parent Category Name: IT Strategy
    • Parent Category Link: /it-strategy

    IT is being challenged to change how it operates to better support evolving organizations by:

    • Considering the needs of customers, end users, and organizational stakeholders simultaneously.
    • Leveraging resources strategically to support the various IT and digital services being offered.
    • Creating a digital services enablement office that can design, monitor, and continuously enhance services.

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    • The role of IT is changing, and with that, how IT needs to operate to deliver value is also changing. Don’t get left behind with an irrelevant IT operating model.
    • Elevate your reputation as a leader beyond the CIO role. Mature your organization’s digital services by considering the customer experience first.
    • As recessions, disasters, and pandemics hit, don’t adopt old ways of operating with 2008 centralized models. Embrace a hybrid IT where value sets your organization apart.

    Impact and Result

    • Embrace the Exponential IT Operating Model so you can:
      • Say “yes” to stakeholders trying to provide a better experience for customers and consumers.
      • Leverage data more effectively across your organization.
      • Consider how to integrate and deliver services using resources effectively and strategically.

    Implement the Next-Generation IT Operating Model Research & Tools

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

    1. Implement the Next-Generation IT Operating Model Deck – The next generation operating model for organizations embracing exponential IT.

    This research piece is for any IT leaders looking to support the organization in its post-transformation state by focusing on the customer experience when operating. CIOs struggling with outdated IT operating models can demonstrate true partnership with this digital services next-generation IT operating model.

    • Implement the Next-Generation IT Operating Model Storyboard

    2. Exponential IT Operating Model Readiness Assessment – A tool to assess your organization’s readiness to adopt this next generation of IT operating models.

    Use this tool to determine whether your organization has the fundamental components necessary to support the adoption of an Exponential IT operating model.

    • Exponential IT Operating Model Readiness Assessment

    3. Career Vision Roadmap Tool – A template to create a simple visual roadmap of your desired career progression from CIO to chief digital services officer (CDSO).

    Use this template to create a roadmap on how to transform your career from CIO to CDSO leveraging key strengths and relationships. Focus on opportunities to demonstrate IT’s maturity and the customer experience at the forefront of your decisions.

    • Career Vision Roadmap
    [infographic]

    Further reading

    Implement the Next-Generation IT Operating Model

    The operating model for organizations embracing Exponential IT and transforming into technology-first enterprises.

    Analyst Perspective

    Be the organization that can thrive in an exponential IT world.

    A picture of Carlene McCubbin A picture of Brittany Lutes

    Carlene McCubbin
    Research Practice Lead
    CIO Organizational
    Transformation Practice
    Info-Tech Research Group

    Brittany Lutes
    Research Director,
    CIO Organization Transformation Practice
    Info-Tech Research Group

    IT leaders are increasingly expected to be responsible for understanding and delivering high-value customer experiences. This evolution depends on the distribution and oversight of IT capabilities that are embedded throughout the organizational structure.

    Defining digital strategic objectives, establishing governance frameworks for an autonomous culture, and enabling the organization to act on insightful data are all impossible without a new way of operating that involves the oversight and accountability of advancing IT roles. Through exponential change, functional groups can lose clarity regarding their responsibilities, creating a sense of ambiguity and disorder.

    But adopting a new way of working that supports an exponential IT organization does not have to be difficult. Leveraging Info-Tech Research Group's next-generation operating model, you can clearly demonstrate how the organization will collaborate to deliver on the various digital and IT services. This is no longer just an IT operating model, but a technology-first enterprise model.

    Included in this blueprint:

    Exponential IT Model

    Defines how the Exponential IT model operates and delivers value to the organization.
    This is done by exploring:

    • Exponential IT cultural norms and behaviors
    • Opportunities and risks of the Exponential IT model
    • A breakdown of the embedded, integrated, and centralized aspects of the model
    • Operating model value stream stages
    • An assessment on whether the Exponential IT operating model is right for your organization

    Changing Role of IT Leader

    Defines how chief information officers (CIOs) can operate or elevate their role in this changing operating model.

    • Identifies why the C-suite is changing – again
    • How IT leaders should consider where they will add value in the new operating model
    • Outlines examples of future organization-wide structures and where IT roles are positioned
    • Supports IT leaders in developing themselves to operate in this structure

    Executive Summary

    Your Challenge

    IT is challenged to change how it operates to better support evolving organizations. IT must:

    • Consider the needs of customers, end users, and organization stakeholders simultaneously.
    • Leverage resources strategically to support the various IT and digital services being offered.
    • Create a digital services enablement office to design, monitor, and enhance services continuously.

    While many organizations have projects that support a digital strategy, few have an operating model that supports this digital services strategy.

    Common Obstacles

    Organizations struggle to support the definition and ongoing maintenance of services because:

    • The organization's Digital and IT services offerings are not clear.
    • The functional team accountable to deliver on each IT or Digital service is ambiguous.
    • There are insufficient resources to support all the IT and Digital services being offered.
    • C-suite leaders required to support the services are missing or in the wrong role to effectively lead.
    • Technology has not been standardized to ensure consistency and effectiveness.

    Info-Tech's Approach

    Embrace the IT operating model that focuses on the enablement and delivery of Digital and IT services by:

    • Having technology stakeholders actively collaborate to decide on priorities and deliver on objectives.
    • Leveraging data more effectively across the organization to understand and meet user needs.
    • Ensuring technology architecture and security standards are well-established and followed by all throughout the organization.
    • Allocating dedicated and skilled resources to ensure services can be continuously delivered.

    Info-Tech Insight

    The first IT operating model where customer engagement with IT and Digital Services is at the forefront.

    What is an operating model?

    An IT operating model is a visual representation of the way your IT organization will function using a clear and coherent blueprint. This visualization demonstrates how capabilities are organized and aligned to deliver on the business mission and strategic and technological objectives.

    The should visualize the optimization and alignment of the IT organization to deliver the capabilities required to achieve business goals. Additionally, it should demonstrate the workflow so key stakeholders can understand where inputs flow in and outputs flow out of the IT organization. Investing time in the front-end to get the operating model right is critical. This will give you a framework to rationalize future organizational changes, allowing you to be more iterative and your model to change as the business changes.

    An image of a sample Operating Model


    From computerization to digitization to the new frontier in autonomization, IT has progressively matured, enabling it to actively lead this next stage of business transformation.

    EXPONENTIAL RISK
    Autonomous processes will integrate with human-led processes, creating risks to business continuity, information security, and quality of delivery. Supplier power will exacerbate business risks.

    EXPONENTIAL REWARD
    The efficiency gains and new value chains created through artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, and additive manufacturing will be very significant. Most of this value will be realized through the augmentation of human labor.

    EXPONENTIAL DEMAND
    Autonomous solutions for productivity and back-office applications will eventually become commoditized and provided by a handful of large vendors. There will, however, be a proliferation of in-house algorithms and workflows to autonomize the middle and front office, offered by a busy landscape of industry-centric capability vendors.

    EXPONENTIAL IT

    Exponential IT involves IT leading the cognitive re-engineering of the organization with evolved practices for:

    • IT governance
    • Asset management
    • Vendor management
    • Data management
    • Business continuity management
    • Information security management

    To learn more about IT's journey into autonomization, check out Info-Tech Research Group's Adopt an Exponential IT Mindset blueprint.

    The IT operating model must evolve to respond to exponential change

    • Ensuring customers are not an afterthought to IT leaders. Customers inform how and where IT leaders invest resources to realize organizational objectives.
    • Adopting a formalized approach to service definition and delivery to eliminate silos.
    • Leveraging data throughout the organization to better inform and enable the various digital services in meeting customer demands.
    • Responding to employee demands for development and training opportunities by applying skills in new settings.
    • Having cross-collaboration mechanisms built into the ways of operating to reduce silos across the organization.
    • Enabling services through a strong set of governance and risk mandates and practices.
    • Eliminating the need for IT capabilities to only be within an IT department.

    IT can no longer be just a service provider:

    78% of IT leaders with established digital strategies and 45% of IT leaders with emerging digital strategies are driven by customer experiences.
    Source: Foundry "Digital Business Study,"2023

    40% - The number of CIOs that are responsible for creating new products or services to support revenue generation.
    Source: Foundry, "The State of the CIO," 2023

    This change requires a breakdown of traditional IT-business divisions

    CIOs must recognize that separating IT from the business is restrictive

    • Many organizations have recently completed or are in the process of completing a digital transformation focused on enhanced employee and customer experiences.
    • Post-transformation organizations must change how they operate to continue to deliver on those enhanced experiences, especially for the customer.
    • There must no longer be a wall between IT and the business, but a unified organization offering digital services that include IT components. Already, 81% of work is being performed across the functional boundaries created in an organization (Deloitte, 2023).
    • Effectively designing, delivering, and maintaining these services depends on a Digital Services functional layer, expanding IT's involvement into how the business delivers worthwhile experiences to customers.
    • This Digital Services functional layer will consider whether the new services are better owned by the IT group or another area of the organization.
    • CIOs need to be prepared to adopt a new way of operating or be left to manage a smaller subset of IT functions.

    "I think we've done the IT industry a disservice by constantly referring to IT and the business, artificially creating this wedge."
    – David Vidoni, VP of IT at Pegasystems
    Source: Dan Roberts, CIO, 2023

    Four trends driving an Exponential IT organization include:

    Emerging Technologies

    • 67% of respondents to KPMG's 2022 Global Tech Survey indicated they intend to embrace emerging platforms by the end of 2024.(1)
    • The technology landscape is constantly shifting with artificial intelligence (AI), quantum computing, 5G cellular networks, and next-generation robotics. Each of these technologies requires new capabilities and a new way in which those capabilities are organized.

    Enhanced Customer Experiences

    • 24% of CIOs have been tasked by their CEO to increase the customer experience.(3)
    • Organizations realize that to gain and retain customers, it has become necessary to consistently evaluate service offerings and identify opportunities for enhancement or new services.

    Digital Trust

    • 1/3 of CISOs plan to increase their GRC focus during the next year and 36% have already begun to implement Zero Trust components.(2)
    • Risk and security capabilities mature focusing on defined enterprise accountability, consideration of ethics and inclusivity and proactive security controls.

    Embedded Technology & Skills

    • Spending on embedded software is expected to increase to $21.5 billion by 2027.(4)
    • The technology strategy no longer resides solely within IT. The organization must take ownership of this strategy while they define their digital strategies. Technology services are also embedded.

    (1) "Global Tech Survey," KPMG, 2022
    (2) "Global Digital Trust Insights Report," PwC, 2023
    (3) "State of IT Report," Foundry, 2023
    (4) "Global surge in embedded software demand; here is why," DAC Digital, 2023

    Application of the Four Key Trends on your Exponential IT operating model:

    Respond to Emerging Technology In response to changing customer demands, organizations need to actively seek, assess, and integrate emerging technology offerings easily and effectively. By governing data at an enterprise level and implementing the necessary guardrails in the form of architecture and security standards at the technology layer, it becomes easier to adopt new technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI). This should be tied to any mandated objectives.
    Build Digital Trust Capabilities Finding and hiring the right security professionals has long been a challenge for organizations. In the Exponential IT model, focus on security oversight increases and fewer operational resources are required. The model sees governing IT security processes and vendor delivery as priorities to enable the right technology without exposing the organization to undue risk. There should be more security-related capabilities in your Exponential IT model.
    Elevate the Customer Experience Evolving the organization's digital offering requires understanding of and active response to the changing demands of customers. This is accomplished by leveraging information from organization-wide data sources and the modular components of the organization's current digital offerings. The components can be reconfigured (or new ones added) to create digital services for the customer.
    Formalize Embedded Business Technology & Roles Technology is actively included in the organization's business (digital) strategy. This ensures that technology remains an embedded component of how the organization competes in the market, supplies invaluable services, and delivers on strategic objectives. The separation of IT from the organization becomes redundant.
    Visualize your IT Operating Model.

    Adopting an Exponential IT operating model is typically influenced by resonating with the following drivers:

    Culture

    IT Strategy & Objectives

    Organization Operating Model

    Organization Size & Structure

    Perception of IT

    Risk Appetite

    A cooperative and innovative culture where the organization does not feel constrained by current processes. Establishing a growth mindset across all the organization's groups is reflected by the trust service owners receive.

    Focused on delivering the best customer experience. The roadmap would include ample opportunities to better support the customer in obtaining or exceeding the degree of value they receive from the organization.

    Empowering service owners across the organization to be accountable for the delivery and value of their services. Lots of collaboration among stakeholders who know what services are offered and how those services leverage technology.

    More appropriate for larger organizations due to the resources required to design and enable successful services. IT resources would also be pooled by skills.

    IT is not a service provider but an equal that enables the organization's success. Without IT involvement, digital services may be omitted and opportunities to enhance the customer experience would be missed.

    While innovation and new service offerings are critical to success, there are functional groups that remain focused on defining the level of risk tolerance that supports the appropriate risk appetite to consider new service offerings.

    Section 1: The Next-Generation Operating Model

    The Technology Value Trinity

    Delivery of Business Value & Strategic Needs

    I&T OPERATING MODEL

    DIGITAL & TECHNOLOGY STRATEGY

    I&T GOVERNANCE

    The model for how IT is organized to deliver on business needs and strategies.

    The identification of objectives and initiatives necessary to achieve business goals.

    Ensures the organization and its customers extract maximum value from the use of information and technology.

    All three elements of the Technology Value Trinity work together to deliver business value and achieve strategic needs. As one changes, the others must change as well.
    How do these three elements relate?

    • I&T Operating Model aligns resources, processes, measures, stakeholders, value streams, and decision rights to enable the delivery of your strategy and priorities. This is done by strategically structuring IT capabilities in a way that enables the organization's vision and considers the context in which the model will operate.
    • Digital and IT Strategy tells you what you must achieve to be successful. For an Exponential IT organization, customer demands and digital service offerings would drive strategic decisions.
    • I&T Governance is the confirmation of IT's goals and strategy, which ensures the alignment of IT and business strategy. This is the mechanism by which you continuously prioritize work so that what is delivered aligns with the strategy.

    Strategy, operating models, and governance are too often considered separate practices – strategies are defined without clarity on how to support. A significant change to your strategy necessitates a change to your operating model, which in turn necessitates a change to your governance and organizational structure.

    The Exponential IT operating model delivers value across seven components

    Exponential IT

    Capabilities

    Products, Services and Technology

    Performance Measures

    Stakeholder Engagement & Collaboration

    Decision Rights & Authority

    Value Streams

    Sourcing

    IT capabilities in the Exponential IT model are spread across the organization. The result removes the separation between IT and the organization. Instead, the organization takes accountability for ensuring technology capabilities are delivered.

    Digital service offerings dominate this model, focusing on providing better experiences for customers. Some technology platforms are specific to a service such as access management, while others span service offerings such as architecture or security.

    This model's success is measured by the overall ability to satisfy the customer experience through designing and delivering the right digital service offerings. Service owners are responsible for continuously monitoring and advancing the delivery of the service.

    The end-customer is the main stakeholder for this operating model, where understanding their needs and demands informs the design, maintenance, and improvement of all services. There is no longer IT vs. the business but an organizational perspective of services.

    This model's decision-making spans the organization. The service owners of digital offerings have authority and autonomy deciding which services to design, how they should be integrated with other services, and how those services will continually deliver value to customers.

    Exponential IT's five core value streams are:

    1. Identifying and prioritizing customer needs
    2. Designing IT and Digital Services
    3. Enabling IT & Digital Service success
    4. Assigning skilled employees to deliver services
    5. Owning & managing services

    Internal resource pools might need to be supplemented with contract resources when demand exceeds capacity, requiring a strong partnership with the Vendor Management Team. Service owners will also need to engage and manage the performance of their vendor solution partners.

    Organizations adopting the Exponential IT Model will experience new norms and behaviors

    Customer-Centric
    Dedicated to the customer experience and making sure that the end customer is considered first and foremost.

    "Yes" Approach
    The organization can say yes to emerging technology and customer desires because it has organized itself to be agile in its digital service offerings.

    Digital Service Ownership
    Digital service offerings are owned and managed across the organization ensuring the continuous delivery of value to customers.

    Employee Development
    Resources are organized into pods based on specific skills or functions increasing the likelihood of adopting new skills.

    Autonomization
    Centralized and accessible data provides service owners autonomy when making informed decisions that support enhanced customer experiences.

    Exponential IT is an embedded model approach

    Info-Tech has identified seven common IT operating model archetypes. Each model represents a different approach to who delivers technology services and how. Each model is designed to drive different outcomes, as the way your organization is structured will dictate the way it behaves. The Exponential IT model is an emerging archetype which capitalizes on embedded delivery.

    An image of the exponential IT embedded model approach.

    Centralized

    Shifted

    Embedded

    Owned and operated by leadership within IT. IT takes full responsibility of the functional areas and maintains control over the outcomes.

    Can be owned/operated by a variety of leadership roles throughout the organization. This can shift from IT ownership to other organizational leadership. Decisions about ownership are often made to enable quick response or mitigate risks.

    Owned/operated by leadership outside of traditional IT. Another area of the organization has taken authoritative power over the outcome of this functional area for a quicker response.

    Even as an embedded IT operating model, shifted and centralized IT functions as support

    1. Embedded functions required for scaled autonomation
      Definition and oversight of the organization's strategic direction demonstrated through a customer-first culture, data insights, and a well-defined risk appetite.
    2. Integrated design and optimization of the digital service offering
      Actively considers the customer experience and designs the appropriate services to be delivered. Considers all aspects in the design and delivery of services by exploring opportunities to integrate components to enhance customer experiences or architecting new service offerings to eliminate gaps.
    3. Centralized standards for IT technology, security & resources
      Technology functions continue to deliver exceptional services to the enterprise including clear standards for technology and solution architecture, application of security requirements, and resources to enable various service offerings.

    Opportunities and risks of the Exponential IT model

    Opportunities

    		Risks
    • Focused on the end-customer experience and how to ensure that customer remains satisfied and loyal to the organization.
    • The capability center allows resources to be used strategically according to where they would most improve the customer experience.
    • Services are owned by the most appropriate areas within the organization—sometimes IT and other times not. In either case, services should always possess technological knowledge.
    • The organization's transformation strategy is not just driving IT's strategy but how IT should be organized and operating. This eliminates disconnect from larger strategic objectives.
    • Data intelligence and customer insights enable the shifted and centralized areas of the operating model to deliver effective and valuable experiences for all stakeholders.
    • Requires a high degree of maturity to support a variety of individuals in owning IT and digital capabilities.
    • Organizational buy-in to this operating model archetype is a must. IT cannot select this operating model without that support.
    • Processes around how all IT and Digital Services consider security and technology standards need to be well-documented and enforceable.
    • Depending on which leaders oversee the three areas of the model (embedded, shifted, or centralized), power struggles could occur which negatively impact services.
    • This model will demand governance, risk, and culture to be at the forefront of how it operates. If an accountability framework does not exist, expect this model to fail.

    The Exponential IT operating model blends embedded, shifted and centralized delivery to balance agility & risk

    An image of the Exponential IT Operating Model.

    The Exponential IT model commands a new placement and significance of IT capabilities

    Using capabilities for the operating model

    • Capabilities are focused on the entire system that would be in place to satisfy a particular need. This not only includes the people who are able to complete a specific task, but the technology, processes, and resources required to deliver.
    • Focusing on capabilities rather than the individuals in organizational redesign enables a more objective and holistic view of what your organization is striving toward.
    • Capabilities deliver on specific need(s) and how they are organized changes the way those needs are delivered.
    The Exponential IT principles as an image: Strategy and Governance, Financial Management, Service Planning and Architecture, People and Resources, Security and Risk, Applications, Data and Analytics, Infrastructure and Operations, and PPM and Projects.

    1. Embedded functions required for autonomization

    Overview of the function:

    • Focuses on a single strategy and roadmap for the organization that actively includes technology.
    • Governance, risk, compliance, and general oversight are defined and embedded throughout the organization.
    • Ensures that quality data is being generated to help inform the defined digital service offering.
    • Readies the organization to adopt emerging technology quickly and with minimal disruption to other digital service offerings.
    • A team of technical experts that decides what information should exist for operational efficiency or service innovation.

    Embedded functions required for autonomization

    2. Integrated design and optimization of the digital service offering

    Overview of the function:

    • Analyzes and responds to insights about the customer experience.
    • Maintains the portfolio of the organization's digital service offerings.
    • Considers what is necessary to operate efficiently as an organization while simultaneously exploring emerging technology to optimize new or existing digital services.
    • Requires the expertise and involvement of both business-minded and technology-skilled resources.
    • The differentiating factor from other IT operating models is how it holistically considers all the components throughout the organization and how they are connected.

    Integrated design and optimization of the digital service offering

    3. Centralized standards for IT technology, security & resources

    Overview of the function:

    • Compared with other IT operating model archetypes, the Exponential IT model has fewer capabilities that are centralized within the technology function of an organization.
    • Architecture and standards are the foundation of successful embedded delivery, ensuring reuse, improved integration, and a unified experience. This includes technology, risk, data, AI and security architecture, models, and standards.
    • Employee resources are also organized in pods to be leveraged based on greatest need and skills availability.
    • This lets the organization be more agile when innovating and implementing new digital service offerings.

    Centralized standards for IT technology, security & resources

    Exponential IT explores new value stream stages

    Customer Perspective

    The organization is continually anticipating their wants and needs and establishing mechanisms to vocalize those needs.

    Customer receives the right IT and digital services to respond to their needs.

    The service is easy to use and continuously responds to wants and needs.

    The service is meeting expectations or exceeding them.

    There is a dedicated service owner who can hear demands and feedback, then action desirable outcomes.

    Value Stream Stages

    		An image of the Value Stream

    Organizational Perspective

    Expected Outcome

    Customers' wants and needs are understood and at times anticipated before the customer requests them.

    Assess needs to determine if service is already offered or needs to be created. Design services that will enhance the customer experience.

    Look for opportunities to integrate processes and resources to increase the performance of IT and Digital Services.

    Ensure that the right employees with the right skills are working to develop or enhance service offering.

    The service owner manages the ongoing lifecycle of the service and establishes a roadmap on how value will continue to be delivered.

    Critical Processes

    • Customer experience
    • Research and innovation
    • Stakeholder management
    • Research and innovation
    • Service design & portfolio management
    • Performance management
    • Continuous improvement
    • Integration planning
    • Service management
    • Resource planning and allocation
    • Service strategy & roadmap
    • Service governance
    • Service performance management

    Metrics

    • Customer satisfaction score
    • Service-to-need alignment
    • Gaps in service portfolio
    • Speed to design services
    • Service performance
    • Service adoption
    • Time to resolve customer demand
    • Frequency by which service requires enhancements
    • Service satisfaction
    • Alignment of service strategy to organization strategy

    1.1 Assess if the Exponential IT operating model is right for your organization

    1 hour

    1. Begin by downloading the Exponential IT Operating Model Assessment.
    2. Review the questions within each of the operating model components. For each question, use the drop-down menu to determine your level of agreement.
    3. The more your organization agrees with the statements, the more likely your organization is prepared to implement an Exponential IT operating model.
    4. The less your organization agrees with the statements, the more likely you should adopt a different IT operating model.
    5. For support implementing the Exponential IT or another IT operating model, explore the Visualize Your IT Operating Model blueprint (coming soon).

    Input

    • Desire to change the organization's IT & Digital operating model

    Output

    • Desire to implement the IT & Digital Service Enablement operating model

    Materials

    • Exponential IT Operating Model Assessment

    Participants

    • Executive IT leadership
    • Business leadership

    Explore other Info-Tech research to support your organization transformation initiatives

    Visualize the IT Operating Model blueprint (coming soon)

    Visualize the IT Operating Model blueprint (coming soon)

    Redesign Your IT Organizational Structure

    Redesign Your IT Organizational Structure

    Section 2: Elevating the CIO Role

    The next generation of IT C-suite roles are here

    As the operating model changes and becomes increasingly embedded into the organization's delivery of IT and Digital Services, new C-suite roles are being defined

    • One of the most critical roles being defined in this change is the Chief Digital Services Officer (CDSO) who focuses on all components of the digital experience from the lens of the customer.
    • There are two directions from which the CDSO role is typically approached as it gains popularity:
      • CIOs evolve beyond just information and technology—focusing on how IT & Digital Services enhance the customer experience
      • Business leaders who have technical know-how increase their involvement and responsibility over IT related functions
    • IT leaders need to consider where they would rather sit: focused only on technology and remaining a service provider to the organization, or embedding technology into the services, products, and organization in general?

    60%

    The number of APAC CIOs who can anticipate their job to be challenged by their peers within the organization.

    Source: Singh, Yashvendra, CIO, 2023.

    Info-Tech Insight

    This is not about making the CIO report to someone else but allowing the CIO to elevate their role into that of a CDSO.

    Increasing IT leadership's span of control throughout the organization

    As maturity increases so does span of control, ownership & executive influence

    Organizations hoping to fully adopt the Exponential IT operating model require a shift in leadership expectations. Notably, these leaders will have oversight and accountability for functions beyond the traditional IT group.

    As the organization matures its governance, security, and data management practices, increasing how it delivers high-impact experiences to customers, it would have one leader who owns all the components to ensure clear alignment with goals and business strategy.

    An image of a graph where the X axis is labeled Span of Control & Influence, and the Y axis is Organization Maturity.

    Emerging Exponential IT organizations will have distributed authority

    • Organizations beginning their transition toward an exponential model often continue to have distributed leaders providing oversight of distinct functional areas.
    • Their spans of control are smaller, but very clearly defined, eliminating confusion through a transparent accountability framework.
    • Each leader strives toward optimization and efficiency regarding IT capabilities, for which they are responsible.
    1. Distributed Leadership
      Embedded functions required for scaled autonomation
      Distributed leaders identify the ways technology will enable them to advance enterprise objectives while maintaining autonomy over their own functions. They may oversee technology.
    2. Experience Officer
      Integrated design and optimization of the digital service offering
      An Experience Officer will help consider the insights gained from enterprise data and make informed decisions around enterprise service offerings. They actively explore new ways to deliver high-value experiences.
    3. Chief Technology Officer (CTO)
      Centralized standards for IT technology, security & resources
      A CTO will continue to oversee the core technology, including infrastructure and service management functions.

    Established organizations will be driven by a digital transformation journey

    • Organizations that have begun to deliver on their transformation journey will typically see two distinct C-suite leaders emerge—the CIO and the CDO.
    • The Chief Digital Officer (CDO) often explores ways to optimize the integration and management of data to enable insightful decision making from the organization.
    • The Chief Information Officer (CIO), however, considers mechanisms to standardize how new technologies can be integrated with the architecture.
    • While both leaders have distinct responsibilities, their roles intersect at the customer experience.

    An image of the digital transformation journey

    Advanced organizations will be managed by a single emerging role

    • A single leader will oversee all the functional areas where value is delivered and enabled by IT capabilities.
    • Through a large span of control, this leader can holistically consider opportunities to optimize the customer experience and ensure recommendations are actioned to deliver on that enhanced experience.
    • This leader's span of control will require a strong understanding of both strategic and operational functions to authoritatively oversee all aspects for which they are responsible.

    CDSO – Chief Digital Service Officer

    1. Embedded functions required for scaled autonomation
      The CDSO will set, oversee, and manage the delivery of an enterprise's digital strategy, ensuring accountability through good governance and data practices.
    2. Integrated design and optimization of the digital service offering
      They ensure that the enterprise holistically considers the various services that could be offered to exceed customer expectations through high-impact experiences.
    3. Centralized standards for IT technology, security & resources
      They also ensure stable and secure architecture standards to enable consistency across the organization and a seamless ability to integrate new technology to support service offerings.

    Evolution of the IT C-suite now includes the CDSO

    Chief Digital Service Officer

    Chief Information Officer

    Chief Digital Officer

    Chief Technology Officer

    Chief Experience Officer

    Main Stakeholder(s):

    • Board
    • CEO/Executive Leadership
    • Organization Leadership
    • Service Owners
    • Customers & End Users

    Main Responsibilities:

    • Oversight of the entire portfolio of IT and Digital Services
    • Use of information & technology to meet organizational objectives

    *Some leaders in this role are being called Chief Digital Information Officer.

    Main Stakeholder(s):

    • Board
    • CEO/Executive Leadership
    • Organization Leadership
    • End Users

    Main Responsibilities:

    • Oversight of the information and technology required to support and enable the organization

    Main Stakeholder(s):

    • Board
    • CEO/Executive Leadership
    • Customers & End Users

    Main Responsibilities:

    • Oversight on transforming how the organization uses technology, often considering customer perspectives

    Main Stakeholder(s):

    • Organization Leadership
    • Customers & End Users

    Main Responsibilities:

    • Collaborating with the CIO, the CTO leads the organization's ability to integrate and adopt necessary technology products and services

    Main Stakeholder(s):

    • Customers & End Users

    Main Responsibilities:

    • Establish the customer experience strategy
    • Create policies to support that strategy
    • Collaborate with other organizational leaders to integrate any activities around the customer experience

    Examples of what the emerging organizational structure can look like

    An image of three hierarchies, showing what the emerging organizational structure can look like.

    This is more than a new title for IT leaders

    It's about establishing a business first perspective

    • IT leaders exploring this new way of operating are not just adopting the new title of CDSO or CDIO.
    • These leaders must change how information, technology, and digital experiences are consumed across the various stakeholders – especially the end customer.
    • IT leaders who pursue this new IT operating model choose to be more than order takers for an organization.
    • They are:
      • Partners in defining the organization's digital service offerings
      • Recognizing the benefits of distributing decision-making authority for IT-related aspects to others throughout the organization
      • Prioritizing capabilities like portfolio management, architecture, vendor management, relationship management, cloud and user experience

    "'For me, the IT portfolio for the next few years and the IT architecture have taken the place that IT strategy used to have,' he adds. This view doesn't position IT outside of the organization, but rather gives it central importance in the company."
    – Bernd Rattey, Group CIO and CDO of Deutsche Bahn (DB), qtd. by Jens Dose, CIO, 2023

    1.2 Plan your career move to CDSO

    1-3 hours

    • Create a roadmap on how to move from your current role to CDSO by identifying current strengths and opportunities to improve.
    • Download the Career Vision Roadmap Tool from the website. An example of this is on the next slide.
    • Document the tagline. This is your overarching career focus and goal – what is your passion? Think beyond titles to what you want to be doing, the atmosphere you want to be in, and what you want to add value to.
    • Document the current role: what are the strengths, achievements and opportunities?
    • Consider the CDSO role: how will you build stronger relationships and competencies to elevate your profile within the organization? What is an example of what someone would display in this role?
    • Define specific roles or stakeholders that you should develop a stronger relationship with.

    Download the Career Vision Roadmap Tool

    Input

    • Desire to implement the IT & Digital Service Enablement Operating Model

    Output

    • Roadmap to elevate from a CIO to a CDSO

    Materials

    • Career Vision Roadmap
    • IT & Digital Services Enablement operating model archetype
    • CDSO job profile

    Participants

    • CIO (or any other role aspiring to eventually become a CDSO)
    • Individual activity

    Career Vision Roadmap:
    Executive Leader
    Akbar K.

    Sample

    To provide customers with an exceptional experience by ensuring all IT and Digital Services consider and anticipate their needs or wants. Enable IT and Digital Services to be successful through clear leadership, strong collaboration, and continuous improvement or innovation.

    CIO

    1. Establish technology standards that enable the organization to consistently and securely integrate platforms or solutions.
    2. Lead the project team that defined and standardized the organization's reference architecture.
    3. Need to work on listening to a variety of stakeholder demands rather than only specific roles/titles.

    Transition

    • Strengths: Technology acumen, budget planning, allocating resources
    • Enhance: Stakeholder relationship management.
    • Work with current CDO to define and implement more digital transformation initiatives.

    CDSO

    • Being responsive to customer expectations and communicating clear and realistic timelines.
    • Establish trust among the organization that services will deliver expected value.
    • Empowering service owners to manage and oversee the delivery of their services.

