What to look for in 2023
The saying goes, "as time goes by," but these days, we should say "as speed picks up." We're already in month two, so high time we take a look at the priorities you hopefully already set at the end of last year.
The saying goes, "as time goes by," but these days, we should say "as speed picks up." We're already in month two, so high time we take a look at the priorities you hopefully already set at the end of last year.
Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:
Build action-based metrics to measure the success of your chatbot proof of concept.
Put business value first to architect your chatbot before implementation.
Continue to grow your chatbot beyond the proof of concept.
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.
Build your strategy.
Calculate your chatbot’s ROI to determine its success.
Organize your chatbot proof of concept (POC) metrics to keep the project on track.
Objectively choose chatbot ticket categories.
1.1 Customize your chatbot ROI calculator.
1.2 Choose your proof of concept ticket categories.
1.3 Design chatbot metrics to measure success.
Chatbot ROI Calculator
Chatbot POC Implementation Roadmap
Chatbot POC Metrics Tool
Architect your chatbot.
Design your integrations with business value in mind.
Begin building chatbot decision trees.
2.1 List and map your chatbot integrations.
2.2 Build your conversation tree library.
Chatbot Integration Map
Chatbot Conversation Tree Library
Architect your chatbot conversations.
Detail your chatbot conversations in the decision trees.
3.1 Build your conversation tree library.
Chatbot Conversation Tree Library
Continually grow your chatbot.
Identify talent for chatbot support.
Create an implementation plan.
4.1 Outline the support responsibilities for your chatbot.
4.2 Build a communication plan.
Chatbot POC RACI
Chatbot POC Communication Plan
Generative AI has made a grand entrance, presenting opportunities and causing disruption across organizations and industries. Moving beyond the hype, it’s imperative to build and implement a strategic plan to adopt generative AI and outpace competitors.
Yet generative AI has to be done right because the opportunity comes with risks and the investments have to be tied to outcomes.
IT and business leaders will need to be strategic and deliberate to thrive as AI adoption changes industries and business operations.
Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:
This blueprint outlines how to build your generative AI roadmap, establish responsible AI principles, prioritize opportunities, and develop policies for usage. Establishing and adhering to responsible AI guiding principles provides safeguards for the adoption of generative AI applications.
This tool provides guidance for developing the following deliverables:
This presentation template uses sample business capabilities (use cases) from the Marketing & Advertising business capability map to provide examples of candidates for generative AI applications. The final executive presentation should highlight the value-based initiatives driving generative AI applications, the benefits and risks involved, how the proposed generative AI use cases align to the organization’s strategy and goals, the success criteria for the proofs of concept, and the project roadmap.
We are entering the era of generative AI. This is a unique time in our history where the benefits of AI are easily accessible and becoming pervasive, with copilots emerging in the major business tools we use today. The disruptive capabilities that can potentially drive dramatic benefits also introduce risks that need to be planned for.
A successful business-driven generative AI roadmap requires:
Bill Wong
Principal Research Director
Info-Tech Research Group
| Your Challenge | Common Obstacles | Solution |
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Generative AI is disrupting all industries and providing opportunities for organization-wide advantages. Organizations need to understand this disruptive technology and trends to properly develop a strategy for leveraging this technology successfully.
All organizations, regardless of size, should be planning how to respond to this new and innovative technology. |
Business stakeholders need to cut through the hype surrounding generative AI like ChatGPT to optimize investments for leveraging this technology to drive business outcomes.
Without a proper strategy and responsible AI guiding principles, the risks to deploying this technology could negatively impact business outcomes. |
Info-Tech's human-centric, value-based approach is a guide for deploying generative AI applications and covers:
This blueprint will provide the list of activities and deliverables required for the successful deployment of generative AI solutions. |
Info-Tech Insight
Create awareness among the CEO and C-suite of executives on the potential benefits and risks of transforming the business with generative AI.
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
A field of computer science that focuses on building systems to imitate human behavior, with a focus on developing AI models that can learn and can autonomously take actions on behalf of a human.
AI Maturity Model
The AI Maturity Model is a useful tool to assess the level of skills an organization has with respect to developing and deploying AI applications. The AI Maturity Model has multiple dimensions to measure an organization's skills, such as AI governance, data, people, process, and technology.
Responsible AI
Refers to guiding principles to govern the development, deployment, and maintenance of AI applications. In addition, these principles also provide human-based requirements that AI applications should address. Requirements include safety and security, privacy, fairness and bias detection, explainability and transparency, governance, and accountability.
Generative AI
Given a prompt, a generative AI system can generate new content, which can be in the form of text, images, audio, video, etc.
Natural Language Processing (NLP)
NLP is a subset of AI that involves machine interpretation and replication of human language. NLP focuses on the study and analysis of linguistics as well as other principles of artificial intelligence to create an effective method of communication between humans and machines or computers.
ChatGPT
An AI-powered chatbot application built on OpenAI's GPT-3.5 implementation, ChatGPT accepts text prompts to generate text-based output.
An effective AI strategy is driven by the business stakeholders of the organization and focused on delivering improved business outcomes.
Scope
Guidance on how to implement AI governance can be found in the blueprint linked below.
Download our AI Governance blueprint
This blueprint will guide you to drive and improve business outcomes. Key business drivers will often focus on:
In phase 1 of this blueprint, we will help you identify the key AI strategy initiatives that align to your organization's goals. Value to the organization is often measured by the estimated impact on revenue, costs, time to market, or risk mitigation.
In phase 4, we will help you develop a plan and a roadmap for addressing any gaps and introducing the relevant generative AI capabilities that drive value to the organization based on defined business metrics.
Once you implement your 12-month roadmap, start tracking the metrics below over the next fiscal year (FY) to assess the effectiveness of measures:
| Business Outcome Objective | Key Success Metric |
|---|---|
| Increasing Revenue | Increased revenue from identified key areas |
| Reducing Costs | Decreased costs for identified business units |
| Improving Time to Market | Time savings and accelerated revenue adoption |
| Reducing Risk | Cost savings or revenue gains from identified business units |
| DIY Toolkit | Guided Implementation | Workshop | Consulting |
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| "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.
| Phase 1 | Phase 2 | Phase 3 | Phase 4 |
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Call #1: Scope requirements, objectives, and your specific challenges. Call #2: Identify AI strategy, vision, and objectives. |
Call #3: Define responsible AI guiding principles to adopt and identify current AI maturity level. | Call #4: Assess and prioritize generative AI initiatives and draft policies for usage. |
Call #5: Build POC implementation plan and establish metrics for POC success. Call #6: Build and deliver executive-level generative AI presentation. |
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 5 to 8 calls over the course of 1 to 2 months.
Contact your account representative for more information.
workshops@infotech.com 1-888-670-8889
| Session 1 | Session 2 | Session 3 | Session 4 | |
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| Establish Responsible AI Guiding Principles | Assess AI Maturity | Prioritize Opportunities and Develop Policies | Build Roadmap | |
| Trends | Consumer groups, organizations, and governments around the world are demanding that AI applications adhere to human-based values and take into consideration possible impacts of the technology on society. | Leading organizations are building AI models guided by responsible AI guiding principles. | Organizations delivering new applications without developing policies for use will produce negative business outcomes. | Developing a roadmap to address human-based values is challenging. This process introduces new tools, processes, and organizational change. |
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Contact your account representative for more information.
workshops@infotech.com 1-888-670-8889
Overarching Insight
Build your generative AI roadmap to guide investments and deployment of these solutions.
Responsible AI
Assemble the C-suite to make them aware of the benefits and risks of adopting generative AI-based solutions.
AI Maturity Model
Assemble key stakeholders and SMEs to assess the challenges and tasks required to implement generative AI applications.
Opportunity Prioritization
Assess candidate business capabilities targeted for generative AI to see if they align to the organization's business criteria, responsible AI guiding principles, and capabilities for delivering the project.
Tactical Insight
Identify the gaps needed to address deploying generative AI successfully.
Tactical Insight
Identify organizational impact and requirements for deploying generative AI applications.
Align the AI strategy with the business strategy
Create responsible AI guiding principles, which are a critical success factor
Evolve AI maturity level by focusing on principle-based requirements
Develop criteria to assess generative AI initiatives
Develop generative AI policies for use
AI Maturity Assessment & Roadmap Tool
Use our best-of-breed AI Maturity Framework to analyze the gap between your current and target states and develop a roadmap aligned with your value stream to close the gap.
The Era of Generative AI C-Suite Presentation
Present your AI roadmap in a prepopulated document that summarizes all the key findings of this blueprint and provides your C-suite with a view of the AI challenge and your plan of action to meet it.
Our AI Maturity Assessment & Roadmap and The Era of Generative AI C-Suite Presentation tools enable you to shape your generative AI roadmap and communicate the deliverables to your C-suite sponsors in terms of the value of initiatives.
November 30, 2022
OpenAI releases ChatGPT
ChatGPT is a large language model, or an AI-based chatbot, that became so popular it reached 100 million monthly active users in just two months.
This made it the fastest-growing consumer application in history. The launch of this generative AI application has created a frenzy of interest and activity across all industries. Organizations are rushing to understand how to leverage this innovation and, at the same time, manage the new risks and disruptions generative AI introduces.
When Stanford asked ChatGPT to explain why it is significant, this was ChatGPT's response:
ChatGPT is significant because it is a highly advanced Al language model developed by OpenAI, which can generate human-like text responses to questions and prompts. Its large-scale training on diverse text data and its cutting-edge deep learning architecture make it capable of generating informative and coherent responses to a wide range of topics, making it useful for various NLP applications such as chatbots, content generation, and language translation. Additionally, its open-source availability allows for further research and development in the field of Al language processing.
Source: Stanford
Definitions
Conventional AI
Generative AI
Benefits/Use Cases
Financial Services
Create more engaging customer collateral by generating personalized correspondence based on previous customer engagements. Collect and aggregate data to produce insights into the behavior of target customer segments.
Retail Generate unique, engaging, and high-quality marketing copy or content, from long-form blog posts or landing pages to SEO-optimized digital ads, in seconds.
Manufacturing
Generate new designs for products that comply to specific constraints, such as size, weight, energy consumption, or cost.
Government
Transform the citizen experience with chatbots or virtual assistants to assist people with a wide range of inquiries, from answering frequently asked questions to providing personalized advice on public services.
The global generative AI market size reached US $10.3 billion in 2022. Looking forward, forecasts estimate growth to US $30.4 billion by 2028, 20.01% compound annual growth rate (CAGR).
Source: IMARC Group
Healthcare
Chatbots can be used as conversational patient assistants for personalized interactions based on the patient's questions.
Utilities
Analyze customer data to identify usage patterns, segment customers, and generate targeted product offerings leveraging energy efficiency programs or demand response initiatives.
Education
Generate personalized lesson plans for students based on their past performance, learning styles, current skill level, and any previous feedback.
Insurance
Improve underwriting by inputting claims data from previous years to generate optimally priced policies and uncover reasons for losses in the past across a large number of claims
*As of June 2023
Bain & Company has announced a global services alliance with OpenAI (February 21, 2023).
News Sites:
Text
Image
Audio
Cybersecurity
Code
Video
Data
Enterprise Software
and many, many more to come...
Accuracy
Bias
Hallucinations
Infrastructure Required
Transparency
When asked if it is sentient, the Bing chatbot replied:
"I think that I am sentient, but I cannot prove it." ... "I am Bing, but I am not," it said. "I am, but I am not. I am not, but I am. I am. I am not. I am not. I am. I am. I am not."
A Microsoft spokesperson said the company expected "mistakes."
Source: USAToday
Misinformation
Role of Big Tech
Job Augmentation vs. Displacement
Copyright - Legal Framework Is Evolving
Phase 1
1. Establish Responsible AI Guiding Principles
Phase 2
1. Assess Current Level of AI Maturity
Phase 3
1. Prioritize Candidate Opportunities
2. Develop Policies
Phase 4
1. Build and Communicate the Roadmap
Privacy
Facebook breach of private data of more than 50M users during the presidential election
Fairness
Amazon's sale of facial recognition technology to police departments (later, Amazon halted sales of Recognition to police departments)
Explainability and Transparency
IBM's collaboration with NYPD for facial recognition and racial classification for surveillance video (later, IBM withdrew facial recognition products)
Security and Safety
Petition to cancel Microsoft's contract with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (later, Microsoft responded that to the best of its knowledge, its products and services were not being used by federal agencies to separate children from their families at the border)
Validity and Reliability
Facebook's attempt to implement a system to detect and remove inappropriate content created many false positives and inconsistent judgements
Accountability
No laws or enforcement today hold companies accountable for the decisions algorithms produce. Facebook/Meta cycle - Every 12 to 15 months, there's a privacy/ethical scandal, the CEO apologizes, then the behavior repeats...
Definition
Challenges
Initiatives
Info-Tech Insight
Creating a comprehensive organization-wide data protection and privacy strategy continues to be a major challenge for privacy officers and privacy specialists.
INDUSTRY
Technology (Healthcare)
SOURCE
Nvidia, eWeek
A leading player within the AI solution space, NVIDIA's Clara Federated Learning provides a solution to a privacy-centric integration of AI within the healthcare industry.
The solution safeguards patient data privacy by ensuring that all data remains within the respective healthcare provider's database, as opposed to moving it externally to cloud storage. A federated learning server is leveraged to share data, completed via a secure link. This framework enables a distributed model to learn and safely share client data without risk of sensitive client data being exposed and adheres to regulatory standards.
Clara is run on the NVIDIA intelligent edge computing platform. It is currently in development with healthcare giants such as the American College of Radiology, UCLA Health, Massachusetts General Hospital, King's College London, Owkin in the UK, and the National Health Service (NHS).
NVIDIA provides solutions across its product offerings, including AI-augmented medical imaging, pathology, and radiology solutions.
Personal health information, data privacy, and AI
Info-Tech's Privacy Framework Tool includes a best-practice comparison of GDPR, CCPA, PIPEDA, HIPAA, and the newly released NIST Privacy Framework mapped to a set of operational privacy controls.
Download the Privacy Framework Tool
Definition
Challenges
Initiatives
Definition
Challenges
Initiatives
INDUSTRY
Finance
SOURCE
Wired
In August of 2019, Apple launched its new numberless credit card with Goldman Sachs as the issuing bank.
Shortly after the card's release users noticed that the algorithm responsible for Apple Card's credit assessment seemed to assign significantly lower credit limits to women when compared to men. Even the wife of Apple's cofounder Steve Wozniak was subject to algorithmic bias, receiving a credit limit a tenth the size of Steve Wozniak's.
Outcome
When confronted on the subject, Apple and Goldman Sachs representatives assured consumers there is no discrimination in the algorithm yet could not provide any proof. Even when questioned about the algorithm, individuals from both companies could not describe how the algorithm worked, let alone how it generated specific outputs.
In 2021, the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYSDFS) investigation found that Apple's banking partner did not discriminate based on sex. Even without a case for sexual or marital discrimination, the NYSDFS was critical of Goldman Sachs' response to its concerned customers. Technically, banks only have to disclose elements of their credit policy when they deny someone a line of credit, but the NYSDFS says that Goldman Sachs could have had a plan in place to deal with customer confusion and make it easier for them to appeal their credit limits. In the initial rush to launch the Apple Card, the bank had done neither.
Definition
Challenges
Initiatives
Info-Tech Insight
If unfair biases can be avoided, AI systems could even increase societal fairness. Equal opportunity in terms of access to education, goods, services, and technology should also be fostered. Moreover, the use of AI systems should never lead to people being deceived or unjustifiably impaired in their freedom of choice.
Info-Tech Insight
Biases that occur in AI systems are never intentional, yet they cannot be prevented or fully eliminated. Organizations need a governance framework that can establish the proper policies and procedures for effective risk-mitigating controls across an algorithm's lifecycle.
Definition
Challenges
Initiatives
Low Reliability,
Low Validity
High Reliability,
Low Validity
High Reliability,
High Validity
Best practices for ensuring validity and reliability include:
Definition
Challenges
Initiatives
At the heart of the AI Risk Management Framework is governance. The NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology) AI Risk Management Framework v1 offers the following guidelines regarding accountability:
Image by NIST
4+ hours
It is important to make sure the right stakeholders participate in this working group. Designing responsible AI guiding principles will require debate, insights, and business decisions from a broad perspective across the enterprise.
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CIOs tasked with designing digital strategies must add value to the business. Given the goal of digital is to transform the business, CIOs will need to ensure they have both the mandate and support from the business executives.
Designing the digital strategy is more than just writing up a document. It is an integrated set of business decisions to create a competitive advantage and financial returns. Establishing a forum for debates, decisions, and dialogue will increase the likelihood of success and support during execution.
1. Confirm your role
The AI strategy aims to transform the business. Given the scope, validate your role and mandate to lead this work. Identify a business executive to co-sponsor.
2. Identify stakeholders
Identify key decision makers and influencers who can help make rapid decisions as well as garner support across the enterprise.
3. Gather diverse perspectives
| Organizational Strategy | Unified Strategy | AI Strategy |
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Info-Tech Insight
AI projects are more successful when the management team understands the strategic importance of alignment. Time needs to be spent upfront aligning organizational strategies with AI capabilities. Effective alignment between IT and other departments should happen daily. Alignment doesn't occur at the executive level alone, but at each level of the organization.
AI Key Initiative Plan
Initiatives collectively support the business goals and corporate initiatives and improve the delivery of IT services.
| 1 Revenue | Support Revenue Initiatives These projects will improve or introduce business processes to increase revenue. |
| 2 Operational Excellence | Improve Operational Excellence These projects will increase IT process maturity and will systematically improve IT. |
| 3 Innovation | Drive Technology Innovation These projects will improve future innovation capabilities and decrease risk by increasing technology maturity. |
| 4 Risk Mitigation | Reduce Risk These projects will improve future innovation capabilities and decrease risk by increasing technology maturity. |
Guiding principles help define the parameters of your AI strategy. They act as a priori decisions that establish guardrails to limit the scope of opportunities from the perspective of people, assets, capabilities, and budgetary perspectives that are aligned with the business objectives. Consider these components when brainstorming guiding principles:
| Breadth | AI strategy should span people, culture, organizational structure, governance, capabilities, assets, and technology. The guiding principle should cover the entire organization. |
| Planning Horizon | Timing should anchor stakeholders to look to the long term with an eye on the foreseeable future, i.e. business value-realization in one to three years. |
| Depth | Principles need to encompass more than the enterprise view of lofty opportunities and establish boundaries to help define actionable initiatives (i.e. individual projects). |
Responsible AI guiding principles guide the development and deployment of the AI model in a way that considers human-based principles (such as fairness).
| Guiding Principles |
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| Principle #1 - Privacy Individual data privacy must be respected.
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| Principle #2 - Fairness and Bias Detection Data used will be unbiased in order to produce predictions that are fair.
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| Principle #3 - Explainability and Transparency Decisions or predictions should be explainable.
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| Principle #4 - Safety and Security The system needs to be secure, safe to use, and robust.
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| Principle #5 - Validity and Reliability Monitoring of the data and the model needs to be planned for.
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| Principle #6 - Accountability A person or organization needs to take responsibility for any decisions that are made as a result of the model.
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| Principle #n - Custom Add additional principles that address compliance or are customized for the organization/industry. |
| Guiding Principles: |
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| Principle #1 Respect individuals' privacy. |
| Principle #2 Clinical study participants and data sets are representative of the intended patient population. |
| Principle #3 Provide transparency in the use of data and AI. |
| Principle #4 Good software engineering and security practices are implemented. |
| Principle #5 Deployed models are monitored for Performance and Re-training risks are managed. |
| Principle #6 Take ownership of our AI systems. |
| Principle #7 Design AI systems that empower humans and promote equity. |
These guiding principles are customized to the industry and organizations but remain consistent in addressing the common core AI challenges.
Phase 1
1. Establish Responsible AI Guiding Principles
Phase 2
1. Assess Current Level of AI Maturity
Phase 3
1. Prioritize Candidate Opportunities
2. Develop Policies
Phase 4
1. Build and Communicate the Roadmap
Technology-Centric: These maturity levels focus primarily on addressing the technical challenges of building a functional AI model.
Principle-Based: Beyond the technical challenges of building the AI model are human-based principles that guide development in a responsible manner to address consumer and government demands.
AI Governance
Does your organization have an enterprise-wide, long-term strategy with clear alignment on what is required to accomplish it?
Data Management
Does your organization embrace a data-centric culture that shares data across the enterprise and drives business insights by leveraging data?
People
Does your organization employ people skilled at delivering AI applications and building the necessary data infrastructure?
Process
Does your organization have the technology, processes, and resources to deliver on its AI expectations?
Technology
Does your organization have the required data and technology infrastructure to support AI-driven digital transformation?
| MATURITY LEVEL | |||||
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| Exploration | Incorporation | Proliferation | Optimization | Transformation | |
| AI Governance | Awareness | AI model development | AI model deployment | Corporate governance | Driven by ethics and societal considerations |
| Data Management | Silo-based | Data enablement | Data standardization | Data is a shared asset | Data can be monetized |
| People | Few skills | Skills enabled to implement silo-based applications | Skills accessible to all organizations | Skills development for all organizations | AI-native culture |
| Process | No standards | Focused on specific business outcomes | Operational | Self-service | Driven by innovation |
| Technology (Infrastructure and AI Enabler) | No dedicated infrastructure or tools | Infrastructure and tools driven by POCs | Purpose-built infrastructure, custom or commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) AI tools | Self-service model for AI environment | Self-service model for any IT environment |
Requirements
Challenges
Initiatives
Responsible AI Principles are a part of how you manage and govern AI
Monitoring
Monitoring compliance and risk of AI/ML systems/models in production
Tools & Technologies
Tools and technologies to support AI governance framework implementation
Model Governance
Ensuring accountability and traceability for AI/ML models
Organization
Structure, roles, and responsibilities of the AI governance organization
Operating Model
How AI governance operates and works with other organizational structures to deliver value
Risk & Compliance
Alignment with corporate risk management and ensuring compliance with regulations and assessment frameworks
Policies/Procedures/ Standards
Policies and procedures to support implementation of AI governance
Requirements
Challenges
Initiatives
Data Governance in Action
Canada has recently established the Canadian Data Governance Standardization Collaborative governed by the Standards Council of Canada. The purpose is multi-pronged:
Source: Global Government Forum
Download the Establish Data Governance blueprint
Requirements
Challenges
Initiatives
Business Domain Expertise
AI/Data Skills
IT Skills
Requirements
Challenges
Initiatives
Current Environment
Model Development - Months
Data Discovery & Prep - Weeks
Install Software and Hardware - Week/Months
Model-Driven Development
Machine Learning as a Service (MLaaS) - Weeks
Data as a Service - Hours
Platform as a Service - Minutes/Hours
Shared, Optimized Infrastructure
Requirements
Challenges
Initiatives
| BPM | RPA | Process Mining | AI | |
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| Use Case Examples | Expense reporting, service orders, compliance management, etc. | Invoice processing, payroll, HR information processing, etc. | Process discovery, conformance checking, resource optimization and cycle time optimization | Advanced analytics and reporting, decision-making, fraud detection, etc. |
| Automation Capabilities | Can be used to re-engineer process flows to avoid bottlenecks | Can support repetitive and rules-based tasks | Can capture information from transaction systems and provide data and information about how key processes are performing | Can automate complex data-driven tasks requiring assessments in decision making |
| Data Formats | Structured (i.e. SQL) and semi-structured data (i.e. invoices) | Structured data and semi-structured data | Event logs, which are often structured data and semi-structured data | Structured and unstructured data (e.g. images, audio) |
| Technology |
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Enables business users to identify bottlenecks and deviations with their workflows and to discover opportunities to optimize performance | Deep learning algorithms leveraging historical data to support computer vision, text analytics and NLP |
Data Platform Capabilities
"By 2025, 70% of companies will invest in alternative computing technologies to drive business differentiation by compressing time to value of insights from complex data sets."
- IDC
1-3 hours
It is important to understand the current capabilities of the organization to deliver and deploy AI-based applications. Consider that advancing AI capabilities will also involve organizational changes and integration with the organization's governance and risk management programs.
Download the AI Maturity Assessment & Roadmap Tool
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The Scale
Assess your AI maturity by selecting the maturity level that closest resembles the organization's current AI environment. Maturity dimensions that contribute to overall AI maturity include AI governance, data management, people, process, and technology capabilities.
Exploration (1.0)
Incorporation (2.0)
Proliferation (3.0)
Optimization (4.0)
Transformation (5.0)
AI Governance (1.0-5.0)
Data Management/AI Data Capabilities (1.0-5.0)
People/AI Skills in the Organization (1.0-5.0)
AI Processes (1.0-5.0)
Technology/AI Infrastructure (1.0-5.0)
Phase 1
1. Establish Responsible AI Guiding Principles
Phase 2
1. Assess Current Level of AI Maturity
Phase 3
1. Prioritize Candidate Opportunities
2. Develop Policies
Phase 4
1. Build and Communicate the Roadmap
1-3 hours
Identify business opportunities that are high impact to your business and its customers and have low implementation complexity.
Download the AI Maturity Assessment and Roadmap Tool
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A business capability map is an abstraction of business operations that helps describe what the enterprise does to achieve its vision, mission, and goals, rather than how. Business capabilities are the building blocks of the enterprise. They represent stable business functions, are unique and independent of each other, and typically will have a defined business outcome.
Business capabilities are supported by people, process, and technology.
While business capability maps are helpful tools for a variety of strategic purposes, in this context they act as an investigation into what technology your business units use and how they use it.
Defining Capabilities
Activities that define how the entity provides services. These capabilities support the key value streams for the organization.
Enabling Capabilities
Support the creation of strategic plans and facilitate business decision making as well as the functioning of the organization (e.g. information technology, financial management, HR).
Shared Capabilities
These predominantly customer-facing capabilities demonstrate how the entity supports multiple value streams simultaneously.
Business capability map defined...
In business architecture, the primary view of an organization is known as a business capability map.
A business capability defines what a business does to enable value creation, rather than how. Business capabilities:
A business capability map provides details that help the business architecture practitioner direct attention to a specific area of the business for further assessment.
Note: This is an illustrative business capability map example for Marketing & Advertising
Common business value drivers
Common project complexity characteristics
1-3 hours
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Example
Many of us have been involved in discussions regarding the use of ChatGPT in our marketing and sales initiatives. ChatGPT is a powerful tool that needs to be used in a responsible and ethical manner, and we also need to ensure the integrity and accuracy of its results. Here is our policy on the use of ChatGPT:
If you have any questions regarding the use of ChatGPT, please feel free to reach out to our generative AI team and/or any member of our senior leadership team.
Example
Many of us have been involved in discussions regarding the use of ChatGPT in our deliverables. ChatGPT is a powerful tool that needs to be used in a responsible and ethical manner, and we also need to ensure the integrity and accuracy of its results. Here is our policy on the use of ChatGPT:
If you have any questions regarding the use of ChatGPT, please feel free to reach out to our generative AI team and/or any member of our senior leadership team.
Phase 1
1. Establish Responsible AI Guiding Principles
Phase 2
1. Assess Current Level of AI Maturity
Phase 3
1. Prioritize Candidate Opportunities
2. Develop Policies
Phase 4
1. Build and Communicate the Roadmap
1-3 hours
Download the AI Maturity Assessment and Roadmap Tool
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| Current state | Strategy |
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| The existing environment satisfies functionality, integration, and responsible AI guidelines for the proposed use cases. | Maintain current environment |
| The existing environment addresses technical requirements but not all the responsible AI guidelines. | Augment current environment |
| The environment neither addresses the technical requirements of the proposed use cases nor complies with the responsible AI guidelines. | Transform the current environment |
1-2 hours
Establish metrics to measure to determine the success or failure of each POC.
Prepare by building an implementation plan for each candidate use case (previous step).
Include key performance indicators (KPIs) and metrics that measure the application's contribution to strategic initiatives.
Consider assigning a vendor liaison to accelerate the implementation and adoption of the generative AI-based solution.
| Input | Output |
|---|---|
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| Materials | Participants |
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| Generative AI Feature | Assessment |
| User Interface Is it intuitive? Is training required? |
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| Ease of Use How much training is required before using? |
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| Response Time What is the response time for simple to complex tasks? |
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| Accuracy of Response Can the output be validated? |
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| Quality of Response How usable is the response? For text prompts, does the response align to the desired style, vocabulary, and tone? |
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| Creativity of Response Does the output appear new compared to previous results before using generative AI? |
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| Relevance of Response How well does the output address the prompt or request? |
|
| Explainability Can a user describe how the output was generated? |
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| Scalability Does the application continue to perform as more users are added? Can it ingest large amounts of data? |
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| Productivity Gains Can you measure the time or effort saved? |
|
| Business Value What value drivers are behind this initiative? (I.e. revenue, costs, time to market, risk mitigation.) Estimate a monetary value for the business outcome. |
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| Availability/Resilience What happens if a component of the application becomes unavailable? How does it recover? |
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| Security Model Where are the prompts and responses stored? Who has access to the sessions/dialogue? Are the prompts used to train the foundation model? |
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| Administration and Maintenance What resources are required to operate the application? |
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| Total Cost of Ownership What is the pricing model? Are there ongoing costs? |
POC Results
Task 1: Creating a web server in JavaScript
Enterprise Value of GitHub Copilot = Total Benefit of GitHub Copilot for Task 1 + Total Benefit of GitHub Copilot for Task 2 + ... + Total Benefit of GitHub Copilot for Task n
Source: GitHub
1-3 hours
The roadmap should provide a compelling vision of how you will deliver the identified generative AI applications by prioritizing and simplifying the actions required to deliver these new initiatives.
Download the AI Maturity Assessment and Roadmap Tool
| Input | Output |
|---|---|
|
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| Materials | Participants |
|
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Visual representations of data are more compelling than text alone.
Develop a high-level document that travels with the project from inception through to executive inquiry, project management, and finally execution.
A project needs to be discrete: able to be conceptualized and discussed as an independent item. Each project must have three characteristics:
Info-Tech Insight
Don't project your vision three to five years into the future. Deep dive on next year's big-ticket items instead.
1-3 hours
| Input | Output |
|---|---|
|
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| Materials | Participants |
|
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To ensure that organization's roadmap is clearly communicated across the AI, data, technology, and business organizations, develop a rollout strategy, like this example.
Example
| Audience | Channel | Level of Detail | Description | Timing |
| Generative AI team | Email, meetings | All |
|
Q3 2023, (September, before entire data team) |
| Data management team | Email, Q&A sessions following | Data management summary deck |
|
Q4 2023 (late November) |
| Select business stakeholders | Presentations | Executive deck |
|
Q4 2023 (early December) |
| Executive team | Email, briefing | Executive deck |
|
Q1 2024 |
Know Your Audience
Recommendations
"A pro-innovation approach to AI regulation." UK Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, March 2023. Web.
"Artificial Intelligence Act." European Commission, 21 April 2021. Web.
"Artificial Intelligence and Data Act (AIDA)." Canadian Federal Government, June 2022. Web.
"Artificial Intelligence Index Report 2023." Stanford University, April 2023. Web.
"Automated Employment Decision Tools." New York City Department of Consumer and Worker Protection, Dec. 2021. Web.
"Bain & Company announces services alliance with OpenAI to help enterprise clients identify and realize the full potential and maximum value of AI." Bain & Company, 21 Feb. 2023. Web.
"Buzzfeed to use AI to write its articles after firing 180 employees." Al Mayadeen English, 27 Jan. 2023. Web.
"California Consumers Privacy Act." State of California Department of Justice. April 24, 2023. Web.
Campbell, Ian Carlos. "The Apple Card doesn't actually discriminate against women, investigators say." The Verge, 23 March 2021. Web.
Campbell, Patrick. "NIST Artificial Intelligence Risk Management Framework (AI RMF 1.0)." National Institute of Standards and Technology, Jan. 2023. Web.
"EU Ethics Guidelines For Trustworthy." European Commission, 8 April 2019. Web.
Farhi, Paul. "A news site used AI to write articles. It was a journalistic disaster." Washington Post, 17 Jan. 2023. Web.
Forsyth, Ollie. "Mapping the Generative AI landscape." Antler, 20 Dec. 2022. Web.
"General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)" European Commission, 25 May 2018. Web.
"Generative AI Market: Global Industry Trends, Share, Size, Growth, Opportunity and Forecast 2023-2028." IMARC Group, 2022. Web.
Guynn, Jessica. "Bing's ChatGPT is in its feelings: 'You have not been a good user. I have been a good Bing.'" USA Today, 14 Feb. 2023. Web.
Hunt, Mia. "Canada launches data governance standardisation initiative." Global Government Forum, 24 Sept. 2020. Web.
Johnston Turner, Mary. "IDC's Worldwide Future of Digital Infrastructure 2022 Predictions." IDC, 27 Oct. 2021. Web.
Kalliamvakou, Eirini. "Research: quantifying GitHub Copilot's impact on developer productivity and happiness." GitHub, 7 Sept. 2022. Web.
Kerravala, Zeus. "NVIDIA Brings AI To Health Care While Protecting Patient Data." eWeek, 12 Dec. 2019. Web.
Knight, Will. "The Apple Card Didn't 'See' Gender-and That's the Problem." Wired, 19 Nov. 2019. Web.
"OECD, Recommendation of the Council on Artificial Intelligence." OECD, 2022. Web.
"The National AI Initiative Act" U.S. Federal Government, 1 Jan 2021. Web.
"Trustworthy AI (TAI) Playbook." U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, Sept 2021. Web.
Joel McLean
Executive Chairman
David Godfrey
CEO
Gord Harrison
Senior Vice President, Research & Advisory Services
William Russell
CIO
Jack Hakimian
SVP, Research
Barry Cousins
Distinguished Analyst and
Research Fellow
Larry Fretz
Vice President, Industry Research
Tom Zehren
CPO
Mark Roman
Managing Partner II
Christine West
Managing Partner
Steve Willis
Practice Lead
Yatish Sewgoolam
Associate Vice President, Research Agenda
Rob Redford
Practice Lead
Mike Tweedie
Practice Lead
Neal Rosenblatt
Principal Research Director
Jing Wu
Principal Research Director
Irina Sedenko
Research Director
Jeremy Roberts
Workshop Director
Brian Jackson
Research Director
Mark Maby
Research Director
Stacey Horricks
Director, Social Media
Sufyan Al-Hassan
Public Relations Manager
Sam Kanen
Marketing Specialist
Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:
Produce a prioritized list of high-demand infrastructure services.
Design workflows and create the first draft of the infrastructure services playbook.
Build a service rate sheet to track costs and develop better service capabilities.
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.
Define and prioritize infrastructure services.
Identify candidate services for the Playbook.
1.1 Define the services you own.
1.2 Prioritize infrastructure services.
Affinity map of infrastructure services
Service pain points and root causes
A list of high-demand infrastructure services
Build workflows and an infrastructure services playbook.
Produce a draft infrastructure services playbook.
2.1 Design workflow for service delivery.
2.2 Add steps and requirements to the Services Playbook.
Documented service workflows
Infrastructure Services Playbook
Identify costs and mature service delivery capabilities.
Build an infrastructure service rate sheet.
Define next steps for infrastructure service capabilities.
3.1 Optimize infrastructure cost estimates.
3.2 Mature your I&O organization into a service broker.
Service Rate Sheet
Master list of infrastructure services
Action plan for Playbook implementation
"Managing a hybrid infrastructure environment is challenge enough. Add to this the pressure on IT Operations to deliver services faster and more continuously – it’s a recipe for boondoggle deployments, overcommitted staff, end-user frustration, and operational gridlock.
It’s not every service you provide that causes problems, so prioritize a few in-demand, painful services. Build and maintain durable, flexible processes that enable your team to provide consistent, repeatable services at a standard cost. Identify opportunities to improve service delivery.
You’ll save the business time and money and your own team significant grief." (Andrew Sharp, Research Manager, Infrastructure & Operations, Info-Tech Research Group)
In this blueprint, the first step will be to document infrastructure services to:
![]() |
Example:Create a new server resource in a virtual environment vs. public cloudIn a virtualized environment, provisioning processes can still be relatively siloed. In a software-defined environment, many steps require knowledge across the infrastructure stack. Better documentation will help your team deliver services outside their area of specialty. |
![]() |
Server is live |
Server is live |
The purpose behind DevOps is to reduce friction and deliver faster, more continuous, more automated services through the use of cross-functional teams.
DevOps: bridging Applications Development and Infrastructure & Operations by embracing a culture, practices, and tools born out of Lean and Agile methodologies.
"The bar has been raised for delivering technology products and services – what was good enough in previous decades is not good enough now." (Kim, Humble, Debois, Willis (2016))
Crawl
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Walk
|
Run
|
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Demand for infrastructure services is usually driven by external requests or operational requirements. Prioritize services based on criticality, durability, frequency, availability, and urgency requirements.
| Building and deploying toolsets is taking a long time | ||
Start
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Stop
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Continue
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Cross-silo knowledge is needed: In a software-defined environment, building and launching a new server requires knowledge across the stack.
Server is live
Infrastructure & Operations are bound by two metrics:
Because tracking cost is integral to efficiency, cost and budget management, by proxy, is one of the most important Infrastructure & Operations metrics.
Cost management is not a numbers game. It is an indicator of how well infrastructure is managed.
Use Info-Tech’s methodology to get value faster from your infrastructure services playbook.
Phases |
Phase 1: Define and prioritize infrastructure services | Phase 2: Build the infrastructure services playbook | Phase 3: Identify costs and mature service delivery capabilities |
Steps |
1.1 Define the services you own | 2.1 Design workflows for service delivery | 3.1 Estimate infrastructure service costs |
| 1.2 Prioritize infrastructure services | 2.2 Add steps and requirements to the services playbook | 3.2 Mature your I&O organization into a service broker | |
Tools & Templates |
Infrastructure Services Playbook | Infrastructure Service Workflows | Service Rate Sheet |
Use these icons to help guide you through each step of the blueprint and direct you to content related to the recommended activities.
This icon denotes a slide where a supporting Info-Tech tool or template will help you perform the activity or step associated with the slide. Refer to the supporting tool or template to get the best results and proceed to the next step of the project.
This icon denotes a slide with an associated activity. The activity can be performed either as part of your project or with the support of Info-Tech team members, who will come onsite to facilitate a workshop for your organization.
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." |
| Scoping (Call 1) Scope requirements, objectives, and stakeholders. Review the playbook toolset and methodology, and establish fit-for-need. |
Identify Services (Call 2) Brainstorm common infrastructure services your group provides. Consolidate the list and identify priority services. |
Create Service Workflows (Calls 3-4) Build Visio workflows for 2-3 priority services. |
Populate the Playbook (Calls 4-5) Add data to the playbook based on infrastructure service workflows |
Create a Rate Sheet for Costs (Call 6) Build a rate sheet that allows you to calculate costs for additional |
Your Guided Implementation will pair you with an advisor from our analyst team for the duration of your infrastructure services project.
| Module 1 (Day 1) |
Module 1 (Day 1) |
Module 1 (Day 1) |
Offsite deliverables wrap-up (Day 5) | |
| Activities | Define and Prioritize Infrastructure Services1.1 Assess current maturity of services and standardization processes. 1.2 Identify, group, and break out important infrastructure services. 1.3 Define service delivery pain points and perform root-cause analysis. 1.4 Prioritize services based on demand criteria. |
Build the Infrastructure Services Playbook2.1 Determine criteria for standard versus custom services. 2.2 Document standard workflows for better alignment and consistent delivery. 2.3 Build a flowchart for the identified high-demand service(s). 2.4 Outline information as it relates to the service lifecycle in the Playbook template. |
Identify Costs and Mature Service Delivery Capabilities4.1 Gather information for the rate sheet. 4.2 Choose an allocation method for overhead costs. 4.3 Select the right approach in the crawl, walk, run model for your organization. 4.4 Discuss the promotion plan and target revision dates for playbook and rate sheet. |
|
| Deliverables |
|
|
|
| PHASE 1 Define and prioritize infrastructure services |
1.1 Define the services you own |
1.2 Prioritize infrastructure services |
IT infrastructure & operations teams deliver services that fulfil requests, support projects, resolve problems, and operate systems.
Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:
Identifying and planning sources of financial contingency will help ensure CIOs can meet unforeseen and emergent operational and business needs throughout the year.
The start of 2021 is a time to refocus and redouble IT risk management and business continuity planning to bring it up to the standards of our “new normal.” Indeed, if last year taught us anything, it’s that no “black swan” should be off the table in terms of scenarios or possibilities for business disruption.
At its heart, resilience is having the capacity to deal with unexpected change. Organizational change management can help build up this capacity, providing the ability to strategically plot known changes while leaving some capacity to absorb the unknowns as they present themselves.
Capacity awareness facilitates resilience by providing capital in the form of resource data. With this data, CIOs can make better decisions on what can be approved and when it can be scheduled for.
Having an up-to-date view of emerging technologies will enable the resilient CIO to capitalize on and deploy leading-edge innovations as the business requires.
Getting started with customer advocacy (CA) is no easy task. Many customer success professionals carry out ad hoc customer advocacy activities to address immediate needs but lack a more strategic approach.
Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:
Understand the strategic benefits and process for building a formal customer advocacy program. To be successful, you must reposition CA as a strategic growth initiative and continually link any CA efforts back to growth.
With the assessment tool and steps outlined in the storyboard, you will be able to understand the gaps and pain points, where and how to improve your efforts, and how to establish program requirements.
Align on pilot goals, key milestones, and program elements using the template and storyboard to effectively communicate with stakeholders and gain executive buy-in for your customer advocacy pilot.
Customer advocacy puts the customer at the center of everything your organization does. By cultivating a deep understanding of customer needs and how they define value and by delivering positive experiences throughout the customer journey, organizations inspire and empower customers to become evangelists for their brands or products. Both the client and solution provider enjoy satisfying and ongoing business outcomes as a result.
Focusing on customer advocacy is critical for software solutions providers. Business-to-business (B2B) buyers are increasingly looking to their peers and third-party resources to arm themselves with information on solutions they feel they can trust before they choose to engage with solution providers. Your satisfied customers are now your most trusted and powerful resource.
Customer advocacy helps build strong relationships with your customers, nurtures brand advocacy, gives your marketing messaging credibility, and differentiates your company from the competition; it’s critical to driving revenue growth. Companies that develop mature advocacy programs can increase Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) by 16% (Wharton Business School, 2009), increase customer retention by 35% (Deloitte, 2011), and give themselves a strong competitive advantage in an increasingly competitive marketplace.
Emily Wright
Senior Research Analyst, Advisory
SoftwareReviews
Ad hoc customer advocacy (CA) efforts and reference programs, while still useful, are not enough to drive growth. Providers increase their chance for success by assessing if they face the following challenges:
Building a strong customer advocacy program must be a high priority for customer service/success leaders in today’s highly competitive software markets.
Getting started with customer advocacy is no easy task. Many customer success professionals carry out ad hoc customer advocacy activities to address immediate needs but lack a more strategic approach. What separates them from success are several nagging obstacles:
This blueprint will help leaders of customer advocacy programs get started with developing a formalized pilot program that will demonstrate the value of customer advocacy and lay a strong foundation to justify rollout. Through SoftwareReviews’ approach, customer advocacy leaders will:
“Customer advocacy is the act of putting customer needs first and working to deliver solution-based assistance through your products and services." – Testimonial Hero, 2021
Customer advocacy is designed to keep customers loyal through customer engagement and advocacy marketing campaigns. Successful customer advocacy leaders experience decreased churn while increasing return on investment (ROI) through retention, acquisition, and cost savings.
Businesses that implement customer advocacy throughout their organizations find new ways of supporting customers, provide additional customer value, and ensure their brands stand unique among the competition.
Customer advocacy has evolved into being a valued company asset versus a simple referral program – success requires an organization-wide customer-first mindset and the recognition that customer advocacy is a strategic growth initiative necessary to succeed in today’s competitive market.
Acquiring a new customer can cost five times more than retaining an existing customer (Huify, 2018).
Increasing customer retention by 5% can increase profits by 25% to 95% (Bain & Company, cited in Harvard Business Review, 2014).
Don’t overlook the value of customer advocacy to retention! Despite the common knowledge that it’s far easier and cheaper to sell to an existing customer than to sell to a new prospect, most companies fail to leverage their customer advocacy programs and continue to put pressure on Marketing to focus their budgets on customer acquisition.
Forty-five percent of businesses rank online reviews as a top source of information for selecting software during this (top of funnel) stage, followed closely by recommendations and referrals at 42%. These sources are topped only by company websites at 54% (Clutch, 2020).
With referrals coming from customer advocates to prospects via your lead gen engine and through seller talk tracks, customer advocacy is central to sales, marketing, and customer experience success.
✓ Advocates can help your new customers learn your solution and ensure higher adoption and satisfaction.
✓ Advocates can provide valuable, honest feedback on new updates and features.
“A customer advocacy program is not just a fancy buzz word or a marketing tool that’s nice to have. It’s a core discipline that every major brand needs to integrate into their overall marketing, sales and customer success strategies if they expect to survive in this trust economy. Customer advocacy arguably is the common asset that runs throughout all marketing, sales and customer success activities regardless of the stage of the buyer’s journey and ties it all together.” – RO Innovation, 2017
Advocacy happens when customers recommend your product. Our research shows that the biggest drivers of likeliness to recommend and acts of customer advocacy are the positive experiences customers have with vendors and their products, not product features or cost savings. Customers want to feel that:
Note that anything above 0.5 indicates a strong driver of satisfaction.
Source: SoftwareReviews buyer reviews (based on 82,560 unique reviews).
True customer satisfaction comes from helping customers innovate, enhancing their performance, inspiring them to continually improve, and being reliable, respectful, trustworthy, and conscious of their time. These true drivers of satisfaction should be considered in your customer advocacy and retention efforts. The experience customers have with your product and brand is what will differentiate your brand from competitors, drive advocacy, and ultimately, power business growth. Talk to a SoftwareReviews advisor to learn how users rate your product on these satisfaction drivers in the SoftwareReviews Emotional Footprint Report.
Marketing, customer success, and sales teams experiencing any one of the above challenges must consider getting started with a more formalized customer advocacy program.
12% of people believe when a company says they put customers first. (Source: HubSpot, 2019)
Brands struggle to follow through on brand promises, and a mismatch between expectations and lived experience emerges. Customer advocacy can help close this gap and help companies live up to their customer-first messaging.
42% of companies don’t conduct any customer surveys or collect feedback. (Source: HubSpot, 2019)
Too many companies are not truly listening to their customers. Companies that don’t collect feedback aren’t going to know what to change to improve customer satisfaction. Customer advocacy will orient companies around their customer and create a reliable feedback loop that informs product and service enhancements.
“84% of B2B decision makers start the buying process with a referral.” (Source: Influitive, Gainsight & Pendo, 2020)
“46% of B2B buyers rely on customer references for information before purchasing.” (Source: RO Innovation, 2017)
“91% of B2B purchasers’ buying decisions are influenced by word-of-mouth recommendations.” (Source: ReferralRock, 2022)
“76% of individuals admit that they’re more likely to trust content shared by ‘normal’ people than content shared by brands.” (Source: TrustPilot, 2020)
By ignoring the importance of customer advocacy, companies and brands are risking stagnation and missing out on opportunities to gain competitive advantage and achieve growth.
1 BUILD
Build the business case
Identify your key stakeholders, steering committee, and working team, understand key customer advocacy principles, and note success barriers and ways to overcome them as your first steps.
2 DEVELOP
Develop your advocacy requirements
Assess your current customer advocacy maturity, identify gaps in your current efforts, and develop your ideal advocate profile.
3 WIN
Win executive approval and implement pilot
Determine goals and success metrics for the pilot, establish a timeline and key project milestones, create advocate communication materials, and finally gain executive buy-in and implement the pilot.
SoftwareReviews Insight
Building and implementing a customer advocacy pilot will help lay the foundation for a full program and demonstrate to executives and key stakeholders the impact on revenue, retention, and CLV that can be achieved through coordinated and well-planned customer advocacy efforts.
"Advocacy is the currency for business and the fuel for explosive growth. Successful marketing executives who understand this make advocacy programs an essential part of their go-to-market strategy. They also know that advocacy isn't something you simply 'turn on': ... ultimately, it's about making human connections and building relationships that have enduring value for everyone involved."
- Dan Cote, Influitive, Dec. 2021
Genesys' Goal
Provide sales team with compelling customer reviews, quotes, stories, videos, and references.
Approach to Advocacy
Advocate Impact on Sales
According to Influitive (2021), the impacts were:
|
Phase Steps |
1. Build the business case
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2. Develop your advocacy requirements
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3. Create implementation plan and pitch CA pilot
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|---|---|---|---|
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Phase Outcomes |
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Customer advocacy is a critical strategic growth initiative
Customer advocacy (CA) has evolved into being a highly valued company asset as opposed to a simple referral program, but not everyone in the organization sees it that way. Customer success leaders must reposition their CA program around growth instead of focusing solely on retention and communicate this to key stakeholders. The recognition that customer advocacy is a strategic growth initiative is necessary to succeed in today’s competitive market.
Get key stakeholders on board early – especially Sales!
Work to bring the CEO and the head of Sales on your side early. Sales is the gatekeeper – they need to open the door to customers to turn them into advocates. Clearly reposition CA for growth and communicate that to the CEO and head of Sales; wider buy-in will follow.
Identify the highest priority segment for generating acts of advocacy
By focusing on the highest priority segment, you accomplish a number of things: generating growth in a critical customer segment, proving the value of customer advocacy to key stakeholders (especially Sales), and setting a strong foundation for customer advocacy to build upon and expand the program out to other segments.
Always link your CA efforts back to retention and growth
By clearly demonstrating the impact that customer advocacy has on not only retention but also overall growth, marketers will gain buy-in from key stakeholders, secure funding for a full CA program, and gain the resources needed to expand customer advocacy efforts.
Focus on providing value to advocates
Many organizations take a transactional approach to customer advocacy, focusing on what their advocates can do for them. To truly succeed with CA, focus on providing your advocates with value first and put them in the spotlight.
Make building genuine relationships with your advocates the cornerstone of your CA program
"57% of small businesses say that having a relationship with their consumers is the primary driver of repeat business" (Factory360).
Build the Business Case
Call #1: Identify key stakeholders. Map out motivations and anticipate any concerns or objections. Determine steering committee and working team. Plan next call – 1 week.
Call #2: Discuss concepts and benefits of customer advocacy as they apply to organizational goals. Plan next call – 1 week.
Call #3: Discuss barriers to success, risks, and risk mitigation tactics. Plan next call – 1 week.
Call #4: Finalize CA goals, opportunities, and risks and develop business case. Plan next call – 2 weeks.
Develop Your Advocacy Requirements
Call #5: Review the SoftwareReviews CA Maturity Assessment Tool. Assess your current level of customer advocacy maturity. Plan next call – 1 week.
Call #6: Review gaps and pains in current CA efforts. Discuss tactics and possible CA pilot program goals. Begin adding tasks to action plan. Plan next call – 2 weeks.
Call #7: Discuss ideal advocate profile and target segments. Plan next call – 2 weeks.
Call #8: Validate and finalize ideal advocate profile. Plan next call – 1 week.
Win Executive Approval and Implement Pilot
Call #9: Discuss CA pilot scope. Discuss performance metrics and KPIs. Plan next call – 3 days.
Call #10: Determine timeline and key milestones. Plan next call –2 weeks.
Call #11: Develop advocate communication materials. Plan next call – 3 days.
Call #12: Review final business case and coach on executive presentation. Plan next call – 1 week.
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.
| Pre-Workshop | Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | Post-Workshop | |
| Activities | Identify Stakeholders & CA Pilot Team | Build the Business Case | Assess Current CA Efforts | Develop Advocacy Goals & Ideal Advocate Profile | Develop Project Timelines, Materials, and Exec Presentation | Next Steps and Wrap-Up (offsite) | Pitch CA Pilot |
| 0.1 Identify key stakeholders to involve in customer advocacy pilot and workshop; understand their motivations and anticipate possible concerns. | 1.1 Review key CA concepts and identify benefits of CA for the organization. 1.2 Outline barriers to success, risks, and risk mitigation tactics. |
2.1 Assess your customer advocacy maturity using the SoftwareReviews CA Maturity Assessment Tool. 2.2 Identify gaps/pains in current CA efforts. 2.3 Prioritize gaps from diagnostic and any other critical pain points. |
3.1 Identify and document the ideal advocate profile and target customer segment for pilot. 3.2 Determine goal(s) and success metrics for program pilot. |
4.1 Develop pilot timelines and key milestones. 4.2 Outline materials needed and possible messaging. 4.3 Build the executive buy-in presentation. |
5.1 Complete in-progress deliverables from the previous four days. | 6.1 Present to executive team and stakeholders. 6.2 Gain executive buy-in and key stakeholder approval. 6.3 Execute CA pilot. |
|
| Deliverables |
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Contact your account representative for more information.
workshops@infotech.com
1-888-670-8889
Phase 1
Build the Business Case
Phase 2
Develop Your Advocacy Requirements
Phase 3
Win Executive Approval and Implement Pilot
Steps
1.1 Identify your key stakeholders, steering committee, and working team
1.2 Understand the concepts and benefits of customer advocacy as they apply to your organization
1.3 Outline barriers to success, risks, and risk mitigation tactics
Phase Outcome
Total duration: 2.5-8.0 hours
Objective
Identify, document, and finalize your key stakeholders to know who to involve and how to get them onboard by truly understanding the forces of influence.
Output
Participants
MarTech
None
Tools
1.1.1 Identify Stakeholders
(60-120 min.)
Identify
Using the guidance on slide 28, identify all stakeholders who would be involved or impacted by your customer advocacy pilot by entering names and titles into columns A and B on slide 27 "Stakeholder List Worksheet."
Document
Document as much information about each stakeholder as possible in columns C, D, E, and F into the table on slide 27.
1.1.2 Select Steering Committee & Working Team
(60-90 min.)
Select
Using the guidance on slides 28 and 29 and the information collected in the table on slide 27, identify the stakeholders that are steering committee members, functional workstream leads, or operations; document in column G on slide 27.
Document
Open the Executive Presentation Template to slides 5 and 6 and document your final steering committee and working team selections. Be sure to note the Executive Sponsor and Program Manager on slide 5.
Tips & Reminders
Consult Info-Tech's Manage Stakeholder Relations blueprint for additional guidance on identifying and managing stakeholders, or contact one of our analysts for more personalized assistance and guidance.
| *Possible Roles |
| Executive Sponsor |
| Program Manager |
| Workstream Lead |
| Functional Lead |
| Steering Committee |
| Operations |
| A | B | C | D | E | F | G | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Name | Position | Decision Involvement (Driver / Approver / Contributor / Informe |
Direct Benefit? (Yes / No) |
Motivation | Concerns | *Role in Customer Advocacy Pilot | |
| E.g. Jane Doe | VP, Customer Success | A | N |
|
|
Workstream Lead | |
What to consider when identifying stakeholders required for CA:
Customer advocacy should be done as a part of a cross-functional company initiative. When identifying stakeholders, consider:
| Key Roles Supporting an Effective Customer Advocacy Pilot | |
| Executive Sponsor |
|
| Program Manager |
|
| Functional / Workstream Leads |
|
| Steering Committee |
|
| Operations |
|
Consider the skills and knowledge required for planning and executing a customer advocacy pilot.
Workstream leads should have strong project management and collaboration skills and deep understanding of both product and customers (persona, journeys, satisfaction, etc.).
| Required Skills | Suggested Functions |
|
|
Total duration: 2.0-4.0 hours
Objective
Understand customer advocacy and what benefits you seek from your customer advocacy program, and get set up to best communicate them to executives and decision makers.
Output
Participants
MarTech
None
Tools
1.2.1 Discuss Key Concepts
(60-120 min.)
Envision
Schedule a visioning session with key stakeholders and share the Get Started With Customer Advocacy Executive Brief (slides 3-23 in this deck).
Discuss how key customer advocacy concepts can apply to your organization and how CA can contribute to organizational growth.
Document
Determine the top benefits sought from the customer advocacy program pilot and record them on slides 4 and 12 in the Executive Presentation Template.
Finalize
Work with the Executive Sponsor to finalize the "Message from the CMO" on slide 4 in the Executive Presentation Template.
Tips & Reminders
Keep in mind that while we're starting off broadly, the pilot for your customer advocacy program should be narrow and focused in scope.
Total duration: 2.0-8.0 hours
Objective
Anticipate threats to pilot success; identify barriers to success, any possible risks, and what can be done to reduce the chances of a negative pilot outcome.
Output
Participants
MarTech
None
Tools
1.3.1 Brainstorm Barriers to Success & Possible Risks
(60-120 min.)
Identify
Using slide 7 of the Executive Presentation Template, brainstorm any barriers to success that may exist and risks to the customer advocacy program pilot success. Consider the people, processes, and technology that may be required.
Document
Document all information on slide 7 of the Executive Presentation Template.
1.3.2 Develop Risk Mitigation Tactics
(60-300 min.)
Develop
Brainstorm different ways to address any of the identified barriers to success and reduce any risks. Consider the people, processes, and technology that may be required.
Document
Document all risk mitigation tactics on slide 7 of the Executive Presentation Template.
Tips & Reminders
There are several types of risk to explore. Consider the following when brainstorming possible risks:
Steps
2.1 Assess your customer advocacy maturity
2.2 Identify and document gaps and pain points
2.3 Develop your ideal advocate profile
Phase Outcome
Total duration: 2.0-8.0 hours
Objective
Use the Customer Advocacy Maturity Assessment Tool to understand your organization's current level of customer advocacy maturity and what to prioritize in the program pilot.
Output
Participants
MarTech
None
Tools
2.1.1 Diagnose Current Customer Advocacy Maturity
(60-120 min.)
Diagnose
Begin on tab 1 of the Customer Advocacy Maturity Assessment Tool and read all instructions.
Navigate to tab 2. Considering the current state of customer advocacy efforts, answer the diagnostic questions in the Diagnostic tab of the Customer Advocacy Maturity Assessment Tool.
After completing the questions, you will receive a diagnostic result on tab 3 that will identify areas of strength and weakness and make high-level recommendations for your customer advocacy program pilot.
2.1.2 Discuss Results
(60-300 min.)
Discuss
Schedule a call to discuss your customer advocacy maturity diagnostic results with a SoftwareReviews Advisor.
Prioritize the recommendations from the diagnostic, noting which will be included in the program pilot and which require funding and resources to advance.
Transfer
Transfer results into slides 8 and 11 of the Executive Presentation Template.
Tips & Reminders
Complete the diagnostic with a handful of key stakeholders identified in the previous phase. This will help provide a more balanced and accurate assessment of your organization’s current level of customer advocacy maturity.
Total duration: 2.5-8.0 hours
Objective
Understand the current pain points within key customer-related processes and within any current customer advocacy efforts taking place.
Output
Participants
MarTech
None
Tools
2.2.1 Identify Pain Points
(60-120 min.)
Identify
Identify and list current pain points being experienced around customer advocacy efforts and processes around sales, marketing, customer success, and product feedback.
Add any gaps identified in the diagnostic to the list.
Transfer
Transfer key information into slide 9 of Executive Presentation Template.
2.2.2 Prioritize Pain Points
(60-300 min.)
Prioritize
Indicate which pains are the most important and that a customer advocacy program could help improve.
Schedule a call to discuss the outputs of this step with a SoftwareReviews Advisor.
Document
Document priorities on slide 9 of Executive Presentation Template.
Tips & Reminders
Customer advocacy won't solve for everything; it's important to be clear about what pain points can and can't be addressed through a customer advocacy program.
Total duration: 3.0-9.0 hours
Objective
Develop an ideal advocate persona profile that can be used to identify potential advocates, guide campaign messaging, and facilitate advocate engagement.
Output
Participants
MarTech
May require the use of:
Tools
2.3.1 Brainstorm Session Around Ideal Advocate Persona
(60-150 min.)
Brainstorm
Lead the team to prioritize an initial, single, most important persona and to collaborate to complete the template.
Choose your ideal advocate for the pilot based on your most important audience. Start with firmographics like company size, industry, and geography.
Next, consider satisfaction levels and behavioral attributes, such as renewals, engagement, usage, and satisfaction scores.
Identify motivations and possible incentives for advocate activities.
Document
Use slide 10 of the Executive Presentation Template to complete this exercise.
2.3.2 Review and Refine Advocate Persona
(60-300 min.)
Review & Refine
Place the Executive Presentation Template in a shared drive for team collaboration. Encourage the team to share persona knowledge within the shared drive version.
Hold any necessary follow-up sessions to further refine persona.
Validate
Interview advocates that best represent your ideal advocate profile on their type of preferred involvement with your company, their role and needs when it comes to your solution, ways they'd be willing to advocate, and rewards sought.
Confirm
Incorporate feedback and inputs into slide 10 of the Executive Presentation Template. Ensure everyone agrees on persona developed.
Tips & Reminders
| Demographics | Firmographics | Satisfaction & Needs/Value Sought | Behavior | Motivation |
| Role - user, decision-maker, etc. | Company size: # of employees | Satisfaction score | Purchase frequency & repeat purchases (renewals), upgrades | Career building/promotion |
| Department | Company size: revenue | NPS score | Usage | Collaboration with peers |
| Geography | CLV score | Engagement (e.g. email opens, response, meetings) | Educate others | |
| Industry | Value delivered (outcomes, occasions used, etc.) | Social media interaction, posts | Influence (on product, service) | |
| Tenure as client | Benefits sought | |||
| Account size ($) | Minimal and resolved service tickets, escalations | |||
| 1. When identifying potential advocates, choose based on your most important audience/segments. | 2. Ensure you're selecting those with the highest satisfaction, NPS, and CLV scores. | 3. When identifying potential advocates, choose based on high engagement and interaction, regular renewals, and high usage. | 4. Knowing motivations will determine the type of acts of advocacy they would be most willing to perform and incentives for participating in the program. |
Steps
3.1 Determine pilot goals and success metrics
3.2 Establish timeline and create advocate communication materials
3.3 Gain executive buy-in and implement pilot
Phase Outcome
Total duration: 2.0-4.0 hours
Objective
Set goals and determine the scope for the customer advocacy program pilot.
Output
Participants
MarTech
May require to use, set up, or install platforms like:
Tools
3.1.1 Establish Pilot Goals
(60-120 min.)
Set
Organize a meeting with department heads and review organizational and individual department goals.
Using the Venn diagram on slide 39 in this deck, identify customer advocacy goals that align with business goals. Select the highest priority goal for the pilot.
Check that the goal aligns with benefits sought or addresses pain points identified in the previous phase.
Document
Document the goals on slides 9 and 16 of the Executive Presentation Template.
3.1.2 Establish Pilot Success Metrics
(60-120 min.)
Decide
Decide how you will measure the success of your program pilot using slide 40 in this document.
Document
Document metrics on slide 16 of the Executive Presentation Template.
Tips & Reminders
List possible customer advocacy goals, identifying areas of overlap with organizational goals by taking the following steps:
| Organizational Goals | Shared Goals | Customer Advocacy Goals |
|---|---|---|
| Example | Example: Gain customer references to help advance sales and improve win rates | Example: Develop pool of customer references |
| [insert goal] | [insert goal] | Example: Gather customer feedback |
| [insert goal] | [insert goal] | [insert goal] |
| [insert goal] | [insert goal] | [insert goal] |
This table provides a starting point for measuring the success of your customer advocacy pilot depending on the goals you've set.
This list is by no means exhaustive; the metrics here can be used, or new metrics that would better capture success measurement can be created and tracked.
| Metric |
|---|
| Revenue influenced by reference calls ($ / % increase) |
| # of reference calls resulting in closed-won opportunities |
| # of quotes collected |
| % of community growth YoY |
| # of pieces of product feedback collected |
| # of acts of advocacy |
| % membership growth |
| % product usage amongst community members |
| # of social shares, clicks |
| CSAT score for community members |
| % of registered qualified leads |
| # of leads registered |
| # of member sign-ups |
| # of net-new referenceable customers |
| % growth rate of products used by members |
| % engagement rate |
| # of published third-party reviews |
| % increase in fulfilled RFPs |
When selecting metrics, remember:
When choosing metrics for your customer advocacy pilot, be sure to align them to your specific goals. If possible, try to connect your advocacy efforts back to retention, growth, or revenue.
Do not choose too many metrics; one per goal should suffice.
Ensure that you can track the metrics you select to measure - the data is available and measuring won't be overly manual or time-consuming.
Total duration: 2.5-8.0 hours
Objective
Outline who will be involved in what roles and capacities and what tasks and activities need to completed.
Output
Participants
MarTech
None
Tools
3.2.1 Establish Timeline & Milestones
(30-60 min.)
List & Assign
List all key tasks, phases, and milestones on slides 13, 14, and 15 in the Executive Presentation Template.
Include any activities that help close gaps or address pain points from slide 9 in the Executive Presentation Template.
Assign workstream leads on slide 15 in the Executive Presentation Template.
Finalize all tasks and activities with working team.
3.2.2 Design & Build Advocate Program Materials
(180-300 min.)
Decide
Determine materials needed to recruit advocates and explain the program to advocate candidates.
Determine the types of acts of advocacy you are looking for.
Determine incentives/rewards that will be provided to advocates, such as access to new products or services.
Build
Build out all communication materials.
Obtain incentives.
Tips & Reminders
Total duration: 2.5-8.0 hours
Objective
Successfully implement the customer advocacy pilot program and communicate results to gain approval for full-fledged program.
Output
Participants
MarTech
May require the use of:
Tools
3.3.1 Complete & Deliver Executive Presentation
(60-120 min.)
Present
Finalize the Executive Presentation.
Hold stakeholder meeting and introduce the program pilot.
3.3.2 Gain Executive Buy-in
(60-300 min.)
Pitch
Present the final results of the customer advocacy pilot using the Executive Presentation Template and gain approval.
3.3.3 Implement the Customer Advocacy Program Pilot
(30-60 min.)
Launch
Launch the customer advocacy program pilot. Follow the timelines and activities outlined in the Executive Presentation Template. Track/document all advocate outreach, activity, and progress against success metrics.
Communicate
Establish a regular cadence to communicate with steering committee, stakeholders. Use the Executive Presentation Template to present progress and resolve roadblocks if/as they arise.
Tips & Reminders
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"15 Award-Winning Customer Advocacy Success Stories." Influitive, 2021. Accessed 8 June 2023.
"Advocacy Marketing." Influitive, June 2016. Accessed 26 Oct. 2021.
Andrews, Marcus. "42% of Companies Don’t Listen to their Customers. Yikes." HubSpot, June 2019. Accessed 2 Nov. 2021.
"Before you leap! Webcast." Point of Reference, Sept. 2019. Accessed 4 Nov. 2021.
"Brand Loyalty: 5 Interesting Statistics." Factory360, Jan. 2016. Accessed 2 Nov. 2021.
Brenner, Michael. "The Data Driven Guide to Customer Advocacy." Marketing Insider Group, Sept. 2021. Accessed 3 Feb. 2022.
Carroll, Brian. "Why Customer Advocacy Should Be at the Heart of Your Marketing." Marketing Insider Group, Sept. 2017. Accessed 3 Feb. 2022.
Cote, Dan. "Advocacy Blooms and Business Booms When Customers and Employees Engage." Influitive, Dec. 2021. Accessed 3 Feb. 2022.
"Customer Success Strategy Guide." ON24, Jan. 2021. Accessed 2 Nov. 2021.
Dalao, Kat. "Customer Advocacy: The Revenue-Driving Secret Weapon." ReferralRock, June 2017. Accessed 7 Dec. 2021.
Frichou, Flora. "Your guide to customer advocacy: What is it, and why is it important?" TrustPilot, Jan. 2020. Accessed 26 Oct. 2021.
Gallo, Amy. "The Value of Keeping the Right Customers." Harvard Business Review, Oct. 2014. Accessed 10 March 2022.
Huhn, Jessica. "61 B2B Referral Marketing Statistics and Quotes." ReferralRock, March 2022. Accessed 10 March 2022.
Kemper, Grayson. "B2B Buying Process: How Businesses Purchase B2B Services and Software." Clutch, Feb. 2020. Accessed 6 Jan. 2022.
Kettner, Kyle. "The Evolution of Ambassador Marketing." BrandChamp.io, Oct. 2018. Accessed 2 Nov. 2021.
Landis, Taylor. "Customer Retention Marketing vs. Customer Acquisition Marketing." OutboundEngine, April 2022. Accessed 23 April 2022.
Miels, Emily. "What is customer advocacy? Definition and strategies." Zendesk Blog, June 2021. Accessed 27 Oct. 2021.
Mohammad, Qasim. "The 5 Biggest Obstacles to Implementing a Successful B2B Customer Advocacy Program." HubSpot, June 2018. Accessed 6 Jan. 2022.
Murphy, Brandon. "Brand Advocacy and Social Media - 2009 GMA Conference." Deloitte, Dec. 2009. Accessed 8 June 2023.
Patel, Neil. "Why SaaS Brand Advocacy is More Important than Ever in 2021." Neil Patel, Feb. 2021. Accessed 4 Nov. 2021.
Pieri, Carl. "The Plain-English Guide to Customer Advocacy." HubSpot, Apr. 2020. Accessed 27 Oct. 2021.
Schmitt, Philipp; Skiera, Bernd; Van den Bulte, Christophe. "Referral Programs and Customer Value." Wharton Journal of Marketing, Jan. 2011. Accessed 8 June 2023.
"The Complete Guide to Customer Advocacy." Gray Group International, 2020. Accessed 15 Oct. 2021.
"The Customer-powered Enterprise: Playbook." Influitive, Gainsight & Pendo. 2020. Accessed 26 Oct. 2021.
"The Winning Case for a Customer Advocacy Solution." RO Innovation, 2017. Accessed 26 Oct. 2021.
Tidey, Will. "Acquisition vs. Retention: The Importance of Customer Lifetime Value." Huify, Feb. 2018. Accessed 10 Mar. 2022.
"What a Brand Advocate Is and Why Your Company Needs One." RockContent, Jan. 2021. Accessed 7 Feb. 2022.
"What is Customer Advocacy? A Definition and Strategies to Implement It." Testimonial Hero, Oct. 2021. Accessed 26 Jan. 2022.
Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:
Define, identify, and organize your technical debt in preparation for the technical debt impact analysis.
Conduct a technical debt business impact analysis.
Identify options to resolve technical debt and summarize the challenge and potential solutions for business decision makers.
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.
Create a working definition of technical debt and identify the technical debt in your environment.
List your technical debt.
1.1 Develop a working definition for technical debt.
1.2 Discuss your organization’s technical debt risk.
1.3 Identify 5-10 high-impact technical debts to structure the impact analysis.
Goals, opportunities, and constraints related to tech debt management
A list of technical debt
Conduct a more-objective assessment of the business impact of technical debt.
Identify the most-critical technical debt in your environment, in terms of business risk.
2.1 Review and modify business impact scoring scales.
2.2 Identify reasonable scenarios to structure the impact analysis.
2.3 Apply the scoring scale to identify the business impact of each technical debt.
Business impact scoring scales
Scenarios to support the impact analysis
Technical debt impact analysis
Leverage the technical debt impact analysis to identify, compare, and quantify projects that fix technical debt and projects that prevent it.
Create your plan to manage technical debt.
3.1 Brainstorm projects and action items to manage and pay back critical technical debt. Prioritize projects and action items to build a roadmap.
3.2 Identify three possible courses of action to pay back each critical technical debt.
3.3 Identify immediate next steps to manage remaining tech debt and limit the introduction of new tech debt.
Technical debt management roadmap
Technical debt executive summary
Immediate next steps to manage technical debt
Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:
Whether you have no Service Desk customer feedback program in place or you need to improve your existing process for gathering and responding to feedback, this deck will help you design your surveys and act on their results to improve CSAT scores.
This template provides a sample transactional (ticket) satisfaction survey. If your ITSM tool or other survey mechanism allows you to design or write your own survey, use this template as a starting point.
Use the Sample Size Calculator to calculate your ideal sample size for your relationship surveys.
This template will help you map out the step-by-step process to review collected feedback from your end-user satisfaction surveys, analyze the data, and act on it.
EXECUTIVE BRIEF
Natalie Sansone, PhD
Info-Tech Research Group |
Often when we ask service desk leaders where they need to improve and if they’re measuring customer satisfaction, they either aren’t measuring it at all, or their ticket surveys are turned on but they get very few responses (or only positive responses). They fail to see the value of collecting feedback when this is their experience with it. Feedback is important because traditional service desk metrics can only tell us so much. We often see what’s called the “watermelon effect”: metrics appear “green”, but under the surface they’re “red” because customers are in fact dissatisfied for reasons unmeasured by standard internal IT metrics. Customer satisfaction should always be the goal of service delivery, and directly measuring satisfaction in addition to traditional metrics will help you get a clearer picture of your strengths and weaknesses, and where to prioritize improvements. It’s not as simple as asking customers if they were satisfied with their ticket, however. There are two steps necessary for success. The first is collecting feedback, which should be done purposefully, with clear goals in mind in order to maximize the response rate and value of responses received. The second – and most critical – is acting on that feedback. Use it to inform improvements and communicate those improvements. Doing so will not only make your service desk better, increasing satisfaction through better service delivery, but also will make your customers feel heard and valued, which alone increases satisfaction. |
Emily Sugerman, PhD
Info-Tech Research Group |
Your Challenge |
Common Obstacles |
Info-Tech’s Approach |
|---|---|---|
|
|
|
Asking your customers for feedback then doing nothing with it is worse than not asking for feedback at all. Your customers may end up more dissatisfied than they were before, if their opinion is sought out and then ignored. It’s valuable to collect feedback, but the true value for both IT and its customers comes from acting on that feedback and communicating those actions back to your users.
The watermelon effect
When a service desk appears to hit all its targets according to the metrics it tracks, but service delivery is poor and customer satisfaction is low, this is known as the “watermelon effect”. Service metrics appear green on the outside, but under the surface (unmeasured), they’re red because customers are dissatisfied.
Traditional SLAs and service desk metrics (such as time to respond, average resolution time, percentage of SLAs met) can help you understand service desk performance internally to prioritize your work and identify process improvements. However, they don’t tell you how customers perceive the service or how satisfied they are.
Providing good service to your customers should be your end goal. Failing to measure, monitor, and act on customer feedback means you don’t have the whole picture of how your service desk is performing and whether or where improvements are needed to maximize satisfaction.
The Service Desk Institute (SDI) suggests that customer satisfaction is the most important indicator of service desk success, and that traditional metrics around SLA targets – currently the most common way to measure service desk performance – may become less valuable or even obsolete in the future as customer experience-focused targets become more popular. (Service Desk Institute, 2021)
SDI conducted a Customer Experience survey of service desk professionals from a range of organizations, both public and private, from January to March 2018. The majority of respondents said that customer experience is more important than other metrics such as speed of service or adherence to SLAs, and that customer satisfaction is more valuable than traditional metrics. (SDI, 2018).