    Network Opportunities

    • Connect with board members and understand each of their key areas of priority.
    • Begin to interact with end customers and define ways that will enhance their customer experience.
    • Chief Digital Officer

    Actions now in line with aspiration

    Appendix: Capabilities & Capability Model

    IT and digital capabilities

    Using capabilities for the operating model:

    • Capabilities are focused on the entire system that would be in place to satisfy a particular need. This not only includes people who have skills to complete a specific task, but also the technology, processes, and resources required to deliver.
    • Focusing on capabilities rather than the individuals in organizational redesign enables a more objective and holistic view of what your organization is striving toward.
    • Capabilities deliver on specific need(s) and how they are organized changes the way those need(s) are delivered.

    An image of the IT Management and Governance Framework.

    Strategic Direction

    • IT Governance
    • Strategic Planning
    • Digital Strategy
    • Performance Measurement
    • IT Management & Policies
    • Organizational Quality Management
    • R&D and Innovation
    • Stakeholder Management

    People & Resources

    • Strategic Communications
    • People Resource Management
    • Workforce Strategy & Planning
    • Organizational Change Enablement
    • Adoption & Training
    • Financial/Budget Management
    • Vendor Portfolio Management
    • Vendor Selection & Contract Management
    • Vendor Performance Management

    Architecture & Integration

    • Enterprise Architecture Delivery
    • Business Architecture Delivery
    • Solution Architecture Delivery
    • Technology Architecture
    • Data Architecture
    • Security Architecture
    • Process Integration
    • Integration Planning

    Service Planning

    • Service Governance
    • Service Strategy & Roadmap
    • Service Management
    • Service Governance
    • Service Performance Measurement
    • Service Design & Planning
    • Service Orchestration

    Security & Risk

    • Security Strategic Planning
    • Risk Management
    • External Compliance Management
    • Security Response & Recovery Management
    • Security Management
    • Controls & Internal Audit Planning
    • Security Defense Operations
    • Security Administration
    • Cybersecurity Threat Intelligence
    • Integrated Physical/IT Security
    • OT/IoT Security
    • Data Protection & Privacy

    Application Delivery

    • Application Lifecycle Management
    • Systems Integration Management
    • Application Development
    • User Experience
    • Quality Assurance & UAT
    • Application Maintenance
    • Low Code Development

    Project Portfolio Management

    • Demand Management
    • Requirement Analysis Management
    • Portfolio Management
    • Project Management

    Data & Business Intelligence (BI)

    • Reporting & Analytics
    • Data Management
    • Data Quality
    • Data Integration
    • Enterprise Content Management
    • Data Governance
    • Data Strategy
    • AI/ML Management

    Service Delivery

    • Operations Management
    • Service Desk Management
    • Incident Management
    • Problem Management
    • Service Enhancements
    • Operational Change Enablement
    • Release Management
    • Automation Management

    Infrastructure & Operations

    • Asset Management
    • Infrastructure Portfolio Strategic Planning
    • Availability & Capacity Management
    • Network & Infrastructure Management
    • Configuration Management
    • Cloud Orchestration
    An image of the summary slide for this blueprint, with the headings: Centralized; Shifted; and Embedded.

    Research Contributors and Experts

    Donna Bales
    Principal Research Director
    Info-Tech Research Group

    Scott Bickley
    Practice Lead – Vendor Management Practice
    Info-Tech Research Group

    Christine Coz
    Executive Counselor – Executive Services
    Info-Tech Research Group

    Valence Howden
    Principal Research Director
    Info-Tech Research Group

    Duraid Ibrahim
    Executive Counselor – Executive Services
    Info-Tech Research Group

    Chris Goodhue
    Managing Partner– Executive Services
    Info-Tech Research Group

    Carlene McCubbin
    Practice Lead – CIO Practice
    Info-Tech Research Group

    Mike Tweedie
    Practice Lead – CIO Practice
    Info-Tech Research Group

    Vicki van Alphen
    Executive Counselor – Executive Services
    Info-Tech Research Group

    *Plus an additional 5 industry experts who anonymously contributed to this research piece.

    Related Info-Tech Research

    Adopt an Exponential IT Mindset

    • To succeed in the coming business transformation, IT will have to adopt different priorities in its mission, governance, capabilities, and partnerships.
    • CIOs will have to provide exceptionally mature services while owning business targets.

    Become a Transformational CIO

    • Business transformations are happening, but CIOs are often involved only when it comes time to implement change. This makes it difficult for the CIO to be perceived as an organizational leader.
    • Elevate your stature as a business leader.
    • Create a high-powered IT organization that is focused on driving lasting change, improving client experiences, and encouraging collaboration across the entire enterprise.

    Define Your Digital Business Strategy

    • Design a strategy that applies innovation to your business model, streamline and transform processes, and make use of technologies to enhance interactions with customers and employees.
    • Pre-pandemic digital strategies have been primarily focused on automation. However, your post-pandemic digital strategy must focus on driving resilience for growth opportunities.

    Bibliography

    Bennet, Trevon. "What is a Chief Experience Officer (CXO)? And what do they do?" Indeed, 14 March 2023. https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/finding-a-job/what-is-chief-experience-officer#:~:text=A%20CXO%20plans%20strategies%20and,customer%20acquisition%20and%20retention%20strategies
    Bishop, Carrie. "Five years of Digital Services in San Francisco." Medium, 20 January 2022. https://medium.com/san-francisco-digital-services/five-years-of-digital-services-in-san-francisco-805a758c2b83
    DAC Digital and Chawla, Yash. "Global surge in embedded software demand; here is why." DAC Digital, 2023 <ttps://dac.digital/global-surge-in-embedded-software-demand-here-is-why/
    Deloitte. "If you want your digital transformation to succeed, align your operating model to your strategy." Harvard Business Review, 31 January 2020. https://hbr.org/sponsored/2020/01/if-you-want-your-digital-transformation-to-succeed-align-your-operating-model-to-your-strategy.
    Deloitte. "2023 Global Human Capital Trends Report." Deloitte, 2023. https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/sg/Documents/human-capital/sea-cons-hc-trends-report-2023.pdf
    Dose, Jens. "Deutsche Bahn CIO on track to decentralize IT." CIO, 19 April 2023. https://www.cio.com/article/473071/deutsche-bahn-cio-on-track-to-decentralize-it.html
    Ehrlich, Oliver., Fanderl, Harald., Maldara, David., & Mittangunta, Divya. "How the operating model can unlock the power of customer experience." McKinsey, 28 June 2022. https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/growth-marketing-and-sales/our-insights/how-the-operating-model-can-unlock-the-full-power-of-customer-experience
    FCW. "Digital Government Summit Agenda." FCW. 2021. https://events-archive.fcw.com/events/2021/digital-government-summit/index.html
    Foundry. "State of the CIO." IDG, 25 January 2023. https://foundryco.com/tools-for-marketers/research-state-of-the-cio/
    Foundry. "Digital Business Study 2023: IT Leaders are future-proofing their business with digital strategies." IDG, 2023. https://foundryco.com/tools-for-marketers/research-digital-business/
    Indeed Editorial Team. "Centralized vs. Decentralized Structures: 7 Key Differences." Indeed, 10 March 2023. https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/centralized-vs-decentralized
    Indeed Editorial Team. "What is process integration?." Indeed, 14 November 2022. https://ca.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/process-integration#:~:text=Process%20integration%2C%20or%20business%20process,it%20reach%20its%20primary%20objectives
    KPMG International. "Global Tech Report." KPMG, 2022.
    McHugh, Brian. "Service orchestration is reshaping IT—Here's what to know." Active Batch, 8 November 2022. https://www.advsyscon.com/blog/service-orchestration-what-is/
    Morris, Chris. "IDC FutureScape: Worldwide CIO Agenda 2023 Predictions."" IDC, January, 2023. https://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=AP49998523
    PwC. "Global Digital Trust Insights Report." PwC, 2023
    Roberts, Dan. "5 CIOs on building a service-oriented IT culture." CIO, 13 April 2023. https://www.cio.com/article/472805/5-cios-on-building-a-service-oriented-it-culture.html
    Singh, Yashvendra. "CIOs must evolve to stave off existential threat to their role." CIO, 30 March 2023. https://www.cio.com/article/465612/cios-must-evolve-to-stave-off-existential-threat-to-their-role.html
    Spacey, John. "16 Examples of IT Services." Simplicable, 28 January 2018. https://simplicable.com/IT/it-services

    The Essential COVID-19 Childcare Policy for Every Organization, Yesterday

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    • Parent Category Name: Manage & Coach
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    • Helping employees navigate personal and business responsibilities to find solutions that ensure both are taken care of.
    • Reducing potential disruption to business operations through employee absenteeism due to increased care-provider responsibilities.

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    • Remote work is complicated by children at home with school closures. Implement alternative temporary work arrangements that allow and support employees to balance work and personal obligations.
    • Adjustments to work arrangements and pay may be necessary. Temporary work arrangements while caring for dependents over a longer-term pandemic may require adjustments to the duties carried out, number of hours worked, and adjustments to employee pay.
    • Managing remotely is more than staying in touch by phone. As a leader you will need to provide clear options that provide solutions to your employees to avoid them getting overwhelmed while taking care of the business to ensure there is a business long term.

    Impact and Result

    • Develop a policy that provides parameters around mutually agreed adjustments to performance levels while balancing dependent care with work during a pandemic.
    • Take care of the business through clear guidelines on compensation while taking care of the health and wellness of your people.
    • Develop detailed work-from-home plans that lessen disruption to your work while taking care of children or aged parents.

    The Essential COVID-19 Childcare Policy for Every Organization, Yesterday Research & Tools

    Start here. Read The Essential COVID-19 Childcare Policy for Every Organization, Yesterday

    Read our recommendations and follow the steps to develop a policy that will help your employees work productively while managing care-provider responsibilities at home.

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

    • The Essential COVID-19 Childcare Policy for Every Organization, Yesterday Storyboard
    • Pandemic Dependent Care Policy
    • COVID-19 Dependent Care Policy Manager Action Toolkit
    • COVID-19 Dependent Care Policy Employee Guide
    • Dependent-Flextime Agreement Template
    • Workforce Planning Tool
    • Nine Ways to Support Working Caregivers Today
    • Employee Resource Group (ERG) Charter Template
    [infographic]

    Maximize Your American Rescue Plan Funding

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    • Will funding from COVID-19 stimulus opportunities mean more human and financial resources for IT?
    • Are there governance processes in place to successfully execute large projects?
    • What does a large, one-time influx of capital mean for keeping-the-lights-on budgets?
    • How will ARP funding impact your internal resourcing?
    • How can you ensure that IT is not left behind or an afterthought?

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    • Seek a one-to-many relationship between IT solutions and business problems. Use the central and overarching nature of IT to identify one solution to multiple business problems that span multiple programs, departments, and agencies.
    • Lack of specific guidance should not be a roadblock to starting. Be proactive by initiating the planning process so that you are ready to act as soon as details are clear.
    • IT involvement is the lynchpin for success. The pandemic has made this theme self-evident, and it needs to stay that way.
    • The fact that this funding is called COVID-19 relief might make you think you should only use it for recovery, but actually it should be viewed as an opportunity to help the organization thrive post-pandemic.

    Impact and Result

    • Shift IT’s role from service provider to innovator. Take ARP funding as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to create future enterprise capabilities by thinking big to consider IT innovation that can transform the business and its initiatives for the post-pandemic world.
    • Whether your organization is eligible for a direct or an indirect transfer, be sure you understand the requirements to apply for funding internally through a business case or externally through a grant application.
    • Gain the skills to execute the project with confidence by developing a comprehensive statement of work and managing your projects and vendor relationships effectively.

    Maximize Your American Rescue Plan Funding Research & Tools

    Use our research to help maximize ARP funding.

    Follow Info-Tech's approach to think big, align with the business, analyze budget and staffing, execute with confidence, and ensure compliance and reporting.

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

    [infographic]

    Workshop: Maximize Your American Rescue Plan Funding

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

    1 Think Big

    The Purpose

    Push the boundaries of conventional thinking and consider IT innovations that truly transform the business.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    A list of innovative IT opportunities that your IT department can use to transform the business

    Activities

    1.1 Discuss the objectives of ARP and what they mean to IT departments.

    1.2 Identify drivers for change.

    1.3 Review IT strategy.

    1.4 Augment your IT opportunities list.

    Outputs

    Revised IT vision

    List of innovative IT opportunities that can transform the business

    2 Align With the Business

    The Purpose

    Partner with the business to reprioritize projects and initiatives for the post-pandemic world.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Assessment of the organization’s new and existing IT opportunities and alignment with business objectives

    Activities

    2.1 Assess alignment of current and new IT initiatives with business objectives.

    2.2 Review and update prioritization criteria for IT projects.

    Outputs

    Preliminary list of IT initiatives

    Revised project prioritization criteria

    3 Analyze IT Budget and Staffing

    The Purpose

    Identify IT budget deficits resulting from pandemic response and discover opportunities to support innovation through new staff and training.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Prioritized shortlist of business-aligned IT initiative and projects

    Activities

    3.1 Classify initiatives into project categories using ROM estimates.

    3.2 Identify IT budget needs for projects and ongoing services.

    3.3 Identify needs for new staff and skills training.

    3.4 Determine business benefits of proposed projects.

    3.5 Prioritize your organization’s projects.

    Outputs

    Prioritized shortlist of business-aligned IT initiatives and projects

    4 Plan Next Steps

    The Purpose

    Tie IT expenditures to direct transfers or link them to ARP grant opportunities.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Action plan to obtain ARP funding

    Activities

    4.1 Tie projects to direct transfers, where applicable.

    4.2 Align list of projects to indirect ARP grant opportunities.

    4.3 Develop an action plan to obtain ARP funding.

    4.4 Discuss required approach to project governance.

    Outputs

    Action plan to obtain ARP funding

    Project governance gaps

    Build an Application Department Strategy

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    • Application delivery has modernized. There are increasing expectations on departments to deliver on organizational and product objectives with increasing velocity.
    • Application departments produce many diverse, divergent products, applications, and services with expectations of frequent updates and changes based on rapidly changing landscapes

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    • There is no such thing as a universal “applications department.” Unlike other domains of IT, there are no widely accepted frameworks that clearly outline universal best practices of application delivery and management.
    • Different software needs and delivery orientations demand a tailored structure and set of processes, especially when managing a mixed portfolio or multiple delivery methods.

    Impact and Result

    Understand what your department’s purpose is through articulating its strategy in three steps:

    • Determining your application department’s values, principles, and orientation.
    • Laying out the goals, objectives, metrics, and priorities of the department.
    • Building a communication plan to communicate your overall department strategy.

    Build an Application Department Strategy Research & Tools

    Start here – read the Executive Brief

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

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

    1. Take stock of who you are

    Consider and record your department’s values, principles, orientation, and capabilities.

    • Build an Application Department Strategy – Phase 1: Take Stock of Who You Are
    • Application Department Strategy Supporting Workbook

    2. Articulate your strategy

    Define your department’s strategy through your understanding of your department combined with everything that you do and are working to do.

    • Build an Application Department Strategy – Phase 2: Articulate Your Strategy
    • Application Department Strategy Template

    3. Communicate your strategy

    Communicate your department’s strategy to your key stakeholders.

    • Build an Application Department Strategy – Phase 3: Communicate Your Strategy

    Infographic

    Workshop: Build an Application Department Strategy

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

    1 Take Stock of Who You Are

    The Purpose

    Understand what makes up your application department beyond the applications and services provided.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Articulating your guiding principles, values, capabilities, and orientation provides a foundation for expressing your department strategy.

    Activities

    1.1 Identify your team’s values and guiding principles.

    1.2 Define your department’s orientation.

    Outputs

    A summary of your department’s values and guiding principles

    A clear view of your department’s orientation and supporting capabilities

    2 Articulate Your Strategy

    The Purpose

    Lay out all the details that make up your application department strategy.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    A completed application department strategy canvas containing everything you need to communicate your strategy.

    Activities

    2.1 Write your application department vision statement.

    2.2 Define your application department goals and metrics.

    2.3 Specify your department capabilities and orientation.

    2.4 Prioritize what is most important to your department.

    Outputs

    Your department vision

    Your department’s goals and metrics that contribute to achieving your department’s vision

    Your department’s capabilities and orientation

    A prioritized roadmap for your department

    3 Communicate Your Strategy

    The Purpose

    Lay out your strategy’s communication plan.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Your application department strategy presentation ready to be presented to your stakeholders.

    Activities

    3.1 Identify your stakeholders.

    3.2 Develop a communication plan.

    3.3 Wrap-up and next steps

    Outputs

    List of prioritized stakeholders you want to communicate with

    A plan for what to communicate to each stakeholder

    Communication is only the first step – what comes next?

    ChatGPT Beyond the hype. What can it do for you?

    ChatGPT Beyond The Hype Tymans Group

    Summary of the deck.

    ChatGPT is a generative AI tool developed by OpenAI, a non-profit founded by Silicon Valley titans, including Elon Musk and Sam Altman. It is designed to interact with users in a way that mimics human dialogue. The tool became available via a research release on November 30, 2022, and was an immediate hit – within a week; it attracted more than a million users. Functionally, ChatGPT is designed to answer questions, but it is not the first one. The concept has existed for decades. While it is very powerful, it has also attracted criticism. 

    IT Operations, strategy

    Register to read more …

    Establish an Effective Data Protection Plan

    • Buy Link or Shortcode: {j2store}504|cart{/j2store}
    • member rating overall impact: 9.0/10 Overall Impact
    • member rating average dollars saved: $6,850 Average $ Saved
    • member rating average days saved: 9 Average Days Saved
    • Parent Category Name: Storage & Backup Optimization
    • Parent Category Link: /storage-and-backup-optimization
    • Business requirements can be vague. Not knowing the business needs often results in overspending and overexposure to liability through data hoarding.
    • Backup options are abundant. Disk, tape, or cloud? Each has drawbacks, efficiencies, and cost factors that should be considered.
    • Backup infrastructure is never greenfield. Any organization with a history has been doing backup. Existing software was likely determined by past choices and architecture.

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    • Don’t let failure be your metric.
      The past is not an indication of future performance! Quantify the cost of your data being unavailable to demonstrate value to the business.
    • Stop offloading backup to your most junior staff.
      Data protection should not exist in isolation. Get key leadership involved to ensure you can meet organizational requirements.
    • A lot of data is useless. Neglecting to properly tag and classify data will lead to a costly data protection solution that protects redundant, useless, or outdated data

    Impact and Result

    • Determine the current state of your data protection strategy by identifying the pains and gains of the solution and create a business-facing diagram to present to relevant stakeholders.
    • Quantify the value of data to the business to properly understand the requirements for data protection through a business impact analysis.
    • Identify the attributes and necessary requirements for your data tiers to procure a fit-for-purpose solution.

    Establish an Effective Data Protection Plan Research & Tools

    Start here – read the Executive Brief

    Read this Executive Brief to understand why the business should be involved in your data protection plan, review Info-Tech’s methodology, and understand the four ways we can support you in completing this project.

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

    1. Define the current state of your data protection plan

    Define the current state of your data protection practices by documenting the backup process and identifying problems and opportunities for the desired state.

    • Establish an Effective Data Protection Plan – Phase 1: Define the Current State of Your Data Protection Plan
    • Data Protection Value Proposition Canvas Template

    2. Conduct a business impact analysis to understand requirements for restoring data

    Understand the business priorities.

    • Establish an Effective Data Protection Plan – Phase 2: Conduct a Business Impact Analysis to Understand Requirements for Restoring Data
    • DRP Business Impact Analysis Tool
    • Legacy DRP Business Impact Analysis Tool
    • Data Protection Recovery Workflow

    3. Propose the future state of your data protection plan

    Determine the desired state.

    • Establish an Effective Data Protection Plan – Phase 3: Propose the Future State of Your Data Protection Plan

    4. Establish proper governance for your data protection plan

    Explore the component of governance required.

    • Establish an Effective Data Protection Plan – Phase 4: Establish Proper Governance for Your Data Protection Plan
    • Data Protection Proposal Template
    [infographic]

    IBM i Migration Considerations

    • Buy Link or Shortcode: {j2store}109|cart{/j2store}
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    • Parent Category Name: Strategy and Organizational Design
    • Parent Category Link: /strategy-and-organizational-design

    IBM i remains a vital platform and now many CIOs, CTOs, and IT leaders are faced with the same IBM i challenges regardless of industry focus: how do you evaluate the future viability of this platform, assess the future fit and purpose, develop strategies, and determine the future of this platform for your organization?

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    For organizations that are struggling with the iSeries/IBM i platform, resourcing challenges are typically the culprit. An aging population of RPG programmers and system administrators means organizations need to be more pro-active in maintaining in-house expertise. Migrating off the iSeries/IBM i platform is a difficult option for most organizations due to complexity, switching costs in the short term, and a higher long-term TCO.

    Impact and Result

    The most common tactic is for the organization to better understand their IBM i options and adopt some level of outsourcing for the non-commodity platform retaining the application support/development in-house. To make the evident, obvious; the options here for the non-commodity are not as broad as with commodity server platforms. Options include co-location, onsite outsourcing, managed and public cloud services.

    IBM i Migration Considerations Research & Tools

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

    1. IBM i Migration Considerations – A brief deck that outlines key migration options for the IBM i platforms.

    This project will help you evaluate the future viability of this platform; assess the fit, purpose, and price; develop strategies for overcoming potential challenges; and determine the future of this platform for your organization.

    • IBM i Migration Considerations Storyboard

    2. Infrastructure Outsourcing IBM i Scoring Tool – A tool to collect vendor responses and score each vendor.

    Use this scoring sheet to help you define and evaluate IBM i vendor responses.

    • Infrastructure Outsourcing IBM i Scoring Tool
    [infographic]

    Further reading

    IBM i Migration Considerations

    Don’t be overwhelmed by IBM i migration options.

    Executive Summary

    Your Challenge

    IBM i remains a vital platform and now many CIO, CTO, and IT leaders are faced with the same IBM i challenges regardless of industry focus; how do you evaluate the future viability of this platform, assess the future fit and purpose, develop strategies, and determine the future of this platform for your organization?

    Common Obstacles

    For organizations that are struggling with the iSeries/IBM i platform, resourcing challenges are typically the culprit. An aging population of RPG programmers and system administrators means organizations need to be more proactive in maintaining in-house expertise. Migrating off the iSeries/IBM i platform is a difficult option for most organizations due to complexity, switching costs in the short term, and a higher long-term TCO.

    Info-Tech Approach

    The most common tactic is for the organization to better understand its IBM i options and adopt some level of outsourcing for the non-commodity platform, retaining the application support/development in-house. To make the evident, obvious: the options here for the non-commodity are not as broad as with commodity server platforms. Options include co-location, onsite outsourcing, managed hosting, and public cloud services.

    Info-Tech Insight

    “For over twenty years, IBM was ‘king,’ dominating the large computer market. By the 1980s, the world had woken up to the fact that the IBM mainframe was expensive and difficult, taking a long time and a lot of work to get anything done. Eager for a new solution, tech professionals turned to the brave new concept of distributed systems for a more efficient alternative. On June 21, 1988, IBM announced the launch of the AS/400, their answer to distributed computing.” (Dale Perkins)

    Review

    We help IT leaders make the most of their IBM i environment.

    Problem Statement:

    The IBM i remains a vital platform for many businesses and continues to deliver exceptional reliability and performance and play a key role in the enterprise. With the limited resources at hand, CIOs and the like must continually review and understand their migration path with the same regard as any other distributed system roadmap.

    This research is designed for:

    • IT strategic direction decision makers
    • IT managers responsible for an existing iSeries or IBM i platform
    • Organizations evaluating platforms for mission-critical applications

    This research will help you:

    1. Evaluate the future viability of this platform.
    2. Assess the fit, purpose, and price.
    3. Develop strategies for overcoming potential challenges.
    4. Determine the future of this platform for your organization.

    The “fit for purpose” plot

    Thought Model

    We will investigate the aspect of different IBM i scenarios as they impact business, what that means, and how that can guide the questions that you are asking as you move to an aligned IBM i IT strategy. Our model considers:

    • Importance to Business Outcomes
      • Important to strategic objectives
      • Provides competitive advantage
      • Non-commodity IT service or process
      • Specialized in-house knowledge required
    • Vendor’s Performance Advantage
      • Talent or access to skills
      • Economies of scale or lower cost at scale
      • Access to technology

    Info-Tech Insights

    With multiple control points to be addressed, care must be taken in simplifying your options while addressing all concerns to ease operational load.

    		Map different 'IBM i' scenarios with axes 'Importance to Business Outcomes - Low to High' and 'Vendor’s Performance Advantage - Low to High'. Quadrant labels are '[LI/LA] Potentially Outsource: Service management, Help desk, desk-side support, Asset management', '[LI/HA] Outsource: Application & Infra Support, Web Hosting, SAP Support, Email Services, Infrastructure', '[HI/LA] Insource (For Now): Application development tech support', and '[HI/HA] Potentially Outsource: Onshore or offshore application maintenance'.

    IBM i environments are challenging

    “The IBM i Reality” – Darin Stahl

    Most members relying on business applications/workloads running on non-commodity platforms (zSeries, IBM i, Solaris, AIX, etc.) are first motivated to get out from under the perceived higher costs for the hardware platform.

    An additional challenge for non-commodity platforms is that from an IT Operations Management perspective they become an island with a diminishing number of integrated operations skills and solutions such as backup/restore and monitoring tools.

    The most common tactic is for the organization to adopt some level of outsourcing for the non-commodity platform, retaining the application support and development in-house.

    		Key challenges with current IBM i environments:
    1. DR Requirements
      Understand what the business needs are and where users and resources are located.
    2. Market Lack of Expertise
      Skilled team members are hard to find.
    3. Cost Management
      There is a perceived cost disadvantage to managing on-prem solutions.
    4. Aging Support Teams
      Current support teams are aging with little backfill in skill and experience.

    Understand your options

    Co-Location

    A customer transitions their hardware environment to a provider’s data center. The provider can then manage the hardware and “system.”

    		Onsite Outsourcing

    A provider will support the hardware/system environment at the client’s site.

    		Managed Hosting

    A customer transitions their legacy application environment to an off-prem hosted, multi-tenanted environment.

    		Public Cloud

    A customer can “re-platform” the non-commodity workload into public cloud offerings or in a few offerings “re-host.”

    Co-Location

    Provider manages the data center hardware environment.

    Abstract

    Here a provider manages the system data center environment and hardware; however, the client’s in-house IBM i team manages the IBM i hardware environment and the system applications. The client manages all of the licenses associated with the platform as well as the hardware asset management considerations. This is typically part of a larger services or application transformation. This effectively outsources the data center management while maintaining all IBM i technical operations in-house.

    Advantages

    • On-demand bandwidth
    • Cost effective
    • Secure and compliant environment
    • On-demand remote “hands and feet” services
    • Improved IT DR services
    • Data center compliance

    Considerations

    • Application transformation
    • CapEx cost
    • Fluctuating network bandwidth costs
    • Secure connectivity
    • Disaster recovery and availability of vendor
    • Company IT DR and BC planning
    • Remote system maintenance (HW)

    Info-Tech Insights

    This model is extremely attractive for organizations looking to reduce their data center management footprint. Idea for the SMB.

    Onsite Sourcing

    A provider will support the hardware/system environment at the client’s site.

    Abstract

    Here a provider will support and manage the hardware/system environment at the client’s site. The provider may acquire the customer’s hardware and provide software licenses. This could also include hiring or “rebadging” staff supporting the platform. This type of arrangement is typically part of a larger services or application transformation. While low risk, it is not as cost-effective as other deployment models.

    Advantages

    • Managed environment within company premises
    • Cost effective (OpEx expense)
    • Economies of scale
    • On-demand “as-a-service” model
    • Improved IT DR staffing services
    • 24x7 monitoring and support

    Considerations

    • Outsourced IT talent
    • Terms and contract conditions
    • IT staff attrition
    • Increased liability
    • Modified technical support and engagement
    • Secure connectivity and communication
    • Internal problem and change management

    Info-Tech Insights

    Depending on the application lifecycle and viability, in-house skill and technical depth is a key consideration when developing your IBM i strategy.

    Managed Hosting

    Transition legacy application environment to an off-prem hosted multi-tenanted environment.

    Abstract

    This type of arrangement is typically part of an application migration or transformation. In this model, a client can “re-platform” the application into an off-premises-hosted provider platform. This would yield many of the cloud benefits however in a different scaling capacity as experienced with commodity workloads (e.g. Windows, Linux) and the associated application.

    Advantages

    • Turns CapEx into OpEx
    • Reduces in-house need for diminishing or scarce human resources
    • Allows the enterprise to focus on the value of the IBM i platform through the reduction of system administrative toil
    • Improved IT DR services
    • Data center compliance

    Considerations

    • Application transformation
    • Network bandwidth
    • Contract terms and conditions
    • Modified technical support and engagement
    • Secure connectivity and communication
    • Technical security and compliance
    • Limited providers; reduced options

    Info-Tech Insights

    There is a difference between a “re-host” and “re-platform” migration strategy. Determine which solution aligns to the application requirements.

    Public Cloud

    Leverage “public cloud” alternatives with AWS, Google, or Microsoft AZURE.

    Abstract

    This type of arrangement is typically part of a larger migration or application transformation. While low risk, it is not as cost-effective as other deployment models. In this model, client can “re-platform” the non-commodity workload into public cloud offerings or in a few offerings “re-host.” This would yield many of the cloud benefits however in a different scaling capacity as experienced with commodity workloads (e.g. Windows, Linux).

    Advantages

    • Remote workforce accessibility
    • OpEx expense model
    • Improved IT DR services
    • Reduced infrastructure and system administration
    • Vendor management
    • 24x7 monitoring and support

    Considerations

    • Contract terms and conditions
    • Modified technical support and engagement
    • Secure connectivity and communication
    • Technical security and compliance
    • Limited providers; reduced options
    • Vendor/cloud lock-in
    • Application migration/”re-platform”
    • Application and system performance

    Info-Tech Insights

    This model is extremely attractive for organizations that consume primarily cloud services and have a large remote workforce.

    Understand your vendors

    • To best understand your options, you need to understand what IBM i services are provided by the industry vendors.
    • Within the following slides, you will find a defined activity with a working template that will create “vendor profiles” for each vendor.
    • As a working example, you can review the following partners:
    • Connectria (United States)
    • Rowton IT Solutions Ltd (United Kingdom)
    • Mid-Range (Canada)

    Info-Tech Insights

    Creating vendor profiles will help quickly filter the solution providers that directly meet your IBM i needs.

    Vendor Profile #1

    Rowton IT

    Summary of Vendor

    “Rowton IT thrive on creating robust and simple solutions to today's complex IT problems. We have a highly skilled and motivated workforce that will guarantee the right solution.

    Working with select business partners, we can offer competitive and cost effective packages tailored to suit your budget and/or business requirements.

    Our knowledge and experience cover vast areas of IT including technical design, provision and installation of hardware (Wintel and IBM Midrange), technical engineering services, support services, IT project management, application testing, documentation and training.”

    IBM i Services

    • ✔ IBM Power Hardware Sales
    • ✔ Co-Managed Services
    • ✔ DR/High Available Config
    • ✔ Full Managed Services
    • ✖ Co-Location Services
    • ✔ Public Cloud Services (AWS)

    URL
    rowtonit.com

    Regional Coverage:
    United Kingdom

    		Logo for RowtonIT.com.

    Vendor Profile #2

    Connectria

    Summary of Vendor

    “Every journey starts with a single step and for Connectria, that step happened to be with the world’s largest bank, Deutsche Bank. Followed quickly by our second client, IBM. Since then, we have added over 1,000 clients worldwide. For 25 years, each customer, large or small, has relied on Connectria to deliver on promises made to make it easy to do business with us through flexible terms, scalable solutions, and straightforward pricing. Join us on our journey.”

    IBM i Services

    • ✔ IBM Power Hardware Sales
    • ✔ Co-Managed Services
    • ✔ DR/High Available Config
    • ✔ Full Managed Services
    • ✔ Co-Location Services
    • ✔ Public Cloud Services (AWS)

    URL
    connectria.com

    Regional Coverage:
    United States

    		Logo for Connectria.

    Vendor Profile #3

    Mid-Range

    Summary of Vendor

    “Founded in 1988 and profitable throughout all of those 31 years, we have a solid track record of success. At Mid-Range, we use our expertise to assess your unique needs, in order to proactively develop the most effective IT solution for your requirements. Our full-service approach to technology and our diverse and in-depth industry expertise keep our clients coming back year after year.

    Serving clients across North America in a variety of industries, from small and emerging organizations to large, established enterprises – we’ve seen it all. Whether you need hardware or software solutions, disaster recovery and high availability, managed services or hosting or full ERP services with our JD Edwards offerings – we have the methods and expertise to help.”

    IBM i Services

    • ✔ IBM Power Hardware Sales
    • ✔ Co-Managed Services
    • ✔ DR/High Available Config
    • ✔ Full Managed Services
    • ✔ Co-Location Services
    • ✔ Public Cloud Services (AWS)

    URL
    midrange.ca

    Regional Coverage:
    Canada

    		Logo for Mid-Range.

    Activity

    Understand your vendor options

    Activities:
    1. Create your vendor profiles
    2. Score vendor responses
    3. Develop and manage your vendor agenda

    This activity involves the following participants:

    • IT strategic direction decision makers
    • IT managers responsible for an existing iSeries or IBM i platform

    Outcomes of this step:

    • Vendor Profile Template
    • Completed IT Infrastructure Outsourcing Scoring Tool

    Info-Tech Insights

    This check-point process creates transparency around agreement costs with the business and gives the business an opportunity to re-evaluate its requirements for a potentially leaner agreement.

    1. Create your vendor profiles

    Define what you are looking for:

    • Create a vendor profile for every vendor of interest.
    • Leverage our starting list and template to track and record the advantages of each vendor.

    Mindshift

    First National Technology Solutions

    Key Information Systems

    MainLine

    Direct Systems Support

    T-Systems

    Horizon Computer Solutions Inc.

    Vendor Profile Template

    [Vendor Name]

    Summary of Vendor

    [Vendor Summary]
    *Detail the Vendor Services as a Summary*

    IBM i Services

    • ✔ IBM Power Hardware Sales
    • ✔ Co-Managed Services
    • ✔ DR/High Available Config
    • ✔ Full Managed Services
    • ✔ Co-Location Services
    • ✔ Public Cloud Services (AWS)
    *Itemize the Vendor Services specific to your requirements*

    URL
    https://www.url.com/
    *Insert the Vendor URL*

    Regional Coverage:
    [Country\Region]
    *Insert the Vendor Coverage & Locations*

    		*Insert the Vendor Logo*

    2. Score your vendor responses

    Use the IT Infrastructure Outsourcing Scoring Tool to manage vendor responses.
    Use Info-Tech’s IT Infrastructure Outsourcing Scoring Tool to systematically score your vendor responses.

    The overall quality of the IBM i questions can help you understand what it might be like to work with the vendor.

    Consider the following questions:

    • Is the vendor clear about what it’s able to offer? Is its response transparent?
    • How much effort did the vendor put into answering the questions?
    • Does the vendor seem like someone you would want to work with?

    Once you have the vendor responses, you will select two or three vendors to continue assessing in more depth leading to an eventual final selection.

    		Screenshot of the IT Infrastructure Outsourcing Scoring Tool's Scoring Sheet. There are three tables: 'Scoring Scale', 'Results', and one with 'RFP Questions'. Note on Results table says 'Top Scoring Vendors', and note on questions table says 'List your IBM i questions (requirements)'.

    Info-Tech Insights

    Watch out for misleading scores that result from poorly designed criteria weightings.

    3. Develop your vendor agenda

    Vendor Conference Call

    Develop an agenda for the conference call. Here is a sample agenda:
    • Review the vendor questions.
    • Go over answers to written vendor questions previously submitted.
    • Address new vendor questions.

    Commonly Debated Question:
    Should vendors be asked to remain anonymous on the call or should each vendor mention their organization when they join the call?

    Many organizations worry that if vendors can identify each other, they will price fix. However, price fixing is extremely rare due to its consequences and most vendors likely have a good idea which other vendors are participating in the bid. Another thought is that revealing vendors could either result in a higher level of competition or cause some vendors to give up:

    • A vendor that hears its rival is also bidding may increase the competitiveness of its bid and response.
    • A vendor that feels it doesn’t have a chance may put less effort into the process.
    • A vendor that feels it doesn’t have real competition may submit a less competitive or detailed response than it otherwise would have.

    Vendor Workshop

    A vendor workshop day is an interactive way to provide context to your vendors and to better understand the vendors’ offerings. The virtual or in-person interaction also offers a great way to understand what it’s like to work with each vendor and decide whether you could build a partnership with them in the long run.

    The main focus of the workshop is the vendors’ service solution presentation. Here is a sample agenda for a two-day workshop:

    Day 1
    • Meet and greet
    • Welcome presentation with objectives, acquisition strategy, and company overview
    • Overview of the current IT environment, technologies, and company expectations
    • Question and answer session
    • Site walk
    Day 2
    • Review Day 1 activities
    • Vendor presentations and solution framing
    Use the IT Infrastructure Outsourcing Scoring Tool to manage vendor responses.

    Related Info-Tech Research

    Effectively Acquire Infrastructure Services
    Acquiring a service is like buying an experience. Don’t confuse the simplicity of buying hardware with buying an experience.

    Outsource IT Infrastructure to Improve System Availability, Reliability, and Recovery
    There are very few IT infrastructure components you should be housing internally – outsource everything else.

    Build Your Infrastructure Roadmap
    Move beyond alignment: Put yourself in the driver’s seat for true business value.

    Define Your Cloud Vision
    Make the most of cloud for your organization.

    Document Your Cloud Strategy
    Drive consensus by outlining how your organization will use the cloud.

    Create a Right-Sized Disaster Recovery Plan
    Close the gap between your DR capabilities and service continuity requirements.

    Create a Better RFP Process
    Improve your RFPs to gain leverage and get better results.

    Research Authors

    Photo of Darin Stahl, Principal Research Advisor, Info-Tech Research Group.Darin Stahl, Principal Research Advisor, Info-Tech Research Group

    Principal Research Advisor within the Infrastructure Practice and leveraging 38+ years of experience, his areas of focus include: IT Operations Management, Service Desk, Infrastructure Outsourcing, Managed Services, Cloud Infrastructure, DRP/BCP, Printer Management, Managed Print Services, Application Performance Monitoring (APM), Managed FTP, and non-commodity servers (zSeries, mainframe, IBM i, AIX, Power PC).

    Photo of Troy Cheeseman, Practice Lead, Info-Tech Research Group.Troy Cheeseman, Practice Lead, Info-Tech Research Group

    Troy has over 24 years of experience and has championed large, enterprise-wide technology transformation programs, remote/home office collaboration and remote work strategies, BCP, IT DRP, IT Operations and expense management programs, international right placement initiatives, and large technology transformation initiatives (M&A). Additionally, he has deep experience working with IT solution providers and technology (cloud) start-ups.

    Research Contributors

    Photo of Dan Duffy, President & Owner, Mid-Range.Dan Duffy, President & Owner, Mid-Range

    Dan Duffy is the President and Founder of Mid-Range Computer Group Inc., an IBM Platinum Business Partner. Dan and his team have been providing the Canadian and American IBM Power market with IBM infrastructure solutions including private cloud, hosting and disaster recovery, high availability and data center services since 1988. He has served on numerous boards and associations including the Toronto Users Group for Mid-Range Systems (TUG), the IBM Business Partners of the Americas Advisory Council, the Cornell Club of Toronto, and the Notre Dame Club of Toronto. Dan holds a Bachelor of Science from Cornell University.

    Photo of George Goodall, Executive Advisor, Info-Tech Research Group.George Goodall, Executive Advisor, Info-Tech Research Group

    George Goodall is an Executive Advisor in the Research Executive Services practice at Info-Tech Research Group. George has over 20 years of experience in IT consulting, enterprise software sales, project management, and workshop delivery. His primary focus is the unique challenges and opportunities in organizations with small and constrained IT operations. In his long tenure at Info-Tech, George has covered diverse topics including voice communications, storage, and strategy and governance.

    Bibliography

    “Companies using IBM i (formerly known as i5/OS).” Enlyft, 21 July 2021. Web.

    Connor, Clare. “IBM i and Meeting the Challenges of Modernization.” Ensono, 22 Mar. 2022. Web.

    Huntington, Tom. “60+ IBM i User Groups and Communities to Join?” HelpSystems, 16 Dec. 2021. Web.

    Perkins, Dale. “The Road to Power Cloud: June 21st 1988 to now. The Journey Continues.” Mid-Range, 1 Nov. 2021. Web.

    Prickett Morgan, Timothy. “How IBM STACKS UP POWER8 AGAINST XEON SERVERS.” The Next Platform, 13 Oct. 2015. Web.

    “Why is AS/400 still used? Four reasons to stick with a classic.” NTT, 21 July 2016. Web.

    Appendix

    Public Cloud Provider Notes

    Appendix –
    Cloud
    Providers


    “IBM Power (IBM i and AIX) workloads are also available in the so-called ‘cloud.’” (Darin Stahl)

    AWS

    Appendix –
    Cloud
    Providers



    “IBM Power (IBM i and AIX) workloads are also available in the so-called ‘cloud.’” (Darin Stahl)

    Google

    • Google Cloud console supports IBM Power Systems.
    • This offering provides cloud instances running on IBM Power Systems servers with PowerVM.
    • The service uses a per-day prorated monthly subscription model for cloud instance plans with different capacities of compute, memory, storage, and network. Standard plans are listed below and custom plans are possible.
    • There is no IBM i offering yet that we are aware of.
    • For AIX on Power, this would appear to be a better option than AWS (Converge Enterprise Cloud with IBM Power for Google Cloud).

    Appendix –
    Cloud
    Providers



    “IBM Power (IBM i and AIX) workloads are also available in the so-called ‘cloud.’” (Darin Stahl)

    Azure

    • Azure has partners using the Azure Dedicated Host offerings to deliver “native support for IBM POWER Systems to Azure data centres” (PowerWire).
    • Microsoft has installed Power servers in an couple Azure data centers and Skytap manages the IBM i, AIX, and Linux environments for clients.
    • As far as I am aware there is no ability to install IBM i or AIX within an Azure Dedicated Host via the retail interfaces – these must be worked through a partner like Skytap.
    • The cloud route for IBM i or AIX might be the easiest working with Skytap and Azure. This would appear to be a better option than AWS in my opinion.

    Appendix –
    Cloud
    Providers



    “IBM Power (IBM i and AIX) workloads are also available in the so-called ‘cloud.’” (Darin Stahl)

    IBM

    Define the Role of Project Management in Agile and Product-Centric Delivery

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    • There are many voices with different opinions on the role of project management. This causes confusion and unnecessary churn.
    • Project management and product management naturally align to different time horizons. Harmonizing their viewpoints can take significant work.
    • Different parts of the organization have diverse views on how to govern and fund pieces of work, which leads to confusion when it comes to the role of project management.

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    There is no one-size-fits-all approach to product delivery. For many organizations product delivery requires detailed project management practices, while for others it requires much less. Taking an outcome-first approach when planning your product transformation is critical to make the right decision on the balance between project and product management.

    Impact and Result

    • Get alignment on the definition of projects and products.
    • Understand the differences between delivering projects and delivering products.
    • Line up your project management activities with the needs of Agile and product-centric projects.
    • Understand how funding can change when moving away from project-centric delivery.

    Define the Role of Project Management in Agile and Product-Centric Delivery Research & Tools

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

    1. Define the Role of Project Management in Agile and Product-Centric Delivery – A guide that walks you through how to define the role of project management in product-centric and Agile delivery environments.

    The activities in this research will guide you through clarifying how you want to talk about projects and products, aligning project management and agility, specifying the different activities for project management, and identifying key differences with funding of products instead of projects.

    • Define the Role of Project Management in Agile and Product-Centric Delivery Storyboard
    [infographic]

    Further reading

    Define the Role of Project Management in Agile and Product-Centric Delivery

    Projects and products are not mutually exclusive.

    Table of Contents

    3 Analyst Perspective

    4 Executive Summary

    7 Step 1.1: Clarify How You Want to Talk About Projects and Products

    13 Step 1.2: Align Project Management and Agility

    16 Step 1.3: Specify the Different Activities for Project Management

    20 Step 1.4: Identify Key Differences in Funding of Products Instead of Projects

    25 Where Do I Go Next?

    26 Bibliography

    Analyst Perspective

    Project management still has an important role to play!

    When moving to more product-centric delivery practices, many assume that projects are no longer necessary. That isn’t necessarily the case!

    Product delivery can mean different things to different organizations, and in many cases it can involve the need to maintain both projects and project delivery.

    Projects are a necessary vehicle in many organizations to drive value delivery, and the activities performed by project managers still need to be done by someone. It is the form and who is involved that will change the most.

    Photo of Ari Glaizel, Practice Lead, Applications Delivery and Management, Info-Tech Research Group.

    Ari Glaizel
    Practice Lead, Applications Delivery and Management
    Info-Tech Research Group

    Executive Summary

    Your Challenge
    • Organizations are under pressure to align the value they provide with the organization’s goals and overall company vision.
    • In response, they are moving to more product-centric delivery practices.
    • Previously, project managers focused on the delivery of objectives through a project, but changes in delivery practices result in de-emphasizing this. What should project managers should be doing?
    		 Common Obstacles
    • There are many voices with different opinions on the role of project management. This causes confusion and unnecessary churn.
    • Project management and product management naturally align to different time horizons. Harmonizing their viewpoints can take significant work.
    • Different parts of the organization have very specific views on how to govern and fund pieces of work, which leads to confusion about the role of project management.
    		 Info-Tech’s Approach
    • Get alignment on the definition of projects and products.
    • Understand the differences between delivering projects and products.
    • Line up your project management activities with the needs of Agile and product-centric projects.
    • Understand how funding can change when moving away from project-centric delivery.

    Info-Tech Insight

    There is no one-size-fits-all approach to product delivery. For many organizations product delivery requires detailed project management practices, while for others it requires much less. Taking an outcome-first approach when planning your product transformation is critical to make the right decision on the balance between project and product management.

    Your evolution of delivery practice is not a binary switch

    1. PROJECTS WITH WATERFALL The project manager is accountable for delivery of the project, and the project manager owns resources and scope.
    2. PROJECTS WITH AGILE DELIVERY A transitional state where the product owner is accountable for feature delivery and the project manager accountable for the overall project.
    3. PRODUCTS WITH AGILE PROJECT AND OPERATIONAL DELIVERY The product owner is accountable for the delivery of the project and products, and the project manager plays a role of facilitator and enabler.
    4. PRODUCTS WITH AGILE DELIVERY Delivery of products can happen without necessarily having projects. However, projects could be instantiated to cover major initiatives.

    Info-Tech Insight

    • Organizations do not need to go to full product and Agile delivery to improve delivery practices! Every organization needs to make its own determination on how far it needs to go. You can do it in one step or take each step and evaluate how well you are delivering against your goals and objectives.
    • Many organizations will go to Products With Agile Project and Operational Delivery, and some will go to Products With Agile Delivery.

    Activities to undertake as you transition to product-centric delivery

    1. PROJECTS WITH WATERFALL
      • Clarify how you want to talk about projects and products. The center of the conversation will start to change.
    2. PROJECTS WITH AGILE DELIVERY
      • Align project management and agility. They are not mutually exclusive (but not necessarily always aligned).
    3. PRODUCTS WITH AGILE PROJECT AND OPERATIONAL DELIVERY
      • Specify the different activities for project management. As you mature your product practices, project management becomes a facilitator and collaborator.
    4. PRODUCTS WITH AGILE DELIVERY
      • Identify key differences in funding. Delivering products instead of projects requires a change in the focus of your funding.

    Step 1.1

    Clarify How You Want to Talk About Projects and Products

    Activities
    • 1.1.1 Define “product” and “project” in your context
    • 1.1.2 Brainstorm potential changes in the role of projects as you become Agile and product-centric

    This step involves the following participants:

    • Product owners
    • Product managers
    • Development team leads
    • Portfolio managers
    • Business analysts

    Outcomes of this step

    • An understanding of how the role can change through the evolution from project to more product-centric practices

    Definition of terms

    Project

    “A temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service, or result. The temporary nature of projects indicates a beginning and an end to the project work or a phase of the project work. Projects can stand alone or be part of a program or portfolio.” (PMBOK, PMI)     		Stock image of an open head with a city for a brain.

    Product

    “A tangible solution, tool, or service (physical or digital) that enables the long-term and evolving delivery of value to customers and stakeholders based on business and user requirements.” (Deliver on Your Digital Product Vision, Info-Tech Research Group)

    Info-Tech InsightLet these definitions be a guide, not necessarily to be taken verbatim. You need to define these terms in your context based on your particular needs and objectives. The only caveat is to be consistent with your usage of these terms in your organization.

    1.1.1 Define “product” and “project” in your context

    30-60 minutes

    Output: Your enterprise/organizational definition of products and projects

    Participants: Executives, Product/project managers, Applications teams

    1. Discuss what “product” and “project” mean in your organization.
    2. Create common, enterprise-wide definitions for “product” and “project.”

      3. Screenshot of the previous slide's definitions of 'Project' and 'Product'.

    Agile and product management does not mean projects go away

    Diagram laying out the roadmap for 'Continuous delivery of value'. Beginning with 'Projects With Agile Delivery' in which Projects with features and services end in a Product Release that is disconnected from the continuum. Then the 'Products With Agile Project and Operational Delivery' and 'Products With Agile Delivery' which are connected by a 'Product Roadmap' and 'Product Backlog' have Product Releases that connect to the continuum.

    Projects Within Products

    Regardless of whether you recognize yourself as a “product-based” or “project-based” shop, the same basic principles should apply.

    You go through a period or periods of project-like development to build or implement a version of an application or product.

    You also have parallel services along with your project development that encompass the more product-based view. These may range from basic support and maintenance to full-fledged strategy teams or services like sales and marketing.

    Info-Tech Note

    As your product transformation continues, projects can become optional and needed only as part of your organization’s overall delivery processes

    Identify the differences between a project-centric and a product-centric organization

    Project Product
    Fund projects — Funding –› Fund teams
    Line-of-business sponsor — Prioritization –› Product owner
    Project owner — Accountability –› Product owner
    Makes specific changes to a product —Product management –› Improves product maturity and support of the product
    Assignment of people to work — Work allocation –› Assignment of work to product teams
    Project manager manages — Capacity management –› Team manages

    Info-Tech Insight

    Product delivery requires significant shifts in the way you complete development and implementation work and deliver value to your users. Make the changes that support improving end-user value and enterprise alignment.

    1.1.2 Brainstorm potential changes in the role of projects as you become Agile and product-centric

    5-10 minutes

    Output: Increased appreciation of the relationship between project and product delivery

    Participants: Executives, Product/project managers, Applications teams

    • Discuss as a group:
      • What stands out in the evolution from project to product?
      • What concerns do you have with the change?
      • What will remain the same?
      • Which changes feel the most impactful?
        • Screenshot of the slide's 'Continuous delivery of value' diagram.

    Step 1.2

    Align Project Management and Agility

    Activities
    • 1.2.1 Explore gaps in Agile/product-centric delivery of projects

    This step involves the following participants:

    • Executives
    • Product/Project managers
    • Applications teams

    Outcomes of this step

    • A clearer view of how agility can be introduced into projects.

    Challenges with the project management role in Agile and product-centric organizations

    Many project managers feel left out in the cold. That should not be the case!

    In product-centric, Agile teams, many roles that a project manager previously performed are now taken care of to different degrees by the product owner, delivery team, and process manager.

    The overall change alters the role of project management from one that orchestrates all activities to one that supports, monitors, and escalates.

    Product Owner
    • Defines the “what” and heavily involved in the “when” and the “why”
    • Accountable for delivery of value
    Delivery team members
    • Define the “how”
    • Accountable for building and delivering high-quality deliverables
    • Can include roles like user experience, interaction design, business analysis, architecture
    Process Manager
    • Facilitates the other teams to ensure valuable delivery
    • Can potentially, in a Scrum environment, play the scrum master role, which involves leading scrums, retrospectives, and sprint reviews and working to resolve team issues and impediments
    • Evolves into more of a facilitator and communicator role

    1.2.1 Explore gaps in Agile/ product-centric delivery of projects

    5-10 minutes

    Output: An assessment of what is in the way to effectively deliver on Agile and product-focused projects

    Participants: Executives, Product/project managers, Applications teams

    • Discuss as a group:
      • What project management activities do you see in Agile/product roles?
      • What gaps do you see?
      • How can project management help Agile/product teams be successful?

    Step 1.3

    Specify the Different Activities for Project Management

    Activities
    • 1.3.1 Articulate the changes in a project manager’s role

    This step involves the following participants:

    • Executives
    • Product/Project managers
    • Applications teams

    Outcomes of this step

    • An understanding of the role of project management in an Agile and product context

    Kicking off the project

    Product-centric delivery still requires key activities to successfully deliver value. Where project managers get their information from does change.

    Stock photo of many hands grabbing a 2D rocketship.
    Project Charter

    Project managers should still define a charter and capture the vision and scope. The vision and high-level scope is primarily defined by the product owner.

    		Key Stakeholders and Communication

    Clearly defining stakeholders and communication needs is still important. However, they are defined based on significant input and cues by the product owner.

    Standardizing on Tools and Processes

    To ensure consistency across projects, project managers will want to align tools to how the team manages their backlog and workflow. This will smooth communication about status with stakeholders.

    Info-Tech Insight

    1. Product management plays a similar role to the one that was traditionally filled by the project sponsor except for a personal accountability to the product beyond the life of the project.
    2. When fully transitioned to product-centric delivery, these activities could be replaced by a product canvas. See Deliver on Your Digital Product Vision for more information.

    During the project: Three key activities

    The role of project management evolves from a position of ownership to a position of communication, collaboration, and coordination.

    1. Support
      • Communicate Agile/product team needs to leadership
      • Liaise and co-ordinate for non-Agile/product-focused parts of the organization
      • Coach members of the team
    2. Monitoring
      • Regular status updates to PMO still required
      • Metrics aligned with Agile/product practices
      • Leverage similar tooling and approaches to what is done locally on Agile/product teams (if possible)
    3. Escalation
      • Still a key escalation point for roadblocks that go outside the product teams
      • Collaborate closely with Agile/product team leadership and scrum masters (if applicable)
    		 Cross-section of a head, split into three levels with icons representing the three steps detailed on the left, 'Support', 'Monitoring', and 'Escalation'.

    1.3.1: Articulate the changes in a project manager’s role

    5-10 minutes

    Output: Current understanding of the role of project management in Agile/product delivery

    Participants: Executives, Product/project managers, Applications teams

    Why is this important?

    Project managers still have a role to play in Agile projects and products. Agreeing to what they should be doing is critical to successfully moving to a product-centric approach to delivery.

    • Review how Info-Tech views the role of project management at project initiation and during the project.
    • Review the state of your Agile and product transformation, paying special attention to who performs which roles.
    • Discuss as a group:
      • What are the current activities of project managers in your organization?
      • Based on how you see delivery practices evolving, what do you see as the new role of project managers when it comes to Agile-centric and product-centric delivery.

    Step 1.4

    Identify Key Differences in Funding of Products Instead of Projects

    Activities
    • 1.4.1 Discuss traditional versus product-centric funding methods

    This step involves the following participants:

    • Executives
    • Product owners
    • Product managers
    • Project managers
    • Delivery managers

    Outcomes of this step

    • Identified differences in funding of products instead of projects

    Planning and budgeting for products and families

    Reward for delivering outcomes, not features

    Autonomy

    Icon of a diamond.

    Fund what delivers value

    Fund long-lived delivery of value through products (not projects).

    Give autonomy to the team to decide exactly what to build.

    		Flexibility

    Icon of a dollar sign.

    Allocate iteratively

    Allocate to a pool based on higher-level business case.

    Provide funds in smaller amounts to different product teams and initiatives based on need.

    Arrow cycling right in a clockwise motion.



    Arrow cycling left in a clockwise motion.

    		Accountability

    Icon of a target.

    Measure and adjust

    Product teams define metrics that contribute to given outcomes.

    Track progress and allocate more (or less) funds as appropriate.

    		Stock image of two suited hands exchanging coins.

    Info-Tech Insight

    Changes to funding require changes to product and Agile practices to ensure product ownership and accountability.

    (Adapted from Bain & Company)

    Budgeting approaches must evolve as you mature your product operating environment

    TRADITIONAL PROJECTS WITH WATERFALL DELIVERY TRADITIONAL PROJECTS WITH AGILE DELIVERY PRODUCTS WITH AGILE PROJECT DELIVERY PRODUCTS WITH AGILE DELIVERY

    WHEN IS THE BUDGET TRACKED?

    		 Budget tracked by major phases Budget tracked by sprint and project Budget tracked by sprint and project Budget tracked by sprint and release

    HOW ARE CHANGES HANDLED?

    		 All change is by exception Scope change is routine; budget change is by exception Scope change is routine; budget change is by exception Budget change is expected on roadmap cadence

    WHEN ARE BENEFITS REALIZED?

    		 Benefits realization post project completion Benefits realization ongoing throughout the life of the project Benefits realization ongoing throughout the life of the product Benefits realization ongoing throughout life of the product

    WHO DRIVES?

    		 Project Manager
    • Project team delivery role
    • Refines project scope, advocates for changes in the budget
    • Advocates for additional funding in the forecast
    		 Product Owner
    • Project team delivery role
    • Refines project scope, advocates for changes in the budget
    • Advocates for additional funding in the forecast
    		 Product Manager
    • Product portfolio team role
    • Forecasting new initiatives during delivery to continue to drive value throughout the life of the product
    		 Product Manager
    • Product family team role
    • Forecasting new initiatives during delivery to continue to drive value throughout the life of the product
    ˆ ˆ
    Hybrid Operating Environments

    Info-Tech Insight

    As you evolve your approach to product delivery, you will be decoupling the expected benefits, forecast, and budget. Managing them independently will improve your ability adapt to change and drive the right outcomes!

    1.4.1 Discuss traditional versus product-centric funding methods

    30 minutes

    Output: Understanding of funding principles and challenges

    Participants: Executives, Product owners, Product managers, Project managers, Delivery managers

    1. Discuss how projects are currently funded.
    2. Review how the Agile/product funding models differ from how you currently operate.
    3. What changes do you need to consider to support a product delivery model?
    4. For each change, identify the key stakeholders and list at least one action to take.

    Case Study

    Global Digital Financial Services Company

    This financial services company looked to drive better results by adopting more product-centric practices.

    • Its projects exhibited:
      • High complexity/strong dependencies between components
      • High implementation effort
      • High clarification/reconciliation (more than two departments involved)
      • Multiple methodologies (Agile/Waterfall/Hybrid)
    • The team recognized they could not get rid of projects entirely, but getting to a level where there was a coordinated delivery between projects and products being implemented is important.
    Results
    • Moving several initiatives to more product-centric practices allowed for:
      • Delivery within current assigned capacity
      • Limited need for coordination across departments
      • Lower complexity
      • A unified Agile approach to delivery
    • Through balancing the needs of projects and products, there were three key insights about the project management’s role:
      • The role of project management changes depending on the context of the work. There is no one-size-fits-all definition.
      • Project management played a much bigger role when work spanned multiple products and business units.
      • Project management was used as a key coordinator when delivery became complicated and multilayered.
    		 Example of a company where practices fall equally into 'Project' and 'Product' categories, with some being shared by both.
    Example of a product-centric company where practices fall mainly into the 'Product category', leaving only one in 'Project'.

    Where Do I Go Next?

    Deliver on Your Digital Product Vision

    • Build a product vision your organization can take from strategy through execution.

    Build a Better Product Owner

    • Strengthen the product owner role in your organization by focusing on core capabilities and proper alignment.

    Implement Agile Practices That Work

    • Improve collaboration and transparency with the business to minimize project failure.

    Implement DevOps Practices That Work

    • Streamline business value delivery through the strategic adoption of DevOps practices.

    Prepare an Actionable Roadmap for Your PMO

    • Turn planning into action with a realistic PMO timeline.

    Deliver Digital Products at Scale

    • Deliver value at the scale of your organization through defining enterprise product families.

    Extend Agile Practices Beyond IT

    • Further the benefits of Agile by extending a scaled Agile framework to the business.

    Spread Best Practices With an Agile Center of Excellence

    • Facilitate ongoing alignment between Agile teams and the business with a set of targeted service offerings.

    Tailor IT Project Management Processes to Fit Your Projects

    • Spend less time managing processes and more time delivering results.

    Bibliography

    Cobb, Chuck. “Are there Project Managers in Agile?” High Impact Project Management, n.d. Web.

    Cohn, Mike. “What Is a Product?” Mountain Goat Software, 6 Sept. 2016. Web.

    Cobb, Chuck. “Agile Project Manager Job Description.” High Impact Project Management, n.d. Web.

    “How do you define a product?” Scrum.org, 4 April 2017. Web.

    Johnson, Darren, et al. “How to Plan and Budget for Agile at Scale.” Bain & Company, 8 Oct. 2019. Web.

    “Product Definition.” SlideShare, uploaded by Mark Curphey, 25 Feb. 2007. Web.

    Project Management Institute. A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK Guide). 7th ed., Project Management Institute, 2021.

    Schuurman, Robbin. “Scrum Master vs Project Manager – An Overview of the Differences.” Scrum.org, 11 Feb 2020. Web.

    Schuurman, Robbin. “Product Owner vs Project Manager.” Scrum.org, 12 March 2020. Web.

    Vlaanderen, Kevin. “Towards Agile Product and Portfolio Management.” Academia.edu, 2010. Web.

    “What is a Developer in Scrum?” Scrum.org, n.d. Web.

    “What is a Scrum Master?” Scrum.org, n.d. Web.

    “What is a Product Owner?” Scrum.org, n.d. Web.

    Make the Case for Legacy Application Modernization

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    • Organizations are under continual pressure to deliver faster, with shorter time-to-market, while introducing new products and services at the same time.
    • You and your team have concerns that your existing portfolio of applications is not up to the task.
    • While you understand the need for more investments to modernize your portfolio, your leadership does not appreciate what is required.

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    • Legacy modernization is a process, not a single event.
    • Your modernization approach requires you to understand your landscape and decide on a path that minimizes business continuity risks, keeps the investments under control, and is prepared for surprises but always has your final state in mind.

    Impact and Result

    • Evaluate the current state, develop a legacy application strategy, and execute in an agile manner.
    • When coupled with a business case and communications strategy, this approach gives the organization a clear decision-making framework that will maximize business outcomes and deliver value where needed.

    Make the Case for Legacy Application Modernization Research & Tools

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

    1. Make the Case for Legacy Application Modernization Storyboard – Understand legacy application modernization in the context of your organization, assess your landscape of applications, and define prioritization and disposition.

    This blueprint provides the steps necessary to build your own enterprise application implementation playbook that can be deployed and leveraged by your implementation teams.

    • Make the Case for Legacy Application Modernization Storyboard

    2. Make the Case for Legacy Application Modernization Presentation Template – The key output from leveraging this research is a presentation to pitch the modernization process.

    Build a proposal deck to make the case for legacy application modernization for your stakeholders. This will contain a definition of what a legacy application is in the context of your organization, a list of candidate applications to modernize, and a disposition strategy for each selected application.

    • Make the Case for Legacy Application Modernization Presentation Template
    [infographic]

    Further reading

    Make the Case for Legacy Application Modernization

    Revamp your business potential to improve agility, security, and user experience while reducing costs.

    Analyst Perspective

    An old application may have served us reliably, but it can prevent us from pursuing future business needs.