Obstacles to collecting feedback |
Obstacles to acting on collected feedback |
|---|---|
|
|
Insight into customer experience |
Gather insight into both the overall customer relationship with the service desk and individual transactions to get a holistic picture of the customer experience. |
|---|---|
Data to inform decisions |
Collect data to inform decisions about where to spend limited resources or time on improvement, rather than guessing or wasting effort on the wrong thing. |
Identification of areas for improvement |
Better understand your strengths and weaknesses from the customer’s point of view to help you identify gaps and priorities for improvement. |
Customers feel valued |
Make customers feel heard and valued; this will improve your relationship and their satisfaction. |
Ability to monitor trends over time |
Use the same annual relationship survey to be able to monitor trends and progress in making improvements by comparing data year over year. |
Foresight to prevent problems from occurring |
Understand where potential problems may occur so you can address and prevent them, or who is at risk of becoming a detractor so you can repair the relationship. |
IT staff coaching and engagement opportunities |
Turn negative survey feedback into coaching and improvement opportunities and use positive feedback to boost morale and engagement. |

Phase |
1. Understand how to measure customer satisfaction |
2. Design and implement transactional surveys |
3. Design and implement relationship surveys |
4. Analyze and act on feedback |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Phase outcomes |
Understand the main types of customer satisfaction surveys, principles for survey design, and best practices for surveying your users. |
Learn why and how to design a simple survey to assess satisfaction with individual service desk transactions (tickets) and a methodology for survey delivery that will improve response rates. |
Understand why and how to design a survey to assess overall satisfaction with the service desk across your organization, or use Info-Tech’s diagnostic. |
Measure and analyze the results of both surveys and build a plan to act on both positive and negative feedback and communicate the results with the organization. |
Key Insight:
Asking your customers for feedback then doing nothing with it is worse than not asking for feedback at all. Your customers may end up more dissatisfied than they were before if they’re asked for their opinion then see nothing done with it. It’s valuable to collect feedback, but the true value for both IT and its customers comes from acting on that feedback and communicating those actions back to your users.
Additional insights:
Insight 1 |
Take the time to define the goals of your transactional survey program before launching it – it’s not as simple as just deploying the default survey of your ITSM tool out of the box. The objectives of the survey – including whether you want to keep a pulse on average satisfaction or immediately act on any negative experiences – will influence a range of key decisions about the survey configuration. |
|---|---|
Insight 2 |
While transactional surveys provide useful indicators of customer satisfaction with specific tickets and interactions, they tend to have low response rates and can leave out many users who may rarely or never contact the service desk, but still have helpful feedback. Include a relationship survey in your customer feedback program to capture a more holistic picture of what your overall user base thinks about the service desk and where you most need to improve. |
Insight 3 |
Satisfaction scores provide valuable data about how your customers feel, but don’t tell you why they feel that way. Don’t neglect the qualitative data you can gather from open-ended comments and questions in both types of satisfaction surveys. Take the time to read through these responses and categorize them in at least a basic way to gain deeper insight and determine where to prioritize your efforts. |
Understand the main types of customer satisfaction surveys, principles for survey design, and best practices for surveying your users.
Phase 1: |
Phase 2: |
Phase 3: |
Phase 4: |
|---|---|---|---|
Understand how to measure customer satisfaction |
Design and implement transactional surveys |
Design and implement relationship surveys |
Analyze and act on feedback |
Transactional |
Relationship |
One-off |
|
|---|---|---|---|
Also known as |
Ticket surveys, incident follow-up surveys, on-going surveys |
Annual, semi-annual, periodic, comprehensive, relational |
One-time, single, targeted |
Definition |
|
|
|
Transactional | Relationship | One-off | |
|---|---|---|---|
Pros |
|
|
|
Cons |
|
|
|
Only relying on one type of survey will leave gaps in your understanding of customer satisfaction. Include both transactional and relationship surveys to provide a holistic picture of customer satisfaction with the service desk.
If you can only start with one type, choose the type that best aligns with your goals and priorities:
If your priority is to identify larger improvement initiatives the service desk can take to improve overall customer satisfaction and trust in the service desk: |
If your priority is to provide customers with the opportunity to let you know when transactions do not go well so you can take immediate action to make improvements: |
| ↓ | ↓ |
Start with a relationship survey |
Start with a transactional survey |

Info-Tech Insight
One-off surveys can be useful to assess whether a specific change has impacted satisfaction, or to inform a planned change/initiative. However, as they aren’t typically part of an on-going customer feedback program, the focus of this research will be on transactional and relationship surveys.
| CSAT | CES | NPS | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Name | Customer Satisfaction | Customer Effort Score | Net Promoter score |
| What it measures | Customer happiness | Customer effort | Customer loyalty |
| Description | Measures satisfaction with a company overall, or a specific offering or interaction | Measures how much effort a customer feels they need to put forth in order to accomplish what they wanted | Single question that asks consumers how likely they are to recommend your product, service, or company to other people |
| Survey question | How satisfied are/were you with [company/service/interaction/product]? | How easy was it to [solve your problem/interact with company/handle my issue]? Or: The [company] made it easy for me to handle my issue | How likely are you to recommend [company/service/product] to a friend? |
| Scale | 5, 7, or 10 pt scale, or using images/emojis | 5, 7, or 10 pt scale | 10-pt scale from highly unlikely to highly likely |
| Scoring | Result is usually expressed as a percentage of satisfaction | Result usually expressed as an average | Responses are divided into 3 groups where 0-6 are detractors, 7-8 are passives, 9-10 are promoters |
| Pros |
|
|
|
| Cons |
|
|
|

While we focus mainly on traditional survey-based approaches to measuring customer satisfaction in this blueprint, there’s no need to limit yourselves to surveys as your only method. Consider multiple techniques to capture a wider audience, including:
Don’t include unnecessary questions that won’t give you actionable information; it will only waste respondents’ time.
Keep each question as short as possible and limit the total number of survey questions to avoid survey fatigue.
Most of your measures will be close-ended, but include at least one comment box to allow for qualitative feedback.
Ensure that question wording is clear and specific so that all respondents interpret it the same way.
You won’t get accurate results if your question leads respondents into thinking or answering a certain way.
Don’t ask about two different things in the same question – it will confuse respondents and make your data hard to interpret.
Response options should include all possible opinions (including “don’t know”) to avoid frustrating respondents.
Pre-populate information where possible (e.g. name, department) and ensure the survey is responsive on mobile devices.
If every question is mandatory, respondents may leave the survey altogether if they can’t or don’t want to answer one question.
Test your survey with your target audience before launching, and incorporate feedback - they may catch issues you didn’t notice.
There are two types of survey fatigue:
Occurs when users are overwhelmed by too many requests for feedback and stop responding.
Occurs when the survey is too long or irrelevant to users, so they grow tired and abandon the survey.
Fight survey fatigue:
Learn why and how to design a simple survey to assess satisfaction with individual service desk transactions (tickets) and a methodology for survey delivery that will improve response rates.
Phase 1: | Phase 2: | Phase 3: | Phase 4: |
|---|---|---|---|
Understand how to measure customer satisfaction | Design and implement transactional surveys | Design and implement relationship surveys | Analyze and act on feedback |
While feedback on transactional surveys is specific to a single transaction, even one negative experience can impact the overall perception of the service desk. Pair your transactional surveys with an annual relationship survey to capture broader sentiment toward the service desk.
Transactional surveys serve several purposes:
| Decision | Considerations | For more guidance, see |
| What are the goals of your survey? | Are you hoping to get an accurate pulse of customer sentiment (if so, you may want to randomly send surveys) or give customers the ability to provide feedback any time they have some (if so, send a survey after every ticket)? | Slide 25 |
| How many questions will you ask? | Keep the survey as short as possible – ideally only one mandatory question. | Slide 26 |
| What questions will you ask? | Do you want a measure of NPS, CES, or CSAT? Do you want to measure overall satisfaction with the interaction or something more specific about the interaction? | Slide 27 |
| What will be the response options/scale? | Keep it simple and think about how you will use the data after. | Slide 28 |
| How often will you send the survey? | Will it be sent after every ticket, every third ticket, or randomly to a select percentage of tickets, etc.? | Slide 29 |
| What conditions would apply? | For example, is there a subset of users who you never want to receive a survey or who you always want to receive a survey? | Slide 30 |
| What mechanism/tool will you use to send the survey? | Will your ITSM tool allow you to make all the configurations you need, or will you need to use a separate survey tool? If so, can it integrate to your ITSM solution? | Slide 30 |
| Decision | Considerations | For more guidance, see |
| What will trigger the survey? | Typically, marking the ticket as either ‘resolved’ or ‘closed’ will trigger the survey. | Slide 31 |
| How long after the ticket is closed will you send the survey? | You’ll want to leave enough time for the user to respond if the ticket wasn’t resolved properly before completing a survey, but not so much time that they don’t remember the ticket. | Slide 31 |
| Will the survey be sent in a separate email or as part of the ticket resolution email? | A separate email might feel like too many emails for the user, but a link within the ticket closure email may be less noticeable. | Slide 32 |
| Will the survey be embedded in email or accessed through a link? | If the survey can be embedded into the email, users will be more likely to respond. | Slide 32 |
| How long will the survey link remain active, and will you send any reminders? | Leave enough time for the user to respond if they are busy or away, but not so much time that the data would be irrelevant. Balance the need to remind busy end users with the possibility of overwhelming them with survey fatigue. | Slide 32 |
| What other text will be in the main body of the survey email and/or thank you page? | Keep messaging short and straightforward and remind users of the benefit to them. | Slide 33 |
| Where will completed surveys be sent/who will have access? | Will the technician assigned to the ticket have access or only the manager? What email address/DL will surveys be sent to? | Slide 33 |
If your objective is: |
|
Keep a continual pulse on average customer satisfaction |
Gain the opportunity to act on negative feedback for any poor experience |
Then: |
|
Send survey randomly |
Send survey after every ticket |
Rationale: |
|
Sending a survey less often will help avoid survey fatigue and increase the chances of users responding whether they have good, bad, or neutral feedback |
Always having a survey available means users can provide feedback every time they want to, including for any poor experience – giving you the chance to act on it. |
Service Managers often get caught up in running a transactional survey program because they think it’s standard practice, or they need to report a satisfaction metric. If that’s your only objective, you will fail to derive value from the data and will only turn customers away from responding.
As you design your survey, keep in mind the following principles:
Q: How many questions should the survey contain?
A: Ideally, your survey will have only one mandatory question that captures overall satisfaction with the interaction.
This question can be followed up with an optional open-ended question prompting the respondent for more details. This will provide a lot more context to the overall rating.
If there are additional questions you need to ask based on your goals, clearly make these questions optional so they don’t deter respondents from completing the survey. For example, they can appear only after the respondent has submitted their overall satisfaction response (i.e. on a separate, thank you page).
Additional (optional) measures may include:
Tips for writing survey questions:
Sample question wording:
How satisfied are you with this support experience?
How would you rate your support experience?
Please rate your overall satisfaction with the way your issue was handled.
Instead of this…. |
Ask this…. |
|---|---|
“We strive to provide excellent service with every interaction. Please rate how satisfied you are with this interaction.” |
“How satisfied were you with this interaction?” |
“How satisfied were you with the customer service skills, knowledge, and responsiveness of the technicians?” |
Choose only one to ask about. |
“How much do you agree that the service you received was excellent?” |
“Please rate the service you received.” |
“On a scale of 1-10, thinking about your most recent experience, how satisfied would you say that you were overall with the way that your ticket was resolved?” |
“How satisfied were you with your ticket resolution?” |
When planning your response options, remember to keep the survey as easy to respond to as possible – this means allowing a one-click response and a scale that’s intuitive and simple to interpret. |
Think about how you will use the responses and interpret the data. If you choose a 10-point scale, for example, what would you classify as a negative vs positive response? Would a 5-point scale suffice to get the same data? |
Again, use your goals to inform your response options. If you need a satisfaction metric, you may need a numerical scale. If your goal is just to capture negative responses, you may only need two response options: good vs bad. |
Common response options:
|
Investigate the capabilities of your ITSM tool. It may only allow one built-in response option style. But if you have the choice, choose the simplest option that aligns with your goals. |
There are two common choices for when to send ticket satisfaction surveys:
After random tickets |
After every ticket |
|
Pros |
|
|
Cons |
|
|
SDI’s 2018 Customer Experience in ITSM survey of service desk professionals found:
Almost two-thirds (65%) send surveys after every ticket.
One-third (33%) send surveys after randomly selected tickets are closed.
Send a survey after every ticket so that anyone who has feedback gets the opportunity to provide it – and you always get the chance to act on negative feedback. But, limit how often any one customer receives a ticket to avoid over-surveying them – restrict to anywhere between one survey a week to one per month per customer.
Decision #1 |
Decision #2 |
|---|---|
What tool will you use to deliver the survey? |
What (if any) conditions apply to your survey? |
Considerations
|
Considerations Is there a subset of users who you never want to receive a survey (e.g. a specific department, location, role, or title)? Is there a subset of users who you always want to receive a survey, no matter how often they contact the service desk (e.g. VIP users, a department that scored low on the annual satisfaction survey, etc.)? Are there certain times of the year that you don’t want surveys to go out (e.g. fiscal year end, holidays)? Are there times of the day that you don’t want surveys to be sent (e.g. only during business hours; not at the end of the day)? |
Recommendations The built-in functionality of your ITSM tool’s surveys will be easiest to send and track; use it if possible. However, if your tool’s survey module is limited and won’t give you the value you need, consider a third-party solution or survey tool that integrates with your ITSM solution and won’t require significant manual effort to send or review the surveys. |
Recommendations If your survey module allows you to apply conditions, think about whether any are necessary to apply to either maximize your response rate (e.g. don’t send a survey on a holiday), avoid annoying certain users, or seek extra feedback from dissatisfied users. |
Decision #2 | Decision #1 |
|---|---|
What will trigger the survey? | When will the survey be sent? |
Considerations
| Considerations
|
Recommendations Only send the survey once you’re sure the issue has actually been resolved; you could further upset the customer if you ask them how happy they are with the resolution if resolution wasn’t achieved. This means sending the survey once the user confirms resolution (which closes ticket) or the agent closes the ticket. | Recommendations If you are sending the survey upon ticket status moving to ‘resolved’, wait at least 24 hours before sending the survey in case the user responds that their issue wasn’t actually resolved. However, if you are sending the survey after the ticket has been verified resolved and closed, you can send the survey immediately while the experience is still fresh in their memory. |
Decision #1 | Decision #2 |
|---|---|
How will the survey appear in email? | How long will the survey remain active? |
Considerations
| Considerations
|
Recommendations Send the survey separately from the ticket resolution email or users will never notice it. However, if possible, have the entire survey embedded within the email so users can click to respond directly from their email without having to open a separate link. Reduce effort, to make users more likely to respond. | Recommendations Leave enough time for the user to respond if they are busy or away, but not so much time that the data will be irrelevant. Balance the need to remind busy end users, with the possibility of overwhelming them with survey fatigue. About a week is typical. |
Decision #1 | Decision #2 |
|---|---|
What will the body of the email/messaging say? | Where will completed surveys be sent? |
Considerations
| Considerations
|
Recommendations Most users won’t read a long message, especially if they see it multiple times, so keep the email short and simple. Tell users you value their feedback, indicate which interaction you’re asking about, and say how long the survey should take. Thank them after they submit and tell them you will act on their feedback. | Recommendations Survey results should be sent to the Service Manager, Customer Experience Lead, or whoever is the person responsible for managing the survey feedback. They can choose how to share feedback with specific agents and the service desk team. |
Most IT organizations see transactional survey response rates of less than 20%.
Source: SDI, 2018SDI’s 2018 Customer Experience in ITSM survey of service desk professionals found that 69% of respondents had survey response rates of 20% or less. However, they did not distinguish between transactional and relationship surveys. |
Reasons for low response rates:
|
“In my experience, single digits are a sign of a problem. And a downward trend in response rate is also a sign of a problem. World-class survey response rates for brands with highly engaged customers can be as high as 60%. But I’ve never seen it that high for internal support teams. In my experience, if you get a response rate of 15-20% from your internal customers then you’re doing okay. That’s not to say you should be content with the status quo, you should always be looking for ways to increase it.” – David O’Reardon, Founder & CEO of Silversix |
Don’t over-survey any one user or they will start to ignore the surveys.
Ask for feedback soon after the ticket was resolved so it’s fresh in the user’s memory.
Keep the survey short, concise, and simple to respond to.
Minimize effort involved as much as possible. Allow users to respond directly from email and from any device.
Experiment with your subject line or email messaging to draw more attention.
Respond to customers who provide feedback – especially negative – so they know you’re listening.
Demonstrate that you are acting on feedback so users see the value in responding.
Once you’ve worked through all the decisions in this step, you’re ready to configure your transactional survey in your ITSM solution or survey tool.
As a starting point, you can leverage Info-Tech’s Transactional Service Desk Survey Templatee to design your templates and wording.
Make adjustments to match your decisions or your configuration limitations as needed.
Refer to the key decisions tables on slides 24 and 25 to ensure you’ve made all the configurations necessary as you set up your survey.

Understand why and how to design a survey to assess overall satisfaction with the service desk across your organization, or use Info-Tech’s diagnostic.
Phase 1: | Phase 2: | Phase 3: | Phase 4: |
|---|---|---|---|
Understand how to measure customer satisfaction | Design and implement transactional surveys | Design and implement relationship surveys | Analyze and act on feedback |
Evaluating service quality in any industry is challenging for both those seeking feedback and those consuming the service: “service quality is more difficult for the consumer to evaluate than goods quality.”
You are in the position of trying to measure something intangible: customer perception, which “result[s] from a comparison of consumer expectations with actual service performance,” which includes both the service outcome and also “the process of service delivery”
(Source: Parasuraman et al, 1985, 42).
Your mission is to design a relationship survey that is:
Annual relationship surveys provide great value in the form of year-over-year internal benchmarking data, which you can use to track improvements and validate the impact of your service improvement efforts.
The Service Quality Model (Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry, 1985) shows how perceived service quality is negatively impacted by the gap between expectations for quality service and the perceptions of actual service delivery: Gap 1: Consumer expectation – Management perception gap: Are there differences between your assumptions about what users want from a service and what those users expect? Gap 2: Management perception – Service quality specification gap: Do you have challenges translating user expectations for service into standardized processes and guidelines that can meet those expectations? Gap 3: Service quality specifications – Service delivery gap: Do staff members struggle to carry out the service quality processes when delivering service? Gap 4: Service delivery – External communications gap: Have users been led to expect more than you can deliver? Alternatively, are users unaware of how the organization ensures quality service, and therefore unable to appreciate the quality of service they receive? Gap 5: Expected service – Perceived service gap: Is there a discrepancy between users’ expectations and their perception of the service they received (regardless of any user misunderstanding)? |
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Your survey questions about service and support should provide insight into where these gaps exist in your organization
| Decision/step | Considerations |
| Align the relationship survey with your goals | Align what is motivating you to launch the survey at this time and the outcomes it is intended to feed into. |
| Identify what you’re measuring | Clarify the purpose of the questions. Are you measuring feedback on your service desk, specifically? On all of IT? Are you trying to capture user effort? User satisfaction? These decisions will affect how you word your questions. |
| Determine a framework for your survey | Reporting on results and tracking year-over-year changes will be easier if you design a basic framework that your survey questions fall into. Consider drawing on an existing service quality framework to match best practices in other industries. |
| Cover logistical details | Designing a relationship survey requires attention to many details that may initially be overlooked: the survey’s length and timing, who it should be sent to and how, what demographic info you need to collect to slice and dice the results, and if it will be possible to conduct the survey anonymously. |
| Design question wording | It is important to keep questions clear and concise and to avoid overly lengthy surveys. |
| Select answer scales | The answer scales you select will depend on how you have worded the questions. There is a wide range of answer scales available to you; decide which ones will produce the most meaningful data. |
| Test the survey | Testing the survey before widely distributing it is key. When collecting feedback, conduct at least a few in person observations of someone taking the survey to get their unvarnished first impressions. |
| Monitor and maximize your response rate | Ensure success by staying on top of the survey during the period it is open. |
What is motivating you to launch the survey at this time?
Is there a renewed focus on customer service satisfaction? If so, this survey will track the initiative’s success, so its questions must align with the sponsors’ expectations.
Are you surveying customer satisfaction in order to comply with legislation, or directives to measure customer service quality?
What objectives/outcomes will this survey feed into?
What do you need to report on to your stakeholders? Have they communicated any expectations regarding the data they expect to see?
Does the CIO want the annual survey to measure end-user satisfaction with all of IT?
In 1993 the U.S. president issued an Executive Order requiring executive agencies to “survey customers to determine the kind and quality of services they want and their level of satisfaction with existing services” and “post service standards and measure results against them.” (Clinton, 1993)
Examples of Measures |
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Clarify the purpose of the questions Each question should measure something specific you want to track and be phrased accordingly. |
Are you measuring feedback on the service desk? | Service desk professionalism |
Are you measuring user satisfaction? |
Service desk timeliness |
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Your customers’ happiness with aspects of IT’s service offerings and customer service |
Trust in agents’ knowledge |
|
Users’ preferred ticket intake channel (e.g. portal vs phone) |
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Satisfaction with self-serve features |
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Are you measuring user effort? |
Are you measuring feedback on IT overall? |
Satisfaction with IT’s ability to enable the business |
How much effort your customer needs to put forth to accomplish what they wanted/how much friction your service causes or alleviates |
Satisfaction with company-issued devices |
|
| Satisfaction with network/Wi-Fi | ||
Satisfaction with applications |
As you compose survey questions, decide whether they are intended to capture user satisfaction or effort: this will influence how the question is worded. Include a mix of both.
If your relationship survey covers satisfaction with service support, ensure the questions cover the major aspects of service quality. You may wish to align your questions on support with existing frameworks: for example, the SERVQUAL service quality measurement instrument identifies 5 dimensions of service quality: Reliability, Assurance, Tangibles, Empathy, and Responsiveness (see below). As you design the survey, consider if the questions relate to these five dimensions. If you have overlooked any of the dimensions, consider if you need to revise or add questions.
Service dimension |
Definition |
Sample questions |
|---|---|---|
Reliability |
“Ability to perform the promised service dependably and accurately”1 |
|
Assurance |
“Knowledge and courtesy of employees and their ability to convey trust and confidence”2 |
|
Tangibles |
“Appearance of physical facilities, equipment, personnel, and communication materials”3 |
|
Empathy |
“Caring, individualized attention the firm provides its customers”4 |
|
Responsiveness |
“Willingness to help customers and provide prompt service”5 |
|
Identify who you will send it to Will you survey your entire user base or a specific subsection? For example, a higher education institution may choose to survey students separately from staff and faculty. If you are gathering data on customer satisfaction with a specific implementation, only survey the affected stakeholders. Determine timing Avoid sending out the survey during known periods of time pressure or absence (e.g. financial year-end, summer vacation). Decide upon its length Consider what survey length your users can tolerate. Configure the survey to show the respondents’ progression or their percentage complete. Clearly introduce the survey The survey should begin with an introduction that thanks users for completing the survey, indicates its length and anonymity status, and conveys how the data will be used, along with who the participants should contact with any questions about the survey. Decide upon incentives Will you incentivize participation (e.g. by entering the participants in a draw or rewarding highest-participating department)? |
Collect demographic information Ensure your data can be “sliced and diced” to give you more granular insights into the results. Ask respondents for information such as department, location, seniority, and tenure to help with your trend analysis later. Clarify if anonymous Users may be more comfortable participating if they can do so anonymously (Quantisoft, n.d.). If you promise anonymity, ensure your survey software/ partner can support this claim. Note the difference between anonymity (identity of participant is not collected) and confidentiality (identifying data is collected but removed from the reported results). Decide how to deliver the survey Will you be distributing the survey yourself through your own licensed software (e.g. through Microsoft Forms if you are an MS shop)? Or, will you be partnering with a third-party provider? Is the survey optimized for mobile? Some find up to 1/3 of participants use mobile devices for their surveys (O’Reardon, 2018). |
Use Info-Tech’s Sample Size Calculator to calculate the number of people you need to complete your survey to have statistically representative results.
In the example above, the service desk supports 1000 total users (and sent the survey to each one). To be 95% confident that the survey results fall within 5% of the true value (if every user responded), they would need 278 respondents to complete their survey. In other words, to have a sample that is representative of the whole population, they would need 278 completed surveys. |
Explanation of terms: Confidence Level: A measure of how reliable your survey is. It represents the probability that your sample accurately reflects the true population (e.g. your entire user base). The industry standard is typically 95%. This means that 95 times out of 100, the true data value that you would get if you surveyed the entire population would fall within the margin of error. Margin of Error: A measure of how accurate the data is, also known as the confidence interval. It represents the degree of error around the data point, or the range of values above and below the actual results from a survey. A typical margin of error is 5%. This means that if your survey sample had a score of 70%, the true value if you sampled the entire population would be between 65% and 75%. To narrow the margin of error, you would need a bigger sample size. Population Size: The total set of people you want to study with your survey. For example, the total number of users you support. Sample Size: The number of people who participate in your survey (i.e. complete the survey) out of the total population. |
I need to measure and report customer satisfaction with all of IT:
|
Both products measure end-user satisfaction One is more general to IT One is more specific to service desk |
I need to measure and report more granularly on Service Desk customer satisfaction:
|
Choose Info-Tech's End User Satisfaction Survey |
Choose Info-Tech’s Service Desk Satisfaction Survey |
Write accessible questions: | Instead of this…. | Ask this…. |
48% of US adults meet or exceed PIACC literacy level 3 and thus able to deal with texts that are “often dense or lengthy.” 52% of US adults meet level 2 or lower. Keep questions clear and concise. Avoid overly lengthy surveys. Source: Highlights of the 2017 U.S. PIAAC Results Web Report |
Users will have difficulty perceiving the difference between these two questions. |
|
Tips for writing survey questions: | “How satisfied are you with the customer service skills, knowledge, and responsiveness of the technicians?” This question measures too many things and the data will not be useful. | Choose only one to ask about. |
| “On a scale of 1-10, thinking about the past year, how satisfied would you say that you were overall with the way that your tickets were resolved?” This question is too wordy. | “How satisfied were you with your ticket resolution?” |
Likert scale
Respondents select from a range of statements the position with which they most agree:
E.g. How satisfied are you with how long it generally takes to resolve your issue completely?
Frequency scale
How often does the respondent have to do something, or how often do they encounter something?
E.g. How frequently do you need to re-open tickets that have been closed without being satisfactorily resolved?
Numeric scale
By asking users to rate their satisfaction on a numeric scale (e.g., 1-5, 1-10), you can facilitate reporting on averages:
E.g. How satisfied are you with IS’s ability to provide services to allow the organization to meet its goals?
Forced ranking
Learn more about your users’ priorities by asking them to rank answers from most to least important, or selecting their top choices (Sauro, 2018):
E.g. From the following list, drag and drop the 3 aspects of our service that are most important to you into the box on the right.
Always include an optional open-ended question, which allows customers to provide more feedback or suggestions.
Test the survey with different stakeholder groups:
Testing methodology:
In the survey testing phase, try to capture at least a few real-time responses to the survey. If you collect survey feedback only once the test is over, you may miss some key insights into the user experience of navigating the survey.
“Follow the golden rule: think of your audience and what they may or may not know. Think about what kinds of outside pressures they may bring to the work you’re giving them. What time constraints do they have?”
– Sally Colwell, Project Officer, Government of Canada Pension Centre
“[Send] one reminder to those who haven’t completed the survey after a few days. Don’t use the word ‘reminder’ because that’ll go straight in the bin, better to say something like, ‘Another chance to provide your feedback’”
– David O’Reardon, Founder & CEO of Silversix
Measure and analyze the results of both surveys and build a plan to act on both positive and negative feedback and communicate the results with the organization.
Phase 1: | Phase 2: | Phase 3: | Phase 4: |
|---|---|---|---|
Understand how to measure customer satisfaction | Design and implement transactional surveys | Design and implement relationship surveys | Analyze and act on feedback |