    Legacy systems remain well-embedded in the fabric of many organizations' application portfolios. They were often custom-built to meet the needs of the business. Typically, these are core tools that the business leverages to accomplish its goals.

    A legacy application becomes something we need to address when it no longer supports our business goals, is no longer supportable, bears an unsustainable ownership cost, or poses a threat to the organization's cybersecurity or compliance.

    When approaching your legacy application strategy, you must navigate a complex web of business, stakeholder, software, hardware, resourcing, and financial decisions. To complicate matters, the full scope of required effort is not immediately clear. Years of development are embedded in these legacy applications, which must be uncovered and dealt with appropriately.

    IT leaders require a proactive approach for evaluating the current state, developing a legacy application strategy, and executing in an agile manner. When coupled with a business case and communications strategy, the organization will have a clear decision-making framework that will maximize business outcomes and deliver value where needed.

    Ricardo de Oliveira, Research Director, Enterprise Applications

    Ricardo de Oliveira
    Research Director, Enterprise Applications
    Info-Tech Research Group

    Executive Summary

    Your Challenge Common Obstacles Info-Tech's Approach
    • Organizations face continual pressure to decrease time-to-market while also introducing new products and services.
    • You and your team have concerns that the existing application portfolio is not up to the task.
    • While you may understand the need for greater investment to modernize your portfolio, leadership does not appreciate what is required.
    • For well-established organizations, applications can have a long lifespan. Employees who are used to existing tools and processes often resist change.
    • Modernization plans can be substantial, but budget and resources are limited.
    • Poor documentation of legacy applications can make it challenging to know what to modernize and how to do it effectively.
    • There are concerns that any changes will have material impacts on business continuity.
    • Info-Tech will enable you to build a proposal deck to make the case for legacy application modernization for your stakeholders. This will assist with:
      • Defining what a legacy application is in the context of your organization.
      • Creating a list of candidate applications for modernization.
      • Articulating the right disposition strategy for each selected applications.
      • Laying out what is next on your modernization journey.

    Info-Tech Insight
    Legacy modernization is a process, not a single event. Your modernization approach requires you to understand your landscape and decide on a path that minimizes business continuity risks, keeps investments under control, and is prepared for surprises but always has your final state in mind.

    An approach to making the case for legacy application modernization

    Understand
    Assess the challenges, lay out the reasons, define your legacy, and prepare to remove the barriers to modernization.
    Assess
    Determine the benefits by business capability. Leverage APM foundations to select the candidate applications and prioritize.     		Legacy Application Modernization
    Define
    Use the prioritized application list to drive the next steps to modernization.

    Legacy application modernization is perceived as necessary to remain competitive

    The 2022 State CIO Survey by NASCIO shows that legacy application modernization jumped from fifth to second in state CIO priorities.

    "Be patient and also impatient. Patient because all states have a lot of legacy tech they are inheriting and government is NOT easy. But also, impatient because there is a lot to do - make your priorities clear but also find out what the CIO needs to accomplish those priorities."

    Source: NASCIO, 2022

    State CIO Priorities

    US government agencies feel pressured to deal with legacy applications

    In fiscal year 2021, the US government planned to spend over $100 billion on information technology. Most of that was to be used to operate and maintain existing systems, including legacy applications, which can be both more expensive to maintain and more vulnerable to hackers. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) identified:

    • 10 critical federal IT legacy systems
    • In operation between 8 and 51 years
    • Collectively cost $337 million per year to operate and maintain

    Source: U.S. Government Accountability Office, 2021

    Example: In banking, modern platforms are essential

    Increasing competition from fintech 73% of financial services executives perceive retail banking as being the most susceptible to fintech disruption (PwC, 2016)
    Growing number of neo-banks The International Monetary Fund (IMF) notes the fast growth of fintech in financial services is creating systemic risk to global financial stability (IMF, 2022)
    Access to data and advanced analytics Estimated global bank revenue lost due to poor data is 15% to 25% (MIT, 2017)
    Shifting client expectations/demographics 50% of Gen X, millennials, and Gen Z use a digital bank to provide their primary checking account (Finextra, 2022)
    Generational transfer of wealth It is estimated that up to US$68 trillion in wealth will be transferred from baby boomers (Forbes, 2021)

    Case Study

    Delta takes off with a modernized blend of mainframes and cloud

    INDUSTRY: Transportation
    SOURCE: CIO Magazine, 2023

    Challenge
    The airline has hundreds of applications in the process of moving to the cloud, but most main capabilities are underpinned by workloads on the mainframe and will remain so for the foreseeable future.
    Some of those workloads include travel reservation systems and crew scheduling systems - mission-critical, 24/7 applications that are never turned off.     		Solution
    Delta has shifted to a hybrid architecture, with a customer experience transformation that makes the most of the cloud's agility and the mainframe's dependability.
    Delta's foray into the cloud began about two years ago as the pandemic brought travel to a virtual halt. The airline started migrating many front-end and distributed applications to the cloud while retaining traditional back-end workloads on the mainframe.     		Results
    Hybrid infrastructures are expected to remain in complex industries such as airlines and banking, where high availability and maximum reliability are non-negotiable.
    While some CIOs are sharpening their mainframe exit strategies by opting for a steep journey to the cloud, mainframes remain ideal for certain workloads.

    Phase 1: Make the Case for Legacy Application Modernization

    Phase 1
    1.1 Understand your challenges
    1.2 Define legacy applications
    1.3 Assess your barriers
    1.4 Find the impacted capabilities
    1.5 Define candidate applications
    1.6 Now, Next, Later

    This phase will walk you through the following activities:

    • Understand your challenges with modernization
    • Define legacy applications in your context
    • Assess your barriers to modernization
    • Find the impacted capabilities and their benefits
    • Define candidate applications and dispositions

    This phase involves the following participants:

    • Application group leaders
    • Individual application owners

    Project Management

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    • member rating overall impact: 9.7/10
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    • Parent Category Name: Project Portfolio Management and Projects
    • Parent Category Link: /ppm-and-projects
    • byline: Right-size the project management body of knowledge for all your IT projects.

    The challenge

    • Ill-defined or even lack of upfront project planning will increase the perception that your IT department cannot deliver value because most projects will go over time and budget.
    • The perception is those traditional ways of delivering projects via the PMBOK only increase overhead and do not have value. This is less due to the methodology and more to do with organizations trying to implement best-practices that far exceed their current capabilities.
    • Typical best-practices are too clinical in their approach and place unrealistic burdens on IT departments. They fail to address the daily difficulties faces by staff and are not sized to fit your organization.
    • Take a flexible approach and ensure that your management process is a cultural and capacity fit for your organization. Take what fits from these frameworks and embed them tailored into your company.

    Our advice

    Insight

    • The feather-touch is often the right touch. Ensure that you have a lightweight approach for most of your projects while applying more rigor to the more complex and high-risk developments.
    • Pick the right tools. Your new project management processes need the right tooling to be successful. Pick a tool that is flexible enough o accommodate projects of all sizes without imposing undue governance onto smaller projects.
    • Yes, take what fits within your company from frameworks, but there is no cherry-picking. Ensure your processes stay in context: If you do not inform for effective decision-making, all will be in vain. Develop your methods such that guide the way to big-picture decision taking and support effective portfolio management.

    Impact and results 

    • The right amount of upfront planning is a function of the type of projects you have and your company. The proper levels enable better scope statements, better requirements gathering, and increased business satisfaction.
    • An investment in a formal methodology is critical to projects of all sizes. An effective process results in more successful projects with excellent business value delivery.
    • When you have a repeatable and consistent approach to project planning and execution, you can better communicate between the IT project managers and decision-makers.
    • Better communication improves the visibility of the overall project activity within your company.

    The roadmap

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

    Get started.

    Read our executive brief to understand why you should tailor project management practices to the type of projects you do and your company and review our methodology. We show you how we can support you.

    Lay the groundwork for project management success

    Assess your current capabilities to set the right level of governance.

    • Tailor Project Management Processes to Fit Your Projects – Phase 1: Lay the Groundwork for PM Success (ppt)
    • Project Management Triage Tool (xls)
    • COBIT BAI01 (Manage Programs and Projects) Alignment Workbook (xls)
    • Project Level Definition Matrix (xls)
    • Project Level Selection Tool (xls)
    • Project Level Assessment Tool (xls)
    • Project Management SOP Template (doc)

    Small project require a lightweight framework

    Increase small project's throughput.

    • Tailor Project Management Processes to Fit Your Projects – Phase 2: Build a Lightweight PM Process for Small Initiatives (ppt)
    • Level 1 Project Charter Template (doc)
    • Level 1 Project Status Report Template (doc)
    • Level 1 Project Closure Checklist Template (doc)

    Build the standard process medium and large-scale projects

    The standard process contains fully featured initiation and planning.

    • Tailor Project Management Processes to Fit Your Projects – Phase 3: Establish Initiation and Planning Protocols for Medium-to-Large Projects (ppt)
    • Project Stakeholder and Impact Assessment Tool (xls)
    • Level 2 Project Charter Template (doc)
    • Level 3 Project Charter Template (doc)
    • Kick-Off Meeting Agenda Template (doc)
    • Scope Statement Template (doc)
    • Project Staffing Plan(xls)
    • Communications Management Plan Template (doc)
    • Customer/Sponsor Project Status Meeting Template (doc)
    • Level 2 Project Status Report Template (doc)
    • Level 3 Project Status Report Template (doc)
    • Quality Management Workbook (xls)
    • Benefits Management Plan Template (xls)
    • Risk Management Workbook (xls)

    Build a standard process for the execution and closure of medium to large scale projects

    • Tailor Project Management Processes to Fit Your Projects – Phase 4: Develop Execution and Closing Procedures for Medium-to-Large Projects (ppt)
    • Project Team Meeting Agenda Template (doc)
    • Light Project Change Request Form Template (doc)
    • Detailed Project Change Request Form Template (doc)
    • Light Recommendation and Decision Tracking Log Template (xls)
    • Detailed Recommendation and Decision Tracking Log Template (xls)
    • Deliverable Acceptance Form Template (doc)
    • Handover to Operations Template (doc)
    • Post-Mortem Review Template (doc)
    • Final Sign-Off and Acceptance Form Template (doc)

    Implement your project management standard operating procedures (SOP)

    Develop roll-out and training plans, implement your new process and track metrics.

    • Tailor Project Management Processes to Fit Your Projects – Phase 5: Implement Your PM SOP (ppt)
    • Level 2 Project Management Plan Template (doc)
    • Project Management Process Costing Tool (xls)
    • Project Management Process Training Plan Template (doc)
    • Project Management Training Monitoring Tool (xls)
    • Project Management Process Implementation Timeline Tool (MS Project)
    • Project Management Process Implementation Timeline Tool (xls)

     

     

    Application Portfolio Management

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    • Parent Category Name: Applications
    • Parent Category Link: /applications
    • byline: Manage your application portfolio to minimize risk and maximize value.

    The challenge

    • The chances are that you, too, have too many or far too many applications in your organization. You will not be alone. Almost 60% of companies report the same issue. 
    • That is due to poorly managed portfolios.
    • Your application managers now need to support too many non-critical applications, and they spend insufficient time on the vital applications.
    • You can rarely find the required pieces to rationalize your portfolio in one place. You will need to find the resources and build a team.
    • The lack of standard practices to define the value that each application in a portfolio provides to the company causes misalignments.

    Our advice

    Insight

    • There is no silver bullet solution. Going too rigid in your approach causes delays in value realization through application portfolio management. It may even prevent this altogether. Define flexible inputs to your portfolio and align closely with your business goals.

    Impact and results 

    • Define the outputs of your application rationalization effort, with clear roles and responsibilities.
    • Tailor the application rationalization framework (ARF) to your company's motivations, goals, and limitations.
    • Apply various application assessments to build a clear picture of your portfolio.
    • Build an application portfolio roadmap that shows your target state based on your rationalization decisions.

    The roadmap

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

    Get started

    Our concise executive brief shows you why you should rationalize your application portfolio using a tailored framework for your company. We'll show you our methodology and the ways we can help you in handling this.

    Lay the foundations

    Define why you want to rationalize your application portfolio. Define the end state and scope. Build your action plan.

    • Build an Application Rationalization Framework – Phase 1: Lay Your Foundations (ppt)
    • Application Rationalization Tool (xls)

    Plan the application rationalization framework

    Understand what the core assessments are that you perform in these rationalizations. Define your framework and how rigorous you want to apply the reviews based on your business context.

    • Build an Application Rationalization Framework – Phase 2: Plan Your Application Rationalization Framework (ppt)

    Test and adapt your application rationalization framework (ARF)

    Our tool allows you to test the elements of your ARF. Then do a retrospective and adapt based on your experience and desired outcomes. 

    • Build an Application Rationalization Framework – Phase 3: Test and Adapt Your Application Rationalization Framework (ppt)
    • Application TCO Calculator (xls)
    • Value Calculator (xls)

    Initiate your roadmap

    Review your dispositions to ensure they align with your goals. 

    • Build an Application Rationalization Framework – Phase 4: Initiate Your Roadmap (ppt)
    • Disposition Prioritization Tool (xls)

     

    Demystify Blockchain: How Can It Bring Value to Your Organization?

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    • Parent Category Name: Innovation
    • Parent Category Link: /innovation
    • Most leaders have an ambiguous understanding of blockchain and its benefits, let alone how it impacts their organization.
    • At the same time, with bitcoin drawing most of the media attention, organizations are finding it difficult to translate cryptocurrency usage to business case.

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    • Cut through the hype associated with blockchain by focusing on what is relevant to your organization. You have been hearing about blockchain for some time now and want to better understand it. While it is complex, you can beat the learning curve by analyzing its key benefits and purpose. Features such as transparency, efficiency, and security differentiate blockchain from existing technologies and help explain why it has transformative potential.
    • Ensure your use case is actually useful by first determining whether blockchain aligns with your organization. CIOs must take a practical approach to blockchain in order to avoid wasting resources (both time and money) and hurting IT’s image in the eyes of the business. While is easy to get excited and invest in a new technology to help maintain your image as a thought leader, you must ensure that your use case is fully developed prior to doing so.

    Impact and Result

    • Follow Info-Tech’s methodology for simplifying an otherwise complex concept. By focusing on its benefits and how they directly relate to a use case, blockchain technology is made easy to understand for business and IT professionals.
    • Our program will help you understand if blockchain is the optimal solution for your organization by mapping its key benefits (i.e. transparency, integrity, efficiency, and security) to your needs and capabilities.
    • Leverage a repeatable framework for brainstorming blockchain use case ideas and communicate your findings to business stakeholders who may otherwise be confused about the transformative potential of blockchain.

    Demystify Blockchain: How Can It Bring Value to Your Organization? Research & Tools

    Start here – read the Executive Brief

    Read our concise Executive Brief to find out why your organization should care about determining whether blockchain aligns with your organization, review Info-Tech’s methodology, and understand the four ways we can support you in completing this project.

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

    1. What exactly is blockchain?

    Understand blockchain’s unique feature, benefits, and business use cases.

    • Demystify Blockchain – Phase 1: What Is Blockchain?
    • Blockchain Glossary

    2. What can blockchain do for your organization?

    Envision blockchain’s transformative potential for your organization by brainstorming and validating a use case.

    • Demystify Blockchain – Phase 2: What Can Blockchain Do for Your Organization?
    • Blockchain Alignment Tool
    • Blockchain Alignment Presentation
    [infographic]

    Build an IT Succession Plan

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    • Parent Category Name: Lead
    • Parent Category Link: /lead
    • Pending retirements in key roles create workforce risks and potentially impact business continuity.
    • Fifty-six percent of organizations have not engaged in succession planning, so they haven’t identified at-risk key roles or successors for those roles.

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    • Just under 60% of organizations haven't tackled succession planning.
    • This means that three out of five organizations don’t know what skills they need for the future or what their key roles truly are. They also haven’t identified at-risk key roles or successors for those roles.
    • In addition, 74% of organizations have no formal process for facilitating knowledge transfer between individuals, so knowledge will be lost.

    Impact and Result

    • Info-Tech's Key Roles Succession Planning Tool will help you assess key role incumbent risk factors as well as identify potential successors and their readiness. Pay particular attention to those employees in key roles that are nearing retirement, and flag them as high risk.
    • Plan for the transfer of critical knowledge held by key role incumbents. Managers and HR leaders see significant tacit knowledge gaps in younger workers; prioritize tacit knowledge in your transfer plan and leverage multiple transfer methods.
    • Explore alternative work arrangements to ensure sufficient time to prepare successors. A key role incumbent must be available to complete knowledge transfer.
    • Define formal transition plans for all employees in at-risk key roles and their successors by leveraging your workforce and succession planning outputs, knowledge transfer strategy, and selected alternative work arrangements.

    Build an IT Succession Plan Research & Tools

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

    1. Build an IT Succession Plan Deck – A step-by-step document that walks you through how to future-proof your IT team.

    Protect your team and organization from losses associated with departure of people from key roles. This blueprint will help you build an IT succession plan to ensure critical knowledge doesn’t walk out the door and continuity of business when people in key roles leave.

    • Build an IT Succession Plan Storyboard

    2. Critical Role Identifier – A tool to help you determine which roles are most critical to the success of your team.

    The purpose of this tool is to help facilitate a conversation around critical roles.

    • Critical Role Identifier

    3. Key Role Succession Planning Template – A tool that walks you through reviewing your talent, succession planning, and determining successor readiness.

    This tool will help IT leaders work through key steps in succession development for each employee in the team, and present summaries of the findings for easy reference and defensibility.

    • Key Roles Succession Planning Tool

    4. Role Profile Template – A template that helps you outline the minimum requirements for each critical role addressed in succession planning.

    This template is a guide and the categories can be customized to your organization.

    • Role Profile Template

    5. Individual Talent Profile Template – A template to assess an employee against the role profiles of critical roles.

    This profile provides the basis for evidence-based comparison of talent in talent calibration sessions.

    • Individual Talent Profile Template

    6. Role Transition Plan Template – A template to help you plan to implement knowledge transfer and alternative work arrangements.

    As one person exits a role and a successor takes over, a clear checklist-based plan will help ensure a smooth transition.

    • Role Transition Plan Template
    [infographic]

    Further reading

    INFO~TECH RESEARCH GROUP

    Build an IT Succession Plan

    Future-proof your IT team.


    Build an IT Succession Plan

    Future-proof your IT team.

    EXECUTIVE BRIEF

    Executive Summary

    Your Challenge

    Most organizations are unprepared for the loss of employees who hold key roles.

    • The departure of employees in key roles results in the loss of valuable knowledge, core business relationships, and profits.
    • Pending retirements in key roles create workforce risks and potentially impact business continuity.

    Planning and executing on key role transition can take years. CIOs should prepare now to mitigate the risk of loss later.

    		Common Obstacles
    • The number of organizations which have not engaged in succession planning is 56%; they haven’t identified at-risk key roles, or successors for those roles.
    • Analyzing key roles at the incumbent and successor level introduces real-life, individual-focused factors that have a major impact on role-related risk.
    		Info-Tech’s Approach
    • Plan for the transfer of critical knowledge held by key role incumbents.
    • Explore alternative work arrangements to ensure sufficient time to prepare successors.
    • Define formal transition plans for all employees in at-risk key roles and their successors.

    Info-Tech Insight

    Losing employees in key roles without adequate preparation hinders productivity, knowledge retention, relationships, and opportunities. Implement scalable succession planning to mitigate the risks.

    Most organizations are unprepared for the loss of employees who hold key roles

    Due to the atmosphere of uncertainty.

    Not only do they not have the right processes in place, but they are also ill-equipped to deal with the sheer volume of retirees in the future.

    Over 58% of organizations are unprepared for Baby Boomer retirement. Only 8% said they were very prepared.

    Pie chart with percentages of organizations who are prepared for Baby Boomer retirement.
    (Source: McLean & Company, 2013; N=120)

    A survey done by SHRM and AARP found similar results: 41% of HR professionals said their organizations have done nothing and don’t plan to do anything to prepare for a possible worker shortage as Boomers retire.

    (Source: Poll: Organizations Can Do More to Prepare for Talent Shortage as Boomers Retire)     		This means that three out of five organizations don’t know what skills they need for the future, or what their key roles truly are. They also have not identified at-risk key roles or successors for those roles.
    (Source: McLean & Company, 2013, N=120)

    To make matters worse, 74% of organizations have no formal process for facilitating knowledge transfer between individuals, so knowledge will be lost.

    Pie chart with percentages of organizations with a formal process for facilitating knowledge transfer.
    (Source: McLean & Company, 2013; N=120)

    Most organizations underestimate the costs associated with ignoring succession planning

    “In many cases, executives have no idea what knowledge they are losing.” (TLNT: Lost Knowledge – What Are You and Your Organization Doing About It?”)
    Objections to succession planning now: The risks of this mindset…
    “The recession bought us time to plan for Baby Boomer retirement.” Forty-two percent of organizations believe this to be true and may feel a false sense of security. Assume it takes three years to identify an internal successor for a key role, develop them, and execute the transition. Add the idea that, like most organizations, you don’t have a repeatable process for doing this. Do you still have enough time?
    “The skills possessed by my organization’s Baby Boomers are easy to develop in others internally.” Forty percent of organizations agree with this statement, but given the low rate of workforce planning taking place, most may not actually know the skills and knowledge they need to meet future business goals. These organizations may realize their loss too late.
    “We don’t have the time to invest in succession planning.” Thirty-nine percent of organizations cite this as an obstacle, which is a very real concern. Adopting a simple, scalable process that focuses on the most mission critical key roles will be easier to digest, as well as eliminate time wasted trying to recoup losses in the long run. The costs of not planning are much higher than the costs of planning.
    “We don’t know when our boomers plan to retire, so we can’t really plan for it.” The fact that 42% of organizations do not know employees’ retirement plans is proof positive that they’re operating blind. You can’t plan for something if you don’t have any information about what to plan for or the time frame you’re working against.
    “My organization puts a premium on fresh ideas over experience.” While nearly 45% of organizations prioritize fresh ideas, 50% value experience more. Succession planning and knowledge transfer are important strategies for ensuring experience is retained long enough for it to be passed along in the organization.

    Use Info-Tech’s tools and templates

    Talent Review

    Succession Planning

    Knowledge Transfer
    Key tools and templates to help you complete your project deliverables
    Key Roles Succession Planning Tool
    Critical Role Identifier
    Role Profile Template
    Individual Talent Profile Template    		 Key Roles Succession Planning Tool
    Role Profile Template
    Individual Talent Profile Template    		 Role Transition Plan Template
    Key Roles Succession Planning Tool
    Role Profile Template
    Individual Talent Profile Template
    Your completed project deliverables

    Critical Role Identifier

    Key Roles Succession Plan

    Key Role Profiles

    Individual Talent Profiles

    Key Role Transition Plans

    Ignoring succession planning could cause significant costs

    Losing knowledge will undermine your strategy in four ways:

    Inefficiency

    Inefficiency due to “reinvention of the wheel.” When workers leave and don’t effectively transfer their knowledge, duplication of effort to solve problems and find solutions occurs.

    		 Innovation

    Reduced capacity to innovate. Older workers know what works and what doesn’t, what’s new and what’s not. They can identify the status quo faster to make way for novel thinking.

    		 Competitive Advantage

    Loss of competitive advantage. Losing knowledge and/or established client relationships hurts your asset base and stifles growth.

    		Vulnerability

    Increased vulnerability. Losing knowledge can impede your organizational ability to identify, understand, and mitigate risks. You’ll have to learn through experience all over again.

    Succession planning improves performance by reducing the impact of sudden departures

    Business Continuity

    Succession planning limits disruption to daily operations and minimizes recruitment costs:

    • The average time to fill a vacant role externally in the US is approximately 43 days (Workable). Succession planning can reduce this via a talent pool of ready-now successors.
    		 Engagement & Retention

    Effective succession planning is a tool for engaging, developing, and retaining employees:

    • Of departing employees, 45% cite lack of opportunities for career advancement as the moderate, major, or primary reason they left (McLean & Company Exit Survey, 2018, N=7,530).
    		 Innovation & Growth

    Knowledge is a strategic asset, and succession planning can help retain, grow, and capitalize on it:

    • Retaining the experience and expertise of individuals departing from critical roles supports and enhances the quality of innovation (Harvard Business Review, 2008).

    Info-Tech’s approach

    Talent Review

    Conduct a talent review to identify key roles

    Short bracket.    		 Succession Planning

    Succession planning helps you assess which key roles are most at risk

    Long bracket.    		 Knowledge Transfer

    Utilize methods that make it easy to apply the knowledge in day-to-day practice.

    Long bracket.
    Identify Critical Roles Assess Talent Identify Successors Develop Successors Select Successors Identify Critical Knowledge Select Transfer Methods Document Role Transition Plans

    Future-Proofed IT Team
    • Business continuity
    • The right people, in the right positions, at the right time
    • Retention due to employee development & growth
    • IT success
    • Decreased impact of sudden departures
    • Improved performance

    Info-Tech’s methodology for building an IT succession plan

    1. Talent Review 2. Succession Planning 3. Knowledge Transfer
    Phase Steps
    1. Identify critical roles
    2. Assess talent
    1. Identify successor pool
    2. Develop successors
    3. Select successors
    1. Identify critical knowledge
    2. Select knowledge transfer methods
    3. Document role transition plans
    Phase Outcomes
    • Documented business priorities
    • Identified critical roles including required skills and knowledge that support achievement of business strategy
    • Key at-risk roles identified.
    • Potential successors for key roles identified.
    • Gap assessment between key role incumbents and potential successors.
    • Critical knowledge risks identified.
    • Appropriate knowledge transfer methods selected.
    • Documented knowledge transfer initiatives for key role transition plans.

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

    DIY Toolkit

    Guided Implementation

    Workshop

    Consulting
    "Our team has already made this critical project a priority, and we have the time and capability, but some guidance along the way would be helpful." "Our team knows that we need to fix a process, but we need assistance to determine where to focus. Some check-ins along the way would help keep us on track." "We need to hit the ground running and get this project kicked off immediately. Our team has the ability to take this over once we get a framework and strategy in place." "Our team does not have the time or the knowledge to take this project on. We need assistance through the entirety of this project."

    Diagnostics and consistent frameworks used throughout all four options

    Guided Implementation

    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 six to ten calls over the course of four to eight months.

    What does a typical GI on this topic look like?

    Phase 1

    Phase 2

    Phase 3
    Call #1: Scope requirements, objectives, and your specific challenges. Call #2:Review business priorities and clarify criteria weighting.

    Call #3: Review key role criteria. Explain information collection process.

    		 Call #4: Review risk and readiness assessments.

    Call #5: Analyze gaps between key roles and successors for key considerations.

    		 Call #6: Feedback and recommendations on critical knowledge risks.

    Call #7: Review selected transfer methods.

    		 Call #8: Analyze role transition plans for flags.

    Build an IT Succession Plan

    Phase 1

    Talent Review

    Phase 1

    1.1 Identify Critical Roles

    1.2 Assess Talent

    		 Phase 2

    2.1 Identify Successors

    2.2 Develop Successors

    2.3 Select Successors

    		 Phase 3

    3.1 Identify Critical Knowledge

    3.2 Select Transfer Methods

    3.3 Document Role Transition Plan

    This phase will walk you through:

    • Identifying your business priorities
    • Identifying your critical roles including required skills and knowledge that support achievement of business strategy

    Tools and resources used:

    • Key Roles Succession Planning Tool
    • Key Role Profile
    • Individual Talent Profile
    • Critical Role Identifier

    This phase involves the following participants:

    • IT leadership/management team
    • HR

    Conduct a talent review to identify key roles

    Sixty percent of organizations have not engaged in formal workforce planning, so they don’t know what skills they need or what their key roles truly are. (Source: McLean & Company, 2013; N=139)
    1. A talent review ensures that each work unit has the right people, in the right place, at the right time to successfully execute the business strategy.
    2. Only 40% of organizations have engaged in some form of workforce planning.
    3. The first step is to identify your business focus; with this information you can start to note the key roles that drive your business strategy.

    Key roles

    Where an organization’s most valued skills and knowledge reside

    Organizations should prepare now to mitigate the risk of loss later.

    Key roles are:

    • Held by the most senior people in the organization, who carry the bulk of leadership and decision-making responsibility.
    • Highly technical or specialized, and therefore difficult to replace.
    • Tied closely to unique or proprietary processes or possess knowledge that cannot be procured externally.
    • Critical to the continuation of business and cannot be left vacant without risking business operations.

    Info-Tech Insight

    Losing employees in key roles without adequate preparation for their departure has a direct impact on the bottom line in terms of disrupted productivity, lost knowledge, severed relationships, and missed opportunities.

    		A tree of key roles, starting with CEO and branching down.

    Identifying key roles is the first step in a range of workforce management activities because it helps establish organizational needs and priorities, as well as focusing planning effort.

    A talent review allows you to identify the knowledge and skills you need today and for the long term.

    Knowing what you need is the first step in determining what you have and what you need to keep.

    • A talent review is an analytic planning process used to ensure a work unit has the right people, in the right place, at the right time, and for the right cost in order to successfully execute its business strategy. It allows organizations to:
    • Evaluate workforce demographics, review skills, and conduct position inventories.
    • Evaluate business continuity risk from a talent perspective by identifying potential workforce shortages.
    • Identify critical positions, critical skills for each position, and percentage of critical workers retiring to assess the potential impact of losing them.
    • Look at the effect of loss on new product development, revenues, costs, and business strategic objectives.

    Caution

    A talent review is a high-level planning process which does not take individual employees into consideration. Succession planning looks at individuals and will be discussed in Phase 2.

    A talent review gets you to think in terms of:

    • Where your organization wants to be in five years.
    • What skills the organization needs to meet business goals between now and then.
    • How it can be best positioned for the longer-term future.

    Note: Planning against a time frame longer than five years is difficult because uncertainty in the external business environment will have unforeseen effects. Revisit your plan annually and update it, considering changes.

    Step 1.1

    Identify critical roles

    Activities
    • 1.1.1 Document Business Priorities, Goals, and Challenges
    • 1.1.2 Clarify Key Role Criteria and Weighting
    • 1.1.3 Evaluate Role Importance
    • 1.1.4 Key Role Selection and Comparison
    • 1.1.5 Capture Key Elements of Critical Roles

    The primary goal of this step is to ensure we have effectively identified key roles based on business priorities, goals, and challenges, and to capture the key elements of critical roles.

    Outcomes of this step

    • Documented business priorities, goals, and challenges.
    • Key elements of critical roles captured.
    • Key role criteria and weighting.
    Talent Review
    Step 1.1 Step 1.2

    Business priorities will determine the knowledge and skills you value most

    Venn diagram of business priorities: 'Customer Focus', 'Operational Focus', and 'Product Focus'.
    Note: Most organizations will be a blend of all three, with one predominating    		 “I’ve been in the position where the business assumes everyone knows what is required. It’s not until you get people into a room that it becomes clear there is misalignment. It all seems very intuitive but in a lot of cases they haven’t made the critical distinctions regarding what exactly the competencies are. They haven’t spent the time figuring out what they know.” (Anne Roberts, Principal, Leadership Within Inc.)

    1.1.1 Document business priorities

    Input: Business strategic plan

    Output: Completed workforce planning worksheet (Tab 2) of the Key Roles Succession Planning Tool

    Materials: Key Roles Succession Planning Tool

    Participants: IT leadership

    Start by identifying your business priorities based on your strategic plan. The goal of this exercise is to blast away assumptions and make sure leadership has a common understanding of your target.

    With the questions on the previous slide in mind document your business priorities, business goals, and business challenges in Tab 2 of the Key Roles Succession Planning Tool worksheet.

    Get clear answers to these questions:

    • Are we customer focused, product focused, or operationally focused? In other words, is your organization known for:
      • Great customer service or a great customer experience?
      • The lowest price?
      • Having the latest technology, or the best quality product?
    • What are our organizational/departmental business goals? To improve operational effectiveness, are we really talking about reducing operational costs?
    • What are the key business challenges to address within the context of our focus?