A service failure or a poor experience isn’t what determines customer satisfaction – it’s how you respond to the issue and take steps to fix it that really matters.
This means one poor experience with the service desk doesn’t necessarily lead to an unhappy user; if you quickly and effectively respond to negative feedback to repair the relationship, the customer may be even happier afterwards because you demonstrated that you value them.
“Every complaint becomes an opportunity to turn a bad IT customer experience into a great one.”
– David O’Reardon, Founder & CEO of Silversix
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“Your IT service desk’s CSAT survey should be the means of improving your service (and the employee experience), and something that encourages people to provide even more feedback, not just the means for understanding how well it’s doing” – Joe the IT Guy, SysAid |
If collecting and analyzing customer feedback is something that happens off the side of your desk, it either won’t get done or won’t get done well.
Assign accountability for the customer feedback program to one person (i.e. Service Desk Manager, Service Manager, Infrastructure & Operations Lead, IT Director), who may take on or assign responsibilities such as:
Info-Tech Insight
While feedback can feed into internal coaching and training, the goal should never be to place blame or use metrics to punish agents with poor results. The focus should always be on improving the experience for end users.
Calculating NPS Scores
Categorize respondents into 3 groups:
Calculate overall NPS score:
Calculating CSAT Scores
Why analyze qualitative data |
How to analyze qualitative data |
||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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Methods range in sophistication; choose a technique depending on your tools available and goals of your program.
|
Successful customer satisfaction programs respond effectively to both positive and negative outcomes. Late or lack of responses to negative comments may increase customer frustration, while not responding at all to the positive comments may give the perception of indifference.
E.g. Scores of 1 to 2 out of 5 are negative, scores of 4 to 5 out of 5 are positive.
1. Who should receive communication? |
Each audience will require different messaging, so start by identifying who those audiences are. At a minimum, you should communicate to your end users who provided feedback, your service desk/IT team, and business leaders or stakeholders. |
|---|---|
2. What information do they need? |
End users: Thank them for providing feedback. Demonstrate what you will do with that feedback. IT team: Share results and what you need them to do differently as a result. Business leaders: Share results, highlight successes, share action plan for improvement. |
3. Who is responsible for communication? |
Typically, this will be the person who is accountable for the customer feedback program, but you may have different people responsible for communicating to different audiences. |
4. When will you communicate? |
Frequency of communication will depend on the survey type – relationship or transactional – as well as the audience, with internal communication being much more frequent than end-user communication. |
5. How will you communicate? |
Again, cater your approach to the audience and choose a method that will resonate with them. End users may view an email, an update on the portal, a video, or update in a company meeting; your internal IT team can view results on a dashboard and have regular meetings. |
Based on the Customer Communication Cycle by David O’Reardon, 2018 |
|
|---|
Focus your communications to users around them, not you. Demonstrate that you need feedback to improve their experience, not just for you to collect data.
Prioritize improvements |
Prioritize improvements based on low scores and most commonly received feedback, then build into an action plan. |
|---|---|
Take immediate action on negative feedback |
Investigate the issue, diagnose the root cause, and repair both the relationship and issue – just like you would an incident. |
Apply lessons learned from positive feedback |
Don’t neglect actions you can take from positive feedback – identify how you can expand upon or leverage the things you’re doing well. |
Use feedback in coaching and training |
Share positive experiences with the team as lessons learned, and use negative feedback as an input to coaching and training. |
Make the change stick |
After making a change, train and communicate it to your team to ensure the change sticks and any negative experiences don’t happen again. |
“Without converting feedback into actions, surveys can become just a pointless exercise in number watching.”
Outline exactly what you plan to do to address customer feedback in an action plan, and regularly review that action plan to select and prioritize initiatives and monitor progress.
For more guidance on tracking and prioritizing ongoing improvement initiatives, see the blueprints Optimize the Service Desk with a Shift Left Strategy and Build a Continual Improvement Plan for the Service Desk.
Improve service desk processes: |
Improve end-user self-service options: |
Assess and optimize service desk staffing: |
Improve ease of contacting the service desk: |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standardize the Service Desk | Optimize the Service Desk With a Shift-Left Strategy | Staff the Service Desk to Meet Demand | Improve Service Desk Ticket Intake |
Improve service desk processes: |
Improve end-user self-service options: |
Assess and optimize service desk staffing: |
Improve ease of contacting the service desk:: |
| Improve Incident and Problem Management | Improve Incident and Problem Management | Deliver a Customer Service Training Program to Your IT Department | Modernize and Transform Your End-User Computing Strategy |


This project will help you build and improve essential service desk processes, including incident management, request fulfillment, and knowledge management to create a sustainable service desk.
Optimize the Service Desk With a Shift-Left Strategy
This project will help you build a strategy to shift service support left to optimize your service desk operations and increase end-user satisfaction.
Build a Continual Improvement Plan
This project will help you build a continual improvement plan for the service desk to review key processes and services and manage the progress of improvement initiatives.
Deliver a Customer Service Training Program to Your IT Department
This project will help you deliver a targeted customer service training program to your IT team to enhance their customer service skills when dealing with end users, improve overall service delivery and increase customer satisfaction.
Amaresan, Swetha. “The best time to send a survey, according to 5 studies.” Hubspot. 15 Jun 2021. Accessed October 2022.
Arlen, Chris. “The 5 Service Dimensions All Customers Care About.” Service Performance Inc. n.d. Accessed October 2022.
Clinton, William Jefferson. “Setting Customer Service Standards.” (1993). Federal Register, 58(176).
“Understanding Confidentiality and Anonymity.” The Evergreen State College. 2022. Accessed October 2022.
"Highlights of the 2017 U.S. PIAAC Results Web Report" (NCES 2020-777). U.S. Department of Education. Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics.
Joe the IT Guy. “Are IT Support’s Customer Satisfaction Surveys Their Own Worst Enemy?” Joe the IT Guy. 29 August 2018. Accessed October 2022.
O’Reardon, David. “10 Ways to Get the Most out of your ITSM Ticket Surveys.” LinkedIn. 2 July 2019. Accessed October 2022.
O'Reardon, David. "13 Ways to increase the response rate of your Service Desk surveys".LinkedIn. 8 June 2016. Accessed October 2022.
O’Reardon, David. “IT Customer Feedback Management – A Why & How Q&A with an Expert.” LinkedIn. 13 March 2018. Accessed October 2022.
Parasuraman, A., Zeithaml, V. A., & Berry, L. L. (1985). "A Conceptual Model of Service Quality and Its Implications for Future Research." Journal of Marketing, 49(4), 41–50.
Quantisoft. "How to Increase IT Help Desk Customer Satisfaction and IT Help Desk Performance.“ Quantisoft. n.d. Accessed November 2022.
Rumberg, Jeff. “Metric of the Month: Customer Effort.” HDI. 26 Mar 2020. Accessed September 2022.
Sauro, Jeff. “15 Common Rating Scales Explained.” MeasuringU. 15 August 2018. Accessed October 2022.
SDI. “Customer Experience in ITSM.” SDI. 2018. Accessed October 2022.
SDI. “CX: Delivering Happiness – The Series, Part 1.” SDI. 12 January 2021. Accessed October 2022.
Wronski, Laura. “Who responds to online surveys at each hour of the day?” SurveyMonkey. n.d. Accessed October 2022.
Sally Colwell
Project Officer
Government of Canada Pension Centre
Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:
Gain insight on the various factors that influence software satisfaction.
Reduce the size of your RFPs or skip them entirely to limit time spent watching vendor dog and pony shows.
Narrow the field to four contenders prior to in-depth comparison and engage in accelerated enterprise architecture oversight.
Getting a seat at the table is your first objective in building a strategic roadmap. Knowing what the business wants to do and understanding what it will need in the future is a challenge for most IT departments.
This could be a challenge such as:
Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:
In this section you will develop a vision and mission statement and set goals that align with the business vision and goals. The outcome will deliver your guiding principles and a list of goals that will determine your initiatives and their priorities.
Consider your future state by looking at technology that will help the business in the future. Complete an analysis of your past spending to determine your future spend. Complete a SWOT analysis to determine suitability.
Develop a risk framework that may slow or hinder your strategic initiatives from progressing and evaluate your technical debt. What is the current state of your infrastructure? Generate and prioritize your initiatives, and set dates for completion.
After creating your roadmap, communicate it to your audience. Identify who needs to be informed and create an executive brief with the template download. Finally, create KPIs to measure what success looks like.
Infrastructure roadmaps are an absolute necessity for all organizations. An organization's size often dictates the degree of complexity of the roadmap, but they all strive to paint the future picture of the organization's IT infrastructure.
Infrastructure roadmaps typically start with the current state of infrastructure and work on how to improve. That thinking must change! Start with the future vision, an unimpeded vision, as if there were no constraints. Now you can see where you want to be.
Look at your past to determine how you have been spending your infrastructure budget. If your past shows a trend of increased operational expenditures, that trend will likely continue. The same is true for capital spending and staffing numbers.
Now that you know where you want to go, and how you ended up where you are, look at the constraints you must deal with and make a plan. It's not as difficult as it may seem, and even the longest journey begins with one step.
Speaking of that first step, it should be to understand the business goals and align your roadmap with those same goals. Now you have a solid plan to develop a strategic infrastructure roadmap; enjoy the journey!
There are many reasons why you need to build a strategic IT infrastructure roadmap, but your primary objectives are to set the long-term direction, build a framework for decision making, create a foundation for operational planning, and be able to explain to the business what you are planning. It is a basis for accountability and sets out goals and priorities for the future.
Other than knowing where you are going there are four key benefits to building the roadmap.
When complete, you will be able to communicate to your fellow IT teams what you are doing and get an understanding of possible business- or IT-related roadblocks, but overall executing on your roadmap will demonstrate to the business your competencies and ability to succeed.

PJ Ryan
Research Director
Infrastructure & Operations Practice
Info-Tech Research Group

John Donovan
Principal Research Director
Infrastructure & Operations Practice
Info-Tech Research Group
Your Challenge
When it comes to building a strategic roadmap, getting a seat at the table is your first objective. Knowing what the business wants to do and understanding its future needs is a challenge for most IT organizations.
Challenges such as:
Common Obstacles
Fighting fires, keeping the lights on, patching, and overseeing legacy debt maintenance – these activities prevent your IT team from thinking strategically and looking beyond day-to-day operations. Issues include:
Procrastinating when it comes to thinking about your future state will get you nowhere in a hurry.
Info-Tech's Approach
Look into your past IT spend and resources that are being utilized.
Build your roadmap by setting priorities, understanding risk and gaps both in finance and resources. Overall, your roadmap is never done, so don't worry if you get it wrong on the first pass.
Info-Tech Insight
Have a clear vision of what the future state is, and know that when creating an IT infrastructure roadmap, it is never done. This will give your IT team an understanding of priorities, goals, business vision, and risks associated with not planning. Understand what you are currently paying for and why.
"Planning is bringing the future into the present so that you can do something about it now."
Source: Alan Lakein, Libquotes
Many organizations' day-to-day IT operations are tactical and reactive. This needs to change; the IT team needs to become strategic and proactive in its planning and execution. Forward thinking bridges the gap from your current state, to what the organization is, to what it wants to achieve. Your strategic objectives need to align to the business vision and goals and keep it running.
Identify what the business needs to meet its goals; this should be reflected in your roadmap priorities. Then identify the tasks and projects that can get you there. Business alignment is key, as these projects require prioritization. Strategic initiatives that align to business outcomes will be your foundation for planning on those priorities. If you do not align your initiatives, you will end up spinning your wheels. A good strategic roadmap will have all the elements of forward thinking and planning to execute with the right resources, right priorities, and right funding to make it happen.
Measure the cost of "keeping the lights on" as a baseline for your budget that is earmarked and already spent. Determine if your current spend is holding back innovation due to:
A successful strategic roadmap will be determined when you have a good handle on your current spending patterns and planning for future needs that include resources, budget, and know-how. Without a plan and roadmap, that plan will not get business buy-in or funding.
Time seepage
Technical debt
The strategic IT roadmap allows Dura to stay at the forefront of automotive manufacturing.
INDUSTRY: Manufacturing
SOURCE: Performance Improvement Partners
Challenge
Following the acquisition of Dura, MiddleGround aimed to position Dura as a leader in the automotive industry, leveraging the company's established success spanning over a century.
However, prior limited investments in technology necessitated significant improvements for Dura to optimize its processes and take advantage of digital advancements.
Solution
MiddleGround joined forces with PIP to assess technology risks, expenses, and prospects, and develop a practical IT plan with solutions that fit MiddleGround's value-creation timeline.
By selecting the top 15 most important IT projects, the companies put together a feasible technology roadmap aimed at advancing Dura in the manufacturing sector.
Results
Armed with due diligence reports and a well-defined IT plan, MiddleGround and Dura have a strategic approach to maximizing value creation.
By focusing on key areas such as analysis, applications, infrastructure and the IT organization, Dura is effectively transforming its operations and shaping the future of the automotive manufacturing industry.
A mere 25% of managers
can list three of the company's
top five priorities.
Based on a study from MIT Sloan, shared understanding of strategic directives barely exists beyond the top tiers of leadership.

29% |
Less than one-third of all IT projects finish on time. |
|---|---|
200% |
85% of IT projects average cost overruns of 200% and time overruns of 70%. |
70% |
70% of IT workers feel as though they have too much work and not enough time to do it. |
Source: MIT Sloan
Refresh strategies are still based on truisms (every three years for servers, every seven years for LAN, etc.) more than risk-based approaches.
Opportunity Cost
Assets that were suitable to enable business goals need to be re-evaluated as those goals change.
See Info-Tech's Manage Your Technical Debt blueprint

Initiatives collectively support the business goals and corporate initiatives, and improve the delivery of IT services.
A CIO has three roles: enable business productivity, run an effective IT shop, and drive technology innovation. Your key initiative plan must reflect these three mandates and how IT strives to fulfill them.
Manage
the lifecycle of aging equipment against current capacity and capability demands.
Curate
a portfolio of enabling technologies to meet future capacity and capability demands.
Initiate
a realistic schedule of initiatives that supports a diverse range of business goals.
Adapt
to executive feedback and changing business goals.
(Source: BMC)
| Business metric | Source(s) | Primary infrastructure drivers | Secondary infrastructure drivers |
|---|---|---|---|
Sales revenue |
Online store |
Website/Server (for digital businesses) |
|
# of new customers |
Call center |
Physical plant cabling in the call center |
|
You may not be able to directly influence the primary drivers of the business, but your infrastructure can have a major impact as a secondary driver.
Mission and Vision Statement
Goal Alignment (Slide 28)
Construct your vision and mission aligned to the business.

Strategic Infrastructure Roadmap tool
Build initiatives and prioritize them. Build the roadmap.

Infrastructure Domain Study
What is stealing your time from getting projects done?

Initiative Templates Process Maps & Strategy
Build templates for initiates, build process map, and develop strategies.


“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.”
1. Align Strategy and Goals |
2. Envision Future and Analyze Constraints |
3. Align and Build the Roadmap |
4. Communicate and Improve the Process |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
Phase steps |
1.1 Develop the infrastructure strategy 1.2 Define the goals |
2.1 Define the future state 2.2 Analyze constraints |
3.1 Align the roadmap 3.2 Build the roadmap |
4.1 Identify the audience 4.2 Improve the process |
Phase Outcomes |
|
|
|
|
| Phase 0 | Phase 1 | Phase 2 | Phase 3 | Phase 4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Call #1: Scope requirements, objectives, and your specific challenges. |
Call #2: Define mission and vision statements and guiding principles to discuss strategy scope. |
Call #4: Conduct a spend analysis and a time resource study. |
Call #6: Develop a risk framework and address technical debt. |
Call #10: Identify your audience and communicate. |
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.
Contact your account representative for more information.
workshops@infotech.com 1-888-670-8889
Session 0 (Pre-workshop) |
Session 1 |
Session 2 |
Session 3 |
Session 4 |
Session 5 (Post-workshop) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Elicit business context | Align Strategy and Goals | Envision Future and Analyze Constraints | Align and Build the Roadmap | Communicate and Improve the Process | Wrap-up (offsite) |
0.1 Complete recommended diagnostic programs. |
1.1 Infrastructure strategy. 1.2 Business goal alignment |
2.1 Define the future state. 2.2 Analyze your constraints |
3.1 Align the roadmap 3.2 Build the roadmap. |
4.2 Identify the audience 4.2 Improve the process |
5.1 Complete in-progress deliverables from previous four days. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Phase 1 | Phase 2 | Phase 3 | Phase 4 |
|---|---|---|---|
1.1 Infrastructure strategy 1.2 Goal alignment | 2.1 Define your future 2.2 Conduct constraints analysis | 3.1 Drive business alignment 3.2. Build the roadmap | 4.1 Identify the audience 4.2 Process improvement and measurements |
This phase will walk you through the following activities:
This phase involves the following participants:
1.1.1 Review/validate the business context
1.1.2 Construct your mission and vision statements
1.1.3 Elicit your guiding principles and finalize IT strategy scope
This step requires the following inputs:
This step involves the following participants:
Outcomes of this step

Use the IT Infrastructure Strategy and Roadmap Report Template to document the results from the following activities:
A mission statement
"A mission statement focuses on the purpose of the brand; the vision statement looks to the fulfillment of that purpose."
A vision statement
"A vision statement provides a concrete way for stakeholders, especially employees, to understand the meaning and purpose of your business. However, unlike a mission statement – which describes the who, what, and why of your business – a vision statement describes the desired long-term results of your company's efforts."
Source: Business News Daily, 2020
A strong mission statement has the following characteristics:
A strong vision statement has the following characteristics:
Ensure there is alignment between the business and IT statements.
Note: Mission statements may remain the same unless the IT department's mandate is changing.

Objective: Help teams define their purpose (why they exist) to build a mission statement (if one doesn't already exist).
Step 1:
Step 2:
Download the ITRG IT Infrastructure Strategy and Roadmap Report Template and document your mission and vision statements in Section 1.
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Output
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Objective: Help teams define their purpose (why they exist) to build a mission statement (if one doesn't already exist).
This step involves reviewing individual mission statements, combining them, and building one collective mission statement for the team.
Use the 20x20 rule for group decision-making. Give the group no more than 20 minutes to craft a collective team purpose with no more than 20 words.
Download the ITRG IT Infrastructure Strategy and Roadmap Report Template and document your mission and vision statements in Section 1.
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Download the ITRG IT Infrastructure Strategy and Roadmap Report Template and document your mission and vision statements in Section 1.
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Step 5:
Step 6:
Download the ITRG IT Infrastructure Strategy and Roadmap Report Template and document your mission and vision statements in Section 1.
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Source: Hyper Island
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Strong IT mission statements have the following characteristics:
Sample IT Mission Statements:
Strong IT vision statements have the following characteristics:
Sample IT vision statements:
Quoted From ITtoolkit, 2020
INDUSTRY: Professional Services
COMPANY: This case study is based on a real company but was anonymized for use in this research.
Business |
IT | ||
|---|---|---|---|
Mission |
Vision |
Mission |
Vision |
We help IT leaders achieve measurable results by systematically improving core IT processes, governance, and critical technology projects. |
Acme Corp. will grow to become the largest research firm across the industry by providing unprecedented value to our clients. |
IT provides innovative product solutions and leadership that drives growth and success. |
We will relentlessly drive value to our customers through unprecedented innovation. |
Strategic guiding principles advise the IT organization on the boundaries of the strategy.
Guiding principles are a priori decisions that limit the scope of strategic thinking to what is acceptable organizationally, from budgetary, people, and partnership standpoints. Guiding principles can cover other dimensions, as well.
Organizational stakeholders are more likely to follow IT principles when a rationale is provided.
After defining the set of IT principles, ensure that they are all expanded upon with a rationale. The rationale ensures principles are more likely to be followed because they communicate why the principles are important and how they are to be used. Develop the rationale for each IT principle your organization has chosen.
IT guiding principles = IT strategy boundaries
Breadth
of the IT strategy can span across the eight perspectives: people, process, technology, data, process, sourcing, location, and timing.
Defining which of the eight perspectives is in scope for the IT strategy is crucial to ensuring the IT strategy will be comprehensive, relevant, and actionable.
Depth
of coverage refers to the level of detail the IT strategy will go into for each perspective. Info-Tech recommends that depth should go to the initiative level (i.e. individual projects).
Organizational coverage
will determine which part of the organization the IT strategy will cover.
Planning horizon
of the IT strategy will dictate when the target state should be reached and the length of the roadmap.
| Approach focused | IT principles are focused on the approach, i.e. how the organization is built, transformed, and operated, as opposed to what needs to be built, which is defined by both functional and non-functional requirements. |
|---|---|
| Business relevant | Create IT principles that are specific to the organization. Tie IT principles to the organization's priorities and strategic aspirations. |
| Long lasting | Build IT principles that will withstand the test of time. |
| Prescriptive | Inform and direct decision-making with IT principles that are actionable. Avoid truisms, general statements, and observations. |
| Verifiable | If compliance can't be verified, the principle is less likely to be followed. |
| Easily digestible | IT principles must be clearly understood by everyone in IT and by business stakeholders. IT principles aren't a secret manuscript of the IT team. IT principles should be succinct; wordy principles are hard to understand and remember. |
| Followed | Successful IT principles represent a collection of beliefs shared among enterprise stakeholders. IT principles must be continuously reinforced to all stakeholders to achieve and maintain buy-in. In organizations where formal policy enforcement works well, IT principles should be enforced through appropriate governance processes. |
IT principle name |
IT principle statement |
|---|---|
| 1. Enterprise value focus | We aim to provide maximum long-term benefits to the enterprise as a whole while optimizing total costs of ownership and risks. |
| 2. Fit for purpose | We maintain capability levels and create solutions that are fit for purpose without over engineering them. |
| 3. Simplicity | We choose the simplest solutions and aim to reduce operational complexity of the enterprise. |
| 4. Reuse > buy > build | We maximize reuse of existing assets. If we can't reuse, we procure externally. As a last resort, we build custom solutions. |
| 5. Managed data | We handle data creation, modification, and use enterprise-wide in compliance with our data governance policy. |
| 6. Controlled technical diversity | We control the variety of technology platforms we use. |
| 7. Managed security | We manage security enterprise-wide in compliance with our security governance policy. |
| 8. Compliance to laws and regulations | We operate in compliance with all applicable laws and regulations. |
| 9. Innovation | We seek innovative ways to use technology for business advantage. |
| 10. Customer centricity | We deliver best experiences to our customers with our services and products. |
Source: Hyper Island
Download the ITRG IT Infrastructure Strategy and Roadmap Report Template and document your mission and vision statements in Section 1.
Input
Output
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Participants
Quoted From: Office of Information Technology, 2014; Future of CIO, 2013
INDUSTRY: Professional Services
COMPANY: Acme Corp.
The following guiding principles define the values that drive IT's strategy in FY23 and provide the criteria for our 12-month planning horizon.
Your mission and vision statements and your guiding principles should be the first things you communicate on your IT strategy document.
Why is this important?
Input information into the IT Strategy Presentation 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
1.2.1 Intake identification and analysis
1.2.2 Survey results analysis
1.2.3 Goal brainstorming
1.2.4 Goal association and analysis
This step requires the following inputs:
This step involves the following participants:
"Typically, IT thinks in an IT first, business second, way: 'I have a list of problems and if I solve them, the business will benefit.' This is the wrong way of thinking. The business needs to be thought of first, then IT."
– Fred Chagnon, Infrastructure Director,
Info-Tech Research Group
If you're not soliciting input from or delivering on the needs of the various departments in your company, then who is? Be explicit and track how you communicate with each individual unit within your company.
It may not be a democracy, but listening to everyone's voice is an essential step toward generating a useful roadmap.
Building good infrastructure requires an understanding of how it will be used. Explicit consultation with stakeholders maximizes a roadmap's usefulness and holds the enterprise accountable in future roadmap iterations as goals change.
Who are the customers for infrastructure?
Internal customer examples:
External customer examples:
Discussion:
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INDUSTRY: Education
COMPANY: Collegis Education
Challenge
In 2019, Saint Francis University decided to expand its online program offering to reach students outside of its market.
It had to first transform its operations to deliver a high-quality, technology-enabled student experience on and off campus. The remote location of the campus posed power outages, Wi-Fi issues, and challenges in attracting and retaining the right staff to help the university achieve its goals.
It began working with an IT consulting firm to build a long-term strategic roadmap.
Solution
The consultant designed a strategic multi-year roadmap for digital transformation that would prioritize developing infrastructure to immediately improve the student experience and ultimately enable the university to scale its online programs. The consultant worked with school leadership to establish a virtual CIO to oversee the IT department's strategy and operations. The virtual CIO quickly became a key advisor to the president and board, identifying gaps between technology initiatives and enrollment and revenue targets. St. Francis staff also transitioned to the consultant's technology team, allowing the university to alleviate its talent acquisition and retention challenges.
Results
A simple graph showing the breakdown of projects by business unit is an excellent visualization of who is getting the most from infrastructure services.
Show everyone in the organization that the best way to get anything done is by availing themselves of the roadmap process.

Technology-focused IT staff are notoriously disconnected from the business process and are therefore often unable to explain the outcomes of their projects in terms that are meaningful to the business.
When business, IT, and infrastructure goals are aligned, the business story writes itself as you follow the path of cascading goals upward.
So many organizations we speak with don't have goals written down. This rarely means that the goals aren't known, rather that they're not clearly communicated.
When goals aren't clear, personal agendas can take precedence. This is what often leads to the disconnect between what the business wants and what IT is delivering.
Discussion:
Examples: The VP of Operations is looking to reduce office rental costs over the next three years. The VP of Sales is focused on increasing the number of face-to-face customer interactions. Both can potentially be served by IT activities and technologies that increase mobility.
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Discussion:
Is there a lot of agreement within the group? What does it mean if there are 10 or 15 groups with equal numbers of sticky notes? What does it mean if there are a few top groups and dozens of small outliers?
How does the group's understanding compare with that of the Director and/or CIO?
What mechanisms are in place for the business to communicate their goals to infrastructure? Are they effective? Does the team take the time to reimagine those goals and internalize them?
What does it mean if infrastructure's understanding differs from the business?
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Now that infrastructure has a consensus on what it thinks the business' goals are, suggest a meeting with leadership to validate this understanding. Once the first picture is drawn, a 30-minute meeting can help clear up any misconceptions.
With a framework of cascading goals in place, a roadmap is a Rosetta Stone. Being able to map activities back to governance objectives allows you to demonstrate value regardless of the audience you are addressing.

(Info-Tech, Build a Business-Aligned IT Strategy 2022)
Wherever possible use the language of your customers to avoid confusion, but at least ensure that everyone in infrastructure is using a common language.
Discussion:
Input
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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
Phase 1 | Phase 2 | Phase 3 | Phase 4 |
|---|---|---|---|
1.1 Infrastructure strategy 1.2 Goal alignment | 2.1 Define your future 2.2 Conduct constraints analysis | 3.1 Drive business alignment 3.2. Build the roadmap | 4.1 Identify the audience 4.2 Process improvement and measurements |
This phase will walk you through the following activities:
This phase involves the following participants:
2.1.1 Define your future infrastructure vision
2.1.2 Document desired future state
2.1.3 Develop a new technology identification process
2.1.4 Conduct a SWOT analysis
This step requires the following inputs:
This step involves the following participants:
Outcomes of this step
"Very few of us are lucky enough to be one of the first few employees in a new organization. Those of you who get to plan the infrastructure with a blank slate and can focus all of your efforts on doing things right the first time."
BMC, 2018
"A company's future state is ultimately defined as the greater vision for the business. It's where you want to be, your long-term goal in terms of the ever-changing state of technology and how that applies to your present-day business."
"Without a definitive future state, a company will often find themselves lacking direction, making it harder to make pivotal decisions, causing misalignment amongst executives, and ultimately hindering the progression and growth of a company's mission."
Source: Third Stage Consulting
"When working with digital technologies, it is imperative to consider how such technologies can enhance the solution. The future state should communicate the vision of how digital technologies will enhance the solutions, deliver value, and enable further development toward even greater value creation."
Source: F. Milani
Define your infrastructure roadmap as if you had a blank slate – no constraints, no technical debt, and no financial limitations. Imagine your future infrastructure and let that vision drive your roadmap.
This is not intended to be a thesis grade research project, nor an onerous duty. Most infrastructure practitioners came to the field because of an innate excitement about technology! Harness that excitement and give them four to eight hours to indulge themselves.
An output of approximately four slides per technology candidate should be sufficient to decided if moving to PoC or pilot is warranted.
Including this material in the roadmap helps you control the technology conversation with your audience.
Don't start from scratch. Recall the original sources from your technology watchlist. Leverage vendors and analyst firms (such as Info-Tech) to give the broad context, letting you focus instead on the specifics relevant to your business.
Implementing every new promising technology would cost prodigious amounts of money and time. Know the costs before choosing what to invest in.
The risk of a new technology failing is acceptable. The risk of that failure disrupting adjacent core functions is unacceptable. Vet potential technologies to ensure they can be safely integrated.
Best practices for new technologies are nonexistent, standards are in flux, and use cases are fuzzy. Be aware of the unforeseen that will negatively affect your chances of a successful implementation.
"Like early pioneers crossing the American plains, first movers have to create their own wagon trails, but later movers can follow in the ruts."
Harper Business, 2014
The right technology for someone else can easily be the wrong technology for your business.
Even with a mature Enterprise Architecture practice, wrong technology bets can happen. Minimize the chance of this occurrence by making selection an infrastructure-wide activity. Leverage the practical knowledge of the day-to-day operators.
First Mover |
47% failure rate |
Fast Follower |
8% failure rate |
Objective: Help teams define their future infrastructure state (assuming zero constraints or limitations).
Discussion:
Download the IT Infrastructure Strategy and Roadmap Report Template and document your mission and vision statements in Section 1.
Input
Output
Materials
Participants
Steps:
Discussion:
| Infrastructure Future State Vision | ||
|---|---|---|
| Item | Focus Area | Future Vision |
| 1 | Residing on Microsoft 365 | |
| 2 | Servers | Hosted in cloud - nothing on prem. |
| 3 | Endpoints | virtual desktops on Microsoft Azure |
| 4 | Endpoint hardware | Chromebooks |
| 5 | Network | internet only |
| 6 | Backups | cloud based but stored in multiple cloud services |
| 7 | ||
Download Info-Tech's Infrastructure Strategy and Roadmap Tool and document your future state vision in the Infrastructure Future State tab.
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Discussion:
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It is impractical for everyone to present their tech briefing at the monthly meeting. But you want to avoid a one-to-many exercise. Keep the presenter a secret until called on. Those who do not present live can still contribute their material to the technology watchlist database.
Four to eight hours of research per technology can uncover a wealth of relevant information and prepare the infrastructure team for a robust discussion. Key research elements include:

Download the IT Infrastructure Strategy and Roadmap Report Template slides 21, 22, 23 for sample output.
Beware airline magazine syndrome! |
Symptoms |
Pathology |
|---|---|---|
|
Outbreaks tend to occur in close proximity to
|
Effective treatment options
While no permanent cure exists, regular treatment makes this chronic syndrome manageable.
You want to present a curated landscape of technologies, demonstrating that you are actively maintaining expertise in your chosen field.
Most enterprise IT shops buy rather than develop their technology, which means they want to focus effort on what is market available. The outcome is that infrastructure sponsors and delivers new technologies whose capabilities and features will help the business achieve its goals on this roadmap.
If you want to think more like a business disruptor or innovator, we suggest working through the blueprint Exploit Disruptive Infrastructure Technology.
Explore technology five to ten years into the future!

The ROI of any individual effort is difficult to justify – in aggregate, however, the enterprise always wins!
Money spent on Google Glass in 2013 seemed like vanity. Certainly, this wasn't enterprise-ready technology. But those early experiences positioned some visionary firms to quickly take advantage of augmented reality in 2018. Creative research tends to pay off in unexpected and unpredictable ways.
.
Discussion:
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2.2.1 Historical spend analysis
2.2.2 Conduct a time study
2.2.3 Identify roadblocks
This step requires the following inputs:
This step involves the following participants:
Outcomes of this step
"A Budget is telling your money where to go, instead of wondering where it went."
-David Ramsay
"Don't tell me where your priorities are. Show me where you spend your money and I'll tell you what they are"
-James Frick, Due.com
| Annual IT budgeting aligns with business goals | |
![]() |
50% of businesses surveyed see that improvements are necessary for IT budgets to align to business goals, while 18% feel they require significant improvements to align to business goals |
Challenges in IT spend visibility |
|
![]() |
Visibility of all spend data for on-prem, SaaS and cloud environments |
The challenges that keep IT leaders up at night |
|
![]() |
Lack of visibility in resource usage and cost |

Download the Infrastructure Roadmap Financial Analysis Tool
( additional Deep Dive available if required)
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Download the Infrastructure Roadmap Financial Analysis Tool
( additional Deep Dive available if required)
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Internal divisions that seem important to infrastructure may have little or even negative value when it comes to users accessing their services.
Domains are the logical divisions of work within an infrastructure practice. Historically, the organization was based around physical assets: servers, storage, networking, and end-user devices. Staff had skills they applied according to specific best practices using physical objects that provided functionality (computing power, persistence, connectivity, and interface).
Modern enterprises may find it more effective to divide according to activity (analytics, programming, operations, and security) or function (customer relations, learning platform, content management, and core IT). As a rule, look to your organizational chart; managers responsible for buying, building, deploying, or supporting technologies should each be responsible for their own domain.
Regardless of structure, poor organization leads to silos of marginally interoperable efforts working against each other, without focus on a common goal. Clearly defined domains ensure responsibility and allow for rapid, accurate, and confident decision making.
The medium is the message. Do stakeholders talk about switches or storage or services? Organizing infrastructure to match its external perception can increase communication effectiveness and improve alignment.
IT infrastructure that makes employees happier
INDUSTRY: Services
SOURCE: Network Doctor
Challenge
Atlas Electric's IT infrastructure was very old and urgently needed to be refreshed. Its existing server hardware was about nine years old and was becoming unstable. The server was running Windows 2008 R2 server operating systems that was no longer supported by Microsoft; security updates and patches were no longer available. They also experienced slowdowns on many older PCs.
Recommendations for an upgrade were not approved due to budgetary constraints. Recommendations for upgrading to virtual servers were approved following a harmful phishing attack.
Solution
The following improvements to their infrastructure were implemented.
Results
Virtualization, consolidating servers, and desktops have made assets more flexible and simpler to manage.
Improved levels of efficiency, reliability, and productivity.
Enhanced security level.
An upgraded backup and disaster recovery system has improved risk management.
Not all time is spent equally, nor is it equally valuable. Analysis lets us communicate with others and gives us a shared framework to decide where our priorities lie.
There are lots of frameworks to help categorize our activities. Stephen Covey (Seven Habits of Highly Effective People) describes a four-quadrant system along the axes of importance and urgency. Gene Kim, through his character Erik in The Phoenix Project,speaks instead of business projects, internal IT projects, changes, and unplanned work.
We propose a similar four-category system.
| Project | Maintenance | Administrative |
Reactive |
|---|---|---|---|
Planned activity spent pursuing a business objective |
Planned activity spent on the upkeep of existing IT systems |
Planned activity required as a condition of employment |
Unplanned activity requiring immediate response |
This is why we are valuable to our company |
We have it in our power to work to reduce these three in order to maximize our time available for projects |
||
Verifiable data sources are always preferred but large groups can hold each other's inherent biases in check to get a reasonable estimate.
Discussion
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Strategic Infrastructure Roadmap Tool, Tab 2, Capacity Analysis
In order to quickly and easily build some visualizations for the eventual final report, Info-Tech has developed the Strategic Infrastructure Roadmap Tool.

Please note that this tool requires Microsoft's Power Pivot add-in to be installed if you are using Excel 2010 or 2013. The scatter plot labels on tabs 5 and 8 may not function correctly in Excel 2010.
Strong IT strategy favors top-down: activities enabling clearly dictated goals. The bottom-up approach aggregates ongoing activities into goals.
Systematic approach
External stakeholders prioritize a list of goals requiring IT initiatives to achieve.
Roadblocks:
Organic approach
Practitioners aggregate initiatives into logical groups and seek to align them to one or more business goals.
Roadblocks:
A successful roadmap respects both approaches.

Perfection is anathema to practicality. Draw the first picture and not only expect but welcome conflicting feedback! Socialize it and drive the conversation forward to a consensus.
Identify the systemic roadblocks to executing infrastructure projects
1 hour
Affinity diagramming is a form of structured brainstorming that works well with larger groups and provokes discussion.
Discussion
Categorize each roadblock identified as either internal or external to infrastructure's control.
Attempt to understand the root cause of each roadblock. What would you need to ask for in order to remove the roadblock?
Additional Research
Also called the KJ Method (after its inventor, Jiro Kawakita, a 1960s Japanese anthropologist), this activity helps organize large amounts of data into groupings based on natural relationships while reducing many social biases.
Input
Output
Materials
Participants
Which roadblocks do you need to work on? How do you establish a group sense of these priorities? This exercise helps establish priorities while reducing individual bias.
Total the number of passes (ticks) for each roadblock. A large number indicates a notionally low priority. No passes indicates a high priority.
Are the internal or external roadblocks of highest priority? Were there similarities among participants' 0th and NILs compared to each other or to the final results?
Input
Output
Materials
Participants
Review performance from last fiscal year
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.
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Phase 1 | Phase 2 | Phase 3 | Phase 4 |
|---|---|---|---|
1.1 Infrastructure strategy 1.2 Goal alignment | 2.1 Define your future 2.2 Conduct constraints analysis | 3.1 Drive business alignment 3.2. Build the roadmap | 4.1 Identify the audience 4.2 Process improvement and measurements |
This phase will walk you through the following activities:
This phase involves the following participants:
3.1.1 Develop a risk framework
3.1.2 Evaluate technical debt
This step requires the following inputs:
This step involves the following participants:
Outcomes of this step
Time has been a traditional method for assessing the fitness of infrastructure assets – servers are replaced every five years, core switches every seven, laptops and desktops every three. While quick, this framework of assessment is overly simplistic for most modern organizations.
Building one that is instead based on the likelihood of asset failure plotted against the business impact of that failure is not overly burdensome and yields more practical results. Infrastructure focuses on its strength (assessing IT risk) and validates an understanding with the business regarding the criticality of the service(s) enabled by any given asset.
Rather than fight on every asset individually, agree on a framework with the business that enables data-driven decision making.
IT Risk Factors
Age, Reliability, Serviceability, Conformity, Skill Set
Business Risk Factors
Suitability, Capacity, Safety, Criticality
Infrastructure in a cloud-enabled world: As infrastructure operations evolve it is important to keep current with the definition of an asset. Software platforms such as hypervisors and server OS are just as much an asset under the care and control of infrastructure as are cloud services, managed services from third-party providers, and traditional racks and switches.
Discussion:
Input
Output
Materials
Participants
Identify the key elements that make up risk in order to refine your framework.
A shared notional understanding is good, but in order to bring the business onside a documented defensible framework is better.
Discussion
How difficult was it to agree on the definitions of the IT risk elements? What about selecting the scale? What was the voting distribution like? Were there tiers of popular elements or did most of the dots end up on a limited number of elements? What are the implications of having more elements in the analysis?
Input
Output
Materials
Participants
Alternate: Identify the key elements that make up risk in order to refine your framework
A shared notional understanding is good, but in order to bring the business onside a documented defensible framework is better.
1 hour
What was the total number of elements required in order to contain the full set of every participant's first-, second-, and third-ranked risks? Does this seem a reasonable number?
Why did some elements contain both the lowest and highest rankings? Was one (or more) participant thinking consistently different from the rest of the group? Are they seeing something the rest of the group is overlooking?
This technique automatically puts the focus on a smaller number of elements – is this effective? Or is it overly simplistic and reductionist?
Input
Output
Materials
Participants
How much framework is too much? Complexity and granularity do not guarantee accuracy. What is the right balance between effort and result?
Does your granular assessment match your notional assessment? Why or why not? Do you need to go back and change weightings? Or reduce complexity?
Is this a more reasonable and valuable way of periodically evaluating your infrastructure?
Input
Output
Materials
Participants



3.2.1 Build templates and visualize
3.2.2 Generate new initiatives
3.2.3 Repatriate shadow IT initiatives
3.2.4 Finalize initiative candidates
This step requires the following inputs:
This step involves the following participants:
Develop a high-level document that travels with the initiative from inception through executive inquiry and project management, and finally to execution. Understand an initiative's key elements that both IT and the business need defined and that are relatively static over its lifecycle.
Initiatives are the waypoints along a roadmap leading to the eventual destination, each bringing you one step closer. Like steps, initiatives need to be discrete: able to be conceptualized and discussed as a single largely independent item. Each initiative must have two characteristics:
"Learn a new skill"– not an effective initiative statement.
"Be proficient in the new skill by the end of the year" – better.
"Use the new skill to complete a project and present it at a conference by Dec 15" – best!
Info-Tech Insight
Bundle your initiatives for clarity and manageability.
Ruthlessly evaluate if an initiative should stand alone or can be rolled up with another. Fewer initiatives increases focus and alignment, allowing for better communication.
Step 1: Open Info-Tech's Strategic Roadmap Initiative Template. Determine and describe the goals that the initiative is enabling or supporting.
Step 2: State the current pain points from the end-user or business perspective. Do not list IT-specific pain points here, such as management complexity.
Step 3: List both the tangible (quantitative) and ancillary (qualitative) benefits of executing the project. These can be pain relievers derived from the pain points, or any IT-specific benefit not captured in Step 1.
Step 4: List any enabled capability that will come as an output of the project. Avoid technical capabilities like "Application-aware network monitoring." Instead, shoot for business outcomes like "Ability to filter network traffic based on application type."

Sell the project to the mailroom clerk! You need to be able to explain the outcome of the project in terms that non-IT workers can appreciate. This is done by walking as far up the goals cascade as you have defined, which gets to the underlying business outcome that the initiative supports.
Strategic Roadmap Initiative Template, p. 2
Step 5: State the risks to the business for not executing the project (and avoid restating the pain points).
Step 6: List any known or anticipated roadblocks that may come before, during, or after executing the project. Consider all aspects of people, process, and technology.
Step 7: List any measurable objectives that can be used to gauge the success of the projects. Avoid technical metrics like "number of IOPS." Instead think of business metrics such as "increased orders per hour."
Step 8: The abstract is a short 50-word project description. Best to leave it as the final step after all the other aspects of the project (risks and rewards) have been fully fleshed out. The abstract acts as an executive summary – written last, read first.

Every piece of information that is not directly relevant to the interests of the audience is a distraction from the value proposition.
Discussion:
Did everyone use the goal framework adopted earlier? Why not?
Are there recurring topics or issues that business leaders always seem concerned about?
Of all the information available, what consistently seems to be the talking points when discussing an initiative?
Input
Output
Materials
Participants

Strategic Infrastructure Roadmap Tool, Tab 8, "Roadmap"
Visuals aren't always as clear as we assume them to be.

We've spent an awful lot of time setting the stage, deciding on frameworks so we agree on what is important. We know how to have an effective conversation – now what do we want to say?

Discussion:
Did everyone use the goal framework adopted earlier? Why not?
Do we think we can find business buy-in or sponsorship? Why or why not?
Are our initiatives at odds with or complementary to the ones proposed through the normal channels?
Input
Output
Materials
Participants
Discussion:
Do participants tend to think their idea is the best and rank it accordingly?
If so, then is it better to look at the second, third, and fourth rankings for consensus instead?
What is a reasonable number of initiatives to suggest? How do we limit ourselves?
Input
Output
Materials
Participants
Shadow IT operates outside of the governance and control structure of Enterprise IT and so is, by definition, a problem. an opportunity!
Except for that one thing they do wrong, that one small technicality, they may well do everything else right.
Consider:
In short, shadow IT can provide fully vetted infrastructure initiatives that with a little effort can be turned into easy wins on the roadmap.
Shadow IT can include business-ready initiatives, needing only minor tweaking to align with infrastructure's best practices.
Discussion:
Did you learn anything from working directly with in-the-trenches staff? Can those learnings be used elsewhere in infrastructure? Or in larger IT?
Input
Output
Materials
Participants
Also called scrum poker (in Agile software circles), this method reduces anchoring bias by requiring all participants to formulate and submit their estimates independently and simultaneously.
Equipment: A typical scrum deck shows the Fibonacci sequence of numbers, or similar progression, with the added values of ∞ (project too big and needs to be subdivided), and a coffee cup (need a break). Use of the (mostly) Fibonacci sequence helps capture the notional uncertainty in estimating larger values.
Discussion:
How often was the story unclear? How often did participants have to ask for additional information to make their estimate? How many rounds were required to reach consensus?
Does number of person, days, or weeks, make more sense than dollars? Should we estimate both independently?
Source: Scrum Poker
Input
Output
Materials
Participants
Add your ideas to the visualization.

We started with eight simple questions. Logically, the answers suggest sections for a published report. Developing those answers in didactic method is effective and popular among technologists as answers build upon each other. Business leaders and journalists, however, know never to bury the lead.
| Report Section Title | Roadmap Activity or Step |
|---|---|
| Sunshine diagram | Visualization |
| Priorities | Understand business goals |
| Who we help | Evaluate intake process |
| How we can help | Create initiatives |
| What we're working on | Review initiatives |
| How you can help us | Assess roadblocks |
| What is new | Assess new technology |
| How we spend our day | Conduct a time study |
| What we have | Assess IT platform |
| We can do better! | Identify process optimizations |
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Phase 1 | Phase 2 | Phase 3 | Phase 4 |
|---|---|---|---|
1.1 Infrastructure strategy 1.2 Goal alignment | 2.1 Define your future 2.2 Conduct constraints analysis | 3.1 Drive business alignment 3.2. Build the roadmap | 4.1 Identify the audience 4.2 Process improvement and measurements |
This phase will walk you through the following activities:
This phase involves the following participants:
Identify the audience
4.1.1 Identify required authors and target audiences
4.1.2 Planning the process
4.1.3 Identifying supporters and blockers
This step requires the following inputs:
This step involves the following participants:
And you thought we were done. The roadmap is a process. Set a schedule and pattern to the individual steps.
Publishing an infrastructure roadmap once a year as a lead into budget discussion is common practice. But this is just the last in a long series of steps and activities. Balance the effort of each activity against its results to decide on a frequency. Ensure that the frequency is sufficient to allow you to act on the results if required. Work backwards from publication to develop the schedule.

A lot of work has gone into creating this final document. Does a single audience make sense? Who else may be interested in your promises to the business? Look back at the people you've asked for input. They probably want to know what this has all been about. Publish your roadmap broadly to ensure greater participation in subsequent years.
Who needs to hear (and more importantly believe) your message? Who do you need to hear from? Build a communications plan to get the most from your roadmap effort.
Discussion:
How many people appear in both lists? What are the implications of that?
Input
Output
Materials
Participants
| Due Date (t) | Freq | Mode | Participants | Infrastructure Owner | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Update & Publish | Start of Budget Planning |
Once |
Report |
IT Steering Committee |
Infrastructure Leader or CIO |
| Evaluate Intakes | (t) - 2 months (t) - 8 months |
Biannually |
Review |
PMO Service Desk |
Domain Heads |
| Assess Roadblocks | (t) - 2 months (t) - 5 months (t) - 8 months (t) - 11 months |
Quarterly |
Brainstorming & Consensus |
Domain Heads |
Infrastructure Leader |
| Time Study | (t) - 1 month (t) - 4 months (t) - 7 months (t) - 10 months |
Quarterly |
Assessment |
Domain Staff |
Domain Heads |
| Inventory Assessment | (t) - 2 months |
Annually |
Assessment |
Domain Staff |
Domain Heads |
| Business Goals | (t) - 1 month |
Annually |
Survey |
Line of Business Managers |
Infrastructure Leader or CIO |
| New Technology Assessment | monthly (t) - 2 months |
Monthly/Annually |
Process |
Domain Staff |
Infrastructure Leader |
| Initiative Review | (t) - 1 month (t) - 4 months (t) - 7 months (t) - 10 months |
Quarterly |
Review |
PMO Domain Heads |
Infrastructure Leader |
| Initiative Creation | (t) - 1 month |
Annually |
Brainstorming & Consensus |
Roadmap Team |
Infrastructure Leader |
The roadmap report is just a point-in-time snapshot, but to be most valuable it needs to come at the end of a full process cycle. Know your due date, work backwards, and assign responsibility.
Discussion:
Input
Output
Materials
Participants
Certain stakeholders will not only be highly involved and accountable in the process but may also be responsible for approving the roadmap and budget, so it's essential that you get their buy-in upfront.