    Key Roles Succession Planning Tool

    Clarify what defines a key role

    A key role is crucial to achieving organizational objectives, drives business performance, and includes specialized and rare competencies. Key roles are high in strategic value and rarity – for example, the developer role for a tech company.
    Chart with axes 'Rarity' and 'Strategic Value'. Lowest in both are 'Supporting Roles', Highest in both are 'Critical Roles', and the space in the middle are 'Core Roles'. Look at two dimensions when examining roles:
    • Strategic value refers to the importance of the role in keeping the organization functioning and executing on the strategic objectives.
    • Rarity refers to how difficult it is to find and develop the competencies in the role.

    Info-tech insight

    Traditionally, succession planning has only addressed top management roles. However, until you look at the evidence, you won’t know if these are indeed high-value roles, and you may be missing other critical roles further down the hierarchy.

    Use the Critical Role Identifier to facilitate the identification of critical roles with your leaders.

    1.1.2 Clarify key role criteria & weighting

    Input: Business strategic plan

    Output: Weighted criteria to help identify critical roles

    Materials: Critical Role Identifier

    Participants: IT leadership

    1. Using Tab 2 of the Critical Role Identifier tool, along with the information on the previous slide, determine the relative importance of four criteria as contributing to the importance of a role within the organization.
    2. Rate each of the four criteria: strategic value, rarity, revenue generation, business/operation continuity, and any custom criteria numerically. You might choose only one or two criteria – they all do not need to be included.
    3. Document your decisions in Tab 2 of the Critical Role Identifier.

    Critical Role Identifier

    1.1.3 Evaluate role importance

    Input: List of IT roles

    Output: Full list of roles and a populated Critical Role Selection sheet (Tab 4)

    Materials: Critical Role Identifier

    Participants: IT leadership

    1. Using Tab 3 of the Critical Role Identifier, collect information about IT roles.
    2. Start by listing each role under consideration, and its department or subcategory.
    3. For each criteria statement listed across the top of the sheet, select an option from the drop-down menu to reflect the appropriate answer scale rating. Replace the text in grey with information customized to your team. If criteria has a weighting of zero in Tab 2, the questions associated with that criteria will be greyed out and do not have to be answered.

    Critical Role Identifier

    Identify the key roles that support and drive your business priorities

    Focus on key IT roles instead of all roles to save time and concentrate effort on your highest risk areas.

    Key Roles include:

    • Strategic Roles: Roles that give the greatest competitive advantage. Often these are roles that involve decision-making responsibility.
    • Core Roles: Roles that must provide consistent results to achieve business goals.
    • Proprietary Roles: Roles that are tied closely to unique or proprietary internal processes or knowledge that cannot be procured externally. These are often highly technical or specialized.
    • Required Roles: Roles that support the department and are required to keep it moving forward day-to-day.
    • Influential Roles: Positions filled by employees who are the backbone of the organization, the go-to people who are the corporate culture.
    		 Ask these questions to identify key roles:
    1. What are the roles that have a significant impact on delivering the business strategy?
    2. What are the key differentiating roles for our organization?
    3. Which roles, if vacant, would leave the organization open to non-compliance with regulatory or legal requirements?
    4. Which roles have a direct impact on the customer?
    5. Which roles, if vacant, would create system, function, or process failure for the organization?

    1.1.4 Key role selection and comparison

    Input: Tab 3 of the Critical Role Identifier

    Output: List of roles from highest to lowest criticality score, List of key roles entered in Tab 2 of the Key Roles Succession Planning Tool

    Materials: Critical Role Identifier, Key Roles Succession Planning Tool

    Participants: IT leadership

    1. Using tab 4 of the Critical Role Identifier, which displays the results of the role importance evaluation, review the weighted criticality score. To add or remove roles or departments make changes on Tab 3.
    2. Use this table to see the scores and roles from highest to lowest based on your weightings and scoring.
    3. In column J, classify the roles as critical, core, or supporting based on the weighted overall score and the individual criteria scores.
      1. Critical – is crucial to achieving organizational objectives, drives business performance, and includes specialized and rare skills.
      2. Core – is related to operational excellence. Highly strategically valuable but easy to find or develop.
      3. Supporting – is important in keeping business functioning; however, the strategic value is low. Competencies are easy to develop.
    4. Once you’ve selected the key roles, transfer them into Tab 2 of the Key Roles Succession Planning Tool worksheet where you have documented your business priorities.

    Critical Role Identifier

    Key Roles Succession Planning Tool

    1.1.5 Capture key elements of critical roles

    Input: Job descriptions, Success profiles, Competency profiles

    Output: List of required skills and knowledge for key roles, Role profiles documented for key roles

    Materials: Key Roles Succession Planning Tool, Role Profile Template

    Participants: IT leadership

    1. Document the minimum requirements for critical roles in column E and F of Tab 2 of the Key Roles Succession Planning Tool. Include elements that drive talent decisions, are measurable, and are oriented to future organizational needs.
    2. Consider how leadership competencies and technical skills tie to business expansion plans, new service offerings, etc.
    3. Use the Role Profile Template to help in this process and to maintain up-to-date information.
    4. Role profiles may be informed by existing job descriptions, success profiles, or competency profiles.
    5. Conduct regular maintenance on your role profiles. Outdated and inaccurate role-related information can make succession planning efforts ineffective.

    Key Roles Succession Planning Tool

    Role Profile Template

    Case Study

    Conduct a “sanity check” by walking through a checklist of all roles to ensure you haven’t missed anything.
    INDUSTRY
    Large Provincial Hospital
    SOURCE
    Payroll Manager
    Challenge
    • Key roles may not be what you think they are.
    • The Payroll Manager of a large Provincial hospital, with 20-year tenure, announced her retirement.
    • Throughout her tenure, this employee took on many tasks outside the scope of her role, including pension calculations/filings and other finance-related tasks that required a high level of specialized knowledge of internal systems.
    		 Solution
    • Little time or effort was placed on fully understanding what she did day-to-day.
    • Furthermore, the search for a replacement was left far too late, which meant that she vacated the role without training a replacement.
    • Low level roles can become critical to business continuation if they’re occupied by only one person, creating a “single point of failure” if they become vacant.
    		 Results
    • It wasn’t until after she left that it became obvious how much extra work she was doing, which made it nearly impossible to find a replacement.
    • Her manager found a replacement to take the payroll duties but had to distribute the other duties to colleagues (who were very unhappy about the extra tasks).
    • This role may not seem like a “key role,” but the incumbent turned it into one. Keep tabs on what people are working on to avoid overly nuanced role requirements.

    Step 1.2

    Assess talent

    Activities
    • 1.2.1 Identify Current Incumbents’ Information
    • 1.2.2 Identify Potential Successors and Collect Information

    The primary goal of this step is to assess departmental talent and identify gaps between potential successors and key roles. This analysis is intended to support departmental access to suitable talent ensuring future business success.

    Outcomes of this step

    • Collection of current incumbents’ information.
    • Collection of potential successor information.
    • Gap assessment.

    Talent Review

    Step 1.1 Step 1.2

    Find out key role incumbents’ career plans

    Have career discussions with key role incumbents

    • Do not ask employees directly about their retirement plans as this can be misconstrued as age discrimination – let them take the initiative.
    • To take the spotlight away from older workers and potential feelings of discrimination, supervisors should be having these discussions with their employees at least annually.
    • Having this discussion creates an opportunity for employees to share their retirement plans, if they have any.
    • Warning: This is not the time to make promises about the future. For example, alternative work arrangements cannot be guaranteed without further analysis and planning.
    		 Do the following:
    1. Book a meeting with employees and ask them to prepare for a career development discussion.
    2. Ask direct questions about motivation, lifestyle preferences, and passions.
    3. Spend the time to understand your employees’ goals and their development needs.
    If an employee discloses that they plan to leave within the next few years:
    1. Gather information about approximate exit dates (non-binding).
    2. Find out their opinions about how they would like to transition out of their role, including any alternative work arrangements they would like to pursue.

    Potential questions to ask during career discussions with key role incumbents

    • Where do you see yourself in five years?
    • What role would you see yourself in after this one?
    • What gets you excited about coming to work?
    • Describe your greatest strengths. How would you like to use those strengths in the future?
    • What is standing in the way of your career goals?
    ** Do not ask employees directly about their retirement plans as this can be misconstrued as age discrimination – let them take the initiative.**    		 Stock photo of a smiling employee with grey hair.

    1.2.1 Identify current incumbents' information

    Input: Key roles list, Employee information

    Output: List of key roles with individual incumbent information

    Materials: Key Roles Succession Planning Tool – Succession Plan Worksheet (Tab 3)

    Participants: IT leadership/management team, HR, Current incumbents if necessary

    Identify current incumbents for all key roles and collect information about them.

    Using Tab 3 of the Key Roles Succession Planning Tool identify the incumbent (the person currently in the role) for all key roles.

    Distribute the worksheet to department managers and team leaders to complete the information below for each key role.

    For that incumbent, also document:

    1. Their time in that role.
    2. Their overall performance in current role (does not meet, meets, or exceeds expectations).
    3. Next step in career (target role or retirement).
    4. Time until exit from the current role (known or estimated).
    5. Development needs for next step in career.
    6. Any additional knowledge and skills they possess beyond the role description that is of value to the organization.

    Upon completion, managers and team leaders should review the results with the department leader.

    Key Roles Succession Planning Tool

    Identify potential successors for all key roles

    It’s imperative that multiple sources of information are used to ensure no potential successor is missed and to gain a complete candidate picture.

    Work collaboratively with the management team and HR business partners for names of potential successors.

    The management team includes:

    • The incumbent’s direct supervisor.
    • Managers from the department in which the key role exists.
    • Leaders of teams with which potential successors have worked.
    • The key role incumbent (assuming it’s appropriate to do so).

    Use management roundtable discussions to identify and analyze each potential successor.

    • Participants should come equipped with names of potential successors and be prepared to provide a rationale for their recommendation.
    • Provide all participants with the key role job description in advance of the meeting, including responsibilities and required knowledge and skills.

    Don’t confuse successors with high potentials!

    • Identifying high potential employees involves recognizing those employees who consistently outperform their peers, progress more quickly than their peers, and live the company culture. They are usually striving for leadership roles.
    • While you also want your successors to exemplify these qualities of excellence, succession planning is specifically about identifying the employees who currently possess (or soon will possess) the skills and knowledge required to take over a key role.
    • Remember: Key roles are not limited to leadership roles, so cast a wider net when identifying succession candidates.
    See the following slide for sources of information participants should consult to back up their recommendations and vet succession candidates.

    Determine how employees will be identified for talent assessment

    Description Advice
    Management-nominated employees
    • Managers or skip-level leaders nominate potential successors within or outside their team.
    • Limit bias by requiring management nominations to be based on specific evidence of performance and potential.
    High-potential employees (HiPos)
    • Consider employees who are in an existing high-potential program.
    • Determine whether the HiPo program sufficiently assesses for critical role requirements. Successors must possess the skills and knowledge required for specific critical roles. Expand assessment beyond just HiPo.
    Self-nominated employees
    • Employees are informed about succession planning and asked to indicate their interest in critical roles.
    • Train managers to support the program and to handle difficult conversations (e.g. employee submitted self-nomination and was unsuccessful).
    All employees
    • All employees across a division, geography, function, or leadership level are invited for assessment.
    • While less common, this approach is appropriate for highly inclusive cultures. Be prepared to invest significantly more time and resources.
    When identifying employees, keep the following advice in mind:

    Widen the net

    Don’t limit yourself to the next level down or the same functional group.

    Match transparency

    With less transparency, there are fewer options, and you risk missing out on potential successors.

    Select the appropriate talent assessment methods

    Identify all talent assessment types used in your organization and examine their ability to inform decision-making for critical role assignments. Select multiple sources to ensure a robust talent assessment approach:

    A sound talent assessment methodology will involve both quantitative and qualitative components. Multiple data inputs and perspectives will help ensure relevant information is prioritized and suitable candidates aren’t overlooked.

    However, beware that too many inputs may slow down the process and frustrate managers.

    Beware of biases in talent assessments. A common tendency is for people to recommend successors who are exactly like them or who they like personally, not necessarily the best person for the job. HR must (diplomatically) challenge leaders to use evidence-based assessments.

    Good Successor Information Sources

    • 360-Degree Feedback – (breadth and accuracy)
    • HR-led Interviews – (objectivity and confirmation)
    • Talent Review Meetings – (leadership input)
    • Stretch Assignments – (challenge comfort zones)
    • Competency-Based Aptitude Tests – (objective data)
    • Job Simulations – (real-life testing)
    • Recent Performance Evaluations – (predictor of future performance)

    Prepare to customize the Individual Talent Profile Template

    Ensure the role profile and individual talent profile are synchronized to enable comparing employee qualifications and readiness to critical role requirements. Sample of the Role Profile.

    Role Profile

    A role profile contains information on the skills, competencies, and other minimum requirements for the critical role. It details the type of incumbent that would fit a critical role.    		 Stock image of a chain link.

    Use both in conjunction during:

    • Talent assessment
    • Successor identification
    • Successor development
    • Successor selection
    		 Sample the Individual Talent Profile.

    Individual Talent Profile

    A talent profile provides information about a person. In addition to responding to role profile criteria, it provides information on an employee’s past experiences and performance, career aspirations, and future potential.

    1.2.2 Identify Potential Successors’ Information

    Input: Key roles list, Employee information, Completed role profiles and/or Tab 2 role information.

    Output: List of potential successors for key roles that are selected for talent assessment

    Materials: Key Roles Succession Planning Tool – Succession Plan Worksheet (Tab 3)

    Participants: IT leadership, IT team leads, Employees

    Identify potential successors for key roles and collect critical information.

    Have managers and team leads complete column I on Tab 3 of the Key Roles Succession Planning Tool and review with the department leader.

    There may be more than one potential successor for key roles; this is okay.

    Once the list is compiled, complete an individual talent profile for each potential successor. Record an employee’s:

    1. Employee information
    2. Career goals
    3. Experience and education
    4. Achievements
    5. Competencies
    6. Performance
    7. Any assessment results

    Once the profiles are completed, they can be compared to the role profile to identify development needs.

    Key Roles Succession Planning Tool

    Individual Talent Profile Template

    Build an IT Succession Plan

    Phase 2

    Succession Planning

    Phase 1

    1.1 Identify Critical Roles

    1.2 Assess Talent

    		Phase 2

    2.1 Identify Successors

    2.2 Develop Successors

    2.3 Select Successors

    		Phase 3

    3.1 Identify Critical Knowledge

    3.2 Select Transfer Methods

    3.3 Document Role Transition Plan

    This phase will walk you through how to:

    • Conduct an assessment to identify “at risk” key role incumbents.
    • Identify potential successors for key roles and collect critical information.
    • Assess gaps between key role incumbents and potential successors.

    Tools and resources used:

    • Key Roles Succession Planning Tool
    • Key Role Profile
    • Individual Talent Profile

    This phase involves the following participants:

    • IT leadership/management team
    • HR

    Succession planning helps you assess which key roles are most at risk

    Drilling down to the incumbent and successor level introduces “real life,” individual-focused factors that have a major impact on role-related risk.

    Succession planning is an organizational process for identifying and developing talent internally to fill key business roles. It allows organizations to:

    • Understand the career plans of employees to allow organizations to plan more accurately.
    • Identify suitable successors for key roles and assess their readiness.
    • Mitigate risks to long-term business continuity and growth.
    • Avoid external replacement costs including headhunting and recruitment, HR administration, and productivity loss.
    • Retain internal tacit knowledge.
    • Increase engagement and retention; keeping talented people reinforces career path opportunities and builds team culture.

    Caution:

    Where the talent review was about high-level strategic planning for talent requirements, succession planning looks at individual employees and plans for which employees will fulfill which key roles next.    		 “I ask the questions, What are the risks we have with these particular roles? Is there a way to disperse this knowledge to other members of the group? If yes, then how do we do that?” (Director of HR, Service Industry)

    Succession planning ultimately must drill down to individual people – namely, the incumbent and potential successors.

    This is because individual human beings possess a unique knowledge and skill set, along with their own personal aspirations and life circumstances.

    The risks associated with a key role are theoretical. When people are introduced into the equation, the “real life” risk of loss for that key role can change dramatically.

    Succession Planning

    Funnel titled 'Succession Planning' with 'Critical Roles' at the top of the funnel, 'Critical Knowledge and Skills' as the middle of the funnel, 'Individuals' as the bottom of the funnel, and it drains into 'Incumbent's Potential Successors'.

    Step 2.1

    Identify Successors

    Activities
    • 2.1.1 Conduct Individual Risk Assessment
    • 2.1.2 Successor Readiness Assessment

    This step highlights the relative positioning of all employees assessed for departure risk compared to the potential successors’ readiness, identifying gaps that create risk for the organization, and need mitigation strategies.

    Outcomes of this step

    • Individual risk assessment results – mitigate, manage, accept matrix.
    • Potential successor readiness ranking.
    • Determination on transparency level with successors.

    Succession Planning

    Step 2.1 Step 2.2 Step 2.3

    Decide how to obtain information on employee interest in critical roles

    Not all employees may want to be considered as part of the succession planning program. It might not fit their short- or long-term plans. Avoid misalignment and outline steps to ascertain employee interest.

    Transparency

    • Use your target transparency level to:
      • Determine the degree of employees’ participation in self-assessment.
      • Guide organization-wide and targeted messaging about succession planning (see Step 3).

    Timing

    • Ensure program-level communication has occurred before asking employees about their interests in critical roles, in order to garner more trust and engagement.
    • Decide at what point along the succession planning process (if at all) that employee’s career interests will be collected and incorporated.

    Manager accountability and resources

    • Identify resources needed for managers to conduct targeted career conversations with employees (e.g. training, communication guides, key messaging).
    • If program communication is to be implemented organization-wide, approach accordingly.

    Obtaining employee interest ensures process efficiency because:

    • Time isn’t wasted focusing on candidates who aren’t interested.
    • The assessment group is narrowed down through self-selection.

    Level-set expectations with employees:

    • Communicate that they will be considered for assessment and talent review discussions.
    • Ensure they understand that everyone assessed will not necessarily be identified or selected as a successor.

    Conduct a risk assessment

    Identify key role incumbents who may leave before you’re ready.

    Pay particular attention to those employees nearing retirement and flag them as high risk.

    Understand the impact that employee age has on key role risk. Keep the following in mind when filling out the Individual Risk Assessment of the Key Roles Succession Planning Tool. See the next slide for more details on this.
    High Risk Arrow pointing both ways vertically. Anyone 60 years of age or older, or anyone who has indicated they will be retiring within five years.
    Moderate Risk Employees in their early 50s are still many years away from retirement but have enough years remaining in their career to make a significant move to a new role outside of your organization. Furthermore, they have specialized skills making them more attractive to external organizations.
    Employees in their late 50s are likely more than five years away from retirement but are also less likely than younger employees to leave your organization for another role elsewhere. This is because of increasing personal risk in making such a move, and persistent employer unwillingness to hire older employees.
    Low Risk Technically, when it comes to succession planning for key roles held by employees over the age of 50, no one should be considered “low risk for departure.”
    		Pull some hard demographic data.

    Compile a report that breaks down employees into age-based demographic groups.

    Flag those over the age of 50 – they’re in the “retirement zone” and could decide to leave at any time.

    Check to see which key role incumbents fall into the “over 50” age demographic. You’ll want to shortlist these people for an individual risk assessment.

    Update this report twice a year to keep it current.

    For those people on your shortlist, gather the information that supervisors gained from the career discussions that took place. Specifically, draw out information that indicates their retirement plans.

    2.1.1 Conduct Individual Risk Assessment

    Input: Completed Succession Plan worksheet

    Output: Risk assessment of key role incumbents, understanding of which key role departures to manage, mitigate, and accept

    Materials: Key Roles Succession Planning Tool – Individual Risk Assessment (Tab 4), Key Roles Succession Planning Tool – Risk Assessment Results (Tab 5)

    Participants: IT leadership/management team

    Assign values for probability of departure and impact of departure using the Key Roles Succession Planning Tool.

    For those in key roles and those over 50, complete the Individual Risk Assessment (Tab 4) of the Key Roles Succession Planning Tool:

    1. Assess each key role incumbent’s probability of departure based on your knowledge. If the person is going to another job, is a known flight risk, or faces dismissal, the probability is high.
      • 0-40: Unlikely to Leave. If the employee is new to the role, highly engaged, or a high potential.
      • 41-60: Unknown. If the employee is sending mixed messages about happiness at work, or sending no messages, it may be difficult to guess.
      • 61-100: Likely to Leave. If the employee is nearing retirement, actively job searching, disengaged, or faces dismissal, then the probability of departure is high.
    2. Assess the role and the individual’s impact of departure on a scale of 1 (no impact) to 100 (devasting impact).
    3. Review the risk assessment results on tab 5 of the planning tool. The employees that appear in the mitigate quadrant are your succession planning priorities.

    Key Roles Succession Planning Tool

    Define readiness criteria for successor identification

    1. Select the types of readiness and the number of levels:

      Readiness by time horizon:

      • Successors are identified as ready based on how long it is estimated they will take to acquire the minimum requirements of the critical role.
      • Levels example: Ready Now, Ready in 1-2 Years, Ready in 3-5 Years.

      Readiness by moves:

      • Successors are identified as ready based on how many position moves they have made or how many developmental experiences they have had.
      • Levels example: Ready Now, Ready after 1 Move, Ready after 2 Moves.
    2. Create definitions for each readiness level:
      Example:

      Performance

      Potential
      Ready Now Definition: Ability to deliver in current role Requirement: Meets or exceeds expectations Definition: Ability to take on greater responsibility Requirement: Demonstrates learning agility
      The 9-box is an effective way to map performance and potential requirements and can guide management decision making in talent review and calibration sessions. See McLean & Company’s 9-Box Job Aid for more information. Sample of the 9-Box Job Aid, a 9-field matrix with axes 'Potential: Low to High' and 'Performance: Low to High'.
      “Time means nothing. If you say someone will be ready in a year, and you’ve done nothing in that year to develop them, they won’t be ready. We look at it as moves or experiences: ready now, ready in one move, ready in two moves.” (Amanda Mathieson, Senior Manager, Talent Management, Tangerine)

    2.1.2 Successor Readiness Assessment

    Input: Individual talent profiles, List of potential successors (Tab 3)

    Output: Readiness ranking for each potential successor

    Materials: Key Roles Succession Planning Tool

    Participants: IT leadership/management team

    Assign values for probability of departure and impact of departure using the Key Roles Succession Planning Tool.

    Using Tab 6 of the Key Roles Succession Planning Tool, evaluate the readiness of each potential successor that you previously identified.

    1. Enter the name, current role, and target role of each potential successor into the spreadsheet.
    2. For each employee, fill in a response from “strongly agree” to “strongly disagree” for the assessment criteria statements listed in column B of Tab 6. This will give you a readiness ranking in row 68.

    Key Roles Succession Planning Tool

    Decide if and how successors will be told about their status in the succession plan

    1. Decide if employees will be told. Be as transparent as possible. This will provide several benefits to your organization (e.g. higher engagement, retention) while managing potential risks (e.g. perception that the process is unfair, reducing motivation to perform).
    2. Decide who will tell them. Decide based on the culture of your organization; are official communications usually conveyed through the direct manager, HR, senior leaders, or steering committee?
    1. Determine how you will tell them.

      Suggested messaging to non-successors:

      • Not being identified as a successor does not mean that an employee is not valued by the organization, nor does it indicate the employee will be let go. It simply means that the organization needs a backup plan to manage risk.
      • Employees can still develop toward a critical role they are interested in, and the organization will continue to evaluate whether they can be a potential successor.
      • It is the employee’s responsibility to own their development and communicate to their manager any interest they have in critical roles.

      Suggested messaging to successors:

      • Being identified as a successor is an investment in employee development – not a guaranteed promotion.
      • Successor status may change based on changes to the critical role itself, or if performance is not on par with expectations.
      • The organization strives to be as fair and objective as possible through evidence-based assessments of performance and potential.

    Case Study

    Failing to have a career aspiration discussion with a potential successor leaves a sales director in a bind.

    INDUSTRY
    Professional Services
    SOURCE
    Confidential
    Challenge
    • A senior sales director in a medium-sized private company knew there would be a key management opportunity opening up in six months. He had one candidate in mind: a key contributor from the sales floor.
    • The sales manager assumed that the sales representative would want the management position and began planning the candidate’s required training in order to get him ready.
    		 Solution
    • Three months before the position opened up, the manager finally approached the representative about the opportunity, telling the representative that he was an excellent candidate for the role.
    • However, the sales representative was not interested in managing people. He wanted to come in, do a really great day’s worth of work, and then go home and be done. He already loved what he did.
    		Results
    • The sales representative turned down the offer point blank, leaving the manager with less than three months to find and groom a new internal successor.
    • The manager failed on several fronts. First, he did not ask the employee about his career aspirations. Second, he did not groom a pool of potential successors for the role, affording no protection in the event that the primary candidate couldn’t or wouldn’t assume the role.

    Step 2.2

    Develop Successors

    Activities
    • 2.2.1 Outline Successor Development Process

    The primary goal of this step is to identify the steps that need to be taken to develop potential successors. Focus on training employees for their future role, not just their current one.

    Outcomes of this step

    • Identified gaps between key role exits and successor readiness.

    Succession Planning

    Step 2.1 Step 2.2 Step 2.3

    2.2.1 Outline Successor Development Process

    Input: Role profiles, Talent profiles, Talent assessments

    Output: Identified gaps between key role exits and successor readiness

    Materials: Key Roles Succession Planning Tool – Successor Identification (Tab 7)

    Participants: IT leadership/management team

    Prepare successors for their next role, not just their current one.

    Use role and talent profiles and any talent assessment results to identify gaps for development.

    1. Outline the steps involved in the individual development planning process for successors. Key steps include identifying development timeline, learning needs, learning resources and strategies, and accomplishment metrics/evidence.
    2. Identify learning elements successor development will involve based on critical role type. For example, coaching and/or mentoring, leadership training, functional skills training, or targeted experiences/projects.
    3. Select metrics with associated timelines to measure the progress of successor development plans. Establish guidelines for employee and manager accountability in developing prioritized competencies.
    4. Determine monitoring cadence of successor development plans (i.e. how often successor development plans will be tracked to ensure timely progress). Identify who will be involved in monitoring the process (e.g. steering committee).

    Info-Tech insight

    Succession planning without integrated efforts for successor development is simply replacement planning. Get successors ready for promotion by ensuring a continuously monitored and customized development plan is in place.

    Integrate knowledge transfer in the successor development process

    1

    		 Brainstorm ideas to encourage knowledge-sharing and transfer from incumbent to successor.

    2

    		 Integrate knowledge-transfer methods into the successor development process.
    Identify key knowledge areas to include:
    • Specialized technical knowledge
    • Specialized research and development processes
    • Unique design capabilities/methods/models
    • Special formulas/algorithms/techniques
    • Proprietary production processes
    • Decision-making criteria
    • Innovative sales methods
    • Knowledge about key customers
    • Relationships with key stakeholders
    • Company history and values
    		 Use multiple methods for effective knowledge transfer.

    Explicit knowledge is easily explained and codified, such as facts and procedures. Knowledge transfer methods tend to be more formal and one-way. For example:

    • Formal documentation of processes and best practices
    • Self-published knowledgebase
    • Formal training sessions

    Tacit knowledge accumulates over years of experience and is hard to articulate. Knowledge transfer methods are often informal and interactive. For example:

    • Mentoring and job shadowing
    • Multigenerational work teams
    • Networks and communities
    Knowledge transfer can occur via a wide range of methods that need to be selected and integrated into daily work to suit the needs of the knowledge to be transferred and of the people involved. See Phase 3 for more details on knowledge transfer.

    Step 2.3

    Select Successors

    The goal of this step is to determine how critical roles will be filled when vacancies arise.

    Outcomes of this step

    • Agreement with HR on the process to fill vacancies when key roles exit.

    Succession Planning

    Step 2.1 Step 2.2 Step 2.3

    Determine how critical roles will be filled when vacancies arise

    Choose one of two approaches to successor selection:
    • Talent review meeting:
      • Conduct a talent review meeting with functional leaders to discuss key open positions and select the right successors. Ascertain successor interest prior to the meeting, if not obtained already.
      • If multiple successors are ready now, use both role and talent profiles to arrive at a final decision.
      • If only one successor is ready now, outline steps for their promotion process. Which leaders should be involved for final approval? What is TA’s role?
    • Talent acquisition (TA) process:
      • Align with TA to implement a formal recruitment process to select the right successor (open application and interview process to talent pool).
      • Decide if a talent review meeting is required afterwards to agree on the final successor or if the interview panel will make the final decision.

    Work together with Talent Acquisition (TA) to outline special treatment of critical role vacancies. Ensure TA is aware of succession plan(s).

    Explicitly determine the level of preference for internal successors versus external hires to your TA team to ensure alignment. This will create an environment where promotion from within is customary.

    Build an IT Succession Plan

    Phase 3

    Knowledge Transfer

    Phase 1

    1.1 Identify Critical Roles

    1.2 Assess Talent

    		Phase 2

    2.1 Identify Successors

    2.2 Develop Successors

    2.3 Select Successors

    		Phase 3

    3.1 Identify Critical Knowledge

    3.2 Select Transfer Methods

    3.3 Document Role Transition Plan

    This phase will show you to:

    • Identify critical knowledge risks.
    • Select appropriate transfer methods.
    • Document knowledge transfer initiatives for key role transition plans.

    Tools and resources used:

    • Role Transition Plan Template

    This phase involves the following participants:

    • IT leadership/management team
    • HR
    • Incumbent & successor managers

    Mitigate risk – formalize knowledge transfer

    Use Info-Tech’s Mitigate Key IT Employee Knowledge Loss blueprint to build and implement your knowledge transfer plan.

    Effective knowledge transfer allows organizations to:
    • Maintain or improve speed and productivity by ensuring the right people have the right skills to do their jobs well.
    • Increase agility because knowledge is more evenly distributed amongst employees. Multiple people can perform a given task and no one person becomes a bottleneck.
    • Capture and sustain knowledge; creating a knowledge database provides all employees access to the information, now and in the future.
    		 Knowledge transfer between those in key roles and potential successors yields the highest dividends for:
    • Senior level successions.
    • External hires.
    • Senior expatriate transfers.
    • Developmental stretch assignments.
    • Internal cross-divisional transfers and promotions.
    • High organizational dependency on unique expert knowledge.
    • Critical function/project/team transitions.
    • Large scale reorganizations and mergers & acquisitions.
    (Source: Piktialis and Greenes, 2008)    		 Sample of the Mitigate Key IT Employee Knowledge Loss blueprint.

    Mitigate Key IT Employee Knowledge Loss

    Knowledge transfer is complex and must be both multi-faceted and well supported

    Knowledge transfer is the capture, organization, and distribution of knowledge held by individuals to ensure that it is accessible and usable by others.

    Knowledge transfer is not stopping, learning, and returning to work. Nor is it simply implementing a document management system. Arrow pointing right. Knowledge transfer is a wide range of methods that must be carefully selected and integrated into daily work in order to meet the needs of the knowledge to be transferred and the people involved.

    Knowledge transfer works best when the following techniques are applied

    • Use multiple methods and media to transfer the knowledge.
    • Ensure a two-way interaction between the knowledge source and recipient.
    • Support knowledge transfer with active mentoring.
    • Transfer knowledge at the point of need; that is, when it’s immediately useful.
    • Offer experience-oriented training to reinforce knowledge absorption.
    • Use a knowledge management system to permanently capture knowledge shared.
    		 Personalization is the key.