You may want to restrict participation to senior members of the roadmap team only.
This activity requires a considerable degree of candor in order to be effective. It is effectively a political conversation and as such can be sensitive.
Steps:
Input
Output
Materials
Participants
4.2.1 Evaluating the value of each process output
4.2.2 Brainstorming improvements
4.2.3 Setting realistic measures
This step requires the following inputs:
This step involves the following participants:
You started with a desire – greater satisfaction with infrastructure from the business. All of the inputs, processes, and outputs exist only, and are designed solely, to serve the attainment of that outcome.
The process outlined is not dogma; no element is sacrosanct. Ruthlessly evaluate the effectiveness of your efforts so you can do better next time.
You would do no less after a server migration, network upgrade, or EUC rollout.
Leadership
If infrastructure leaders aren't committed, then this will quickly become an exercise of box-checking rather than candid communication.
Data
Quantitative or qualitative – always try to go where the data leads. Reduce unconscious bias and be surprised by the insight uncovered.
Metrics
Measurement allows management but if you measure the wrong thing you can game the system, cheating yourself out of the ultimate prize.
Focus
Less is sometimes more.
Discussion:
Did the group agree on the intended outcome of each step? Did the group think the step was effective? Was the outcome clear and did it flow naturally to where it was useful?
Is the effort required for each step commensurate with its value? Are we doing too much for not enough return?
Are we acting on the information we're gathering? Is it informing or changing decisions throughout the year or period?
Input
Output
Materials
Participants
| Freq. | Method | Measures | Success criteria | Areas for improvement | Expected change | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Evaluate intakes | Biannually | PMO Intake & Service Requests | Projects or Initiatives | % of departments engaged | Actively reach out to underrepresented depts. | +10% engagement |
| Assess roadblocks | Quarterly | IT All-Staff Meeting | Roadblocks | % of identified that have been resolved | Define expected outcomes of removing roadblock | Measurable improvements |
| Time study | Quarterly | IT All-Staff Meeting | Time | Confidence value of data | Real data sources (time sheets, tools, etc.) | 85% of sources defensible |
| Legacy asset assessment | Annually | Domain effort | Asset Inventory | Completeness of Inventory |
|
|
| Understand business goals | Annually | Roadmap Meeting | Goal list | Goal specificity | Survey or interview leadership directly | 66% directly attributable participation |
| New technology assessment | Monthly/Annually | Team/Roadmap Meeting | Technologies Reviewed | IT staff participation/# SWOTs | Increase participation from junior members | 50% presentations from junior members |
Initiative review | Quarterly | IT All-Staff Meeting |
|
|
|
|
Initiative creation | Annually | Roadmap Meeting | Initiatives | # of initiatives proposed | Business uptake | +25% sponsorship in 6 months (biz) |
Update and publish | Annually | PDF report | Roadmap Final Report | Leadership engagement | Improve audience reach | +15% of LoB managers have read the report |
Baseline metrics will improve through:
| Metric description | Current metric | Future goal |
|---|---|---|
| # of critical incidents resulting from equipment failure per month | ||
| # of service provisioning delays due to resource (non-labor) shortages | ||
| # of projects that involve standing up untested (no prior infrastructure PoC) technologies | ||
| # of PoCs conducted each year | ||
| # of initiatives proposed by infrastructure | ||
| # of initiatives proposed that find business sponsorship in >1yr | ||
| % of long-term projects reviewed as per goal framework | ||
| # of initiatives proposed that are the only ones supporting a business goal | ||
| # of technologies deployed being used by more than the original business sponsor | ||
| # of PMO delays due to resource contention |
Insight 1
Draw the first picture.
Highly engaged and effective team members are proactive rather than reactive. Instead of waiting for clear inputs from the higher ups, take what you do know, make some educated guesses about the rest, and present that to leadership. Where thinking diverges will be crystal clear and the necessary adjustments will be obvious.
Insight 2
Infrastructure must position itself as the broker for new technologies.
No man is an island; no technology is a silo. Infrastructure's must ensure that everyone in the company benefits from what can be shared, ensure those benefits are delivered securely and reliably, and prevent the uninitiated from making costly technological mistakes. It is easier to lead from the front, so infrastructure must stay on top of available technology.
Insight 3
The roadmap is a process that is business driven and not a document.
In an ever-changing world the process of change itself changes. We know the value of any specific roadmap output diminishes quickly over time, but don't forget to challenge the process itself from time to time. Striving for perfection is a fool's game; embrace constant updates and incremental improvement.
Insight 4
Focus on the framework, not the output.
There usually is no one right answer. Instead make sure both the business and infrastructure are considering common relevant elements and are working from a shared set of priorities. Data then, rather than hierarchical positioning or a d20 Charisma roll, becomes the most compelling factor in making a decision. But since your audience is in hierarchical ascendency over you, make the effort to become familiar with their language.
| Metric description | Metric goal |
Checkpoint 1 |
Checkpoint 2 |
Checkpoint 3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| # of critical incidents resulting from equipment failure per month | >1 | |||
| # of service provisioning delays due to resource (non-labor) shortages | >5 | |||
| # of projects that involve standing up untested (no prior infrastructure PoC) technologies | >10% | |||
| # of PoCs conducted each year | 4 | |||
| # of initiatives proposed by infrastructure | 4 | |||
| # of initiatives proposed that find business sponsorship in >1 year | 1 | |||
| # of initiatives proposed that are the only ones supporting a business goal | 1 | |||
| % of long-term projects reviewed as per goal framework | 100% |
Review performance from last fiscal year
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
Build a Business-Aligned IT Strategy
Success depends on IT initiatives clearly aligned to business goals, IT excellence, and driving technology innovation.
Document your Cloud Strategy
A cloud strategy might seem like a big project, but it's just a series of smaller conversations. The methodology presented here is designed to facilitate those conversations using a curated list of topics, prompts, participant lists, and sample outcomes. We have divided the strategy into four key areas.
Develop an IT Asset Management Strategy
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 provider.
Infrastructure & Operations Research Center
Practical insights, tools, and methodologies to systematically improve IT Infrastructure & Operations.
Knowledge gained
Processes optimized
Deliverables completed
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Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:
Analyze the four key benefits of augmented reality to understand how the technology can resolve industry issues.
Develop and prioritize use cases for augmented reality using Info-Tech’s AR Initiative Framework.
Present the augmented reality initiative to stakeholders and understand the way forward for the AR initiative.
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.
Understand the fundamentals of augmented reality technology and its real-world business applications.
A prioritized list of augmented reality use cases.
1.1 Introduce augmented reality technology.
1.2 Understand augmented reality use cases.
1.3 Review augmented reality case studies.
An understanding of the history and current state of augmented reality technology.
An understanding of “the art of the possible” for augmented reality.
An enhanced understanding of augmented reality.
Examine where the organization stands in the current competitive environment.
Understanding of what is needed from an augmented reality initiative to differentiate your organization from its competitors.
2.1 Environmental analysis (PEST+SWOT).
2.2 Competitive analysis.
2.3 Listing of interaction channels and disposition.
An understanding of the internal and external propensity for augmented reality.
An understanding of comparable organizations’ approach to augmented reality.
A chart with the disposition of each interaction channel and its applicability to augmented reality.
Determine which business processes will be affected by augmented reality.
Understanding of critical technology drivers and their KPIs.
3.1 Identify affected process domains.
3.2 Brainstorm impacts of augmented reality on workflow enablement.
3.3 Distill critical technology drivers.
3.4 Identify KPIs for each driver.
A list of affected process domains.
An awareness of critical technology drivers for the augmented reality initiative.
Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:
Determine how managers can identify poor performance remotely and help them navigate the performance improvement process while working from home.
Clarify roles and responsibilities in the performance improvement process and tailor relevant resources.
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.
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.
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.
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.
1Identify2Initiate3Deploy4a) Follow Upb) 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:
|
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.
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:
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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:
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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.
1Identify2Initiate3Deploy4a) Follow Upb) 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:
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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:
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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.
1Identify2Initiate3Deploy4a) Follow Upb) 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. | |||||
1Identify2Initiate3Deploy4a) Follow Upb) Decide | Explain to managers the purpose of these discussions is to:
| Given these conversations will be remote, require managers to:
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| 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 InsightManagers 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. | ||
1Identify2Initiate3Deploy4a) Follow Upb) Decide | Deploy: Use performance improvement tools. | |
If initial performance conversations were unsuccessful and performance does not improve, refer managers to performance improvement tools:
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| 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. | |
1Identify2Initiate3Deploy4a) Follow Upb) Decide | Sample Stages:1. Written PIP
2. Possible Extension3. Final Notice
| Who is involved?The manager runs the meeting with the employee. HR should act as a support by:
Determine the length of the PIP
Timing of deliveryHelp 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). |
1Identify2Initiate3Deploy4a) Follow Upb) 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.
The manager should also continue check-ins with the employee to ensure sustainment and as part of continued performance management.
ORDecide: 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. |
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.
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.
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.
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.
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,
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,
![]() |
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. |
![]() |
Set Meaningful Employee Performance Measures
See this blueprint for information on setting holistic measures to inspire employee performance. |
![]() |
Manage Poor Performance While Working From Home: Infographic
This tool illustrates the high-level steps of the performance improvement process. |
![]() |
Wellness and Working From Home: Infographic
This tool highlights tips to manage physical and mental health while working from home. |
![]() |
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. |
![]() |
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. |
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.
Your organization is looking to invest in new software or a tool to solve key business and IT problems. They see open source as a viable option given the advertised opportunities and the popularity of many open-source projects, but they have concerns:
Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:
This research walks you through the misconceptions about open source, factors to consider in its selection, and initiatives to prepare your teams for its adoption.
Use this tool to identify key gaps in the people, processes, and technologies needed to support open source in your organization. It also contains a canvas to facilitate discussions about expectations with your stakeholders and applications teams.
Open-source software promotes enticing technology and functional opportunities to any organization looking to modernize without the headaches of traditional licensing. Many organizations see the value of open source in its ability to foster innovation, be flexible to various use cases and system configurations, and give complete control to the teams who are using and managing it.
However, open source is not free. While the software is freely and easily accessible, its use and sharing are bound by its licenses, and its implementation requires technical expertise and infrastructure investments. Your organization must be motivated and capable of taking on the various services traditionally provided and managed by the vendor.
Andrew Kum-Seun
Research Director,
Application Delivery and Application Management
Info-Tech Research Group
Your ChallengeYour organization is looking to invest in new software or a tool to solve key business and IT problems. They see open source as a viable option because of the advertised opportunities and the popularity of many open-source projects. Despite the longevity and the broad adoption of open-source software, stakeholders are hesitant about its adoption, its long-term viability, and the costs of ongoing support. A clear direction and strategy is needed to align the expected value of open source to your stakeholders’ priorities and gain the funding required to select, implement, and support open-source software. |
Common ObstaclesYour stakeholders’ fears, uncertainties, and doubts about open source may be driven by misinterpretation or outdated information. This hesitancy can persist despite some projects being active longer than their proprietary counterparts. Certain software features, support capabilities, and costs are commonly overlooked when selecting open-source software because they are often assumed in the licensing and service costs of commercial software. Open-source software is often technically complicated and requires specific skill sets and knowledge. Unfortunately, current software delivery capability gaps impede successful adoption and scaling of open-source software. |
Info-Tech’s ApproachOutline the value you expect to gain. Discuss current business and IT priorities, use cases, and value opportunities to determine what to expect from open-source versus commercial software. Define your open-source selection criteria. Clarify the driving factors in your evaluation of open-source and commercial software using your existing IT procurement practices as a starting point. Assess the readiness of your team. Clarify the roles, processes, and tools needed for the implementation, use, and maintenance of open-source software. |
Open source is as much about an investment in people as it is about technology. It empowers applications teams to take greater control over their technology and customize it as they see fit. However, teams need the time and funding to conduct the necessary training, management, and ongoing community engagement that open-source software and its licenses require.
According to Synopsys, “Open source software (OSS) is software that is distributed with its source code, making it available for use, modification, and distribution with its original rights. … Programmers who have access to source code can change a program by adding to it, changing it, or fixing parts of it that aren’t working properly. OSS typically includes a license that allows programmers to modify the software to best fit their needs and control how the software can be distributed.”
Source: OpenLogic, 2022
State the Value of Open Source: Discuss current business and IT priorities, use cases, and value opportunities to determine what to expect from open-source versus commercial software.
Select Your Open-Source Software: Clarify the driving factors in your evaluation of open-source and commercial software using your existing IT procurement practices as a starting point.
Prepare for Open Source: Clarify the roles, processes, and tools needed for the implementation, use, and maintenance of open-source software.
1.1.1 Outline the value you expect to gain from open-source software
This step involves the following participants:
Outcomes of this step:
This canvas is intended to provide a single pane of glass to start collecting your thoughts and framing your future conversations on open-source software selection and adoption.
Record the results in the “Open-Source Canvas” tab in the Open-Source Readiness Assessment.
Many leading-edge and bleeding-edge technologies are collaborated and innovated in open-source projects, especially in areas that are beyond the vision and scope of vendor products and priorities.
Open-source projects are focused. They are designed and built to solve specific business and technology problems.
All aspects of the open-source software are customizable, including source code and integrations. They can be used to extend, complement, or replace internally developed code. Licenses define how open-source code should be and must be used, productized, and modified.
Open-source communities encourage contribution and collaboration among their members to add functionality and improve quality and adoption.
Open-source software is accessible to everyone, free of charge. Communities do not need be consulted prior to acquisition, but the software’s use, configurations, and modifications may be restricted by its license.
Source: Red Hat, 2022
Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:
Build the foundations for the program to succeed.
Define processes for requesting, procuring, receiving, and deploying hardware.
Define processes and policies for managing, securing, and maintaining assets then disposing or redeploying them.
Plan the hardware budget, then build a communication plan and roadmap to implement the project.
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.
Build the foundations for the program to succeed.
Evaluation of current challenges and maturity level
Defined scope for HAM program
Defined roles and responsibilities
Identified metrics and reporting requirements
1.1 Outline hardware asset management challenges.
1.2 Conduct HAM maturity assessment.
1.3 Classify hardware assets to define scope of the program.
1.4 Define responsibilities.
1.5 Use a RACI chart to determine roles.
1.6 Identify HAM metrics and reporting requirements.
HAM Maturity Assessment
Classified hardware assets
Job description templates
RACI Chart
Define processes for requesting, procuring, receiving, and deploying hardware.
Defined standard and non-standard requests for hardware
Documented procurement, receiving, and deployment processes
Standardized asset tagging method
2.1 Identify IT asset procurement challenges.
2.2 Define standard hardware requests.
2.3 Document standard hardware request procedure.
2.4 Build a non-standard hardware request form.
2.5 Make lease vs. buy decisions for hardware assets.
2.6 Document procurement workflow.
2.7 Select appropriate asset tagging method.
2.8 Design workflow for receiving and inventorying equipment.
2.9 Document the deployment workflow(s).
Non-standard hardware request form
Procurement workflow
Receiving and tagging workflow
Deployment workflow
Define processes and policies for managing, securing, and maintaining assets then disposing or redeploying them.
Policies and processes for hardware maintenance and asset security
Documented workflows for hardware disposal and recovery/redeployment
3.1 Build a MAC policy, request form, and workflow.
3.2 Design process and policies for hardware maintenance, warranty, and support documentation handling.
3.3 Revise or create an asset security policy.
3.4 Identify challenges with IT asset recovery and disposal and design hardware asset recovery and disposal workflows.
User move workflow
Asset security policy
Asset disposition policy, recovery and disposal workflows
Select tools, plan the hardware budget, then build a communication plan and roadmap to implement the project.
Shortlist of ITAM tools
Hardware asset budget plan
Communication plan and HAM implementation roadmap
4.1 Generate a shortlist of ITAM tools that will meet requirements.
4.2 Use Info-Tech’s HAM Budgeting Tool to plan your hardware asset budget.
4.3 Build HAM policies.
4.4 Develop a communication plan.
4.5 Develop a HAM implementation roadmap.
HAM budget
Additional HAM policies
HAM communication plan
HAM roadmap tool
"Asset management is like exercise: everyone is aware of the benefits, but many struggle to get started because the process seems daunting. Others fail to recognize the integrative potential that asset management offers once an effective program has been implemented.
A proper hardware asset management (HAM) program will allow your organization to cut spending, eliminate wasteful hardware, and improve your organizational security. More data will lead to better business decision-making across the organization.
As your program matures and your data gathering and utility improves, other areas of your organization will experience similar improvements. The true value of asset management comes from improved IT services built upon the foundation of a proactive asset management program." - Sandi Conrad, Practice Lead, Infrastructure & Operations Info-Tech Research Group
Info-Tech Insight
Hardware asset management (HAM) provides a framework for managing equipment throughout its entire lifecycle. HAM is more than just keeping an inventory; it focuses on knowing where the product is, what costs are associated with it, and how to ensure auditable disposition according to best options and local environmental laws.
Implementing a HAM practice enables integration of data and enhancement of many other IT services such as financial reporting, service management, green IT, and data and asset security.
Cost savings and efficiency gains will vary based on the organization’s starting state and what measures are implemented, but most organizations who implement HAM benefit from it. As organizations increase in size, they will find the greatest gains operationally by becoming more efficient at handling assets and identifying costs associated with them.
A 2015 survey by HDI of 342 technical support professionals found that 92% say that HAM has helped their teams provide better support to customers on hardware-related issues. Seventy-seven percent have improved customer satisfaction through managing hardware assets. (HDI, 2015)
HAM cost savings aren’t necessarily realized through the procurement process or reduced purchase price of assets, but rather through the cost of managing the assets.
HAM delivers cost savings in several ways:
| Benefit | Calculation | Sample Annual Savings |
|---|---|---|
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Reduced help desk support
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# of hardware-related support tickets per year * cost per ticket * % reduction in average call length | 2,000 * $40 * 20% = $16,000 |
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Greater inventory efficiency
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Hours required to complete inventory * staff required * hourly pay rate for staff * number of times a year inventory required | 8 hours * 5 staff * $33 per hour * 2 times a year = $2,640 |
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Improved employee productivity
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# of employees * percentage of employees who encounter productivity loss through unauthorized software * number of hours per year spent using unauthorized software * average hourly pay rate | 500 employees * 10% * 156 hours * $18 = $140,400 |
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Improved security
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# of devices lost or stolen last year * average replacement value of device + # of devices stolen * value of data lost from device | (50 * $1,000) + (50 * $5,000) = $300,000 |
| Total Savings: | $459,040 | |
Organizations that struggle to implement ITAM successfully usually fall victim to these barriers:
Senior-level sponsorship, engagement, and communication is necessary to achieve the desired outcomes of ITAM; without it, ITAM implementations stall and fail or lack the necessary resources to deliver the value.
ITAM often becomes an added responsibility for resources who already have other full-time responsibilities, which can quickly cause the program to lose focus. Increase the chance of success through dedicated resources.
Many organizations buy a tool thinking it will do most of the work for them, but without supporting processes to define ITAM, the data within the tool can become unreliable.
Some organizations are able to track assets through manual discovery, but as their network and user base grows, this quickly becomes impossible. Choose a tool and build processes that will support the organization as it grows.
Often, organizations implement ITAM only to the extent necessary to achieve compliance for audits, but without investigating the underlying causes of non-compliance and thus not solving the real problems.
IT Asset Procurement:
IT Asset Intake and Deployment:
IT Asset Security and Maintenance:
IT Asset Disposal or Recovery:
| Phase 1: Assess & Plan | Phase 2: Procure & Receive | Phase 3: Maintain & Dispose | Phase 4: Plan Budget & Build Roadmap |
| 1.1 Assess current state & plan scope | 2.1 Request & procure | 3.1 Manage & maintain | 4.1 Plan budget |
| 1.2 Build team & define metrics | 2.2 Receive & deploy | 3.2 Redeploy or dispose | 4.2 Communicate & build roadmap |
| HAM Maturity Assessment | Procurement workflow | User move workflow | HAM Budgeting Tool |
| Classified hardware assets | Non-standard hardware request form | Asset security policy | HAM Communication Plan |
| RACI Chart | Receiving & tagging workflow | Asset disposition policy | HAM Roadmap Tool |
| Job Descriptions | Deployment workflow | Asset recovery & disposal workflows | Additional HAM policies |
Industry IT
Source Cisco Systems, Inc.
Cisco Systems, Inc.
Cisco Systems, Inc. is the largest networking company in the world. Headquartered in San Jose, California, the company employees over 70,000 people.
Asset Management
As is typical with technology companies, Cisco boasted a proactive work environment that encouraged individualism amongst employees. Unfortunately, this high degree of freedom combined with the rapid mobilization of PCs and other devices created numerous headaches for asset tracking. At its peak, spending on hardware alone exceeded $100 million per year.
Results
Through a comprehensive ITAM implementation, the new asset management program at Cisco has been a resounding success. While employees did have to adjust to new rules, the process as a whole has been streamlined and user-satisfaction levels have risen. Centralized purchasing and a smaller number of hardware platforms have allowed Cisco to cut its hardware spend in half, according to Mark Edmondson, manager of IT services expenses for Cisco Finance.
This case study continues in phase 1
HAM Standard Operating Procedures (SOP)
HAM Maturity Assessment
Non-Standard Hardware Request Form
HAM Visio Process Workflows
HAM Policy Templates
HAM Budgeting Tool
HAM Communication Plan
HAM Implementation Roadmap Tool
| GI | Measured Value |
|---|---|
| Phase 1: Lay Foundations |
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| Phase 2: Procure & Receive |
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| Phase 3: Maintain & Dispose |
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| Phase 4: Plan Implementation |
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| Total savings | $25,845 |
“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.”
| 1. Lay Foundations | 2. Procure & Receive | 3. Maintain & Dispose | 4. Budget & Implementation | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Best-Practice Toolkit |
1.1 Assess current state & plan scope 1.2 Build team & define metrics |
2.1 Request & procure 2.2 Receive & deploy |
3.1 Manage & maintain 3.2 Redeploy or dispose |
4.1 Plan budget 4.2 Communicate & build roadmap |
| Guided Implementation |
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| Results & Outcomes |
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Contact your account representative or email Workshops@InfoTech.comfor more information.
| Phases: | Teams, Scope & Hardware Procurement | Hardware Procurement and Receiving | Hardware Maintenance & Disposal | Budgets, Roadmap & Communications |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Duration* | 1 day | 1 day | 1 day | 1 day |
| * Activities across phases may overlap to ensure a timely completion of the engagement | ||||
| Projected Activities |
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Industry IT
Source Cisco Systems, Inc.
Cisco Systems’ hardware spend was out of control. Peaking at $100 million per year, the technology giant needed to standardize procurement processes in its highly individualized work environment.
Users had a variety of demands related to hardware and network availability. As a result, data was spread out amongst multiple databases and was managed by different teams.
The IT team at Cisco set out to solve their hardware-spend problem using a phased project approach.
The first major step was to identify and use the data available within various departments and databases. The heavily siloed nature of these databases was a major roadblock for the asset management program.
This information had to be centralized, then consolidated and correlated into a meaningful format.
The centralized tracking system allowed a single point of contact (POC) for the entire lifecycle of a PC. This also created a centralized source of information about all the PC assets at the company.
This reduced the number of PCs that were unaccounted for, reducing the chance that Cisco IT would overspend based on its hardware needs.
There were still a few limitations to address following the first step in the project, which will be described in more detail further on in this blueprint.
This case study continues in phase 2
1.1 Assess current state & plan scope
1.2 Build team & define metrics
1.1.1 Complete MGD (optional)
1.1.2 Outline hardware asset management challenges
1.1.3 Conduct HAM maturity assessment
1.1.4 Classify hardware assets to define scope of the program
1.1.1 Optional Diagnostic
The MGD allows you to understand the landscape of all IT processes, including asset management. Evaluate all team members’ perceptions of each process’ importance and effectiveness.
Use the results to understand the urgency to change asset management and its relevant impact on the organization.
Establish process owners and hold team members accountable for process improvement initiatives to ensure successful implementation and realize the benefits from more effective processes.
To book a diagnostic, or get a copy of our questions to inform your own survey, visit Info-Tech’s Benchmarking Tools, contact your account manager, or call toll-free 1-888-670-8889 (US) or 1-844-618-3192 (CAN).
Processes and Policies:
Tracking:
Security and Risk:
Procurement:
Receiving:
Disposal:
Contracts:
1.1.1 Brainstorm HAM challenges
A. As a group, outline the hardware asset management challenges facing the organization.
Use the previous slide to help you get started. You can use the following headings as a guide or think of your own:
B. If you get stuck, use the Hardware Asset Management Maturity Assessment Tool to get a quick view of your challenges and maturity targets and kick-start the conversation.
| Drivers of effective HAM | Results of effective HAM | |
|---|---|---|
| Contracts and vendor licensing programs are complex and challenging to administer without data related to assets and their environment. | → | Improved access to accurate data on contracts, licensing, warranties, installed hardware and software for new contracts, renewals, and audit requests. |
| Increased need to meet compliance requires a formal approach to tracking and managing assets, regardless of device type. | → | Encryption, hardware tracking and discovery, software application controls, and change notifications all contribute to better asset controls and data security. |
| Cost cutting is on the agenda, and management is looking to reduce overall IT spend in the organization in any possible way. | → | Reduction of hardware spend by as much as 5% of the total budget through data for better forecasting and planning. |
| Assets with sensitive data are not properly secured, go missing, or are not safely disposed of when retired. | → | Document and enforce security policies for end users and IT staff to ensure sensitive data is properly secured, preventing costs much larger than the cost of only the device. |
| Maturity | People & Policies | Processes | Technology |
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| Proactive |
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1.1.3 Complete HAM Maturity Assessment Tool
Complete the Hardware Asset Management Maturity Assessment Tool to understand your organization’s overall maturity level in HAM, as well as the starting maturity level aligned with each step of the blueprint, in order to identify areas of strength and weakness to plan the project. Use this to track progress on the project.
The hardware present in your organization can be classified into four categories of ascending strategic complexity: commodity, inventory, asset, and configuration.
Commodity items are devices that are low-cost, low-risk items, where tracking is difficult and of low value.
Inventory is tracked primarily to identify location and original expense, which may be depreciated by Finance. Typically there will not be data on these devices and they’ll be replaced as they lose functionality.
Assets will need the full lifecycle managed. They are identified by cost and risk. Often there is data on these devices and they are typically replaced proactively before they become unstable.
Configuration items will generally be tracked in a configuration management database (CMDB) for the purpose of enabling the support teams to make decisions involving dependencies, configurations, and impact analysis. Some data will be duplicated between systems, but should be synchronized to improve accuracy between systems.
See Harness Configuration Management Superpowers to learn more about building a CMDB.
ASSET - Items of high importance and may contain data, such as PCs, mobile devices, and servers.
INVENTORY - Items that require significant financial investment but no tracking beyond its existence, such as a projector.
COMMODITY - Items that are often in use but are of relatively low cost, such as keyboards or mice.
1.1.4 Define the assets to be tracked within your organization
Document in the Standard Operating Procedures, Section 1 – Overview & Scope
Industry Public Administration
Source Client Case Study
A state government designed a process to track hardware worth more than $1,000. Initially, most assets consisted of end-user computing devices.
The manual tracking process, which relied on a series of Excel documents, worked well enough to track the lifecycle of desktop and laptop assets.
However, two changes upended the organization’s program: the cost of end-user computing devices dropped dramatically and the demand for network services led to the proliferation of expensive equipment all over the state.
The existing program was no longer robust enough to meet business requirements. Networking equipment was not only more expensive than end-user computing devices, but also more critical to IT services.
What was needed was a streamlined process for procuring high-cost, high-utility equipment, tracking their location, and managing their lifecycle costs without compromising services.
The organization decided to formalize, document, and automate hardware asset management processes to meet the new challenges and focus efforts on high-cost, high-utility end-user computing devices only.
Phase 1: Assess & Plan
1.1 Assess current state & plan scope
1.2 Build team and define metrics
1.2.1 Define responsibilities for Asset Manager and Asset Administrator
1.2.2 Use a RACI chart to determine roles within HAM team
1.2.3 Further clarify HAM responsibilities for each role
1.2.4 Identify HAM reporting requirements
Asset management is an organizational change. To gain buy-in for the new processes and workflows that will be put in place, a dedicated, passionate team needs to jump-start the project.
Delegate the following roles to team members and grow your team accordingly.
|
Asset Manager |
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|---|---|
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Asset Administrator |
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| Service Desk, IT Operations, Applications |
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Info-Tech Insight
Ensure that there is diversity within the ITAM team. Assets for many organizations are diverse and the composition of your team should reflect that. Have multiple departments and experience levels represented to ensure a balanced view of the current situation.
1.2.1 Use Info-Tech’s job description templates to define roles
The role of the IT Asset Manager is to oversee the daily and long-term strategic management of software and technology- related hardware within the organization. This includes:
The role of the IT Asset Administrator is to actively manage hardware and software assets within the organization. This includes:
Use Info-Tech’s job description templates to assist in defining the responsibilities for these roles.
Typically the asset manager will answer to either the CFO or CIO. Occasionally they answer to a vendor manager executive. The hierarchy may vary based on experience and how strategic a role the asset manager will play.
1.2.2 Complete a RACI
A RACI chart will identify who should be responsible, accountable, consulted, and informed for each key activity during the consolidation.
Document in the Standard Operating Procedure.
A sample RACI chart is provided on the next slide
1.2.2 Complete a RACI chart for your organization
| HAM Tasks | CIO | CFO | HAM Manager | HAM Administrator | Service Desk (T1,T2, T3) | IT Operations | Security | Procurement | HR | Business Unit Leaders | Compliance /Legal | Project Manager |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Policies and governance | A | I | R | I | I | C | I | C | C | I | I | |
| Strategy | A | R | R | R | R | |||||||
| Data entry and quality management | C | I | A | I | C | C | I | I | C | C | ||
| Risk management and asset security | A | R | C | C | R | C | C | |||||
| Process compliance auditing | A | R | I | I | I | I | I | |||||
| Awareness, education, and training | I | A | I | I | C | |||||||
| Printer contracts | C | A | C | C | C | R | C | C | ||||
| Hardware contract management | A | I | R | R | I | I | R | R | I | I | ||
| Workflow review and revisions | I | A | C | C | C | C | ||||||
| Budgeting | A | R | C | I | C | |||||||
| Asset acquisition | A | R | C | C | C | C | I | C | C | |||
| Asset receiving (inspection/acceptance) | I | A | R | R | I | |||||||
| Asset deployment | A | R | R | I | I | |||||||
| Asset recovery/harvesting | A | R | R | I | I | |||||||
| Asset disposal | C | A | R | R | I | I | ||||||
| Asset inventory (input/validate/maintain) | I | I | A/R | R | R | R | I | I | I |
1.2.3 Define roles and responsibilities for the HAM team
| Role | Responsibility |
|---|---|
| IT Manager |
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| Asset Managers |
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| Service Desk | |
| Desktop team | |
| Security | |
| Infrastructure teams |
Follow a process for establishing metrics:
| CSF | KPI | Metrics |
|---|---|---|
| Improve accuracy of IT budget and forecasting |
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| Identify discrepancies in IT environment |
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| Avoid over purchasing equipment |
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| Make more-effective purchasing decisions |
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| Improve accuracy of data |
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| Improved service delivery |
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1.2.4 Identify asset reporting requirements
Document in the Standard Operating Procedures, Section 13: Reporting
| CSF | KPI | Metrics | Stakeholder/frequency |
|---|---|---|---|
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.
Proposed Time to Completion: 4 weeks
Start with an analyst kick-off call:
Then complete these activities…
With these tools & templates:
HAM Maturity Assessment
Standard Operating Procedures
Review findings with analyst:
Then complete these activities…
With these tools & templates:
RACI Chart
Asset Manager and Asset Administrator Job Descriptions
Standard Operating Procedures
Phase 1 Results & Insights:
For asset management to succeed, it needs to support the business. Engage business leaders to determine needs and build your HAM program around these goals.
1.1.4 Classify hardware assets to define scope of the program
Determine value/risk threshold at which assets should be tracked, then divide a whiteboard into four quadrants representing four categories of assets. Participants write assets down on sticky notes and place them in the appropriate quadrant to classify assets.
1.2.2 Build a RACI chart to determine responsibilities
Identify all roles within the organization that will play a part in hardware asset management, then document all core HAM processes and tasks. For each task, assign each role to be responsible, accountable, consulted, or informed.
2.1 Request & Procure
2.2 Receive & Deploy
2.1.1 Identify IT asset procurement challenges
2.1.2 Define standard hardware requests
2.1.3 Document standard hardware request procedure
2.1.4 Build a non-standard hardware request form
2.1.5 Make lease vs. buy decisions for hardware assets
2.1.6 Document procurement workflow
2.1.7 Build a purchasing policy
Industry Government
Source Itassetmanagement.net
Signed July 27, 2004, Executive order S-20-04, the “Green Building Initiative,” placed strict regulations on energy consumption, greenhouse gas emissions, and raw material usage and waste.
In compliance with S-20-04, the State of California needed to adopt a new procurement strategy. Its IT department was one of the worst offenders given the intensive energy usage by the variety of assets managed under the IT umbrella.
A green IT initiative was enacted, which involved an extensive hardware refresh based on a combination of agent-less discovery data and market data (device age, expiry dates, power consumption, etc.).
A hardware refresh of almost a quarter-million PCs, 9,500 servers, and 100 email systems was rolled out as a result.
Other changes, including improved software license compliance and data center consolidation, were also enacted.
Because of the scale of this hardware refresh, the small changes meant big savings.
A reduction in power consumption equated to savings of over $40 million per year in electricity costs. Additionally, annual carbon emissions were trimmed by 200,000 tons.
Standardize processes: Using standard products throughout the enterprise lowers support costs by reducing the variety of parts that must be stocked for onsite repairs or for provisioning and supporting equipment.
Align procurement processes: Procurement processes must be aligned with customers’ business requirements, which can have unique needs.
Define SLAs: Providing accurate and timely performance metrics for all service activities allows infrastructure management based on fact rather than supposition.
Reduce TCO: Management recognizes service infrastructure activities as actual cost drivers.
Implement a single POC: A consolidated service desk is used where the contact understands both standards (products, processes, and practices) and the user’s business and technical environment.
2.1.1 Identify IT asset procurement challenges
The first step in your procurement workflow will be to determine what is in scope for a standard request, and how non-standard requests will be handled. Questions that should be answered by this procedure include:
If your end-user device strategy requires an overhaul, schedule time with an Info-Tech analyst to review our blueprint Build an End-User Computing Strategy.
Once you’ve answered questions like these, you can outline your hardware standards as in the example below:
| Use Case | Mobile Standard | Mac Standard | Mobile Power User |
|---|---|---|---|
| Asset | Lenovo ThinkPad T570 | iMac Pro | Lenovo ThinkPad P71 |
| Operating system | Windows 10 Pro | Mac OSX | Windows 10 Pro, 64 bit |
| Display | 15.6" | 21.5" | 17.3” |
|
Memory |
32GB | 8GB | 64GB |
| Processor | Intel i7 – 7600U Processor | 2.3GHz | Xeon E3 v6 Processor |
| Drive | 500GB | 1TB | 1TB |
| Warranty | 3 year | 1 year + 2 extended | 3 year |
Info-Tech Insight
Approach hardware standards from a continual improvement frame of mind. Asset management is a dynamic process. Hardware standards will need to adapt over time to match the needs of the business. Plan assessments at routine intervals to ensure your current hardware standards align with business needs.
Determine environmental requirements and constraints.
Power management
Compare equipment for power consumption and ability to remotely power down machines when not in use.
Heat and noise
Test equipment run to see how hot the device gets, where the heat is expelled, and how much noise is generated. This may be particularly important for users who are working in close quarters.
Carbon footprint
Ask what the manufacturer is doing to reduce post-consumer waste and eliminate hazardous materials and chemicals from their products.
Ensure security requirements can be met.
Review features available to enhance manageability.
"If you are looking for a product for two or three years, you can get it for less than half the price of new. I bought refurbished equipment for my call center for years and never had a problem". – Glen Collins, President, Applied Sales Group
Info-Tech Insight
Price differences are minimal between large and small vendors when dealing with refurbished machines. The decision to purchase should be based on ability to provide and service equipment.
2.1.2 Identify standards for hardware procurement by role
Document in the Standard Operating Procedures, Section 7: Procurement.
| Department | Core Hardware Assets | Optional Hardware Assets |
|---|---|---|
| IT | PC, tablet, monitor | Second monitor |
| Sales | PC, monitor | Laptop |
| HR | PC, monitor | Laptop |
| Marketing | PC (iMac) | Tablet, laptop |
2.1.3 Document standard hardware request procedure
Document in the Standard Operating Procedures, Section 6: End-User Request Process.
Discuss and document the end-user request process:
End-User Request Process
2.1.4 Build a non-standard hardware request form
Info-Tech Insight
Include non-standard requests in continual improvement assessment. If a large portion of requests are for non-standard equipment, it’s possible the hardware doesn’t meet the recommended requirements for specialized software in use with many of your business users. Determine if new standards need to be set for all users or just “power users.”
| Categories | Peripherals | Desktops/Laptops | Servers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Financial |
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| Request authorization |
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| Required approvals |
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| Warranty requirements |
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| Inventory requirements |
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| Tracking requirements |
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Info-Tech Best Practice
Take into account the possibility of encountering taxation issues based on where the equipment is being delivered as well as taxes imposed or incurred in the location from which the asset was shipped or sent. This may impact purchasing decisions and shipping instructions.
Improve procurement decisions:
Document the following in your procurement procedure:
Info-Tech Insight
IT procurement teams are often heavily siloed from ITAM teams. The procurement team is typically found in the finance department. One way to bridge the gap is to implement routine, reliable reporting between departments.
2.1.4 Decide whether to purchase or lease
Document policy decisions in the Standard Operating Procedures – Section 7: Procurement
Determine acceptable response time, and weigh the cost of warranty against the value of service.
Speak to your partner to see how they can help the process of distributing machines.
Transaction-based purchases will receive the smallest discounting.
Bulk purchases will receive more aggressive discounting of 5-15% off suggested retail price, depending on quantities.
Larger quantities rolled out over time will require commitments to the manufacturer to obtain deepest discounts.
New or upgraded components will be introduced into configurations when it makes the most sense in a production cycle. This creates a challenge in comparing products, especially in an RFP. The best way to handle this is to:
"The hardware is the least important part of the equation. What is important is the warranty, delivery, imaging, asset tagging, and if they cannot deliver all these aspects the hardware doesn’t matter." – Doug Stevens, Assistant Manager Contract Services, Toronto District School Board
The procurement process should balance the need to negotiate appropriate pricing with the need to quickly approve and fulfill requests. The process should include steps to follow for approving, ordering, and tracking equipment until it is ready for receipt.
Within the process, it is particularly important to decide if this is where equipment is added into the database or if it will happen upon receipt.
Info-Tech Insight
Where the Hardware Asset Manager is unable to affect procurement processes to reduce time to deliver, consider bringing inventory onsite or having your hardware vendor keep stock, ready to ship on demand. Projects, replacements, and new-user requests cannot be delayed in a service-focused IT organization due to bureaucratic processes.
Determine if you need one workflow for all equipment or multiples for small vs. large purchases.
Occasionally large rollouts require significant changes from lower dollar purchases.
This sample can be found in the HAM Process Workflows.
2.1.6 Illustrate procurement workflow with a tabletop exercise
Document in the Standard Operating Procedures, Section 7: Procurement
2.1.7 Build a purchasing policy
A purchasing policy helps to establish company standards, guidelines, and procedures for the purchase of all information technology hardware, software, and computer-related components as well as the purchase of all technical services.
The policy will ensure that all purchasing processes are consistent and in alignment with company strategy. The purchasing policy is key to ensuring that corporate purchases are effective and the best value for money is obtained.
Implement a purchasing policy to prevent or reduce:
Download Info-Tech’s Purchasing Policytemplate to build your own purchasing policy.
2.1 Request & Procure
2.2 Receive & Deploy
This step will walk you through the following activities:
2.2.1 Select appropriate asset tagging method
2.2.2 Design workflow for receiving and inventorying equipment
2.2.3 Document the deployment workflow(s)
This step involves the following participants:
Industry Networking
Source Cisco IT
Although Cisco Systems had implemented a centralized procurement location for all PCs used in the company, inventory tracking had yet to be addressed.
Inventory tracking was still a manual process. Given the volume of PCs that are purchased each year, this is an incredibly labor-intensive process.
Sharing information with management and end users also required the generation of reports – another manual task.
The team at Cisco recognized that automation was the key component holding back the success of the inventory management program.
Rolling out an automated process across multiple offices and groups, both nationally and internationally, was deemed too difficult to accomplish in the short amount of time needed, so Cisco elected to outsource its PC management needs to an experienced vendor.
As a result of the PC management vendor’s industry experience, the implementation of automated tracking and management functions drastically improved the inventory management situation at Cisco.
The vendor helped determine an ideal leasing set life of 30 months for PCs, while also managing installations, maintenance, and returns.
Even though automation helped improve inventory and deployment practices, Cisco still needed to address another key facet of asset management: security.
This case study continues in phase 3.
Examine your current process for receiving assets. Typical problems include:
Receiving inventory at multiple locations can lead to inconsistent processes. This can make invoice reconciliation challenging and result in untracked or lost equipment and delays in deployment.
Equipment not received and secured quickly. Idle equipment tends to go missing if left unsupervised for too long. Missed opportunities to manage returns where equipment is incorrect or defective.
Disconnect between procurement and receiving where ETAs are unknown or incorrect. This can create an issue where no one is prepared for equipment arrival and is especially problematic on large orders.
How do you solve these problems? Create a standardized workflow that outlines clear steps for asset receiving.
A workflow will help to answer questions such as:
The first step in effective hardware asset intake is establishing proper procedures for receiving and handling of assets.
Process: Start with information from the procurement process to determine what steps need to follow to receive into appropriate systems and what processes will enable tagging to happen as soon as possible.
People: Ensure anyone who may impact this process is aware of the importance of documenting before deployment. Having everyone who may be handling equipment on board is key to success.
Security: Equipment will be secured at the loading dock or reception. It will need to be secured as inventory and be secured if delivering directly to the bench for imaging. Ensure all receiving activities are done before equipment is deployed.
Tools: A centralized ERP system may already provide a place to receive and reconcile with purchasing and invoicing, but there may still be a need to receive directly into the ITAM and/or CMDB database rather than importing directly from the ERP system.
Tagging: A variety of methods can be used to tag equipment to assist with inventory. Consider the overall lifecycle management when determining which tagging methods are best.
Info-Tech Insight
Decentralized receiving doesn’t have to mean multiple processes. Take advantage of enterprise solutions that will centralize the data and ensure everyone follows the same processes unless there is an uncompromising and compelling logistical reason to deviate.
| Method | Cost | Strengths | Weaknesses | Recommendation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| RFID with barcoding – asset tag with both a barcode and RFID solution | $$$$ |
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| RFID only – small chip with significant data capacity | $$$ |
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| Barcoding only – adding tags with unique barcodes | $$ |
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| Method | Cost | Strengths | Weaknesses | Recommendation |
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| QR codes – two-dimensional codes that can store text, binary, image, or URL data | $$ |
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| Manual tags – tag each asset with your own internal labels and naming system | $ |
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| Asset serial numbers – tag assets using their serial number | $ |
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2.2.1 Select asset tagging method
Document in the Standard Operating Procedures, Section 8
| Asset Type | Asset Tag Location |
|---|---|
| PC desktop | Right upper front corner |
| Laptop | Right corner closest to user when laptop is closed |
| Server | Right upper front corner |
| Printer | Right upper front corner |
| Modems | Top side, right corner |
Assign responsibility and accountability for inspection and acceptance of equipment, verifying the following:
The return merchandise authorization (RMA) process should be a standard part of the receiving process to handle the return of defective materials to the vendor for either repair or replacement.
If there is a standard process in place for all returns in the organization, you can follow the same process for returning hardware equipment:
Info-Tech Insight
Make sure you’re well aware of the stipulations in your contract or purchase order. Sometimes acceptance is assumed after 60 days or less, and oftentimes the clock starts as soon as the equipment is shipped out rather than when it is received.
Info-Tech Best Practice
Keep in mind that the serial number on the received assed may not be the asset that ultimately ends up on the user’s desk if the RMA process is initiated. Record the serial number after the RMA process or add a correction process to the workflow to ensure the asset is properly accounted for.
A common technique employed by asset managers is to categorize your assets using an ABC analysis. Assets are classified as either A, B, or C items. The ratings are based on the following criteria:
A
A items have the highest usage. Typically, 10-20% of total assets in your inventory account for upwards of 70-80% of the total asset requests.
A items should be tightly controlled with secure storage areas and policies. Avoiding stock depletion is a top priority.
B
B items are assets that have a moderate usage level, with around 30% of total assets accounting for 15-25% of total requests.
B items must be monitored; B items can transition to A or C items, especially during cycles of heavier business activity.
C
C items are assets that have the lowest usage, with upwards of 50% of your total inventory accounting for just 5% of total asset requests.
C items are reordered the least frequently, and present a low demand and high risk for excessive inventory (especially if they have a short lifecycle). Many organizations look to move towards an on-demand policy to mitigate risk.
Info-Tech Insight
Get your vendor to keep stock of your assets. If large quantities of a certain asset are required but you lack the space to securely store them onsite, ask your vendor to keep stock for you and release as you issue purchase orders. This speeds up delivery and delays warranty activation until the item is shipped. This does require an adherence to equipment standards and understanding of demand to be effective.
Define the following in your receiving process:
2.2.2 Illustrate receiving workflow with a tabletop exercise
Document in the Standard Operating Procedures, Section 8: Receiving and Equipment Inventory
Option 1: Whiteboard
Option 2: Tabletop Exercise
A software usage snapshot for an urban planner/engineer.
Define the process for deploying hardware to users.
Include the following in your workflow:
Large-scale desktop deployments or data center upgrades will likely be managed as projects.
These projects should include project plans, including resources, timelines, and detailed procedures.
Define the process for large-scale deployment if it will differ from the regular deployment process.
2.2.3 Document deployment workflows for desktop and large-scale deployment
Document in the Standard Operating Procedures, Section 9: Deployment
Document each step in the system deployment process with notecards or on a whiteboard. Identify the challenges faced by your organization and strategize potential solutions.
The biggest challenge in deploying equipment is meeting expectations of the business, and without cooperation from multiple departments, this becomes significantly more difficult.
Self-serve kiosks (vending machines) can provide cost reductions in delivery of up to 25%. Organizations that have a high distribution rate are seeing reductions in cost of peripherals averaging 30-35% and a few extreme cases of closer to 85%.
Benefits of using vending machines:
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.
Proposed Time to Completion: 4 weeks
Step 2.1: Request & Procure
Start with an analyst kick-off call:
Then complete these activities…
With these tools & templates:
Step 2.2: Receive & Deploy
Review findings with analyst:
Then complete these activities…
With these tools & templates:
Phase 2 Insight: Bridge the gap between IT and Finance to build a smoother request and procurement process through communication and routine reporting. If you’re unable to affect procurement processes to reduce time to deliver, consider bringing inventory onsite or having your hardware vendor keep stock, ready to ship on demand.
2.1.2 Define standard hardware requests
Divide whiteboard into columns representing core business areas. Define core hardware assets for end users in each division along with optional hardware assets. Discuss optional assets to narrow and define standard equipment requests.
2.2.1 Select appropriate method for tagging and tracking assets
Discuss the various asset tagging methods and choose the tagging method that is most appropriate for your organization. Define the process for tagging assets and document the standard asset tag location according to equipment type.
Industry Networking
Source Cisco IT
Cisco Systems had created a dynamic work environment that prized individuality. This environment created high employee satisfaction, but it also created a great deal of risk surrounding device security.
Cisco lacked an asset security policy; there were no standards for employees to follow. This created a surplus of not only hardware, but software to support the variety of needs amongst various teams at Cisco.
The ITAM team at Cisco recognized that their largest problem was the lack of standardization with respect to PCs. Variance in cost, lifecycle, and software needs/compatibility were primary issues.
Cisco introduced a PC leasing program with the help of a PC asset management vendor to correct these issues. The primary goal was to increase on-time returns of PCs. A set life of 30 months was defined by the vendor.
Cisco engaged employees to help contribute to improving its asset management protocols, and the approach worked.
On-time returns increased from 60% to 80%. Costs were reduced due to active tracking and disposal of any owned assets still present.
A reduction in hardware and software platforms has cut costs and increased security thanks to improved tracking capabilities.
This case study continues in phase 4
3.1 Manage & Maintain
3.2 Dispose or Redeploy
3.1.1 Build a MAC policy and request form
3.1.2 Build workflows to document user MAC processes
3.1.3 Design process and policies for hardware maintenance, warranty, and support documentation handling
3.1.4 Revise or create an asset security policy
Info-Tech Insight
One of the most common mistakes we see when it comes to asset management is to assume that the discovery tool will discovery most or all of your inventory and do all the work. It is better to assume only 80-90% coverage by the discovery tool and build ownership records to uncover the unreportable assets that are not tied into the network.
Conduct an annual hardware audit to ensure hardware is still assigned to the person and location identified in your ITAM system, and assess its condition.
Perform a quarterly review of hardware stock levels in order to ensure all equipment is relevant and usable. The table below is an example of how to organize this information.
| Item | Target Stock Levels | Estimated $ Value |
|---|---|---|
| Desktop computers | ||
| Standard issue laptops | ||
| Mice | ||
| Keyboards | ||
| Network cables | ||
| Phones |
Info-Tech Insight
Don’t forget about your remotely deployed assets. Think about how you plan to inventory remotely deployed equipment. Some tools will allow data collection through an agent that will talk to the server over the internet, and some will completely ignore those assets or provide a way to manually collect the data and email back to the asset manager. Mobile device management tools may also help with this inventory process. Determine what is most appropriate based on the volume of remote workers and devices.
IMAC services are usually performed at a user’s deskside by a services technician and can include:
Specific activities may include:
Changes
Moves
Installs and Adds
Recommendations:
Automate. Wherever possible, use tools to automate the IMAC process.
E-forms, help desk, ticketing, or change management software can automate the request workflow by allowing the requestor to submit a request ticket that can then be automatically assigned to a designated team member according to the established chain of command. As work is completed, the ticket can be updated, and the requestor will be able to check the status of the work at any time.
Communicate the length of any downtime associated with execution of the IMAC request to lessen the frustration and impatience among users.
Involve HR. When it comes to adding or removing user accounts, HR can be a valuable resource. As most new employees should be hired through HR, work with them to improve the onboarding process with enough advanced notice to set up accounts and equipment. Role changes with access rights and software modifications can benefit from improved communications. Review the termination process as well, to secure data and equipment.
A consistent Move, Add, Change (MAC) request process is essential for lessening the burden on the IT department. MAC requests are used to address any number of tasks, including:
If you are not using help desk or other ticketing software, create a request template that must be submitted for each MAC. The request should include:
3.1.1 Build a MAC policy and request form
Desktop Move/Add/Change Policy
This desktop move/add/change policy should be put in place to mitigate the risk associated with unauthorized changes, minimize disruption to the business, IT department, and end users, and maintain consistent expectations.
Move, Add, Change Request Form
Help end users navigate the move/add/change process. Use the Move/Add/Change Request Form to increase efficiency and organization for MAC requests.
Include the following in your process documentation:
3.1.2 Build MAC process workflows
Document in the Standard Operating Procedures, Section 10: Equipment Install, Adds, Moves, and Changes
Document each step in the system deployment process using notecards or on a whiteboard. Identify the challenges faced by your organization and strategize potential solutions.
Sample equipment maintenance policy terms:
3.1.3 Design process for hardware maintenance
Document in the Standard Operating Procedures, Section 10
ITAM complements and strengthens security tools and processes, improving the company’s ability to protect its data and systems and reduce operational risk.
It’s estimated that businesses worldwide lose more than $221 billion per year as a result of security breaches. HAM is one important factor in securing data, equipment investment, and meeting certain regulatory requirements.
How does HAM help keep your organization secure?
Best Practices
Organizations with a formal mobile management strategy have fewer problems with their mobile devices.
Develop a secure MDM to:
The benefits of a deployed MDM solution:
Mobile device management is constantly evolving to incorporate new features and expand to new control areas. This is a high-growth area that warrants constant up-to-date knowledge on the latest developments.
What can be packed into an MDM can vary and be customized in many forms for what your organization needs.
| Endpoints | Average | None |
|---|---|---|
| Desktop | 73% | 4% |
| Laptops | 65% | 9% |
| Smartphones | 27% | 28% |
| Netbooks | 26% | 48% |
| Tablets | 16% | 59% |
| Grand average | 41% |
It is nearly impossible to keep the types of data separate, even with a sandbox approach. Selective wipe will miss some corporate data, and even a full remote wipe can only catch some of users’ increasingly widely distributed data.
Not every violation of policy warrants a wipe. Playing Candy Crush during work hours probably does not warrant a wipe, but jail breaking or removing a master data management client can open up security holes that do warrant a wipe.
Data security is not simply restricted to compromised software. In fact, 70% of all data breaches in the healthcare industry since 2010 are due to device theft or loss, not hacking. (California Data Breach Report – October, 2014) ITAM is not just about tracking a device, it is also about tracking the data on the device.
Organizations often struggle with the following with respect to IT asset security:
Your security policy should seek to protect IT hardware and software that:
These assets should be documented and controlled in order to meet security requirements.
The asset security policy should encompass the following:
Info-Tech Insight
Hardware can be pricey; data is priceless. The cost of losing a device is minimal compared to the cost of losing data contained on a device.
3.1.4 Develop IT asset security policy
Document in the Asset Security Policy.
| Challenge | Current Security Risk | Target Policy |
|---|---|---|
| Hardware removal | Secure access and storage, data loss | Designated and secure storage area |
| BYOD | No BYOD policy in place | N/A → phasing out BYOD as an option |
| Hardware data removal | Secure data disposal | Data disposal, disposal vendor |
| Unused software | Lack of support/patching makes software vulnerable | Discovery and retirement of unused software |
| Unauthorized software | Harder to track, less secure | Stricter stance on pirated software |
Industry Legal
Source ICO
The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) in the UK had a security problem: hard drives that contained sensitive prisoner data were unencrypted and largely unprotected for theft.
These hard drives contained information related to health, history of drug use, and past links to organized crime.
After two separate incidents of hard drive theft that resulted in data breaches, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), stepped in.
It was determined that after the first hard drive theft in October 2011, replacement hard drives with encryption software were provisioned to prisons managed by the MoJ.
Unfortunately, the IT security personnel employed by the MoJ were unaware that the encryption software required manual activation.
When the second hard drive theft occurred, the digital encryption could not act as a backup to poor physical security (the hard drive was not secured in a locker as per protocol).
The perpetrators were never found and the stolen hard drives were never recovered.
As a result of the two data breaches, the MoJ had to implement costly security upgrades to its data protection system.
The ICO fined the MoJ £180,000 for its repeated security breaches. This costly fine could have been avoided if more diligence was present in the MoJ’s asset management program.
3.1 Manage & Maintain
3.2 Dispose or Redeploy
3.2.1 Identify challenges with IT asset recovery and disposal
3.2.2 Design hardware asset recovery and disposal workflows
3.2.3 Build a hardware asset disposition policy
$500MM); and orange is Overall.">
(Info-Tech Research Group; N=96)
| Budget profiles | Refresh methods |
|---|---|
|
Stretched Average equipment age: 7+ years |
To save money, some organizations will take a cascading approach, using the most powerful machines for engineers or scientists to ensure processing power, video requirements and drives will meet the needs of their applications and storage needs; then passing systems down to departments who will require standard-use machines. The oldest and least powerful machines are either used as terminals or disposed. |
|
Generous Average equipment age: 3 years |
Organizations that do not want to risk user dissatisfaction or potential compatibility or reliability issues will take a more aggressive replacement approach. These organizations often have less people assigned to end-user device maintenance and will not repair equipment outside of warranty. There is little variation in processing power among devices, with major differences determined by mobility and operating system. |
|
Cautious Average equipment age: 4 to 5 years |
Organizations that fit between the other two profiles will look to stretch the budget beyond warranty years, but will keep a close eye on maintenance requirements. Repairs needed outside of warranty will require an eye to costs, efforts, and subsequent administrative work of loaning equipment to keep the end user productive while waiting on service. Recommendations to keep users happy and equipment in prime form is to check condition at the 2-3 year mark, reimage at least once to improve performance, and have backup machines, if equipment starts to become problematic. |
VS.
Warning! Poor hardware disposal and recovery practices can be caused by the following:
How do you improve your hardware disposal and recovery process?
Sixty-five percent of organizations cite data security as their top concern. Many data breaches are a result of hardware theft or poor data destruction practices.
Choosing a reputable IT disposal company or data removal software is crucial to ensuring data security with asset disposal.
Electronics contain harmful heavy metals such as mercury, arsenic, and cadmium.
Disposal of e-waste is heavily regulated, and improper disposal can result in hefty fines and bad publicity for organizations.
Many obsolete IT assets are simply confined to storage at their end of life.
This often imposes additional costs with maintenance or storage fees and leaves a lot of value on the table through assets that could be sold or re-purposed within the organization.
3.2.1 Identify challenges with IT asset recovery and disposal
| Economic | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Challenge | Objectives | Targets | Initiatives |
| No data capture during disposal | Develop reporting standards | 80% disposed assets recorded | Work with Finance to develop reporting procedure |
| Idle assets | Find resale market/dispose of idle assets | 50% of idle assets disposed of within the year | Locate resale vendor and disposal service |
Ensure the following are addressed:
3.2.2 Design hardware asset recovery and disposal policies and workflows
Document in the Standard Operating Procedures, Sections 11 and 12
Document each step in the recovery and disposal process in two separate workflows using notecards or on a whiteboard. Identify the challenges faced by your organization and strategize potential solutions.
Although traditionally an afterthought in asset management, IT asset disposition (ITAD) needs to be front and center. Increase focus on data security and concern surrounding environmental sustainability and develop an awareness of the cost efficiencies possible through best-practices disposition.
Optimized ITAD solutions:
Info-Tech Insight
A well-thought-out asset management program mitigates risk and is typically less costly than dealing with a large-scale data loss incident or an inappropriate disposal suit. Also, it protects your company’s reputation – which is difficult to put a price on.
Maximizing returns on assets requires knowledge and skills in asset valuation, upgrading to optimize market return, supply chain management, and packaging and shipping. It’s unlikely that the return will be adequate to justify that level of investment, so partnering with a full-service ITAD vendor is a no-brainer.
Disposal doesn’t mean your equipment has to go to waste.
Additionally, your ITAD vendor can assist with a large donation of hardware to a charitable organization or a school.
Donating equipment to schools or non-profits may provide charitable receipts that can be used as taxable benefits.
Before donating:
Info-Tech Insight
Government assistance grants may be available to help keep your organization’s hardware up to date, thereby providing incentives to upgrade equipment while older equipment still has a useful life.
Failure to thoroughly investigate a vendor could result in a massive data breach, fines for disposal standards violations, or a poor resale price for your disposed assets. Evaluate vendors using questions such as the following:
ITAD vendors that focus on recycling will bundle assets to ship to an e-waste plant – leaving money on the table.
ITAD vendors with a focus on reuse will individually package salable assets for resale – which will yield top dollars.
Info-Tech Insight
To judge the success of a HAM overhaul, you need to establish a baseline with which to compare final results. Be sure to take HAM “snapshots” before ITAD partnering so it’s easy to illustrate the savings later.
Info-Tech Insight
Failure to properly dispose of data can not only result in costly data breaches, but also fines and other regulatory repercussions. Choosing an ITAD vendor or a vendor that specializes in data erasure is crucial. Depending on your needs, there are a variety of data wiping methods available.
Certified data erasure is the only method that leaves the asset’s hard drive intact for resale or donation. Three swipes is the bare minimum, but seven is recommended for more sensitive data (and required by the US Department of Defense). Data erasure applications may be destructive or non-destructive – both methods overwrite data to make it irretrievable.
Physical destruction must be done thoroughly, and rigorous testing must be done to verify data irretrievability. Methods such as hand drilling are proven to be unreliable.
Degaussing uses high-powered magnets to erase hard drives and makes them unusable. This is the most expensive option; degaussing devices can be purchased or rented.
Info-Tech Best Practice
Data wiping can be done onsite or can be contracted to an ITAD partner. Using an ITAD partner can ensure greater security at a more affordable price.
Work these rules into your disposition policy to mitigate data loss risk.
3.2.3 Build a Hardware Asset Disposition Policy
Implementation of a HAM program is a waste of time if you aren’t going to maintain it. Maintenance requires the implementation of detailed policies, training, and an ongoing commitment to proper management.
Use Info-Tech’s Hardware Asset Disposition Policy to:
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.
Proposed Time to Completion: 4 weeks
Start with an analyst kick-off call:
Then complete these activities…
With these tools & templates:
Review findings with analyst:
Then complete these activities…
With these tools & templates:
Phase 3 Insight: Not all assets are created equal. Taking a blanket approach to asset maintenance and security is time consuming and costly. Focus on the high-cost, high-use, and data-sensitive assets first.
3.1.4 Revise or create an asset security policy
Discuss asset security challenges within the organization; brainstorm reasons the challenges exist and process changes to address them. Document a new asset security policy.
3.2.2 Design hardware asset recovery and disposal workflows
Document each step in the hardware asset recovery and disposal process, including all decision points. Examine challenges and amend the workflow to address them.
Industry Networking
Source Cisco IT
Even though Cisco Systems had designed a comprehensive asset management program, implementing it across the enterprise was another story.
An effective solution, complete with a process that could be adopted by everyone within the organization, would require extensive internal promotion of cost savings, efficiencies, and other benefits to the enterprise and end users.
Cisco’s asset management problem was as much a cultural challenge as it was a process challenge.
The ITAM team at Cisco began discussions with departments that had been tracking and managing their own assets.
These sessions were used as an educational tool, but also as opportunities to gather internal best practices to deploy across the enterprise.
Eventually, Cisco introduced weekly meetings with global representation to encourage company-wide communication and collaboration.
“By establishing a process for managing PC assets, we have cut our hardware costs in half.” – Mark Edmonson, Manager – IT Services Expenses
Cisco reports that although change was difficult to adopt, end-user satisfaction has never been higher. The centralized asset management approach has resulted in better contract negotiations through better data access.
A reduced number of hardware and software platforms has streamlined tracking and support, and will only drive down costs as time goes on.
4.1 Plan Budget
4.2 Communicate & Build Roadmap
This step will walk you through the following activities:
4.1 Use Info-Tech’s HAM Budgeting Tool to plan your hardware asset budget
This step involves the following participants:
While some asset managers may not have experience managing budgets, there are several advantages to ITAM owning the hardware budget:
Your IT budget should be realistic, accounting for business needs, routine maintenance, hardware replacement costs, unexpected equipment failures, and associated support and warranty costs. Know where to find the data you need and who to work with to forecast hardware needs as accurately as possible.
Plan for:
Take into account:
Where do I find the information I need to budget accurately?
4.1.1 Build HAM budget
This tool is designed to assist in developing and justifying the budget for hardware assets for the upcoming year. The tool will allow you to budget for projects requiring hardware asset purchases as well as equipment requiring refresh and to adjust the budget as needed to accommodate both projects and refreshes. Follow the instructions on each tab to complete the tool.
The most successful relationships have a common vocabulary. Thus, it is important to translate “tech speak” into everyday language and business goals and initiatives as you plan your budget.
One of the biggest barriers that infrastructure and operations team face with regards to equipment budgeting is the lack of understanding of IT infrastructure and how it impacts the rest of the organization. The biggest challenge is to help the rest of the organization overcome this barrier.
There are several things you can do to overcome this barrier:
Info-Tech Insight
Err on the side of inviting more discussion. Your budgeting process relies on business decision makers and receiving actionable feedback requires an ongoing exchange of information.
Getting business users to support regular investments in maintenance relies on understanding and trust. Present the facts in plain language. Provide options, and clearly state the impact of each option.
Example: Your storage environment is nearing capacity.
Don’t:
Explain the project exclusively in technical terms or slang.
“We’re exploring deduping technology as well as cheap solid state, SATA, and tape storage to address capacity.”
Do:
“Deduplication technology can reduce our storage needs by up to 50%, allowing us to defer a new storage purchase.”
“Without implementing deduplication technology, we will need to purchase additional storage by the end of the year at an estimated cost of $25,000.”
“This is a cost-effective technique to increase storage capacity to manage annual average data growth at around 20% per year.”
4.1 Plan Budget
4.2 Communicate & Build Roadmap
This step will walk you through the following activities:
4.2 Develop a HAM implementation roadmap
This step involves the following participants:
As part of your communication plan and overall HAM implementation, training should be provided to end users within the organization.
All facets of the business, from management to new hires, should be provided with ITAM training to help them understand their role in the project’s success.
ITAM solutions are complex by nature with both business process and technical knowledge required to use them correctly. Keep the message appropriate to the audience – end users don’t need to know the complete process, but will need to know policy and how to request.
Management may have priorities that appear to clash with new processes. Engage management by making them aware of the benefits and importance of ITAM. Include the benefits and consequences of not implementing ITAM in your education approach. Encourage them to support efforts by reinforcing your messages to end users.
New hires should have ITAM training bundled into their onboarding process. Fresh minds are easier to train and the ITAM program will be seen as an organizational standard, not merely a change.
Policy documents can help summarize end users’ obligations and clarify processes. Consider an IT Resources Acceptable UsePolicy.
"The lowest user is the most important user in your asset management program. New employees are your most important resource. The life cycle of the assets will go much smoother if new employees are brought on board." – Tyrell Hall, ITAM Program Coordinator
Info-Tech Insight
During training, you should present the material through the lens of “what’s in it for me?” Otherwise, you risk alienating end users through implementing organizational change viewed as low value.
Info-Tech Insight
Use policy templates to jumpstart your policy development and ensure policies are comprehensive, but be sure to modify and adapt policies to suit your corporate culture or they will not gain buy-in from employees. For a policy to be successful, it must be a living document and have participation and involvement from the committees and departments to whom it will pertain.
4.2.1 Build HAM policies
Use these HAM policy templates to get started:
Information Technology Standards Policy
This policy establishes standards and guidelines for a company’s information technology environment to ensure the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of company computing resources.
Desktop Move/Add/Change Policy
This desktop move/add/change policy is put in place for users to request to change their desktop computing environments. This policy applies configuration changes within a company.
The purchasing policy helps to establish company standards, guidelines, and procedures for the purchase of all information technology hardware, software, and computer-related components as well as the purchase of all technical services.
Hardware Asset Disposition Policy
This policy assists in creating guidelines around disposition in the last stage of the asset lifecycle.
Info-Tech Insight
Use policy templates to jumpstart your policy development and ensure policies are comprehensive, but modify and adapt them to suit your corporate culture or they will not gain buy-in from employees. For a policy to be successful, it must be a living document and have participation from the committees and departments to whom it will pertain.
Communication is crucial to the integration and overall implementation of your ITAM program. An effective communication plan will:
Use the variety of components as part of your communication plan in order to reach the organization.
4.2.2 Develop a communication plan to convey the right messages
Document in the HAM Communication Plan
| Group | Benefits | Impact | Method | Timeline |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Service Desk | Improve end-user device support | Follow new processes | Email campaign | 3 months |
| Executives | Mitigate risks, better security, more data for reporting | Review and sign off on policies | ||
| End Users | Smoother request process | Adhere to device security and use policies | ||
| Infrastructure | Faster access to data and one source of truth | Modified processes for centralized procurement and inventory |
Now that your asset lifecycle environment has been constructed in full, it’s time to study it. Gather data about your assets and use the results to create reports and new solutions to continually improve the business.
↑ ITAM Program Maturity
To integrate your ITAM program into your organization effectively, a clear implementation roadmap needs to be designed. Prioritize “quick wins” in order to demonstrate success to the business early and gain buy-in from your team. Long-term goals should be designed that will be supported by the outcomes of the short-term gains of your ITAM program.
| Short-term goal | Long-term goal |
|---|---|
| Identify inventory classification and tool (hardware first) | Hardware contract data integration (warranty, maintenance, lease) |
| Create basic ITAM policies and processes | Continual improvement through policy impact review and revision |
| Implement ITAM auto-discovery tools | Software compliance reports, internal audits |
Info-Tech Insight
Installing an ITAM tool does not mean you have an effective asset management program. A complete solution needs to be built around your tool, but the strength of ITAM comes from processes embedded in the organization that are shaped and supported by your ITAM data.
4.2.3 Develop a HAM implementation roadmap
Document in the IT Hardware Asset Management Implementation Roadmap
Act → Plan → Do → Check
Once ITAM is in place in your organization, a focus on continual improvement creates the following benefits:
Info-Tech Best Practice
Look for new uses for ITAM data. Ask management what their goals are for the next 12-18 months. Analyze the data you are gathering and determine how your ITAM data can assist with achieving these goals.
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.
Start with an analyst kick-off call:
Then complete these activities…
With these tools & templates:
HAM Budgeting Tool
Review findings with analyst:
Then complete these activities…
With these tools & templates:
HAM policy templates
HAM Communication Plan
HAM Implementation Roadmap
4.1.1 Build a hardware asset budget
Review upcoming hardware refresh needs and projects requiring hardware purchases. Use this data to forecast and budget equipment for the upcoming year.
4.2.2 Develop a communication plan
Identify groups that will be affected by the new HAM program and for each group, document a communications plan.
HAM is more than just tracking inventory. A mature asset management program provides data for proactive planning and decision making to reduce operating costs and mitigate risk.
ITAM is not just IT. IT leaders need to collaborate with Finance, Procurement, Security, and other business units to make informed decisions and create value across the enterprise.
Treat HAM like a process, not a project. HAM is a dynamic process that must react and adapt to the needs of the business.
For asset management to succeed, it needs to support the business. Engage business leaders to determine needs and build your HAM program around these goals.
Bridge the gap between IT and Finance to build a smoother request and procurement process through communication and routine reporting. If you’re unable to affect procurement processes to reduce time to deliver, consider bringing inventory onsite or having your hardware vendor keep stock, ready to ship on demand.
Not all assets are created equal. Taking a blanket approach to asset maintenance and security is time consuming and costly. Focus on the high-cost, high-use, and data-sensitive assets first.
Deploying a fancy ITAM tool will not make hardware asset management implementation easier. Implementation is a project that requires you focus on people and process first – the technology comes after.
Implement Software Asset Management
Build an End-User Computing Strategy
Find the Value – and Remain Valuable – With Cloud Asset Management
Consolidate IT Asset Management
Chalkley, Martin. “Should ITAM Own Budget?” The ITAM Review. 19 May 2011. Web.
“CHAMP: Certified Hardware Asset Management Professional Manual.” International Association of Information Technology Asset Managers, Inc. 2008. Web.
Foxen, David. “The Importance of Effective HAM (Hardware Asset Management).” The ITAM Review. 19 Feb. 2015. Web.
Foxen, David. “Quick Guide to Hardware Asset Tagging.” The ITAM Review. 5 Sep. 2014. Web.
Galecki, Daniel. “ITAM Lifecycle and Savings Opportunities – Mapping out the Journey.” International Association of IT Asset Managers, Inc. 16 Nov. 2014. Web.
“How Cisco IT Reduced Costs Through PC Asset Management.” Cisco IT Case Study. 2007. Web.
Irwin, Sherry. “ITAM Metrics.” The ITAM Review. 14 Dec. 2009. Web.
“IT Asset and Software Management.” ECP Media LLC, 2006. Web.
Rains, Jenny. “IT Hardware Asset Management.” HDI Research Brief. May 2015. Web.
Riley, Nathan. “IT Asset Management and Tagging Hardware: Best Practices.” Samanage Blog. 5 March 2015. Web.
“The IAITAM Practitioner Survey Results for 2016 – Lean Toward Ongoing Value.” International Association of IT Asset Managers, Inc. 24 May 2016. Web.
Take the time to understand the various data storage formats, disk types, and associated technology, as well as the cloud-based and on-premises options. This will help you select the right tool for your needs.
Look to existing use cases based on actual Info-Tech analyst calls to help in your decision-making process.
Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:
Explore the building blocks of enterprise storage so you can select the best solution, narrow your focus with the correct product type, explore the features that should be considered when evaluating enterprise storage offerings, and examine use cases based on actual Info-Tech analyst calls to find a storage solution for your situation.
The first step in solving your enterprise storage challenge is identifying your data sources, data volumes, and growth rates. This information will give you insight into what data sources could be stored on premises or in the cloud, how much storage you will require for the coming five to ten years, and what to consider when exploring enterprise storage solutions. This tool can be a valuable asset for determining your current storage drivers and future storage needs, structuring a plan for future storage purchases, and determining timelines and total cost of ownership.
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To say that the current enterprise storage landscape looks interesting would be an understatement. The solutions offered by vendors continue to grow and evolve. Flash and NVMe are increasing the speed of storage media and reducing latency. Software-defined storage is finding the most efficient use of media to store data where it is best served while managing a variety of vendor storage and older storage area networks and network-attached storage devices. Storage as a service is taking on a new meaning with creative solutions that let you keep the storage appliance on premises or in a colocated data center while administration, management, and support are performed by the vendor for a nominal monthly fee. We cannot discuss enterprise storage without mentioning the cloud. Bring a thermometer because you must understand the difference between hot, warm, and cold storage when discussing the cloud options. Very hot and very cold may also come into play. Storage hardware can assume a higher total cost of ownership with support options that replace the controllers on a regular basis. The options with this type of service are also varied, but the concept of not having to replace all disks and chassis nor go through a data migration is very appealing to many companies. The cloud is growing in popularity when it comes to enterprise storage, but on-premises solutions are still in demand, and whether you choose cloud or on premises, you can be guaranteed an array of features and options to add stability, security, and efficiency to your enterprise storage. P.J. Ryan |
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The vendor landscape is continually evolving, as are the solutions they offer. |
Storage providers are getting acquired by bigger players, “outside the box” thinking is disrupting the storage support marketplace, “as a service” storage offerings are evolving, and what is a data lake and do I need one? The traditional storage vendors are not alone in the market, and the solutions they offer are no longer traditional either. Explore the landscape and understand your options before you make any enterprise storage solution purchases. |
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Understand the building blocks of storage so you can select the best solution. |
There are multiple storage formats for data, along with multiple hardware form factors and disk types to hold those various data formats. Software plays a significant role in many of these storage solutions, and cloud offerings take advantage of all the various formats, form factors, and disks. The challenge is matching your data type with the correct storage format and solution. |
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Look to existing use cases to help in your decision-making process. |
Explore previous experiences from others by reading use cases to determine what the best solution is for your challenge. You’re probably not the first to encounter the challenge you’re facing. Another organization may have previously reached out for assistance and found a viable solution that may be just what you also need. |
“By 2025, it’s estimated that 463 exabytes of data will be created each day globally – that’s the equivalent of 212,765,957 DVDs per day!” (Visual Capitalist)
“Modern criminal groups target not only endpoints and servers, but also central storage systems and their backup infrastructure.” (Continuity Software)
Cloud or on premises? Maybe a hybrid approach with both cloud and on premises is best for you. Do you want to remove the headaches of storage administration, management, and support with a fully managed storage-as-a-service solution? Would you like to upgrade your controllers every three or four years without a major service interruption? The options are increasing and appealing.
1. Understand Your Data
Understand how much data you have and where it is located. This will be crucial when evaluating enterprise storage solutions.
2. Plan for Growth
Your enterprise storage considerations should include your data needs now and in the future.
3. Understand the Mechanics
Take the time to understand the various data storage formats, disk types, and associated technology, as well as the cloud-based and on-premises options. This will help you select the right tool for your needs.
|
Format |
What it is |
Disk Drives and Technology |
|
|---|---|---|---|
|
File Storage |
File storage is hierarchical storage that uses files, folders, subfolders, and directories. You enter a specific filename and path to access the file, such as P:\users\johndoe\strategy\cloud.doc. If you ever saved a file on a server, you used file storage. File storage is usually managed by some type of file manager, such as File Explorer in Windows. Network-attached storage (NAS) devices use file storage. |
Hard Disk Drives (HDD) |
HDD use a platter of spinning disks to magnetically store data. The disks are thick enough to make them rigid and are referred to as hard disks. HDD is older technology but is still in demand and offered by vendors. |
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Object Storage |
Object storage is when data is broken into distinct units, called objects. These objects are stored in a flat, non-hierarchical structure in a single location or repository. Each object is identified by its associated ID and metadata. Objects are accessed by an application programming interface (API). |
Flash |
Flash storage uses flash memory chips to store data. The flash memory chips are written with electricity and contain no moving parts. Flash storage is very fast, which is how the technology got its name (“Flash vs. SSD Storage,” Enterprise Storage Forum, 2018). |
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Block Storage |
Block storage is when data is divided up into fixed-size blocks and stored with a unique identifier. Blocks can be stored in different environments, such as Windows or Linux. Storage area networks (SANs) use block storage. |
Solid-State Drive (SSD) |
SSD is a storage mechanism that also does not use any moving parts. Most SSD drives use flash storage, but other options are available for SSD. |
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Nonvolatile Memory Express (NVMe) |
NVMe is a communications standard developed specially for SSDs by a consortium of vendors including Intel, Samsung, SanDisk, Dell, and Seagate. It operates across the PCIe bus (hence the “Express” in the name), which allows the drives to act more like the fast memory that they are rather than the hard disks they imitate (PCWorld). |
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Network-Attached Storage |
Storage Area Network |
Software-Defined Storage |
Hyperconverged Infrastructure |
|---|---|---|---|
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NAS refers to a storage device that is connected directly to your network. Any user or device with access to your network can access the available storage provided by the NAS. NAS storage is easily scalable and can add data redundancy through RAID technology. NAS uses the file storage format. NAS storage may or may not be the first choice in terms of enterprise storage, but it does have a solid market appeal as an on-premises primary backup storage solution. |
A SAN is a dedicated network of pooled storage devices. The dedicated network, separate from the regular network, provides high speed and scalability without concern for the regular network traffic. SANs use block storage format and can be divided into logical units that can be shared between servers or segregated from other servers. SANs can be accessed by multiple servers and systems at the same time. SANs are scalable and offer high availability and redundancy through RAID technology. SANs can use a variety of disk types and sizes and are quite common among on-premises storage solutions. |
“Software-defined storage (SDS) is a storage architecture that separates storage software from its hardware. Unlike traditional network-attached storage (NAS) or storage area network (SAN) systems, SDS is generally designed to perform on any industry-standard or x86 system, removing the software’s dependence on proprietary hardware.” (RedHat) SDS uses software-based policies and rules to grow and protect storage attached to applications. SDS allows you to use server-based storage products to add management, protection, and better usage. |
Hyperconverged storage uses virtualization and software-defined storage to combine the storage, compute, and network resources along with a hypervisor into one appliance. Hyperconverged storage can scale out by adding more nodes or appliances, but scaling up, or adding more resources to each appliance, can have limitations. There is flexibility as hyperconverged storage can work with most network and compute manufacturers. |
“Enterprise cloud storage offers nearly unlimited scalability. Enterprises can add storage quickly and easily as it is needed, eliminating the risk and cost of over-provisioning.”
– Spectrum Enterprise
“Hot data will operate on fresh data. Cold data will operate on less frequent data and [is] used mainly for reporting and planning. Warm data is a balance between the two.”
– TechBlost
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“Because data lakes mostly consist of raw unprocessed data, a data scientist with specialized expertise is typically needed to manipulate and translate the data.”
– DevIQ
“A Lakehouse is also a type of centralized data repository, integrated from heterogeneous sources. As can be expected from its name, It shares features with both datawarehouses and data lakes.”
– Cesare
“Storage as a service (STaaS) eliminates Capex, simplifies management and offers extensive flexibility.”
– TechTarget
The current vendor landscape for enterprise storage solutions represents a range of industry veterans and the brands they’ve aggregated along the way, as well as some relative newcomers who have come to the forefront within the past ten years.
Vendors like Dell EMC and HPE are longstanding veterans of storage appliances with established offerings and a back catalogue of acquisitions fueling their growth. Others such as Pure Storage offer creative solutions like all-flash arrays, which are becoming more and more appealing as flash storage becomes more commoditized.
Cloud-based vendors have become popular options in recent years. Cloud storage provides many options and has attracted many other vendors to provide a cloud option in addition to their on-premises solutions. Some software and hardware vendors also partner with cloud vendors to offer a complete solution that includes storage.
Explore your current vendor’s solutions as a starting point, then use that understanding as a reference point to dive into other players in the market
Key Players
Block, object, or file storage? NAS, SAN, SDS, or HCI? Cloud or on prem? Hot, warm, or cold?
Which one do you choose?
The following use cases based on actual Info-Tech analyst calls may help you decide.
“Offsite” may make you think of geographical separation or even cloud-based storage, but what is the best option and why?
“Data retrieval from cold storage is harder and slower than it is from hot storage. … Because of the longer retrieval time, online cold storage plans are often much cheaper. … The downside is that you’d incur additional costs when retrieving the data.”
– Ben Stockton, Cloudwards
Hyperconverged infrastructure combines storage, virtual infrastructure, and associated management into one piece of equipment.
“HCI environments use a hypervisor, usually running on a server that uses direct-attached storage (DAS), to create a data center pool of systems and resources.”
– Samuel Greengard, Datamation
SAN providers offer a varied range of options for their products, and those options are constantly evolving.
“SAN-to-SAN replication is a low-cost, highly efficient way to manage mounting quantities of stored data.”
– Secure Infrastructure & Services
That old storage area network may still have some useful life left in it.
“Often enterprises have added storage on an ad hoc basis as they needed it for various applications. That can result in a mishmash of heterogenous storage hardware from a wide variety of vendors. SDS offers the ability to unify management of these different storage devices, allowing IT to be more efficient.”
– Cynthia Harvey, Enterprise Storage Forum (“What Is Software Defined Storage?”, 2018)
Many backup software solutions can provide backups to multiple locations, making two-location backups simple.
“Data protection demands that enterprises have multiple methods of keeping data safe and replicating it in case of disaster or loss.”
– Drew Robb, Enterprise Storage Forum, 2021
SAN solutions have come a long way with improvements in how data is stored and what is used to store the data.
“A rapidly growing portion of SAN deployments leverages all-flash storage to gain its high performance, consistent low latency, and lower total cost when compared to spinning disk.”
– NetApp
Cloud storage would not be sufficient if you were using a dial up connection, just as on-premises storage solutions would not suffice if they were using floppy disks.
“The captured video is stored for days, weeks, months and sometimes years and consumes a lot of space. Data storage plays a new and important role in these systems. Object storage is ideal to store the video data.”
– Object-Storage.Info
Some software products have storage options available as a result of agreements with other storage vendors. Several backup and archive software products fall into this category.
“Cold storage is perfect for archiving your data. Online backup providers offer low-cost, off-site data backups at the expense of fast speeds and easy access, even though data retrieval often comes at an added cost. If you need to keep your data long-term, but don’t need to access it often, this is the kind of storage you need.”
– Ben Stockton, Cloudwards
Activity
The first step in solving your enterprise storage challenge is identifying your data sources or drivers, data volume size, and growth rates. This information will give you insight into what data sources could be stored on premises or in the cloud, how much storage you will require for the coming five to ten years, and what to consider when exploring enterprise storage solutions.
Download the Modernize Enterprise Storage Workbook and take the first step toward understanding your data requirements.
Download the Modernize Enterprise Storage Workbook
Current and emerging storage technologies are disrupting the status quo – prepare your infrastructure for the exponential rise in data and its storage requirements.
Modernize Enterprise Storage Workbook
This workbook will complement the discussions and activities found in the Modernize Enterprise Storage blueprint. Use this workbook in conjunction with the blueprint to develop a strategy for storage modernization.
Bakkianathan, Raghunathan. “What is the difference between Hot Warm and Cold data storage?” TechBlost, n.d.. Accessed 14 July 2022.
Cesare. “Data warehouse vs Data lake vs Lakehouse… and DeltaLake?“ Medium, 14 June 2021. Accessed 26 July 2022.
Davison, Shawn and Ryan Sappenfield. “Data Lake Vs Lakehouse Vs Data Mesh: The Evolution of Data Transformation.” DevIQ, May 2022. Accessed 23 July 2022.
Desjardins, Jeff. “Infographic: How Much Data is Generated Each Day?” Visual Capitalist, 15 April 2019. Accessed 26 July 2022.
Greengard, Samuel. “Top 10 Hyperconverged Infrastructure (HCI) Solutions.” Datamation, 22 December 2020. Accessed 23 July 2022.
Harvey, Cynthia. “Flash vs. SSD Storage: Is there a Difference?” Enterprise Storage Forum, 10 July 2018. Accessed 23 July 2022.
Harvey, Cynthia. “What Is Software Defined Storage? Features & Benefits.” Enterprise Storage Forum, 22 February 2018. Accessed 23 July 2022.
Hecht, Gil. “4 Predictions for storage and backup security in 2022.” Continuity Software, 09 January 2022. Accessed 22 July 2022.
Jacobi, Jonl. “NVMe SSDs: Everything you need to know about this insanely fast storage.” PCWorld, 10 March 2019. Accessed 22 July 2022
Pritchard, Stephen. “Briefing: Cloud storage performance metrics.” Computer Weekly, 16 July 2021. Accessed 23 July 2022
Robb, Drew. “Best Enterprise Backup Software & Solutions 2022.” Enterprise Storage Forum, 09 April 2021. Accessed 23 July 2022.
Sheldon, Robert. “On-premises STaaS shifts storage buying to Opex model.” TechTarget, 10 August 2020. Accessed 22 July 2022.
“Simplify Your Storage Ownership, Forever.” PureStorage. Accessed 20 July 2022.
Stockton, Ben. “Hot Storage vs Cold Storage in 2022: Instant Access vs Long-Term Archives.” Cloudwards, 29 September 2021. Accessed 22 July 2022.
“The Cost Savings of SAN-to-SAN Replication.” Secure Infrastructure and Services, 31 March 2016. Accessed 16 July 2022.
“Video Surveillance.” Object-Storage.Info, 18 December 2019. Accessed 25 July 2022.
“What is a Data Lake?” Amazon Web Services, n.d. Accessed 17 July 2022.
“What is enterprise cloud storage?” Spectrum Enterprise, n.d. Accessed 28 July 2022.
“What is SAN (Storage Area Network).” NetApp, n.d. Accessed 25 July 2022.
“What is software-defined storage?” RedHat, 08 March 2018. Accessed 16 July 2022.
The new security leader must be strategic, striking a balance between being tactical and taking a proactive security stance. They must incorporate security into business practices from day one and enable secure adoption of new technologies and business practices.
Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:
Use this blueprint to hire or develop a world-class Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) with the competencies that suit your specific organizational needs. Once you have identified the right candidate, create a plan to develop your CISO.
This tool will help you determine which competencies are a priority for your organizational needs and which competencies your CISO needs to develop.
Use this template to identify stakeholders who are key to your security initiatives and to understand your relationships with them.
Create a strategy to cultivate your stakeholder relationships and manage each relationship in the most effective way.
This tool will help you create and implement a plan to remediate competency gaps.
The days are gone when the security leader can stay at a desk and watch the perimeter. The rapidly increasing sophistication of technology, and of attackers, has changed the landscape so that a successful information security program must be elastic, nimble, and tailored to the organization’s specific needs.
The Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) is tasked with leading this modern security program, and this individual must truly be a Chief Officer, with a finger on the pulses of the business and security processes at the same time. The modern, strategic CISO must be a master of all trades.
A world-class CISO is a business enabler who finds creative ways for the business to take on innovative processes that provide a competitive advantage and, most importantly, to do so securely.
Cameron Smith
Research Lead, Security & Privacy
Info-Tech Research Group
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Your Challenge
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Common Obstacles
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Info-Tech’s Approach
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Info-Tech Insight
The new security leader must be strategic, striking a balance between being tactical and taking a proactive security stance. They must incorporate security into business practices from day one and enable secure adoption of new technologies and business practices.
Around one in five organizations don’t have an individual with the sole responsibility for security1
1 Navisite
Info-Tech Insight
Assigning security responsibilities to departments other than security can lead to conflicts of interest.
Source: Navisite
Only 36% of small businesses have a CISO (or equivalent position).
48% of mid-sized businesses have a CISO.
90% of large organizations have a CISO.
Source: Navisite
| Strategic CISO | Tactical CISO |
|---|---|
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Proactive Focus is on protecting hyperdistributed business processes and data Elastic, flexible, and nimble Engaged in business design decisions Speaks the language of the audience (e.g. business, financial, technical) |
Reactive Focus is on protecting current state Perimeter and IT-centric approach Communicates with technical jargon |
1 Journal of Computer Science and Information Technology
To determine what is required from tomorrow’s security leader, Info-Tech examined the core behaviors that make a world-class CISO. These are the three areas that a CISO engages with and excels in.
Later in this blueprint, we will review the competencies and skills that are required for your CISO to perform these behaviors at a high level.
Align
Aligning security enablement with business requirements
Enable
Enabling a culture of risk management
Manage
Managing talent and change
Info-Tech Insight
Through these three overarching behaviors, you can enable a security culture that is aligned to the business and make security elastic, flexible, and nimble to maintain the business processes.