    Dwyer & Dwyer say that providing “insights to a particular person (or people) needing knowledge at the time of the requirement” is the difference between knowledge transfer that sticks and knowledge that is forgotten.
    “Designing a system in which the employee must interrupt his or her work to learn or obtain new knowledge is not productive. Focus on ‘teachable moments.” (Karl Kapp, “Tools and Techniques for Transferring Know-How from Boomers to Gamers”)

    Step 3.1

    Identify Critical Knowledge to Transfer

    The goal of this step is to understand what knowledge and skills much be transferred, keeping in mind the various types of knowledge.

    Outcomes of this step

    • Critical knowledge and skills for key roles documented in the Key Role Transition plans.

    Knowledge Transfer

    Step 3.1 Step 3.2 Step 3.3

    Understand what knowledge and skills must be transferred

    There are two basic types of knowledge:

    Explicit knowledge:
    Easily explained and codified, e.g. facts and procedures.    		 Image of a head with gears inside. Tacit knowledge:
    Accumulates over years of experience and is hard to verbalize.
    • You should already have a good idea of what knowledge and skills are valued from the worksheets completed earlier.
    • Focus on identifying the knowledge, skills, and relationships essential to the specific incumbent in a key role and what it is he or she does to perform that key role well.
    Document critical knowledge and skills for key roles in the:

    Role Transition Plan Template
    1. Identify key knowledge areas. These include:
      • Specialized technical knowledge and research and development process.
      • Unique design capabilities/methods/models.
      • Special formulas/algorithms/techniques.
      • Proprietary production processes.
      • Decision-making criteria.
      • Innovative sales methods.
      • Knowledge about key customers.
      • Relationships with key stakeholders.
      • Company history and values.
    2. Ask questions of both sources and receivers of knowledge to help determine the best knowledge transfer methods to use.
      • What is the nature of the knowledge? Explicit or tacit?
      • Why is it important to transfer?
      • How will the knowledge be used?
      • What knowledge is critical for success?
      • How will the users find and access it?
      • How will it be maintained and remain relevant and usable?
      • What are the existing knowledge pathways or networks connecting sources to recipients?

    Step 3.2

    Select Knowledge Transfer Methods

    Activities
    • 3.2.1 Select Knowledge Transfer Methods

    This step helps you identify the knowledge transfer methods that will be the most effective, considering the knowledge or skill that needs to be transferred and the individuals involved.

    Outcomes of this step

    • Knowledge transfer methods chosen documented in the Key Role Transition Plans.

    Knowledge Transfer

    Step 3.1 Step 3.2 Step 3.3

    Knowledge transfer methods available

    Be prepared to use various methods to transfer knowledge and use them all liberally.

    The most common knowledge transfer method is simply to have a collaborative culture

    Horizontal bar chart ranking knowledge transfer methods by commonality.
    (Source: McLean & Company, 2013; N=121)

    A basic willingness for a role incumbent to share with a successor is the most powerful item in your tacit knowledge transfer toolkit.

    Formal documentation is critical for explicit knowledge sharing, yet only 40% of organizations use it.

    Rewarding and recognizing employees for doing knowledge transfer well is underutilized yet has emerged as an important reinforcing component of any effective knowledge transfer program.
    Don’t forget it!

    3.2.1 Select Knowledge Transfer Methods

    Input: Role profiles, Talent profiles

    Output: Methods for integrating knowledge transfer into day-to-day practice

    Materials: Role Transition Plan Template

    Participants: IT leadership/management team, HR, Knowledge source, Knowledge recipient

    Utilize methods that make it easy to apply the knowledge in day-to-day practice.

    Select your method according to the following criteria:

    1. The type of knowledge. A soft skill, like professionalism, is best taught via mentoring, while a technical process is best documented and applied on-the-job.
    2. What the knowledge recipient is comfortable with. The recipient may get bored during formal training sessions and retain more during job shadowing.
    3. What the knowledge source is comfortable with. The source may be uncomfortable with blogs and wikis, but comfortable with SharePoint.
    4. The cost. Some methods require an investment in time (e.g. mentoring), while others require an investment in technology (e.g. knowledge bases).
      • The good news is that many supporting technologies may already exist in your organization or can be acquired for free.
      • Methods that cost time may be difficult to get underway since employees may feel they don’t have the time or must change the way they work.

    The more integrated knowledge transfer is in day-to-day activities, the more likely it is to be successful and the lower the time cost. This is because real learning is happening at the same time real work is being accomplished.

    Document the knowledge transfer methods in the Role Transition Plan Template.

    Role Transition Plan Template

    Explore alternative work arrangements

    Ensure sufficient time to prepare successors

    If a key role incumbent isn’t around to complete knowledge transfer, it’s all for naught.

    Alternative work arrangements are critical tools that employers can use to achieve a mutually beneficial solution that mitigates the risk of loss associated with key roles.

    Alternative work arrangements not only support employees who want to keep working, but they allow the business to retain employees that are needed in key roles.

    In a survey from The Conference Board, one out of four older workers indicated that they continue to work because their company provided them with needed flexibility.

    And, nearly half said that more flexibility would make them less likely to retire. (Source: Ivey Business Journal)

    Flexible work options are the most used form of alternative work arrangement

    Horizontal bar chart ranking alternative work arrangements by usage.
    (Source: McLean & Company, N=44)

    Choose the alternative work arrangement that works best for you and the employee

    Alternative Work Arrangement

    Description

    Ideal Use

    Caveats
    Flexible work options Employees work the same number of hours but have flexibility in when and where they work (e.g. from home, evenings). Employees who work fairly independently, with no or few direct reports. Employee may become isolated or disconnected, impeding knowledge transfer methods that require interaction or one-on-one time.
    Contract-based work Working for a defined period of time on a specific project on a non-salaried or non-wage basis. Project-oriented work that requires specialized knowledge or skills. Available work may be sporadic or specific projects more intensive than the employee wants. Knowledge transfer must be built into the contractual arrangement.
    Part-time roles Half-days or a certain number of days per week; indefinite with no end date in mind. Employees whose roles can be readily narrowed and upon whom people and critical processes are not dependent. It may be difficult to break a traditionally full-time job down into a part-time role given the size and nature of associated tasks.
    Graduated retirement Retiring employee has a set retirement date, gradually reducing hours worked per week over time. Roles where a successor has been identified and is available to work alongside the incumbent in an overlapping capacity while he or she learns. The role may only require a single FTE, and the organization may not be able to afford the amount of redundancy inherent in this arrangement.

    The arrangement chosen may be a combination of multiple options

    Alternative Work Arrangement

    Description

    Ideal Use

    Caveats

    Part-year jobs or job sharingWorking part of the year and having the rest of the year off, unpaid.Project-oriented work where ongoing external relationships do not need to be maintained. The employee is unavailable for knowledge transfer activities for a large portion of the year. Another risk is that the employee may opt not to return at the end of the extended time off, with little notice.
    Increased paid time offAdditional vacation days upon reaching a certain age.Best used as recognition or reward for long-term service. This may be a particularly useful retention incentive in organizations that do not offer pension plans. The company may not be able to financially afford to pay for such extensive time off. If the role incumbent is the only one in the role, this may mean crucial work is not being done.
    Altered rolesConcentration of a job description on fewer tasks that allows the employee to focus on his or her specific expertise.Roles where a successor has been identified and is available to work alongside the incumbent, with the incumbent’s new role highly focused on mentoring. The role may only require a single FTE, and the organization may not be able to afford the amount of redundancy inherent in this arrangement.

    Alternative work arrangements require senior management support

    Senior management and other employees must see the value of retaining older workers, or they will not be supportive of these solutions.

    Any changes made to an employee’s work arrangement has an impact on people, processes, and policies.

    If the knowledge and skills of older employees aren’t valued, then:

    • Alternative arrangements will be seen as wasteful accommodation of a low-value employee.
    • Time won’t be allowed to manage the transition properly and make appropriate changes.
    • Other employees may resent any workload spillover.
    		 Alternate work arrangements can’t be implemented on a whim.

    Make sure alternative work arrangements can be done right and are supported – they’re often solutions that come with additional work. Determine the effects and make appropriate adjustments.

    • Review processes, particularly hand-off and approval points, to ensure tasks will still be handled seamlessly.
    • Assess organizational policies to ensure no violations are occurring or to rework policies (where possible) to accommodate alternative work arrangements.
    • Speak to affected employees to answer questions, identify obstacles, gain support, redefine their job descriptions if required, and make appropriate compensation adjustments. Always provide appropriate training when skills requirements are expanded.

    Step 3.3

    Document Role Transition Plans for all Key Roles

    Activities
    • 3.3.1 Document Role Transition Plans

    The primary goal of this step is to build clear checklist-based plans for each key role to help ensure a smooth transition as a successor takes over.

    Outcomes of this step

    • Completed key role transition plans

    Knowledge Transfer

    Step 3.1 Step 3.2 Step 3.3

    3.3.1 Document Role Transition Plans

    Input: Role profiles, Talent profiles, Talent assessments, Workforce plans

    Output: A clear checklist-based plan to help ensure a smooth transition.

    Materials: Role Transition Plan Template

    Participants: IT leadership/management team, Incumbent, Successor(s), HR

    Define a transition plan for all employees in at-risk key roles, and their successors.

    You should already have a good idea of what knowledge and skills are valued from the worksheets completed earlier. Focus on identifying the knowledge, skills, and relationships essential to the specific incumbent in a key role and what it is they do to perform that key role well.

    Using the Role Transition Plan Template develop a plan to transfer what needs to be transferred from the incumbent to the successor.

    1. Record the incumbent and successor information in the template.
    2. Summarize the key accountabilities and expectations of the incumbent’s role. This summary should highlight specific tasks and initiatives that the successor must take on, including success enablers. Attach the job description for a full description of accountabilities and expectations.
    3. Document the knowledge and skills requirements for the key role, as well as any additional knowledge and skills possessed by the key role incumbent that will aid the successor.
    4. Document any alternative work arrangements to the incumbent’s roles.
    5. Populate the Role Transition Checklist for key transition activities that must be completed by certain dates. A list of sample checklist items has been provided. Add, delete, or modify list items to suit your needs.

    Role Transition Plan Template

    DairyNZ leverages alternative work arrangements

    Ensures successful knowledge transfer
    INDUSTRY
    Agricultural research
    SOURCE
    Rose Macfarlane, General Manager Human Resources, DairyNZ
    Challenge
    • DairyNZ employs many people in specialized science research roles. Some very senior employees are international experts in their field.
    • Several experts have reached or are nearing retirement age. These pending retirements have come as no surprise.
    • However, due to the industry’s lack of development investment in the past, there is a 20–30-year experience gap in the organization for some key roles.
    		 Solution
    • One principal scientist gave over two years’ notice. His replacement – an external candidate – had been identified in advance and was hired once retirement notice was given.
    • The incumbent’s role was amended. He worked alongside his successor for 18 months in a controlled hand-over process.
    		 Results
    • The result was ideal in that the advance notice allowed full knowledge transfer to take place.

    Research Contributors and Experts

    Anne Roberts
    Principal, Leadership Within Inc. al,
    • Anne T. Roberts is an experienced organization development professional and executive business coach who works with leaders and their organizations to help them create, articulate and implement their change agenda. Her extensive experience in change management, organizational design, meeting design and facilitation, communication and leadership alignment has helped leaders tap into their creativity, drive and energy. Her ability to work with and coach people at the leadership level on a wide range of topics has them face their own organizational stories.
    		 Amanda Mathieson
    Senior Manager, Talent Management, Tangerine
    • Amanda is responsible for researching people- and leadership-focused trends, developing thought models, and providing resources, tools, and processes to build and drive the success of leaders in a disruptive world.
    • Her expertise in leadership development, organizational change management, and performance and talent management comes from her experience in various industries spanning pharmaceutical, retail insurance, and financial services. She takes a practical, experiential approach to people and leadership development that is grounded in adult learning methodologies and leadership theory. She is passionate about identifying and developing potential talent, as well as ensuring the success of leaders as they transition into more senior roles.

    Related Info-Tech Research

    Stock image of a brain. Mitigate Key IT Employee Knowledge Loss
    • Transfer IT knowledge before it’s gone.
    • Effective knowledge transfer mitigates risks from employees leaving the organization and is a key asset driving innovation and customer service.
    Stock image of sticky notes being organized on a board. Implement an IT Employee Development Plan
    • There is a growing gap between the competencies organizations have been focused on developing, and what is needed in the future.
    • Employees have been left to drive their own development, with little direction or support and without the alignment of development to organizational needs.

    Bibliography

    “Accommodating Older Workers’ Needs for Flexible Work Options.” Ivey Business Journal, July/August 2005. Accessed Jan 7, 2013.

    Christensen, Kathleen and Marcie Pitt-Catsouphes. “Approaching 65: A Survey of Baby Boomers Turning 65 Years Old”. AARP, Dec. 2010.

    Coyne, Kevin P. and Shawn T. Coyne. “The Baby Boomer Retirement Fallacy and What It Means to You. “ HBR Blog Network. Harvard Business Review, May 16, 2008. Accessed 8 Jan. 2013.

    Dwyer, Kevin and Ngoc Luong Dwyer. “Managing the Baby Boomer Brain Drain: The Impact of Generational Change on Human Resource Management.” ChangeFactory, April 2010. Accessed Jan 9, 2013.

    Gurchiek, Kathy. “Poll: Organizations Can Do More to Prepare for Talent Shortage as Boomers Retire.” SHRM, Nov 17, 2010. Accessed Jan 3, 2013.

    Howden, Daniel. “What Is Time to Fill? KPIs for Recruiters.” Workable, 24 March 2016. Web.

    Kapp, Karl M. “Tools and Techniques for Transferring Know-How from Boomers to Gamers.” Global Business and Organizational Excellence, July/August 2007. Web.

    Piktialis, Diane and Kent A. Greenes. Bridging the Gaps: How to Transfer Knowledge in Today’s Multigenerational Workplace. The Conference Board, 2008.

    Pisano, Gary P. “You need an Innovation Strategy.” Harvard Business Review, June 2015.

    Vilet, Jacque. “Lost Knowledge – What Are You and Your Organization Doing About It?” TLNT, 25 April 2012. Accessed 5 Jan. 2013.

    Govern Office 365

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    Exploring the enterprise collaboration marketspace is difficult. The difficulty in finding a suitable collaboration tool is that there are many ways to collaborate, with just as many tools to match.

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    Map your organizational goals to the administration features available in the Office 365 console. Your governance should reflect your requirements.

    Impact and Result

    The result is a defined plan for controlling Office 365 by leveraging hard controls to align Microsoft’s toolset with your needs and creating acceptable use policies and communication plans to highlight the impact of the transition to Office 365 on the end-user population.

    Govern Office 365 Research & Tools

    Start here – read the Executive Brief

    Understand the challenges posed by governing Office 365 and the necessity of deploying proper governance.

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

    1. Define your organizational goals

    Develop a list of organizational goals that will enable you to leverage the Office 365 toolset to its fullest extent while also implementing sensible governance.

    • Govern Office 365 – Phase 1: Define Your Organizational Goals

    2. Control your Office 365 environment

    Use Info-Tech's toolset to build out controls for OneDrive, SharePoint, and Teams that align with your organizational goals as they relate to governance.

    • Govern Office 365 – Phase 2: Control Your Office 365 Environment
    • Office 365 Control Map
    • Microsoft Teams Acceptable Use Policy
    • Microsoft SharePoint Online Acceptable Use Policy
    • Microsoft OneDrive Acceptable Use Policy

    3. Communicate your results

    Communicate the results of your Office 365 governance program using Info-Tech's toolset.

    • Govern Office 365 – Phase 3: Communicate Your Results
    • Office 365 Communication Plan Template

    Infographic

    Workshop: Govern Office 365

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

    1 Define Goals

    The Purpose

    Develop a plan to assess the capabilities of the Office 365 solution and select licensing for the product.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Office 365 capability assessment (right-size licensing)

    Acceptable Use Policies

    Mapped Office 365 controls

    Activities

    1.1 Review organizational goals.

    1.2 Evaluate Office 365 capabilities.

    1.3 Conduct the Office 365 capability assessment.

    1.4 Define user groups.

    1.5 Finalize licensing.

    Outputs

    List of organizational goals

    Targeted licensing decision

    2 Build Refined Governance Priorities

    The Purpose

    Leverage the Office 365 governance framework to develop and refined governance priorities.

    Build a SharePoint acceptable use policy and define SharePoint controls.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Refined governance priorities

    List of SharePoint controls

    SharePoint acceptable use policy

    Activities

    2.1 Explore the Office 365 Framework.

    2.2 Conduct governance priorities refinement exercise.

    2.3 Populate the Office 365 control map (SharePoint).

    2.4 Build acceptable use policy (SharePoint).

    Outputs

    Refined governance priorities

    SharePoint control map

    Sharepoint acceptable use policy

    3 Control Office 365

    The Purpose

    Implement governance priorities for OneDrive and Teams.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Clearly defined acceptable use policies for OneDrive and Teams

    List of OneDrive and Teams controls

    Activities

    3.1 Populate the Office 365 Control Map (OneDrive).

    3.2 Build acceptable use policy (OneDrive).

    3.3 Populate the Office 365 Control Map (Teams).

    3.4 Build acceptable use policy (Teams).

    Outputs

    OneDrive controls

    OneDrive acceptable use policy

    Teams controls

    Teams acceptable use policy

    4 SOW Walkthrough

    The Purpose

    Build a plan to communicate coming changes to the productivity environment.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Communication plan covering SharePoint, Teams, and OneDrive

    Activities

    4.1 Build SharePoint one pager.

    4.2 Build OneDrive one pager.

    4.3 Build Teams one pager.

    4.4 Finalize communication plan.

    Outputs

    SharePoint one pager

    OneDrive one pager

    Teams one pager

    Overall finalized communication plan

    5 Communicate and Implement

    The Purpose

    Finalize deliverables and plan post-workshop communications.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Completed Office 365 governance plan

    Finalized deliverables

    Activities

    5.1 Completed in-progress deliverables from previous four days.

    5.2 Set up review time for workshop deliverables and to discuss next steps.

    5.3 Validate governance with stakeholders.

    Outputs

    Completed acceptable use policies

    Completed control map

    Completed communication plan

    Completed licensing decision

    Explore the Secrets of IBM Software Contracts to Optimize Spend and Reduce Compliance Risk

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    • IBM customers want to make effective use of their paid-up licenses to avoid overspending and stay compliant with agreements.
    • Each IBM software product is subject to different rules.
    • Clients control and have responsibility for aligning usage and payments. Over time, the usage of the software may be out of sync with what the client has paid for, resulting in either overspending or violation of the licensing agreement.
    • IBM audits software usage in order to generate revenue from non-compliant customers.

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    • You have a lot of work to do if you haven’t been paying attention to your IBM software.
    • Focus on needs first. Conduct and document a thorough requirements assessment. Well-documented needs will be your core asset in negotiation.
    • Know what’s in IBM’s terms and conditions. Failure to understand these can lead to major penalties after an audit.
    • Review your agreements and entitlements quarterly. IBM may have changed the rules, and you have almost certainly changed your usage.

    Impact and Result

    • Establish clear licensing requirements.
    • Maintain an effective process for managing your IBM license usage and compliance.
    • Identify any cost-reduction opportunities.
    • Prepare for penalty-free IBM audits.

    Explore the Secrets of IBM Software Contracts to Optimize Spend and Reduce Compliance Risk Research & Tools

    Start here – read the Executive Brief

    Read this Executive Brief to understand why you need to invest effort in managing usage and licensing of your IBM software.

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

    1. Review terms and conditions for your IT contract

    Use Info-Tech’s licensing best practices to avoid the common mistakes of overspending on IBM licensing or failing an IBM audit.

    • IBM Passport Advantage Software RFQ Template
    • IBM 3-Year Bundled Price Analysis Tool
    [infographic]

    Optimize the Current Testing Process for Enterprise Mobile Applications

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    • Your team has little or no experience in mobile testing.
    • You need to optimize current testing processes to include mobile.
    • You need to conduct an RFP for mobile testing tools.

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    • One-size-fits-all testing won’t work for mobile. The testing tools are fragmented.
    • Mobile offers many new test cases, so organizations can expect to spend more time testing.

    Impact and Result

    • Identify and address gaps between your current testing process and a target state that includes mobile testing.
    • Establish project value metrics to ensure business and technical requirements are met.

    Optimize the Current Testing Process for Enterprise Mobile Applications Research & Tools

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

    1. Assess the current testing state

    Determine a starting point for architecture and discuss pain points that will drive reusability.

    • Storyboard: Optimize the Current Testing Process for Enterprise Mobile Applications
    • Mobile Testing Project Charter Template
    • Visual SOP Template for Application Testing

    2. Determine the target state testing framework

    Document a preliminary list of test requirements and create vendor RFP and scoring.

    • Test Requirements Tool
    • Request for Proposal (RFP) Template

    3. Implement testing tools to support the testing SOP

    Create an implementation rollout plan.

    • Project Planning and Monitoring Tool

    Infographic

    Workshop: Optimize the Current Testing Process for Enterprise Mobile Applications

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

    1 Assess the Fit for Test Process Optimization

    The Purpose

    Understand mobile testing pain points.

    Evaluate current statistics and challenges around mobile testing and compare with your organization.

    Realize the benefits of mobile testing.

    Understand the differences of mobile testing.

    Assess your readiness for optimizing testing to include mobile.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Preliminary understanding of how mobile testing is different from conventional approaches to testing apps.

    Understanding of how mobile testing can optimize your current testing process.

    Activities

    1.1 Understand the pain points experienced with mobile testing

    1.2 Evaluate current statistics and challenges of mobile testing and compare your organization

    1.3 Realize the benefits that come from mobile testing

    1.4 Understand the differences between mobile app testing and conventional app testing

    1.5 Assess your readiness for optimizing the testing process to include mobile

    Outputs

    Organizational state assessment for mobile testing

    2 Structure & Launch the Project

    The Purpose

    Identify stakeholders for testing requirements gathering.

    Create a project charter to obtain project approval.

    Present and obtain project charter sign-off.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Well documented project charter.

    Approval to launch the project.

    Activities

    2.1 Identify stakeholders for testing requirements gathering

    2.2 Create a project charter to obtain project approval

    2.3 Present & obtain project charter sign-off

    Outputs

    Project objectives and scope

    Project roles and responsibilities

    3 Assess Current Testing State

    The Purpose

    Document your current non-mobile testing processes.

    Create a current testing visual SOP.

    Determine current testing pain points.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Thorough understanding of current testing processes and pain points.

    Activities

    3.1 Document your current non-mobile testing processes

    3.2 Create a current state visual SOP

    3.3 Determine current testing pain points

    Outputs

    Documented current testing processes in the form of a visual SOP

    List of current testing pain points

    4 Determine Target State Testing Framework

    The Purpose

    Determine your target state for mobile testing.

    Choose vendors for the RFP process.

    Evaluate selected vendor(s) against testing requirements.

    Design mobile testing visual SOP(s).

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Prioritized list of testing requirements for mobile.

    Vendor selection for mobile testing solutions through an RFP process.

    New SOP designed to include both current testing and mobile testing processes.

    Activities

    4.1 Determine your target state for mobile testing by following Info-Tech’s framework as a starting point

    4.2 Design new SOP to include testing for mobile apps

    4.3 Translate all considered visual SOP mobile injections into requirements

    4.4 Document the preliminary list of test requirements in the RFP

    4.5 Determine which vendors to include for the RFP process

    4.6 Reach out to vendors for a request for proposal

    4.7 Objectively evaluate vendors against testing requirements

    4.8 Identify and assess the expected costs and impacts from determining your target state

    Outputs

    List of testing requirements for mobile

    Request for Proposal

    5 Implement Testing Tools to Support Your Testing SOP

    The Purpose

    Develop an implementation roadmap to integrate new testing initiatives.

    Anticipate potential roadblocks during implementation rollout.

    Operationalize mobile testing and ensure a smooth hand-off to IT operations.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Creation of implementation project plan.

    List of approaches to mitigate potential implementation roadblocks.

    Achieving clean hand-off to IT ops team.

    Activities

    5.1 Develop a project plan to codify your current understanding of the scope of work

    5.2 Anticipate potential roadblocks during your tool’s implementation

    5.3 Operationalize your testing tools and ensure a smooth hand-off from the project team

    Outputs

    Mobile testing metrics implementation plan

    6 Conduct Your Retrospectives

    The Purpose

    Conduct regular retrospectives to consider areas for improvement.

    Adjust your processes, systems, and testing tools to improve performance and usability.

    Revisit implementation metrics to communicate project benefits.

    Leverage the lessons learned and apply them to other projects.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Project specific metrics.

    Discovery of areas to improve.

    Activities

    6.1 Conduct regular retrospectives to consider areas for improvement

    6.2 Revisit your implementation metrics to communicate project benefits to business stakeholders

    6.3 Adjust your processes, systems, and testing tools to improve performance and usability

    6.4 Leverage the lessons learned and apply them to other IT projects

    Outputs

    Steps to improve your mobile testing

    Create a Post-Implementation Plan for Microsoft 365

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    • Parent Category Name: End-User Computing Applications
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    M365 projects are fraught with obstacles. Common mistakes organizations make include:

    • Not having a post-migration plan in place.
    • Treating user training as an afterthought.
    • Inadequate communication to end users.

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    There are three primary areas where organizations fail in a successful implementation of M365: training, adoption, and information governance. While it is not up to IT to ensure every user is well trained, it is their initial responsibility to find champions, SMEs, and business-based trainers and manage information governance from the backup, retention, and security aspects of data management.

    Impact and Result

    Migrating to M365 is a disruptive move for most organizations. It poses risk to untrained IT staff, including admins, help desk, and security teams. The aim for organizations, especially in this new hybrid workspace, is to maintain efficiencies through collaboration, share information in a secure environment, and work from anywhere, any time.

    Create a Post-Implementation Plan for Microsoft 365 Research & Tools

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

    1. Create a Post-Implementation Plan for Microsoft 365 Storyboard – A deck that guides you through the important considerations that will help you avoid common pitfalls and make the most of your investment.

    There are three primary goals when deploying Microsoft 365: productivity, security and compliance, and collaborative functionality. On top of these you need to meet the business KPIs and IT’s drive for adoption and usage. This research will guide you through the important considerations that are often overlooked as this powerful suite of tools is rolled out to the organization.

    [infographic]

    Further reading

    Create a Post-Implementation Plan for Microsoft 365

    You’ve deployed M365. Now what? Look at your business goals and match your M365 KPIs to meet those objectives.

    Analyst perspective

    You’ve deployed M365. Now what?

    John Donovan

    There are three primary objectives when deploying Microsoft 365: from a business perspective, the expectations are based on productivity; from an IT perspective, the expectations are based on IT efficiencies, security, and compliance; and from an organizational perspective, they are based on a digital employee experience and collaborative functionality.

    Of course, all these expectations are based on one primary objective, and that is user adoption of Teams, OneDrive, and SharePoint Online. A mass adoption, along with a high usage rate and a change in the way users work, is required for your investment in M365 to be considered successful.

    So, adoption is your first step, and that can be tracked and analyzed through analytics in M365 or other tools. But what else needs to be considered once you have released M365 on your organization? What about backup? What about security? What about sharing data outside your business? What about self-service? What about ongoing training? M365 is a powerful suite of tools, and taking advantage of all that it entails should be IT’s primary goal. How to accomplish that, efficiently and securely, is up to you!

    John Donovan
    Principal Research Director, I&O
    Info-Tech Research Group

    Insight summary

    Collaboration, efficiencies, and cost savings need to be earned

    Migrating to M365 is a disruptive move for most organizations. Additionally, it poses risk to untrained IT staff, including admins, help desk, and security teams. The aim for organizations, especially in this new hybrid workspace, is to maintain efficiencies through collaboration, share information in a secure environment, and work from anywhere, any time. However, organizations need to manage their licensing and storage costs and build this new way of working through post-deployment planning. By reducing their hardware and software footprint they can ensure they have earned these savings and efficiencies.

    Understand any shortcomings in M365 or pay the price

    Failing to understand any shortcomings M365 poses for your organization can ruin your chances at a successful implementation. Commonly overlooked expenses include backup and archiving, especially for regulated organizations; spending on risk mitigation through third-party tools for security; and paying a premium to Microsoft to use its Azure offerings with Microsoft Sentinel, Microsoft Defender, or any security add-on that comes at a price above your E5 license, which is expensive in itself.

    Spend time with users to understand how they will use M365

    Understanding business processes is key to anticipating how your end users will adopt M365. By spending time with the staff and understanding their day-to-day activities and interactions, you can build better training scenarios to suit their needs and help them understand how the apps in M365 can help them do their job. On top of this you need to meet the business KPIs and IT’s drive for adoption and usage. Encourage early adopters to become trainers and champions. Success will soon follow.

    Executive summary

    Your Challenge

    Common Obstacles

    Info-Tech’s Approach

    M365 is a full suite of tools for collaboration, communication, and productivity, but organizations find the platform is not used to its full advantage and fail to get full value from their license subscription.

    Many users are unsure which tool to use when: Do you use Teams or Viva Engage, MS Project or Planner? When do you use SharePoint versus OneDrive?

    From an IT perspective, finding time to help users at the outset is difficult – it’s quite the task to set up governance, security, and backup. Yet training staff must be a priority if the implementation is to succeed.

    M365 projects are fraught with obstacles. Common mistakes organizations make include:

    • No post-migration plan in place.
    • User training is an afterthought.
    • Lack of communication to end users.
    • No C-suite promotion and sponsorship.
    • Absence of a vision and KPIs to meet that vision.

    To define your post-migration tasks and projects:

    • List all projects in a spreadsheet and rank them according to difficulty and impact.
    • Look for quick wins with easy tasks that have high impact and low difficulty.
    • Build a timeline to execute your plans and communicate clearly how these plans will impact the business and meet that vision.

    Failure to take meaningful action will not bode well for your M365 journey.

    Info-Tech Insight

    There are three primary areas where organizations fail in a successful implementation of M365: training, adoption, and information governance. While it is not up to IT to ensure every user is well trained, it is their initial responsibility to find champions, SMEs, and business-based trainers and to manage information governance from backup, retention, and security aspects of data management.

    Business priorities

    What priorities is IT focusing on with M365 adoption?

    What IT teams are saying

    • In a 2019 SoftwareONE survey, the biggest reason IT decision makers gave for adopting M365 was to achieve a “more collaborative working style.”
    • Organizations must plan and execute a strategy for mass adoption and training to ensure processes match business goals.
    • Cost savings can only be achieved through rightsizing license subscriptions, retiring legacy apps, and building efficiencies within the IT organization.
    • With increased mobility comes with increased cybersecurity risk. Make sure you take care of your security before prioritizing mobility. Multifactor authentication (MFA), conditional access (CA), and additional identity management will maintain a safe work-from-anywhere environment.

    Top IT reasons for adopting M365

    61% More collaborative working style

    54% Cost savings

    51% Improved cybersecurity

    49% Greater mobility

    Source: SoftwareONE, 2019; N=200 IT decision makers across multiple industries and organization sizes

    Define & organize post-implementation projects

    Key areas to success

    • Using Microsoft’s M365 adoption guide, we can prioritize and focus on solutions that will bring about better use of the M365 suite.
    • Most of your planning and prioritizing should be done before implementation. Many organizations, however, adopted M365 – and especially Teams, SharePoint Online, and OneDrive – in an ad hoc manner in response to the pandemic measures that forced users to work from home.
    • Use a Power BI Pro license to set up dashboards for M365 usage analytics. Install GitHub from AppSource and use the templates that will give you good insight and the ability to create business reports to show adoption and usage rates on the platform.
    • Reimagine your working behavior. Remember, you want to bring about a more collective and open framework for work. Take advantage of a champion SME to show the way. Every organization is different, so make sure your training is aligned to your business processes.
    The image contains a screenshot of the M365 post-implementation tasks.

    Process steps

    Define Vision

    Build Team

    Plan Projects

    Execute

    Define your vision and what your priorities are for M365. Understand how to reach your vision.

    Ensure you have an executive sponsor, develop champions, and build a team of SMEs.

    List all projects in a to-be scenario. Rank and prioritize projects to understand impact and difficulty.

    Build your roadmap, create timelines, and ensure you have enough resources and time to execute and deliver to the business.

    Info-Tech’s approach

    Use the out-of-the-box tools and take advantage of your subscription.

    The image contains a screenshot of the various tools and services Microsoft provides.

    Info-Tech Insight

    A clear understanding of the business purpose and processes, along with insight into the organizational culture, will help you align the right apps with the right tasks. This approach will bring about better adoption and collaboration and cancel out the shadow IT products we see in every business silo.

    Leverage built-in usage analytics

    Adoption of services in M365

    To give organizations insight into the adoption of services in M365, Microsoft provides built-in usage analytics in Power BI, with templates for visualization and custom reports. There are third-party tools out there, but why pay more? However, the template app is not free; you do need a Power BI Pro license.

    Usage Analytics pulls data from ActiveDirectory, including location, department, and organization, giving you deeper insight into how users are behaving. It can collect up to 12 months of data to analyze.

    Reports that can be created include Adoption, Usage, Communication, Collaboration (how OneDrive and SharePoint are being used), Storage (cloud storage for mailboxes, OneDrive, and SharePoint), and Mobility (which clients and devices are used to connect to Teams, email, Yammer, etc.).

    Source: Microsoft 365 usage analytics

    Understand admin roles

    Prevent intentional or unintentional internal breaches

    Admin Roles

    Best Practices
    • Global admin: Assign this role only to users who need the most access to management features and data across your tenant. Only global admins can modify an admin role.
    • Exchange admin: Assign this role to users who need to view and manage user mailboxes, M365 groups, and Exchange Online and handle Microsoft support requests.
    • Groups admin: These users can create, edit, delete, and restore M365 groups as well as create expiration and naming policies.
    • Helpdesk admin: These users can resets passwords, force user sign-out, manage Microsoft support requests, and monitor service health.
    • Teams/SharePoint Online admin: Assign these roles for users who manage the Teams and SharePoint Admin Center.
    • User admin: These users can assign licenses, add users and groups, manage user properties, and create and manage user views.

    Only assign two to four global admins, depending on the size of the organization. Too many admins increases security risk. In larger organizations, segment admin roles using role-based access control.

    Because admins have access to sensitive data, you’ll want to assign the least permissive role so they can access only the tools and data they need to do their job.

    Enable MFA for all admins except one break-glass account that is stored in the cloud and not synced. Ensure a complex password, stored securely, and use only in the event of an MFA outage.

    Due to the large number of admin roles available and the challenges that brings with it, Microsoft has a built-in tool to compare roles in the admin portal. This can help you determine which role should be used for specific tasks.

    Secure your M365 tenant

    A checklist to ensure basic security coverage post M365

    • Multifactor Authentication: MFA is part of your M365 tenant, so using it should be a practical identity security. If you want additional conditional access (CA), you will require an Azure AD (AAD) Premium P1+ license. This will ensure adequate identity security protecting the business.
    • Password Protection: Use the AAD portal to set this up under Security > Authentication Methods. Microsoft provides a list of over 2,000 known bad passwords and variants to block.
    • Legacy Authentication: Disable legacy protocols; check to see if your legacy apps/workflows/scripts use them in the AAD portal. Once identified, update them and turn the protocols off. Use CA policies.
    • Self-Service Password Reset: Enable self-service to lower the helpdesk load for password resets. Users will have to initially register and set security questions. Hybrid AD businesses must write back to AD from AAD once changes are made.
    • Security Defaults: For small businesses, turn on default settings. To enable additional security settings, such as break- glass accounts, go into Manage Security Defaults in your AAD properties.
    • Conditional Access (CA) Policies: Use CA policies if strong identity security and zero trust are required. To create policies in AAD go to Security > Conditional Access > New Policies.

    Identity Checklist

    • Enable MFA for Admins
    • Enable MFA for Users
    • Disable App Passwords
    • Configure Trusted IPs
    • Disable Text/Phone MFA
    • Remember MFA on Trusted Devices for 90 Days
    • Train Staff in Using MFA Correctly
    • Integrate Apps Into Azure AD

    Training guidelines

    Identify business scenarios and training adoption KPIs

    • Customize your training to meet your organizational goals, align with your business culture, and define how users will work inside the world of M365.
    • Create scenario templates that align to your current day-to-day operations in each department. These can be created by individual business unit champions.
    • Make sure you have covered must-have capabilities and services within M365 that need to be rolled out post-pilot.
    • Phase in large transitions rather than multiple small ones to ensure collaboration between departments meets business scenarios.
    • Ensure your success metrics are being measured and continue to communicate and train after deployment using tools available in M365. See Microsoft’s adoption guidelines and template for training.

    Determine your training needs and align with your business processes. Choose training modalities that will give users the best chance of success. Consider one or many training methods, such as:

    • Online training
    • In-person classroom
    • Business scenario use cases
    • Mentoring
    • Department champion/Early adopter
    • Weekly bulletin fun facts

    Don’t forget backup!

    Providing 99% uptime and availability is not enough

    Why is M365 backup so important?

    Accidental Data Deletion.

    If a user is deleted, that deletion gets replicated across the network. Backup can save you here by restoring that user.

    Internal and External Security Threats.

    Malicious internal deletion of data and external threats including viruses, ransomware, and malware can severely damage a business and its reputation. A clean backup can easily restore the business’ uninfected data.

    Legal and Compliance Requirements.

    While e-discovery and legal hold are available to retain sensitive data, a third-party backup solution can easily search and restore all data to meet regulatory requirements – without depending on someone to ensure a policy was set.

    Retention Policy Gaps.

    Retention policies are not a substitute for backup. While they can be used to retain or delete content, they are difficult to keep track of and manage. Backups offer greater latitude in retention and better security for that data.

    Retire your legacy apps to gain adoption

    Identify like for like and retire your legacy apps

    Legacy

    Microsoft 365

    SharePoint 2016/19

    SharePoint Online

    Microsoft Exchange Server

    Microsoft Exchange in Azure

    Skype for Business Server

    Teams

    Trello

    Planner 2022

    System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM)

    Endpoint Manager, Intune, Autopilot

    File servers

    OneDrive

    Access

    Power Apps

    To meet the objectives of cost reduction and rationalization, look at synergies that M365 brings to the table. Determine what you are currently using to meet collaboration, storage, and security needs and plan to use the equivalent in your Microsoft entitlement.

    Managing M365’s hidden costs

    Licenses and storage limits TCO

    • Email security. Ninety-one percent of all cyberattacks come from phishing on email. Microsoft Defender for M365 is a bolt-on, so it is an additional cost.
    • Backup. This will bring additional cost to M365. Plan to spend more to ensure data is backed up and stored.
    • Email archiving. Archiving is different than backup. See our research on the subject. Archiving is needed for compliance purposes. Email archiving solutions are available through third-party software, which is an added cost.
    • Email end-to-end encryption. This is a requirement for all organizations that are serious about security. The enterprise products from Microsoft come at an additional cost.
    • Cybersecurity training. IT needs to ramp up on training, another expense.
    • Microsoft 365 Power Platform Licencing. From low-code and no-code developer tools (Power Apps), workflow tools (Power Automate), and business intelligence (Power BI) – while the E5 license gives you Power BI Pro, there are limitations and costs. Power BI Pro has limitations for data volume, data refresh, and query response time, so your premium license comes at a considerably marked up cost.

    M365 is not standalone

    • While Microsoft 365 is a platform that is ”just good enough,” it is actually not good enough in today’s cyberthreat environment. Microsoft provides add-ons with Defender for 365, Purview, and Sentinel, which pose additional costs, just like a third-party solution would. See the Threat Intelligence & Incident Response research in our Security practice.
    • The lack of data archiving, backup, and encryption means additional costs that may not have been budgeted for at the outset. Microsoft provides 30-60-90-day recovery, but anything else is additional cost. For more information see Understand the Difference between Backups and Archiving.

    Compliance and regulations

    Security and compliance features out of the box

    There are plenty of preconfigured security features contained in M365, but what’s available to you depends on your license. For example, Microsoft Defender, which has many preset policies, is built-in for E5 licenses, but if you have E3 licenses Defender is an add-on.

    Three elements in security policies are profiles, policies, and policy settings.

    • Preset Profiles come in the shape of:
      • Standard – baseline protection for most users
      • Strict – aggressive protection for profiles that may be high-value targets
      • Built-in Protection – turned on by default; it is not recommended to make exceptions based on users, groups, or domains
    • Preset Security Policies
      • Exchange Online Protection Policies – anti-spam, -malware, and -phishing policies
      • Microsoft Defender Policies – safe links and safe attachments policies
    • Policy Settings
      • User impersonation protection for internal and external domains
      • Select priorities from strict, standard, custom, and built-in

    Info-Tech Insight

    Check your license entitlement before you start purchasing add-ons or third-party solutions. Security and compliance are not optional in today’s cybersecurity risk world. With many organizations offering hybrid and remote work arrangements and bring-your-own-device (BYOD) policies, it is necessary to protect your data at the tenant level. Defender for Microsoft 365 is a tool that can protect both your exchange and collaboration environments.

    More information: Microsoft 365 Defender

    Use Intune and Autopilot

    Meet the needs of your hybrid workforce

    • Using the tools available in M365 can help you develop your hybrid or remote work strategy.
    • This strategy will help you maintain security controls for mobile and BYOD.
    • Migrating to Intune and Autopilot will give rise to the opportunity to migrate off SCCM and further reduce your on-premises infrastructure.

    NOTE: You must have Azure AD Premium and Windows 10 V1703 or later as well as Intune or other MDM service to use Autopilot. There is a monthly usage fee based on volume of data transmitted. These fees can add up over time.

    For more details visit the following Microsoft Learn pages:

    Intune /Autopilot Overview

    The image contains a screenshot of the Intune/Autopilot Overview.

    Info-Tech’s research on zero-touch provisioning goes into more detail on Intune and Autopilot:
    Simplify Remote Deployment With Zero-Touch Provisioning

    M365 long-term strategies

    Manage your costs in an inflationary world

    • Recent inflation globally, whether caused by supply chain woes or political uncertainty, will impact IT and cloud services along with everything else. Be prepared to pay more for your existing services and budget accordingly.
    • Your long-term strategies must include ongoing cost management, data management, security risks, and license and storage costs.
    • Continually investigate efficiencies, overlaps, and new tools in M365 that can get the job done for the business. Use as many of the applications as you can to ensure you are getting the best bang for your buck.
    • Watch for upgrades in the M365 suite of tools. As Microsoft continues to improve and deliver on most business applications well after their first release, you may find that something that was previously inefficient could work in your environment today and replace a tool you currently use.

    Ongoing Activities You Need to Maintain

    • Be aware of increased license costs and higher storage costs.
    • Keep an eye on Teams sprawl.
    • Understand your total cost of ownership.
    • Continue to look at legacy apps and get rid of your infrastructure debt.

    Activity

    Build your own M365 post-migration plan

    1. Using slide 6 as your guideline, create your own project list using impact and difficulty as your weighting factors.
    2. Do this exercise as a whiteboard sticky note exercise to agree on impact and difficulty as a team.
    3. Identify easy wins that have high impact.
    4. Place the projects into a project plan with time lines.
    5. Agree on start and completion dates.
    6. Ensure you have the right resources to execute.

    The image contains a screenshot of the activity described in the above text.

    Related Info-Tech Research

    Govern Office 365

    • Office 365 is as difficult to wrangle as it is valuable. Leverage best practices to produce governance outcomes aligned with your goals.

    Drive Ongoing Adoption With an M365 Center of Excellence

    • Accelerate business processes change and get more value from your subscription by building and sharing, thanks to an effective center of excellence.

    Simplify Remote Deployment With Zero-Touch Provisioning

    • Adopt zero-touch provisioning to provide better services to your end users.
    • Save time and resources during device deployment while providing a high-quality experience to remote end users.

    Bibliography

    “5 Reasons Why Microsoft Office 365 Backup Is Important.” Apps 4Rent, Dec 2021, Accessed Oct 2022 .
    Chandrasekhar, Aishwarya. “Office 365 Migration Best Practices & Challenges 2022.” Saketa, 31 Mar 2022. Accessed Oct. 2022.
    Chronlund, Daniel. “The Fundamental Checklist – Secure your Microsoft 365 Tenant”. Daniel Chronlund Cloud Tech Blog,1 Feb 2019. Accessed 1 Oct 2022.
    Davies, Joe. “The Microsoft 365 Enterprise Deployment Guide.” Tech Community, Microsoft, 19 Sept 2018. Accessed 2 Oct 2022.
    Dillaway, Kevin. “I Upgraded to Microsoft 365 E5, Now What?!.” SpyGlassMTG, 10 Jan 2022. Accessed 4 Oct. 2022.
    Hartsel, Joe. “How to Make Your Office 365 Implementation Project a Success.” Centric, 20 Dec 2021. Accessed 2 Oct. 2022.
    Jha, Mohit. “The Ultimate Microsoft Office 365 Migration Checklist for Pre & Post Migration.” Office365 Tips.Org, 24 June 2022. Accessed Sept. 2022.
    Lang, John. “Why organizations don't realize the full value of Microsoft 365.“Business IT, 29 Nov 202I. Accessed 10 Oct 2022.
    Mason, Quinn. “How to increase Office 365 / Microsoft 365 user adoption.” Sharegate, 19 Sept 2019. Accessed 3 Oct 2022.
    McDermott, Matt. “6-Point Office 365 Post-Migration Checklist.” Spanning , 12 July 2019 . Accessed 4 Oct 2022.
    “Microsoft 365 usage analytics.” Microsoft 365, Microsoft, 25 Oct 2022. Web.
    Sharma, Megha. “Office 365 Pre & Post Migration Checklist.’” Kernel Data Recovery, 26 July 2022. Accessed 30 Sept. 2022.
    Sivertsen, Per. “How to avoid a failed M365 implementation? Infotechtion, 19 Dec 2021. Accessed 2 Oct. 2022.
    St. Hilaire, Dan. “Most Common Mistakes with Office 365 Deployment (and How to Avoid Them).“ KnowledgeWave, 4Mar 2019. Accessed Oct. 2022.
    “Under the Hood of Microsoft 365 and Office 365 Adoption.” SoftwareONE, 2019. Web.

    z-Series Modernization and Migration

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    Under the best of circumstances, mainframe systems are complex, expensive, and difficult to scale. In today’s world, applications written for mainframe legacy systems also present significant operational challenges to customers compounded by the dwindling pool of engineers who specialize in these outdated technologies. Many organizations want to migrate their legacy applications to the cloud but to do so they need to go through a lengthy migration process that is made more challenging by the complexity of mainframe applications.

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    The most common tactic is for the organization to better realize their z/Series options and adopt a strategy built on complexity and workload understanding. To make the evident, obvious, the options here for the non-commodity are not as broad as with commodity server platforms and the mainframe is arguably the most widely used and complex non-commodity platform on the market.

    Impact and Result

    This research will help you:

    • Evaluate the future viability of this platform.
    • Assess the fit and purpose, and determine TCO
    • Develop strategies for overcoming potential challenges.
    • Determine the future of this platform for your organization.

    z/Series Modernization and Migration Research & Tools

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

    1. z/Series Modernization and Migration Guide – A brief deck that outlines key migration options and considerations for the z/Series platform.

    This blueprint will help you assess the fit, purpose, and price; develop strategies for overcoming potential challenges; and determine the future of z/Series for your organization.

    • z/Series Modernization and Migration Storyboard

    2. Scale Up vs. Scale Out TCO Tool – A tool that provides organizations with a framework for TCO.

    Use this tool to play with the pre-populated values or insert your own amounts to compare possible database decisions, and determine the TCO of each. Note that common assumptions can often be false; for example, open-source Cassandra running on many inexpensive commodity servers can actually have a higher TCO over six years than a Cassandra environment running on a larger single expensive piece of hardware. Therefore, calculating TCO is an essential part of the database decision process.

    • Scale Up vs. Scale Out TCO Tool
    [infographic]

    Further reading

    z/Series Modernization and Migration

    The biggest migration is yet to come.

    Executive Summary

    Info-Tech Insight

    “A number of market conditions have coalesced in a way that is increasingly driving existing mainframe customers to consider running their application workloads on alternative platforms. In 2020, the World Economic Forum noted that 42% of core skills required to perform existing jobs are expected to change by 2022, and that more than 1 billion workers need to be reskilled by 2030.” – Dale Vecchio

    Your Challenge

    It seems like anytime there’s a new CIO who is not from the mainframe world there is immediate pressure to get off this platform. However, just as there is a high financial commitment required to stay on System Z, moving off is risky and potentially more costly. You need to truly understand the scale and complexity ahead of the organization.

    Common Obstacles

    Under the best of circumstances, mainframe systems are complex, expensive, and difficult to scale. In today’s world, applications written for mainframe legacy systems also present significant operational challenges to customers compounded by the dwindling pool of engineers who specialize in these outdated technologies. Many organizations want to migrate their legacy applications to the cloud, but to do so they need to go through a lengthy migration process that is made more challenging by the complexity of mainframe applications.

    Info-Tech Approach

    The most common tactic is for the organization to better realize its z/Series options and adopt a strategy built on complexity and workload understanding. To make the evident, obvious: the options here for the non-commodity are not as broad as with commodity server platforms and the mainframe is arguably the most widely used and complex non-commodity platform on the market.

    Review

    We help IT leaders make the most of their z/Series environment

    Problem statement:

    The z/Series remains a vital platform for many businesses and continues to deliver exceptional reliability and performance and play a key role in the enterprise. With the limited and aging resources at hand, CIOs and the like must continually review and understand their migration path with the same regard as any other distributed system roadmap.

    This research is designed for:

    IT strategic direction decision makers.

    IT managers responsible for an existing z/Series platform.

    Organizations evaluating platforms for mission critical applications.

    This research will help you:

    1. Evaluate the future viability of this platform.
    2. Assess the fit and purpose, and determine TCO.
    3. Develop strategies for overcoming potential challenges.
    4. Determine the future of this platform for your organization.

    Analyst Perspective

    Good Luck.

    Darin Stahl.

    Modernize the mainframe … here we go again.

    Prior to 2020, most organizations were muddling around in “year eleven of the four-year plan” to exit the mainframe platform where a medium-term commitment to the platform existed. Since 2020, it appears the appetite for the mainframe platform changed. Again. Discussions mostly seem to be about what the options are beyond hardware outsourcing or re-platforming to “cloud” migration of workloads – mostly planning and strategy topics. A word of caution: it would appear unwise to stand in front of the exit door for fear of being trampled.

    Hardware expirations between now and 2025 are motivating hosting deployments. Others are in migration activities, and some have already decommissioned and migrated but now are trying to rehab the operations team now lacking direction and/or structure.

    There is little doubt that modernization and “digital transformation” trends will drive more exit traffic, so IT leaders who are still under pressure to get off the platform need to assess their options and decide. Being in a state of perpetually planning to get off the mainframe handcuffs your ability to invest in the mainframe, address deficiencies, and improve cost-effectiveness.

    Darin Stahl
    Principal Research Advisor, Infrastructure & Operations Research
    Info-Tech Research Group

    The mainframe “fidget spinner”

    Thinking of modernizing your mainframe can cause you angst so grab a fidget spinner and relax because we have you covered!

    External Business Pressures:

    • Digital transformation
    • Modernization programs
    • Compliance and regulations
    • TCO

    Internal Considerations:

    • Reinvest
    • Migrate to a new platform
    • Evaluate public and vendor cloud alternatives
    • Hosting versus infrastructure outsourcing

    Info-Tech Insight

    With multiple control points to be addressed, care must be taken to simplify your options while addressing all concerns to ease operational load.

    The analyst call review

    “Who has Darin talked with?” – Troy Cheeseman

    Dating back to 2011, Darin Stahl has been the primary z/Series subject matter expert within the Infrastructure & Operations Research team. Below represents the percentage of calls, per industry, where z/Series advisory has been provided by Darin*:

    37% - State Government

    19% - Insurance

    11% - Municipality

    8% - Federal Government

    8% - Financial Services

    5% - Higher Education

    3% - Retail

    3% - Hospitality/Resort

    3% - Logistics and Transportation

    3% - Utility

    Based on the Info-Tech call history, there is a consistent cross section of industry members who not only rely upon the mainframe but are also considering migration options.

    Note:

    Of course, this only represents industries who are Info-Tech members and who called for advisory services about the mainframe.

    There may well be more Info-Tech members with mainframes who have no topic to discuss with us about the mainframe specifically. Why do we mention this?

    We caution against suggesting things like, ”somewhat less than 50% of mainframes live in state data centers” or any other extrapolated inference from this data.

    Our viewpoint and discussion is based on the cases and the calls that we have taken over the years.

    *37+ enterprise calls were reviewed and sampled.

    Scale out versus scale up

    For most workloads “scale out" (e.g. virtualized cloud or IaaS ) is going to provide obvious and quantifiable benefits.

    However, with some workloads (extremely large analytics or batch processing ) a "scale up" approach is more optimal. But the scale up is really limited to very specific workloads. Despite some assumptions, the gains made when moving from scale up to scale out are not linear.

    Obviously, when you scale out from a performance perspective you experience a drop in what a single unit of compute can do. Additionally, there will be latency introduced in the form of network overhead, transactions, and replication into operations that were previously done just bypassing object references within a single frame.

    Some applications or use cases will have to be architected or written differently (thinking about the high-demand analytic workloads at large scale). Remember the “grid computing” craze that hit us during the early part of this century? It was advantageous for many to distribute work across a grid of computing devices for applications but the advantage gained was contingent on the workload able to be parsed out as work units and then pulled back together through the application.

    There can be some interesting and negative consequences for analytics or batch operations in a large scale as mentioned above. Bottom line, as experienced previously with Microfocus mainframe ports to x86, the batch operations simply take much longer to complete.

    Big Data Considerations*:

    • Value: Data has no inherent value until it’s used to solve a business problem.
    • Variety: The type of data being produced is increasingly diverse and ranges from email and social media to geo-spatial and photographic data. This data may be difficult to process using a structured data model.
    • Volume: The sheer size of the datasets is growing exponentially, often ranging from terabytes to petabytes. This is complicating traditional data management strategies.
    • Velocity: The increasing speed at which data is being collected and processed is also causing complications. Big data is often time sensitive and needs to be captured in real time as it is streaming into the enterprise.

    *Build a Strategy for Big Data Platforms

    Consider your resourcing

    Below is a summary of concerns regarding core mainframe skills:

    1. System Management (System Programmers): This is the most critical and hard-to-replace skill since it requires in-depth low-level knowledge of the mainframe (e.g. at the MVS level). These are skills that are generally not taught anymore, so there is a limited pool of experienced system programmers.
    2. Information Management System (IMS) Specialists: Requires a combination of mainframe knowledge and data analysis skills, which makes this a rare skill set. This is becoming more critical as business intelligence takes on an ever-increasing focus in most organizations.
    3. Application Development: The primary concern here is a shortage of developers skilled in older languages such as COBOL. It should be noted that this is an application issue; for example, this is not solved by migrating off mainframes.
    4. Mainframe Operators: This is an easier skill set to learn, and there are several courses and training programs available. An IT person new to mainframes could learn this position in about six weeks of on-the-job training.
    5. DB2 Administration: Advances in database technology have simplified administration (not just for DB2 but also other database products). As a result, as with mainframe operators, this is a skill set that can be learned in a short period of time on the job.

    The Challenge

    An aging workforce, specialized skills, and high salary expectations

    • Mainframe specialists, such as system programmers and IMS specialists, are typically over 50, have a unique skill set, and are tasked with running mission-critical systems.

    The In-House Solution:

    Build your mentorship program to create a viable succession plan

    • Get your money’s worth out of your experienced staff by having them train others.
    • Operator skills take about six weeks to learn. However, it takes about two years before a system programmer trainee can become fully independent. This is similar to the learning curve for other platforms; however, this is a more critical issue for mainframes since organizations have far fewer mainframe specialists to fall back on when senior staff retire or move on.

    Understand your options

    Migrate to another platform

    Use a hosting provider

    Outsource

    Re-platform (cloud/vendors)

    Reinvest

    There are several challenges to overcome in a migration project, from finding an appropriate alternative platform to rewriting legacy code. Many organizations have incurred huge costs in the attempt, only to be unsuccessful in the end, so make this decision carefully.

    Organizations often have highly sensitive data on their mainframes (e.g. financial data), so many of these organizations are reluctant to have this data live outside of their four walls. However, the convenience of using a hosting provider makes this an attractive option to consider.

    The most common tactic is for the organization to adopt some level of outsourcing for the non-commodity platform, retaining the application support/development in-house.

    A customer can “re-platform” the non-commodity workload into public cloud offerings or in a few offerings
    “re-host.”

    If you’re staying with the mainframe and keeping it in-house, it’s important to continue to invest in this platform, keep it current, and look for opportunities to optimize its value.

    Migrate

    Having perpetual plans to migrate handcuffs your ability to invest in your mainframe, extend its value, and improve cost effectiveness.

    If this sounds like your organization, it’s time to do the analysis so you can decide and get clarity on the future of the mainframe in your organization.

    1. Identify current performance, availability, and security requirements. Assess alternatives based on this criteria.
    2. Review and use Info-Tech’s Mainframe TCO Comparison Tool to compare mainframe costs to the potential alternative platform.
    3. Assess the business risks and benefits. Can the alternative deliver the same performance, reliability, and security? If not, what are the risks? What do you gain by migrating?
    4. If migration is still a go, evaluate the following:
    • Do you have the expertise or a reliable third party to perform the migration, including code rewrites?
    • How long will the migration take? Can the business function effectively during this transition period?
    • How much will the migration cost? Is the value you expect to gain worth the expense?

    *3 of the top 4 challenges related to shortfalls of alternative platforms

    The image contains a bar graph that demonstrates challenges related to shortfalls of alternative platforms.

    *Source: Maximize the Value of IBM Mainframes in My Business

    Hosting

    Using a hosting provider is typically more cost-effective than running your mainframe in-house.

    Potential for reduced costs

    • Hosting enables you to reduce or eliminate your mainframe staff.
    • Economies of scale enable hosting providers to reduce software licensing costs. They also have more buying power to negotiate better terms.
    • Power and cooling costs are also transferred to the hosting provider.

    Reliable infrastructure and experienced staff

    • A quality hosting provider will have 24/7 monitoring, full redundancy, and proven disaster recovery capabilities.
    • The hosting provider will also have a larger mainframe staff, so they don’t have the same risk of suddenly being without those advanced critical skills.

    So, what are the risks?

    • A transition to a hosting provider usually means eliminating or significantly reducing your in-house mainframe staff. With that loss of in-house expertise, it will be next to impossible to bring the mainframe back in-house, and you become highly dependent on your hosting provider.

    Outsourcing

    The most common tactic is for the organization to adopt some level of outsourcing for the non-commodity platform, retaining the application support/development in-house.

    The options here for the non-commodity (z/Series, IBM Power platforms, for example) are not as broad as with commodity server platforms. More confusingly, the term “outsourcing” for these can include:

    Traditional/Colocation – A customer transitions their hardware environment to a provider’s data center. The provider can then manage the hardware and “system.”

    Onsite Outsourcing – Here a provider will support the hardware/system environment at the client’s site. The provider may acquire the customer’s hardware and provide software licenses. This could also include hiring or “rebadging” staff supporting the platform. This type of arrangement is typically part of a larger services or application transformation. While low risk, it is not as cost-effective as other deployment models.

    Managed Hosting – A customer transitions their legacy application environment to an off-prem hosted multi-tenanted environment. It will provide the most cost savings following the transition, stabilization, and disposal of existing environment. Some providers will provide software licensing, and some will also support “Bring Your Own,” as permitted by IBM terms for example.

    Info-Tech Insight

    Technical debt for non-commodity platforms isn’t only hardware based. Moving an application written for the mainframe onto a “cheaper” hardware platform (or outsourced deployment) leaves the more critical problems and frequently introduces a raft of new ones.

    Re-platform – z/Series COBOL Cloud

    Re-platforming is not trivial.

    While the majority of the coded functionality (JCLs, programs, etc.) migrate easily, there will be a need to re-code or re-write objects – especially if any object, code, or location references are not exactly the same in the new environment.

    Micro Focus has solid experience in this but if consider it within the context of an 80/20 rule (the actual metrics might be much better than that), meaning that some level of rework would have to be accomplished as an overhead to the exercise.

    Build that thought into your thinking and business case.

    AWS Cloud

    • Astadia (an AWS Partner) is re-platforming mainframe workloads to AWS. With its approach you reuse the original application source code and data to AWS services. Consider reviewing Amazon’s “Migrating a Mainframe to AWS in 5 Steps.”

    Azure Cloud

    Micro Focus COBOL (Visual COBOL)

    • Micro Focus' Visual COBOL also supports running COBOL in Docker containers and managing and orchestrating the containers with Kubernetes. I personally cannot imagine what sort of drunken bender decision would lead me to move COBOL into Docker and then use Kubernetes to run in GCP but there you are...if that's your Jam you can do it.

    Re-platform – z/Series (Non-COBOL)

    But what if it's not COBOL?

    Yeah, a complication for this situation is the legacy code.

    While re-platforming/re-hosting non-COBOL code is not new, we have not had many member observations compared to the re-platforming/re-hosting of COBOL functionality initiatives.

    That being said, there are a couple of interesting opportunities to explore.

    NTT Data Services (GLOBAL)

    • Most intriguing is the re-hosting of a mainframe environment into AWS. Not sure if the AWS target supports NATURAL codebase; it does reference Adabas however (Re-Hosting Mainframe Applications to AWS with NTT DATA Services). Nevertheless, NTT has supported re-platforming and NATURAL codebase environments previously.

    ModernSystems (or ModSys) has relevant experience.

    • ModSys is the resulting entity following a merger between BluePhoenix and ATERAS a number of years ago. ATERAS is the entity I find references to within my “wayback machine” for member discussions. There are also a number of published case studies still searchable about ATERAS’ successful re-platforming engagements, including the California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS) most famously after the Accenture project to rewrite it failed.

    ATOS, as a hosting vendor mostly referenced by customers with global locations in a short-term transition posture, could be an option.

    Lastly, the other Managed Services vendors with NATURAL and Adabas capabilities:

    Reinvest

    By contrast, reducing the use of your mainframe makes it less cost-effective and more challenging to retain in-house expertise.

    • For organizations that have migrated applications off the mainframe (at least partly to reduce dependency on the platform), inevitably there remains a core set of mission critical applications that cannot be moved off for reasons described on the “Migrate” slide. This is when the mainframe becomes a costly burden:
      • TCO is relatively high due to low utilization.
      • In-house expertise declines as workload declines and current staffing allocations become harder to justify.
    • Organizations that are instead adding capacity and finding new ways to use this platform have lower cost concerns and resourcing challenges. The charts below illustrate this correlation. While some capacity growth is due to normal business growth, some is also due to new workloads, and it reflects an ongoing commitment to the platform.

    *92% of organizations that added capacity said TCO is lower than for commodity servers (compared to 50% of those who did not add capacity)

    *63% of organizations that added capacity said finding resources is not very difficult (compared to 42% of those who did not add capacity)
    The image contains a bar graph as described in the above text. The image contains a bar graph as described in the above text.

    *Maximize the Value of IBM Mainframes in My Business

    An important thought about data migration

    Mainframe data migrations – “VSAM, IMS, etc.”

    • While the application will be replaced and re-platformed, there is the historical VIN data remaining in the VSAM files and access via the application. The challenge is that a bulk conversion can add upfront costs and delay the re-platforming of the application functionality. Some shops will break the historical data migration into a couple of phases.
    • While there are technical solutions to accessing VSAM data stores, what I have observed with other members facing a similar scenario is a need to “shrink” the data store over time. The technical accesses to historical VSAM records would also have a lifespan, and rather than kicking the can down the road indefinitely, many have turned to a process-based solution allowing them to shrink the historical data store over time. I have observed three approaches to the handling or digitization of historical records like this:

    Temporary workaround. This would align with a technical solution allowing the VASM files to be accessed using platforms other than on mainframe hardware (Micro Focus or other file store trickery). This can be accomplished relatively quickly but does run the risk of technology obsolesce for the workaround at some point in the future.

    Bulk conversion. This method would involve the extract/transform/load of the historical records into the new application platform. Often the order of the conversion is completed on work newest to oldest (the idea is that the newest historical records would have the highest likelihood of an access need), but all files would be converted to the new application and the old data store destroyed.

    Forward convert, which would have files undergo the extract/transform/load conversion into the new application as they are accessed or reopened. This method would keep historical records indefinitely or until they are converted – or the legal retention schedule allows for their destruction (hopefully no file must be kept forever). This could be a cost-efficient approach since the historical files remaining on the VSAM platform would be shrunk over time based on demand from the district attorney process. The conversion process could be automated and scripted, with a QR step allowing for the records to be deleted from the old platform.

    Info-Tech Insight

    It is not usual for organizations to leverage options #2 and #3 above to move the functionality forward while containing the scope creep and costs for the data conversions.

    Enterprise class job scheduling

    Job scheduling or data center automation?

    • Enterprise class job scheduling solutions enable complex unattended batched programmatically conditioned task/job scheduling.
    • Data center automation (DCIM) software automates and orchestrates the processes and workflow for infrastructure operations including provisioning, configuring, patching of physical, virtual, and cloud servers, and monitoring of tasks involved in maintaining the operations of a data center or Infrastructure environment.
    • While there maybe some overlap and or confusion between data center automation and enterprise class job scheduling solutions, data center automation (DCIM) software solutions are least likely to have support for non-commodity server platforms and lack robust scheduling functionality.

    Note: Enterprise job scheduling is a topic with low member interest or demand. Since our published research is driven by members’ interest and needs, the lack of activity or member demand would obviously be a significant influence into our ability to aggregate shared member insight, trends, or best practices in our published agenda.

    Data Center Automation (DCIM) Software

    Orchestration/Provisioning Software

    Enterprise class job scheduling features

    The feature set for these tools is long and comprehensive. The feature list below is not exhaustive as specific tools may have additional product capabilities. At a minimum, the solutions offered by the vendors in the list below will have the following capabilities:

    • Automatic restart and recovery
    • File management
    • Integration with security systems such as AD
    • Operator alerts
    • Ability to control spooling devices
    • Cross-platform support
    • Cyclical scheduling
    • Deadline scheduling
    • Event-based scheduling / triggers
    • Inter-dependent jobs
    • External task monitoring (e.g. under other sub-systems)
    • Multiple calendars and time-zones
    • Scheduling of packaged applications (such as SAP, Oracle, JD Edwards)
    • The ability to schedule web applications (e.g. .net, java-based)
    • Workload analysis
    • Conditional dependencies
    • Critical process monitoring
    • Event-based automation (“self-healing” processes in response to common defined error conditions)
    • Graphical job stream/workflow visualization
    • Alerts (job failure notifications, task thresholds (too long, too quickly, missed windows, too short, etc.) via multiple channels
    • API’s supporting programmable scheduler needs
    • Virtualization support
    • Workload forecasting and workload planning
    • Logging and message data supporting auditing capabilities likely to be informed by or compliant with regulatory needs such as Sarbanes, Gramme-Leach
    • Historical reporting
    • Auditing reports and summaries

    Understand your vendors and tools

    List and compare the job scheduling features of each vendor.

    • This is not presented as an exhaustive list.
    • The list relies on observations aggregated from analyst engagements with Info-Tech Research Group members. Those member discussions tend to be heavily tilted toward solutions supporting non-commodity platforms.
    • Nothing is implied about a solution suitability or capability by the order of presentation or inclusion or absence in this list.

    ✓ Advanced Systems Concepts

    ✓ BMC

    ✓ Broadcom

    ✓ HCL

    ✓ Fortra

    ✓ Redwood

    ✓ SMA Technologies

    ✓ StoneBranch

    ✓ Tidal Software

    ✓ Vinzant Software

    Info-Tech Insight

    Creating vendor profiles will help quickly filter the solution providers that directly meet your z/Series needs.

    Advanced Systems Concepts

    ActiveBatch

    Workload Management:

    Summary

    Founded in 1981, ASCs ActiveBatch “provides a central automation hub for scheduling and monitoring so that business-critical systems, like CRM, ERP, Big Data, BI, ETL tools, work order management, project management, and consulting systems, work together seamlessly with minimal human intervention.”*

    URL

    advsyscon.com

    Coverage:

    Global

    Amazon EC2

    Hadoop Ecosystem

    IBM Cognos

    DataStage

    IBM PureData (Netezza)

    Informatica Cloud

    Microsoft Azure

    Microsoft Dynamics AX

    Microsoft SharePoint

    Microsoft Team Foundation Server

    Oracle EBS

    Oracle PeopleSoft

    SAP

    BusinessObjects

    ServiceNow

    Teradata

    VMware

    Windows

    Linux

    Unix

    IBM i

    *Advanced Systems Concepts, Inc.


    BMC

    Control-M

    Workload Management:

    Summary

    Founded in 1980, BMCs Control-M product “simplifies application and data workflow orchestration on premises or as a service. It makes it easy to build, define, schedule, manage, and monitor production workflows, ensuring visibility, reliability, and improving SLAs.”*

    URL

    bmc.com/it-solutions/control-m.html

    Coverage:

    Global

    AWS

    Azure

    Google Cloud Platform

    Cognos

    IBM InfoSphere

    DataStage

    SAP HANA

    Oracle EBS

    Oracle PeopleSoft

    BusinessObjects

    ServiceNow

    Teradata

    VMware

    Windows

    Linux

    Unix

    IBM i

    IBM z/OS

    zLinux

    *BMC

    Broadcom

    Atomic Automation

    Autosys Workload Automation

    Workload Management:

    Summary

    Broadcom offers Atomic Automation and Autosys Workload Automation which ”gives you the agility, speed and reliability required for effective digital business automation. From a single unified platform, Atomic centrally provides the orchestration and automation capabilities needed accelerate your digital transformation and support the growth of your company.”*

    URL

    broadcom.com/products/software/automation/automic-automation

    broadcom.com/products/software/automation/autosys

    Coverage:

    Global


    Windows

    MacOS

    Linux

    UNIX

    AWS

    Azure

    Google Cloud Platform

    VMware

    z/OS

    zLinux

    System i

    OpenVMS

    Banner

    Ecometry

    Hadoop

    Oracle EBS

    Oracle PeopleSoft

    SAP

    BusinessObjects

    ServiceNow

    Teradata

    VMware

    Windows

    Linux

    Unix

    IBM i

    *Broadcom

    HCL

    Workload Automation

    Workload Management:

    Summary

    “HCL Workload Automation streamlined modelling, advanced AI and open integration for observability. Accelerate the digital transformation of modern enterprises, ensuring business agility and resilience with our latest version of one stop automation platform. Orchestrate unattended and event-driven tasks for IT and business processes from legacy to cloud and kubernetes systems.”*

    URL

    hcltechsw.com/workload-automation

    Coverage:

    Global


    Windows

    MacOS

    Linux

    UNIX

    AWS

    Azure

    Google Cloud Platform

    VMware

    z/OS

    zLinux

    System i

    OpenVMS

    IBM SoftLayer

    IBM BigInsights

    IBM Cognos

    Hadoop

    Microsoft Dynamics 365

    Microsoft Dynamics AX

    Microsoft SQL Server

    Oracle E-Business Suite

    PeopleSoft

    SAP

    ServiceNow

    Apache Oozie

    Informatica PowerCenter

    IBM InfoSphere DataStage

    Salesforce

    BusinessObjects BI

    IBM Sterling Connect:Direct

    IBM WebSphere MQ

    IBM Cloudant

    Apache Spark

    *HCL Software

    Fortra

    JAMS Scheduler

    Workload Management:

    Summary

    Fortra’s “JAMS is a centralized workload automation and job scheduling solution that runs, monitors, and manages jobs and workflows that support critical business processes.

    JAMS reliably orchestrates the critical IT processes that run your business. Our comprehensive workload automation and job scheduling solution provides a single pane of glass to manage, execute, and monitor jobs—regardless of platforms or applications.”*

    URL

    jamsscheduler.com

    Coverage:

    Global


    OpenVMS

    OS/400

    Unix

    Windows

    z/OS

    SAP

    Oracle

    Microsoft

    Infor

    Workday

    AWS

    Azure

    Google Cloud Compute

    ServiceNow

    Salesforce

    Micro Focus

    Microsoft Dynamics 365

    Microsoft Dynamics AX

    Microsoft SQL Server

    MySQL

    NeoBatch

    Netezza

    Oracle PL/SQL

    Oracle E-Business Suite

    PeopleSoft

    SAP

    SAS

    Symitar

    *JAMS

    Redwood

    Redwood SaaS

    Workload Management:

    Summary

    Founded in 1993 and delivered as a SaaS solution, ”Redwood lets you orchestrate securely and reliably across any application, service or server, in the cloud or on-premises, all inside a single platform. Automation solutions are at the core of critical business operations such as forecasting, replenishment, reconciliation, financial close, order to cash, billing, reporting, and more. Enterprises in every industry — from manufacturing, utility, retail, and biotech to healthcare, banking, and aerospace.”*

    URL

    redwood.com

    Coverage:

    Global


    OpenVMS

    OS/400

    Unix

    Windows

    z/OS

    SAP

    Oracle

    Microsoft

    Infor

    Workday

    AWS

    Azure

    Google Cloud Compute

    ServiceNow

    Salesforce

    Github

    Office 365

    Slack

    Dropbox

    Tableau

    Informatica

    SAP BusinessObjects

    Cognos

    Microsoft Power BI

    Amazon QuickSight

    VMware

    Xen

    Kubernetes

    *Redwood

    Fortra

    Robot Scheduler

    Workload Management:

    Summary

    “Robot Schedule’s workload automation capabilities allow users to automate everything from simple jobs to complex, event-driven processes on multiple platforms and centralize management from your most reliable system: IBM i. Just create a calendar of when and how jobs should run, and the software will do the rest.”*

    URL

    fortra.com/products/job-scheduling-software-ibm-i

    Coverage:

    Global


    IBM i (System i, iSeries, AS/400)

    AIX/UNIX

    Linux

    Windows

    SQL/Server

    Domino

    JD Edwards EnterpriseOne

    SAP

    Automate Schedule (formerly Skybot Scheduler)

    *Fortra

    SMA Technologies

    OpCon

    Workload Management:

    Summary

    Founded in1980, SMA offers to “save time, reduce error, and free your IT staff to work on more strategic contributions with OpCon from SMA Technologies. OpCon offers powerful, easy-to-use workload automation and orchestration to eliminate manual tasks and manage workloads across business-critical operations. It's the perfect fit for financial institutions, insurance companies, and other transactional businesses.”*

    URL

    smatechnologies.com

    Coverage:

    Global

    Windows

    Linux

    Unix

    z/Series

    IBM i

    Unisys

    Oracle

    SAP

    Microsoft Dynamics AX

    Infor M3

    Sage

    Cegid

    Temenos

    FICS

    Microsoft Azure Data Management

    Microsoft Azure VM

    Amazon EC2/AWS

    Web Services RESTful

    Docker

    Google Cloud

    VMware

    ServiceNow

    Commvault

    Microsoft WSUS

    Microsoft Orchestrator

    Java

    JBoss

    Asysco AMT

    Tuxedo ART

    Nutanix

    Corelation

    Symitar

    Fiserv DNA

    Fiserv XP2

    *SMA Technologies

    StoneBranch

    Universal Automation Center (UAC)

    Workload Management:

    Summary

    Founded in 1999, ”the Stonebranch Universal Automation Center (UAC) is an enterprise-grade business automation solution that goes beyond traditional job scheduling. UAC's event-based workload automation solution is designed to automate and orchestrate system jobs and tasks across all mainframe, on-prem, and hybrid IT environments. IT operations teams gain complete visibility and advanced control with a single web-based controller, while removing the need to run individual job schedulers across platforms.”*

    URL

    stonebranch.com/it-automation-solutions/enterprise-job-scheduling

    Coverage:

    Global

    Windows

    Linux

    Unix

    z/Series

    Apache Kafka

    AWS

    Databricks

    Docker

    GitHub

    Google Cloud

    Informatica

    Jenkins

    Jscape

    Kubernetes

    Microsoft Azure

    Microsoft SQL

    Microsoft Teams

    PagerDuty

    PeopleSoft

    Petnaho

    RedHat Ansible

    Salesforce

    SAP

    ServiceNow

    Slack

    SMTP and IMAP

    Snowflake

    Tableau

    VMware

    *Stonebranch

    Tidal Software

    Workload Automation

    Workload Management:

    Summary

    Founded in 1979, Tidal’s Workload Automation will “simplify management and execution of end-to-end business processes with our unified automation platform. Orchestrate workflows whether they're running on-prem, in the cloud or hybrid environments.”*

    URL

    tidalsoftware.com

    Coverage:

    Global

    CentOS

    Linux

    Microsoft Windows Server

    Open VMS

    Oracle Cloud

    Oracle Enterprise Linux

    Red Hat Enterprise Server

    Suse Enterprise

    Tandem NSK

    Ubuntu

    UNIX

    HPUX (PA-RISC, Itanium)

    Solaris (Sparc, X86)

    AIX, iSeries

    z/Linux

    z/OS

    Amazon AWS

    Microsoft Azure

    Oracle OCI

    Google Cloud

    ServiceNow

    Kubernetes

    VMware

    Cisco UCS

    SAP R/3 & SAP S/4HANA

    Oracle E-Business

    Oracle ERP Cloud

    PeopleSoft

    JD Edwards

    Hadoop

    Oracle DB

    Microsoft SQL

    SAP BusinessObjects

    IBM Cognos

    FTP/FTPS/SFTP

    Informatica

    *Tidal

    Vinzant Software

    Global ECS

    Workload Management:

    Summary

    Founded in 1987, Global ECS can “simplify operations in all areas of production with the GECS automation framework. Use a single solution to schedule, coordinate and monitor file transfers, database operations, scripts, web services, executables and SAP jobs. Maximize efficiency for all operations across multiple business units intelligently and automatically.”*

    URL

    vinzantsoftware.com

    Coverage:

    Global

    Windows

    Linux

    Unix

    iSeries

    SAP R/3 & SAP S/4HANA

    Oracle, SQL/Server

    *Vizant Software

    Activity

    Scale Out or Scale Up

    Activities:

    1. Complete the Scale Up vs. Scale Out TCO Tool.
    2. Compare total lifecycle costs to determine TCO.

    This activity involves the following participants:

    IT strategic direction decision makers

    IT managers responsible for an existing z/Series platform

    Organizations evaluating platforms for mission critical applications

    Outcomes of this step:

    • Completed Scale Up vs. Scale Out TCO Tool

    Info-Tech Insight

    This checkpoint process creates transparency around agreement costs with the business and gives the business an opportunity to re-evaluate its requirements for a potentially leaner agreement.

    Scale out versus scale up activity

    The Scale Up vs. Scale Out TCO Tool provides organizations with a framework for estimating the costs associated with purchasing and licensing for a scale-up and scale-out environment over a multi-year period.

    Use this tool to:

    • Compare the pre-populated values.
    • Insert your own amounts to contrast possible database decisions and determine the TCO of each.
    		The image contains screenshots of the Scale Up vs. Scale Out TCO Tool.

    Info-Tech Insight

    Watch out for inaccurate financial information. Ensure that the financials for cost match your maintenance and contract terms.

    Use the Scale Up vs. Scale Out TCO Tool to determine your TCO options.

    Related Info-Tech Research

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    Research Authors

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    Bibliography

    “AWS Announces AWS Mainframe Modernization.” Business Wire, 30 Nov. 2021.
    de Valence, Phil. “Migrating a Mainframe to AWS in 5 Steps with Astadia?” AWS, 23 Mar. 2018.
    Graham, Nyela. “New study shows mainframes still popular despite the rise of cloud—though times are changing…fast?” WatersTechnology, 12 Sept. 2022.
    “Legacy applications can be revitalized with API.” MuleSoft, 2022.
    Vecchio, Dale. “The Benefits of Running Mainframe Applications on LzLabs Software Defined Mainframe® & Microsoft Azure.” LzLabs Sites, Mar. 2021.

    IT Strategy

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    Endpoint Management Selection Guide

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    Endpoint management solutions are becoming an essential solution: Deploying the right devices and applications to the right user and the need for zero-touch provisioning are indispensable parts of a holistic strategy for improving customer 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 a concrete business value.

    Our Advice

    Critical 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.

    Impact and Result

    • Determine what you require from an endpoint management solution.
    • Review the market space and product offerings, and compare capabilities of key players.
    • Create a use case and use top-level requirements to determine use cases and shortlist vendors.
    • Conduct a formal process for interviewing vendors using Info-Tech’s templates to select the best platform for your requirements.

    Endpoint Management Selection Guide Research & Tools

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

    1. Endpoint Management Selection Guide Storyboard – A structured guide to walk you through the endpoint management market.

    This storyboard will help you understand endpoint management solution core capabilities and prepare you to select an appropriate tool.

    • Endpoint Management Selection Guide Storyboard

    2. UEM Requirements Workbook – A template to help you build your first draft of requirements for UEM selection.

    Use this spreadsheet to brainstorm use cases and features to satisfy your requirements. This document will be help you score solutions and narrow down the field to a list of candidates who can meet your requirements.

    • UEM Requirements Workbook
    [infographic]

    Further reading

    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.

    An image of Mahmoud Ramin, PhD

    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

    An mage showing endpoint management visualzed as positions on an iceberg. at the top is UEM, at the midpoint above the waterline is Enterprise Mobile Management, and below the water is Mobile Device Management.

    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

    1. Understand Core Features and Build Your Use Case

    2. Discover the Endpoint Management Market Space and Select the Right Vendor

    Phase Steps

    1. Define endpoint management platforms
    2. Explore endpoint management trends
    3. Classify table stakes & differentiating capabilities
    4. Streamline the requirements elicitation process for a new endpoint management platform
    1. Discover key players across the vendor landscape
    2. Engage the shortlist and select finalists
    3. Prepare for implementation

    Phase Outcomes

    1. Consensus on scope of endpoint management and key endpoint management platform capabilities
    2. Top-level use cases and requirements
    1. Overview of shortlisted vendors
    2. Prioritized list of UEM features

    Guided Implementation

    What does a typical GI on this topic look like?

    Phase 1 Phase 2

    Call #1: Understand what an endpoint management platform is and learn how it evolved. Discuss core capabilities and key trends.
    Call #2: Build a use case and define features to fulfill the use case.

    Call #3: Define your core endpoint management platform requirements.
    Call #4: Evaluate the endpoint management platform vendor landscape and shortlist viable options.
    Review implementation considerations.

    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

    The Info-Tech difference:
    Analyze needs

    Evaluate solutions

    Determine where you need to improve the tools and processes used to support the company.

    Determine the best fit for your needs by scoring against features.

    Assess existing solution

    Features

    Determine if your solution can be upgraded or easily updated to meet your needs.

    Determine which features will be key to your success

    Create a business case for change

    Use Cases

    A two-part business case will focus on a need to change and use cases and requirements to bring stakeholders onboard.

    Create use cases to ensure your needs are met as you evaluate features

    Improve existing

    High-Level Requirements

    Work with Info-Tech's analysts to determine next steps to improve your process and make better use of the features you have available.

    Use the high-level requirements to determine use cases and shortlist vendors

    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

    Phase 1

    Phase 2

    Define endpoint management platforms

    Explore endpoint management trends

    Classify table stakes & differentiating capabilities

    Streamline the requirements elicitation process for a new endpoint management platform

    Discover key players across the vendor landscape

    Engage the shortlist and select finalist

    Prepare for implementation

    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
    Mobile Device Management

    Enterprise Mobile Management

    MDM applies security over corporate-owned devices.

    What is MDM and what can you do with it?

    1. MDM helps manage and control corporate owned devices.
    2. You can enforce company policies, track, monitor, and lock device remotely by an MDM.
    3. MDM helps with remote wiping of the device when it is lost or stolen.
    4. You can avoid unsecure Wi-Fi connections via MDM.

    EMM solutions solve the restrictions arose with BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) and COPE (Corporate Owned, Personally Enabled) provisioning models.

    • IT needs to secure corporate-owned data without compromising personal and private data. MDM cannot fulfill this requirement. This led to the development of EMM solutions.
    • EMM tools allow you to manage multiple device platforms through MDM protocols. These tools enforce security settings, allow you to push apps to managed devices, and monitor patch compliance through reporting.

    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.

    An image of a donut chart showing the current state of UEM Strategy.

    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

    Phase 1

    Phase 2

    Define endpoint management platforms

    Explore endpoint management trends

    Classify table stakes & differentiating capabilities

    Streamline the requirements elicitation process for a new endpoint management platform

    Discover key players across the vendor landscape

    Engage the shortlist and select finalist

    Prepare for implementation

    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

    An image showing the pros and cons of building vs buying

    Evaluate software category leaders through vendor rankings and awards

    SoftwareReviews
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    • evaluation and ranking of all software in an individual category to compare platforms across multiple dimensions.
    • Vendors are ranked by their Composite Score, based on individual feature evaluations, user satisfaction rankings, vendor capability comparisons, and likeliness to recommend the platform.
    • The Emotional Footprint is a powerful indicator of overall user sentiment toward the relationship with the vendor, capturing data across five dimensions.
    • Vendors are ranked by their Customer Experience (CX) Score, which combines the overall Emotional Footprint rating with a measure of the value delivered by the solution.

    Speak with category experts to dive deeper into the vendor landscape

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    • Fact-based reviews of business software from IT professionals.
    • Product and category reports with state-of-the-art data visualization.
    • 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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    With the insight of our expert analysts, our members receive unparalleled support in their buying journey.

    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.

    A screenshot showing a series of logos for the companies addressed later in this blueprint. It includes: Ciso; Meraki; Citrix; IBM MaaS360; Ivanti; Jamf|Pro; ManageEngine Endpoint Central; Microsoft Endpoint Manager, and VMWARE.

    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

    8.8

    9.1

    +92

    91%

    COMPOSITE SCORE

    CX SCORE

    EMOTIONAL FOOTPRINT

    LIKELINESS TO RECOMMEND

    DOWNLOAD REPORT

    This is a Screenshot of CISCO Meraki's dashboard.

    Screenshot of CISCO Meraki's dashboard. Source: Cisco

    Strengths:

    Areas to improve:

    • Cisco Meraki offers granular control over what users can and cannot use.
    • The system is user friendly and intuitive, with a variety of features.
    • The anti-malware capability enhances security.
    • Users are very satisfied with being able to control everything in a single platform.
    • System configuration is easy.
    • Vendor relationship is very high with a rate of 96%.
    • System setup is easy, and users don't need much experience for initial configuration of devices.
    • Users are also mostly satisfied with the platform design.
    • Monitoring within the tool is easy.
    • According to SoftwareReviews' survey report, the primary reason for leaving Cisco Meraki and switching over to another vendor is functionality.
    • Regardless of the top-notch offerings and high-quality features, the product is relatively expensive. The quality and price factors make the solution a better fit for large enterprises. However, SoftwareReviews' scorecard for Cisco Meraki shows that small organizations are the most satisfied compared to the medium and large enterprises, with a net promoter score of 81%.

    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

    7.9

    8.0

    8.0

    83%

    COMPOSITE SCORE

    CX SCORE

    EMOTIONAL FOOTPRINT

    LIKELINESS TO RECOMMEND

    DOWNLOAD REPORT

    Screenshot of Citrix Endpoint Management's dashboard.

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

    Strengths:

    Areas to improve:

    • Citrix Endpoint Management is a cloud-centric, easy-to-use UEM with an upgradable interface.
    • The solution simplifies endpoint management and provides real-time visibility and notifications.
    • Citrix allows deployments on different operating systems to meet organizations' infrastructure requirements.
    • The vendor offers different licenses and pricing models, allowing businesses of different sizes to use the tool based on their budgets and requirements.
    • Some users believe that integration with external applications should be improved.
    • Deployment is not very intuitive, making implementation process challenging.
    • User may experience some lagging while opening applications on Citrix. Application is even a bit slower when using a mobile device.

    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

    7.7

    8.4

    +86

    76%

    COMPOSITE SCORE

    CX SCORE

    EMOTIONAL FOOTPRINT

    LIKELINESS TO RECOMMEND

    DOWNLOAD REPORT

    Screenshot of IBM MaaS360's dashboard.

    Screenshot of IBM MaaS360's dashboard. Source: IBM

    Strengths:

    Areas to improve:

    • IBM MaaS360 is easy to install and implement.
    • It has different pricing models to fit enterprises' needs.
    • MaaS360 is compatible with different operating systems.
    • Security management is one of the strongest features, making the tool perfect for organizations that want to improve cybersecurity.
    • Vendor support is very effective, and users find knowledge articles very helpful.
    • It has a very intuitive dashboard.
    • The tool can control organizational data, allowing you to apply BYOD policy.
    • AI Advisor with Watson provides AI-driven reporting and insights.
    • Working with iOS may not be as intuitive as other operating systems.
    • Adding or removing users in a user group is not very straightforward.
    • Some capabilities are limited to particular Android or iOS devices.
    • Deploying application packages may be a bit difficult.
    • Hardware deployment may need some manual work and is not fully automated.

    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

    8.0

    8.0

    +81

    83%

    COMPOSITE SCORE

    CX SCORE

    EMOTIONAL FOOTPRINT

    LIKELINESS TO RECOMMEND

    DOWNLOAD REPORT

    Screenshot of Ivanti Neurons UEM's dashboard.

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

    Strengths:

    Areas to improve:

    • The tool is intuitive and user friendly.
    • It's a powerful security management platform, supporting multiple operating systems.
    • Ivanti Neurons is very strong in patch management and inventory management. It helps a seamless application deployment.
    • Users can install their applications via Ivanti's portal.
    • The user interface is very powerful and easy to use.
    • AI-augmented process management automates protocols, streamlining device management and application updates.
    • Vendor is very efficient in training and provides free webinars.
    • Data integration is very easy. According to SoftwareReviews, it had a satisfaction score for ease of data integration of 86%, which makes Ivanti the top solution for this capability.
    • Data analytics is powerful but complicated.
    • Setup is easy for some teams but not as easy for others, which may cause delays for implementation.
    • Software monitoring is not as good as other competitors.

    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

    8.8

    8.7

    +87

    95%

    COMPOSITE SCORE

    CX SCORE

    EMOTIONAL FOOTPRINT

    LIKELINESS TO RECOMMEND

    DOWNLOAD REPORT

    Screenshot of Jamf PRO's dashboard.

    Screenshot of Jamf PRO's dashboard. Source: Jamf

    Strengths:

    Areas to improve:

    • Jamf Pro is a unique product with an easy implementation that enables IT with minimum admin intervention.
    • It can create smart groups (based on MDM profile and user group) to automatically assign users to their pertinent apps and updates.
    • It's a very user-friendly tool, conducting device management in fewer steps than other competitors.
    • Reports are totally customizable and dynamic.
    • Notifications are easy to navigate and monitor.
    • Self-service feature enables end users to download their predefined categories of applications in the App Store.
    • It can apply single sign-on integrations to streamline user access to applications.
    • Businesses can personalize the tool with corporate logos.
    • Vendor does great for customer service when problems arise.
    • It is a costly tool relative to other competitors, pushing prospects to consider other products.
    • The learning process may be long and not easy, especially if admins do not script, or it's their first time using a UEM.

    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

    8.3

    8.3

    +81

    88%

    COMPOSITE SCORE

    CX SCORE

    EMOTIONAL FOOTPRINT

    LIKELINESS TO RECOMMEND

    DOWNLOAD REPORT

    Screenshot of ME Endpoint Central's dashboard.

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

    Strengths:

    Areas to improve:

    • It supports several operating systems including Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, and iOS.
    • Endpoint Central provides end-to-end monitoring, asset management, and security in a single platform.
    • Setup is simple and intuitive, and it's easy to learn and configure.
    • The reporting feature is very useful and gives you clear visibility into dashboard.
    • Combined with ME Service Desk Plus, we can call Endpoint Central an all-in-one solution.
    • The tool provides a real-time report on devices and tracks their health status.
    • It has multiple integrations with third-party solutions.
    • Tool does not automate updates, making application updates time-consuming.
    • Sometimes, patches and software deployments fail, and the tool doesn't provide any information on the reason for the failure.
    • There is no single point of contact/account manager for the clients when they have trouble with the tool.
    • Remote connection to Android devices can sometimes get a little tedious.

    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

    8.0

    8.5

    +83

    85%

    COMPOSITE SCORE

    CX SCORE

    EMOTIONAL FOOTPRINT

    LIKELINESS TO RECOMMEND

    DOWNLOAD REPORT

    Screenshot of MS Endpoint Manager's dashboard.

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

    Strengths:

    Areas to improve:

    • Licensing for the enterprises that use Windows as their primary operating system is more efficient and cost effective.
    • Endpoint Manager is very customizable, with the ability to assign personas to device groups.
    • Besides Windows, it manages other operating systems, such as Linux, Android, and iOS.
    • It creates endpoint security and compliance policies for BitLocker that streamlines data protection and security. It also provides SSO.
    • It provides very strong documentation and knowledgebase.
    • User interface is not as good as competitors. It's a bit clunky and complex to use.
    • The process of changing configurations on devices can be time consuming.
    • Sometimes there are service outages such as Autopilot failure, which push IT to deploy manually.
    • Location tracking is not very accurate.

    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

    7.5

    7.4

    +71

    75%

    COMPOSITE SCORE

    CX SCORE

    EMOTIONAL FOOTPRINT

    LIKELINESS TO RECOMMEND

    DOWNLOAD REPORT

    Screenshot of Workspace ONE's dashboard.

    Screenshot of Workspace ONE's dashboard. Source: VMware

    Strengths:

    Areas to improve:

    • Workspace ONE provides lots of information about devices.
    • It provides a large list of integrations.
    • The solution supports various operating systems.
    • The platform has many out-of-the-box features and helps with security management, asset management, and application management.
    • The vendor has a community forum which users find helpful for resolving issues or asking questions about the solution.
    • It is very simple to use and provides SSO capability.
    • Implementation is relatively easy and straightforward.
    • Customization may be tricky and require expertise.
    • The solution can be more user friendly with a better UI.
    • Because of intensive processing, updates to applications take a long time.
    • The tool may sometimes be very sensitive and lock devices.
    • Analytics and reporting may need improvement.

    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.

    This is a screenshot showing the high value use cases table from The Rapid Application Selection Framework.

    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

    This is a screenshot of the title pages from INfo-tech's Governance and management of enterprise Software Implementaton; and The Rapid Applicaton Selection Framework.

    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.

    This is an image of a bar graph showing the Satisfaction Net Promotor Score by Implementation type and Organization Size.

    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?

    An image of two screenshots from Info-Tech Research Group showing documentaton used to generate effective proof of concepts.

    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

    Related Info-Tech Research

    Modernize and Transform Your End-User Computing Strategy

    This project helps support the workforce of the future by answering the following questions: What types of computing devices, provisioning models, and operating systems should be offered to end users? How will IT support devices? What are the policies and governance surrounding how devices are used? What actions are we taking and when? How do end-user devices support larger corporate priorities and strategies?

    Best Unified Endpoint Management (UEM) Software | SoftwareReviews

    Compare and evaluate Unified Endpoint Management vendors using the most in-depth and unbiased buyer reports available. Download free comprehensive 40+ page reports to select the best Unified Endpoint Management software for your organization.

    The Rapid Application Selection Framework

    This blueprint walks you through a process for a fast and efficient selection of your prospective application. You will be enabled to use a data-driven approach to select the right application vendor for your needs, shatter stakeholder expectations with truly rapid application selections, boost collaboration and crush the broken telephone with concise and effective stakeholder meetings, and lock in hard savings.

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