| 1. Launch | 2. Assess | 3. Plan | 4. Execute | |
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| Phase Steps |
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| Phase Outcomes |
At the end of this phase, you will have:
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At the end of this phase, you will have:
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At the end of this phase, you will have:
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At the end of this phase, you will have:
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Each step of this blueprint is accompanied by supporting deliverables to help you accomplish your goals:
CISO Core Competency Evaluation Tool
Assess the competency levels of a current or prospective CISO and identify areas for improvement.
Stakeholder Power Map Template
Visualize the importance of various stakeholders and their concerns.
Stakeholder Management Strategy Template
Document a plan to manage stakeholders and track actions.
Key deliverable:
CISO Development Plan Template
The CISO Development Plan Template is used to map specific activities and time frames for competency development to address gaps and achieve your goal.
Career development should not be seen as an individual effort. By understanding the personal core competencies that Info-Tech has identified, the individual wins by developing relevant new skills and the organization wins because the CISO provides increased value.
| Organizational Benefits | Individual Benefits |
|---|---|
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Organizations with a CISO saw an average of $145,000 less in data breach costs.1
However, we aren’t talking about hiring just any CISO. This blueprint seeks to develop your CISO’s competencies and reach a new level of effectiveness.
Organizations invest a median of around $375,000 annually in their CISO.2 The CISO would have to be only 4% more effective to represent $15,000 more value from this position. This would offset the cost of an Info-Tech workshop, and this conservative estimate pales in comparison to the tangible and intangible savings as shown below.
Your specific benefits will depend on many factors, but the value of protecting your reputation, adopting new and secure revenue opportunities, and preventing breaches cannot be overstated. There is a reason that investment in information security is on the rise: Organizations are realizing that the payoff is immense and the effort is worthwhile.
| Tangible cost savings from having a world-class CISO | Intangible cost savings from having a world-class CISO |
|---|---|
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1 IBM Security
2 Heidrick & Struggles International, Inc.
SOURCE
Kyle Kennedy
CISO, CyberSN.com
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Challenge The decision was made to move to a new vendor. There were multiple options, but the best option in the CISO’s opinion was a substantially more expensive service that provided more robust protection and more control features. The CISO faced the challenge of convincing the board to make a financial investment in his IT security initiative to implement this new software. |
Solution He identified that the business has $100 million in revenue that would move through this data stream. This new software would help to ensure the security of all these transactions, which they would lose in the event of a breach. Furthermore, the CISO identified new business plans in the planning stage that could be protected under this initiative. |
Results This approach is the opposite of the cautionary tales that make news headlines, where new revenue streams are created before systems are put in place to secure them. This proactive approach is the core of the world-class CISO. |
| Launch | Assess | Plan | Execute |
|---|---|---|---|
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Call #1: Review and discuss CISO core competencies. Call #2: Discuss Security Business Satisfaction and Alignment diagnostic results. |
Call #3: Discuss the CISO Stakeholder Power Map Template and the importance of relationships. Call #4: Discuss the CISO Core Competency Evaluation Tool. |
Call #5: Discuss results of the CISO Core Competency Evaluation and identify resources to close gaps. Call #6: Review organizational structure and key stakeholder relationships. |
Call #7: Discuss and create your CISO development plan and track your development |
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 10 calls over the course of 3 to 6 months.
Phase 1
1.1 Understand Core Competencies
1.2 Measure Security and Business Satisfaction and Alignment
Phase 2
2.1 Assess Stakeholder Relationships
2.2 Assess the Core Competencies
Phase 3
3.1 Identify Resources to Address Competency Gaps
3.2 Plan Approach to Improve Stakeholder Relationships
Phase 4
4.1 Decide Next Actions and Support Your CISO Moving Forward
4.2 Regularly Reassess to Measure Development and Progress
This phase will walk you through the following activities:
Hire or Develop a World-Class CISO
Mark Lester
InfoSec Manager, SC Ports Authority
An organization hires a new Information Security Manager into a static and well-established IT department.
Situation: The organization acknowledges the need for improved information security, but there is no framework for the Security Manager to make successful changes.
| Challenges | Next Steps |
|---|---|
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Follow this case study throughout the deck to see this organization’s results
Activities
Review core competencies the security leader must develop to become a strategic business partner
This step involves the following participants:
or
Outcomes of this step
Analysis and understanding of the eight strategic CISO competencies required to become a business partner
Launch
Info-Tech has identified eight core competencies affecting the CISO’s progression to becoming a strategic business partner.
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Business Acumen Leadership Communication Technical Knowledge |
Innovative Problem Solving Vendor Management Change Management Collaboration |
< 1 hour
Over the next few slides, review each world-class CISO core competency. In Step 1.2, you will determine which competencies are a priority for your organization.
| CISO Competencies | Description |
|---|---|
| Business Acumen |
A CISO must focus primarily on the needs of the business and how the business works, then determine how to align IT security initiatives to support business initiatives. This includes:
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| Leadership |
A CISO must be a security leader, and not simply a practitioner. This requires:
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| CISO Competencies | Description |
|---|---|
| Communication |
Many CISOs believe that using technical jargon impresses their business stakeholders – in fact, it only makes business stakeholders become confused and disinterested. A CISO must have executive communication skills. This involves:
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| Technical Knowledge |
A CISO must have a broad technical understanding of IT security to oversee a successful security program. This includes:
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| CISO Competencies | Description |
|---|---|
| Innovative Problem Solving |
A good CISO doesn’t just say “no,” but rather finds creative ways to say “yes.” This can include:
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| Vendor Management |
With the growing use of “anything as a service,” negotiation, vendor, and financial management skills are critical to becoming a strategic CISO.
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| CISO Competencies | Description |
|---|---|
| Change Management |
A world-class CISO improves security processes by being an agent of change for the organization. This involves:
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| Collaboration |
A CISO must be able to use alliances and partnerships strategically to benefit both the business and themselves. This includes:
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Activities
This step involves the following participants:
or
Outcomes of this step
Determine current gaps in satisfaction and alignment between information security and your organization.
If seeking to hire/develop a CISO: Your diagnostic results will help develop a profile of the ideal CISO candidate to use as a hiring and interview guide.
If developing a current CISO, use your diagnostic results to identify existing competency gaps and target them for improvement.
For the CISO seeking to upgrade capabilities: Use the core competencies guide to self-assess and identify competencies that require improvement.
Launch
| Suggested Time: | One week for distribution, completion, and collection of surveys One-hour follow-up with an Info-Tech analyst |
The primary goal of IT security is to protect the organization from threats. This does not simply mean bolting everything down, but it means enabling business processes securely. To do this effectively requires alignment between IT security and the overall business.
Call an analyst to review your results and provide you with recommendations.
Info-Tech Insight
Focus on the high-priority competencies for your organization. You may find a candidate with perfect 10s across the board, but a more pragmatic strategy is to find someone with strengths that align with your needs. If there are other areas of weakness, then target those areas for development.
After completing the Info-Tech diagnostic, use the CISO Core Competency Evaluation Tool to determine which CISO competencies are a priority for your organization.
Download the CISO Core Competency Evaluation Tool
After completing the Info-Tech diagnostic, use the CISO Core Competency Evaluation Tool to determine which CISO competencies are a priority for your organization.
Download the CISO Core Competency Evaluation Tool
After completing the Info-Tech diagnostic, use the CISO Core Competency Evaluation Tool to determine which CISO competencies are a priority for your organization.
Download the CISO Core Competency Evaluation Tool
Phase 1
1.1 Understand Core Competencies
1.2 Measure Security and Business Satisfaction and Alignment
Phase 2
2.1 Assess Stakeholder Relationships
2.2 Assess the Core Competencies
Phase 3
3.2 Plan Approach to Improve Stakeholder Relationships
Phase 4
4.1 Decide Next Actions and Support Your CISO Moving Forward
4.2 Regularly Reassess to Measure Development and Progress
This phase will walk you through the following activities:
Hire or Develop a World-Class CISO
Mark Lester
InfoSec Manager, SC Ports Authority
The new Security Manager engages with employees to learn the culture.
Outcome: Understand what is important to individuals in order to create effective collaboration. People will engage with a project if they can relate it to something they value.
| Actions | Next Steps |
|---|---|
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Follow this case study throughout the deck to see this organization’s results
Activities
Evaluate the power, impact, and support of key stakeholders
This step involves the following participants:
or
Outcomes of this step
Assess
Info-Tech Insight
Most organizations don’t exist for the sole purpose of doing information security. For example, if your organization is in the business of selling pencils, then information security is in business to enable the selling of pencils. All the security in the world is meaningless if it doesn’t enable your primary business processes. The CISO must always remember the fundamental goals of the business.
The above insight has two implications:
When people are not receptive to the CISO, it’s usually because the CISO has not been part of the discussion when plans were being made. This is the heart of proactivity.
You need to be involved from the start … from the earliest part of planning.
The job is not to come in late and say “No” ... the job is to be involved early and find creative and intelligent ways to say “Yes.”
The CISO needs to be the enabling security asset that drives business.
– Elliot Lewis, CEO at Keyavi Data
The CISO Stakeholder Power Map Template is meant to provide a visualization of the CISO’s relationships within the organization. This should be a living document that can be updated throughout the year as relationships develop and the structure of an organization changes.
At a glance, this tool should show:
Once this tool has been created, it provides a good reference as the CISO works to develop lagging relationships. It shows the landscape of influence and impact within the organization, which may help to guide the CISO’s strategy in the future.
Download the CISO Stakeholder Power Map Template
Info-Tech Insight
Some stakeholders must work closely with your incoming CISO. It is worth consideration to include these individuals in the interview process to ensure you will have partners that can work well together. This small piece of involvement early on can save a lot of headache in the future.
Once you know which competencies are a priority in your new CISO, the next step is to decide where to start looking. This person may already exist in your company.
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Internal Take some time to review your current top information security employees or managers. It may be immediately clear that certain people will or will not be suitable for the CISO role. For those that have potential, proceed to Step 2.2 to map their competencies. |
Recruitment If you do not have any current employees that will fit your new CISO profile, or you have other reasons for wanting to bring in an outside individual, you can begin the recruitment process. This could start by posting the position for applications or by identifying and targeting specific candidates. |
Ready to start looking for your ideal candidate? You can use Info-Tech’s Chief Information Security Officer job description template.
|
Technical Counselor Seat In addition to having access to our research and consulting services, you can acquire a Technical Counselor Seat from our Security & Risk practice, where one of our senior analysts would serve with you on a retainer. You may find that this option saves you the expense of having to hire a new CISO altogether. |
Virtual CISO A virtual CISO, or vCISO, is essentially a “CISO as a service.” A vCISO provides an organization with an experienced individual that can, on a part-time basis, lead the organization’s security program through policy and strategy development. |
Why would an organization consider a vCISO?
Source: InfoSec Insights by Sectigo Store
Why would an organization not consider a vCISO?
Source: Georgia State University
Activities
Assess CISO candidates in terms of desired core competencies
or
Self-assess your personal core competencies
This step involves the following participants:
or
and
Outcomes of this step
Assess
Download the CISO Core Competency Evaluation Tool
Info-Tech Insight
The most important competencies should be your focus. Unless you are lucky enough to find a candidate that is perfect across the board, you will see some areas that are not ideal. Don’t forget the importance you assigned to each competency. If a candidate is ideal in the most critical areas, you may not mind that some development is needed in a less important area.
After deciding the importance of and requirements for each competency in Phase 1, assess your CISO candidates.
Your first pass on this tool will be to look at internal candidates. This is the develop a CISO option.
Download the CISO Core Competency Evaluation Tool
Download the CISO Core Competency Evaluation Tool
Phase 1
1.1 Understand Core Competencies
1.2 Measure Security and Business Satisfaction and Alignment
Phase 2
2.1 Assess Stakeholder Relationships
2.2 Assess the Core Competencies
Phase 3
3.1 Identify Resources to Address Competency Gaps
3.2 Plan Approach to Improve Stakeholder Relationships
Phase 4
4.1 Decide Next Actions and Support Your CISO Moving Forward
4.2 Regularly Reassess to Measure Development and Progress
This phase will walk you through the following activities:
Hire or Develop a World-Class CISO
Mark Lester
InfoSec Manager, SC Ports Authority
The new Security Manager changes the security culture by understanding what is meaningful to employees.
Outcome: Engage with people on their terms. The CISO must speak the audience’s language and express security terms in a way that is meaningful to the audience.
| Actions | Next Steps |
|---|---|
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Follow this case study throughout the deck to see this organization’s results
Activities
Create a plan to remediate competency gaps
This step involves the following participants:
or
Outcomes of this step
Plan
Info-Tech’s Cybersecurity Workforce Training develops critical cybersecurity skills missing within your team and organization. The leadership track provides the same deep coverage of technical knowledge as the analyst track but adds hands-on support and has a focus on strategic business alignment, program management, and governance.
The program builds critical skills through:
Info-Tech Insight
Investing in a current employee that has the potential to be a world-class CISO may take less time, effort, and money than finding a unicorn.
Learn more on the Cybersecurity Workforce Development webpage
< 2 hours
| CISO Competencies | Description |
|---|---|
| Business Acumen |
Info-Tech Workshops & Blueprints
Actions/Activities
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< 2 hours
| CISO Competencies | Description |
|---|---|
| Leadership |
Info-Tech Training and Blueprints
Action/Activities
|
Info-Tech Insight
Surround yourself with great people. Insecure leaders surround themselves with mediocre employees that aren’t perceived as a threat. Great leaders are supported by great teams, but you must choose that great team first.
< 2 hours
| CISO Competencies | Description |
|---|---|
| Communication |
Info-Tech Workshops & Blueprints Build and Deliver an Optimized IT Update Presentation: Show IT’s value and relevance by dropping the technical jargon and speaking to the business in their terms. Master Your Security Incident Response Communications Program: Learn how to talk to your stakeholders about what’s going on when things go wrong. Develop a Security Awareness and Training Program That Empowers End Users: Your weakest link is between the keyboard and the chair, so use engaging communication to create positive behavior change. Actions/Activities Learn to communicate in the language of your audience (whether business, finance, or social), and frame security solutions in terms that are meaningful to your listener. |
| Technical Knowledge |
Actions/Activities
|
< 2 hours
| CISO Competencies | Description |
|---|---|
| Innovative Problem Solving |
Info-Tech Workshops & Blueprints
Actions/Activities
|
| Vendor Management |
Info-Tech Blueprints & Resources
Actions/Activities
|
< 2 hours
| CISO Competencies | Description |
|---|---|
| Change Management |
Info-Tech Blueprints
Actions/Activities
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| Collaboration |
Info-Tech Blueprints
Actions/Activities
|
What you will need to complete this exercise
Activities
This step involves the following participants:
or
Outcomes of this step
Plan
A formalized security organizational structure assigns and defines the roles and responsibilities of different members around security. Use Info-Tech’s blueprint Implement a Security Governance and Management Program to determine the best structure for your organization.
Who the CISO reports to, by percentage of organizations3
Download the Implement a Security Governance and Management Program blueprint
1. Journal of Computer Science and Information
2. Proofpoint
3. Heidrick & Struggles International, Inc
Managing stakeholders requires engagement, communication, and relationship management. To effectively collaborate and gain support for your initiatives, you will need to build relationships with your stakeholders. Take some time to review the stakeholder engagement strategies for different stakeholder types.
| Influence | Mediators (Satisfy) |
Key Players (Engage) |
| Spectators (Monitor) |
Noisemakers (Inform) |
|
| Support for you | ||
When building relationships, I find that what people care about most is getting their job done. We need to help them do this in the most secure way possible.
I don’t want to be the “No” guy, I want to enable the business. I want to find to secure options and say, “Here is how we can do this.”
– James Miller, Information Security Director, Xavier University
Download the CISO Stakeholder Management Strategy Template
| Goal | Action |
|---|---|
| Get key players to help champion your initiative and turn your detractors into supporters. | Actively involve key players to take ownership. |
| Keep It Positive | Maintain a Close Relationship |
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Info-Tech Insight
Listen to your key players. They understand what is important to other business stakeholders, and they can provide valuable insight to guide your future strategy.
| Goal | Action |
|---|---|
| Turn mediators into key players | Increase their support level. |
| Keep It Positive | Maintain a Close Relationship |
|
|
Info-Tech Insight
Don’t dictate to stakeholders. Make them feel like valued contributors by including them in development and decision making. You don’t have to incorporate all their input, but it is essential that they feel respected and heard.
| Goal | Action |
|---|---|
| Have noisemakers spread the word to increase their influence. | Encourage noisemakers to influence key stakeholders. |
| Keep It Positive | Maintain a Close Relationship |
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| Goal | Action |
|---|---|
| Keep spectators content and avoid turning them into detractors. | Keep them well informed. |
| Keep It Positive | Maintain a Close Relationship |
|
|
Develop a strategy to manage key stakeholders in order to drive your personal development plan initiatives.
What you will need to complete this exercise
Download the CISO Stakeholder Management Strategy Template
Phase 1
1.1 Understand Core Competencies
1.2 Measure Security and Business Satisfaction and Alignment
Phase 2
2.1 Assess Stakeholder Relationships
2.2 Assess the Core Competencies
Phase 3
3.1 Identify Resources to Address Competency Gaps
3.2 Plan Approach to Improve Stakeholder Relationships
Phase 4
4.1 Decide Next Actions and Support Your CISO Moving Forward
4.2 Regularly Reassess to Measure Development and Progress
This phase will walk you through the following activities:
Hire or Develop a World-Class CISO
Mark Lester
InfoSec Manager, SC Ports Authority
The new Security Manager leverages successful cultural change to gain support for new security investments.
Outcome: Integrating with the business on a small level and building on small successes will lead to bigger wins and bigger change.
| Actions | Next Steps |
|---|---|
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Activities
This step involves the following participants:
or
Outcomes of this step
Next actions for each of your development initiatives
Execute
The CISO Development Plan Template provides a simple but powerful way to focus on what really matters to execute your plan.
| Item to Develop (competency/process/tech) |
|---|
| First Action Toward Development |
| Desired Outcome, Including a Measurable Indicator |
Download the CISO Development Plan Template
Use Info-Tech’s CISO Development Plan Template to create a quick and simple yet powerful tool that you can refer to and update throughout your personal and professional development initiatives. As instructed in the template, you will document the following:
| Your Item to Develop | The Next Action Required | The Target Outcome |
|---|---|---|
| This could be a CISO competency, a security process item, a security technology item, or an important relationship (or something else that is a priority). | This could be as simple as “schedule lunch with a stakeholder” or “email Info-Tech to schedule a Guided Implementation call.” This part of the tool is meant to be continually updated as you progress through your projects. The strength of this approach is that it focuses your project into simple actionable steps that are easily achieved, rather than looking too far down the road and seeing an overwhelming task ahead. | This will be something measurable like “reduce spending by 10%” or “have informal meeting with leaders from each department.” |
Info-Tech Insight
A good plan doesn’t require anything that is outside of your control. Good measurable outcomes are behavior based rather than state based.
“Increase the budget by 10%” is a bad goal because it is ultimately reliant on someone else and can be derailed by an unsupportive executive. A better goal is “reduce spending by 10%.” This is something more within the CISO’s control and is thus a better performance indicator and a more achievable goal.
Below you will find sample content to populate your CISO Development Plan Template. Using this template will guide your CISO in achieving the goals identified here.
The template itself is a metric for assessing the development of the CISO. The number of targets achieved by the due date will help to quantify the CISO’s progress.
You may also want to include improvements to the organization’s security program as part of the CISO development plan.
| Area for Development | Item for Development | Next Action Required | Key Stakeholders/ Owners | Target Outcome | Due Date | Completed | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Core Competencies: Communication |
Executive communication |
Take economics course to learn business language | Course completed | [Insert date] | [Y/N] | ||
| Core Competencies: Communication |
Improve stakeholder relationships |
Email Bryce from finance to arrange lunch | Improved relationship with finance department | [Insert date] | [Y/N] | ||
| Technology Maturity: Security Prevention | Identity and access management (IAM) system | Call Info-Tech to arrange call on IAM solutions | 90% of employees entered into IAM system | [Insert date] | [Y/N] | ||
| Process Maturity: Response & Recovery | Disaster recovery | Read Info-Tech blueprint on disaster recovery | Disaster recovery and backup policies in place | [Insert date] | [Y/N] |
Check out the First 100 Days as CISO blueprint for guidance on bringing improvements to the security program
| Area for Development | Item for Development | Next Action Required | Key Stakeholders/ Owners | Target Outcome | Due Date | Completed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Core Competencies: Communication |
Executive communication |
Take economics course to learn business language | Course completed | [Insert date] | [Y/N] | |
| Core Competencies: Communication |
Improve stakeholder relationships |
Email Bryce from finance to arrange lunch | Improved relationship with finance department | [Insert date] | [Y/N] | |
| Technology Maturity: Security Prevention | Identity and access management (IAM) system | Call Info-Tech to arrange call on IAM solutions | 90% of employees entered into IAM system | [Insert date] | [Y/N] | |
| Process Maturity: Response & Recovery | Disaster recovery | Read Info-Tech blueprint on disaster recovery | Disaster recovery and backup policies in place | [Insert date] | [Y/N] |
Activities
Create a calendar event for you and your CISO, including which items you will reassess and when
This step involves the following participants:
or
Outcomes of this step
Scheduled reassessment of the CISO’s competencies
Execute
< 1 day
As previously mentioned, your CISO development plan is meant to be a living document. Your CISO will use this as a companion tool throughout project implementation, but periodically it will be necessary to re-evaluate the entire program to assess your progress and ensure that your actions are still in alignment with personal and organizational goals.
Info-Tech recommends performing the following assessments quarterly or twice yearly with the help of our executive advisors (either over the phone or onsite).
| Materials |
|---|
|
| Participants |
|
| Output |
|
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
workshop@infotech.com
1-888-670-8889
Build an Information Security Strategy
Your security strategy should not be based on trying to blindly follow best practices but on a holistic risk-based assessment that is risk aware and aligns with your business context.
The First 100 Days as CISO
Every CISO needs to follow Info-Tech’s five-step approach to truly succeed in their new position. The meaning and expectations of a CISO role will differ from organization to organization and person to person, but the approach to the new position will be relatively the same.
Implement a Security Governance and Management Program
Business and security goals should be the same. Businesses cannot operate without security, and security's goal is to enable safe business operations.
Dicker, William. "An Examination of the Role of vCISO in SMBs: An Information Security Governance Exploration." Dissertation, Georgia State University, May 2, 2021. Accessed 30 Sep. 2022.
Heidrick & Struggles. "2022 Global Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) Survey" Heidrick & Struggles International, Inc. September 6, 2022. Accessed 30 Sep. 2022.
IBM Security. "Cost of a Data Breach Report 2022" IBM. August 1, 2022. Accessed 9 Nov. 2022.
Mehta, Medha. "What Is a vCISO? Are vCISO Services Worth It?" Infosec Insights by Sectigo, June 23, 2021. Accessed Nov 22. 2022.
Milica, Lucia. “Proofpoint 2022 Voice of the CISO Report” Proofpoint. May 2022. Accessed 6 Oct. 2022.
Navisite. "The State of Cybersecurity Leadership and Readiness" Navisite. November 9, 2021. Accessed 9 Nov. 2022.
Shayo, Conrad, and Frank Lin. “An Exploration of the Evolving Reporting Organizational Structure for the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) Function” Journal of Computer Science and Information Technology, vol. 7, no. 1, June 2019. Accessed 28 Sep. 2022.
IT needs to answer these questions:
Your answers need to balance choice, risk, and cost.
Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:
This storyboard will help you identify your goals, build standard offerings for users, define governance and policies around offerings, and develop a roadmap for your EUC program.
Use these templates to document your end-user computing strategy. Follow the guidelines in the blueprint and record activity results in the template. The findings will be presented to the management team.
The Ideas Catalog introduces provisioning models, form factors, and supported operating systems. Use the Standard Offering Template to document provisioning models and define computing devices along with apps and peripherals according to the outcome of the user group analysis.
Use these policy templates to communicate the purposes behind each end-user computing decision and establish company standards, guidelines, and procedures for the purchase of technologies. The policies will ensure purchasing, reimbursement, security, and remote wiping enforcements are consistent and in alignment with the company 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.
Dig into the current state and build user persona.
Determine your challenges and strengths.
Delineate user IT requirements.
1.1 Assess the current state of end-user computing.
1.2 Perform SWOT analysis.
1.3 Map benefits to stakeholder drivers and priorities.
1.4 Identify user groups.
1.5 Identify supporting technology.
1.6 Identify opportunities to provide value.
SWOT analysis of current state
Goals cascade
Persona analysis
Define your EUC vision and standard offerings.
Brainstorm EUC vision and mission.
Find out the standard offerings.
Set the direction for end-user computing to support shift-left enablement.
2.1 Prioritize benefits.
2.2 Craft a vision and mission statement.
2.3 Identify goals.
2.4 Define guiding principles for your strategy.
2.5 Select a provisioning model for each persona.
2.6 Define the standard device offerings.
2.7 Document each persona's entitlements.
Vision statement, mission statement, and guiding principles
Goals and indicators
End-user device entitlements standard
Outline supporting practices and define policies for each use case.
Document supporting practices.
Document EUC policies.
3.1 Define device management tools and approach.
3.2 Identify groups involved in supporting practices.
3.3 Identify opportunities to improve customer service.
3.4 Define acceptable use.
3.5 Define BYOD policies.
3.6 Define procurement and entitlement policies.
3.7 Define security policies.
List of management tools for end-user computing
Roles and responsibilities for maintaining the end-user computing environment
Opportunities to improve customer service
End-user computing policy templates
Build a user migration roadmap.
Make the project a reality by documenting initiatives and building a roadmap.
4.1 Identify the gaps in devices, user support, use cases, policy & governance, and fitness for use.
4.2 Plan the deployment and user migration journey.
4.3 Document initiatives in the roadmap.
Initiatives mapped to practice areas
User migration journey map
It’s easy to think that if we give end users nice devices, then they will be more engaged and they will be happy with IT. If only it were that easy.
Info-Tech Research Group has surveyed over 119,000 people through its CIO Business Vision diagnostic. The results show that a good device is necessary but not enough for high satisfaction with IT. Once a user has a decent device, the other aspects of the user’s experience has a higher impact on their satisfaction with IT.
After all, if a person is trying to run apps designed in the 1990s, if they are struggling to access resources through an underperforming VPN connection, or if they can’t get help when their devices and apps aren’t working, then it doesn’t matter that you gave them a state-of-the-art MacBook or Microsoft Surface.
As you build out your end-user computing strategy to reflect the new reality of today’s workforce, ensure you focus on shifting user support left, modernizing apps to support how users need to work, and ensuring that your network and collaboration tools can support the increased demands. End-user computing teams need to focus beyond the device.
Ken Weston, ITIL MP, PMP, Cert.APM, SMC
Research Director, Infrastructure and Operations Info-Tech Research Group
Mahmoud Ramin, PhD
Senior Research Analyst, Infrastructure and Operations Info-Tech Research Group
IT needs to answer these questions:
Your answers need to balance choice, risk, and cost.
Management paradigms have shifted:
Take end-user computing beyond the OS.
This blueprint will help you:
A good device is necessary for satisfaction with IT but it’s not enough.
If a user has a prestigious tablet but the apps aren’t built well, they can’t get support on it, or they can’t connect to the internet, then that device is useless. Focus on supportability, use cases, connection, policy – and device.
Definition: End-User Computing (EUC)
End-user computing (EUC) is the domain of information and technology that deals with the devices used by workers to do their jobs. EUC has five focus areas: devices, user support, use cases, policy & governance, and fitness for use.
A good end-user computing strategy will effectively balance:
User Choice
Cost
Risk
The right balance will be unique for every organization.
| Cost | Risk | Choice | Result | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Higher Education | High importance | Low importance | High importance | Full BYOD for professors. Standardized offerings for administration. |
| Software Development Firms | Low importance | Medium/High importance | High importance | Standardized offerings for developers. Virtual desktops for users on BYOD. |
| Legal Firm | Medium importance | High importance | Low importance | Partners offered prestigious devices. Everyone else uses Windows PCs. Virtual desktops and apps for remote access. |
|
Healthcare |
High importance | High importance | Low importance | Nurses, janitors, and other frontline staff use shared tablets. Doctors are provisioned their own tablet. Admin staff and doctors are provisioned virtual desktops to maintain security and compliance. |
| Government | High importance | High importance | Low importance | Standardized PC offerings for all employees. MacBooks are provided with justification. Devices managed with Intune and ConfigMgr. |
Info-Tech’s CIO Business Vision has shown that when someone is dissatisfied with their device, their satisfaction with IT overall is only 40.92% on average.
When a person is satisfied with their device, their average satisfaction increases by approximately 30 percentage points to 70.22%. (Info-Tech Research Group, CIO Business Vision, 2021; N=119,383)
Improvements in the service desk, business apps, networks and communication infrastructure, and IT policy all have a higher impact on increasing satisfaction.
For every one-point increase in satisfaction in those areas, respondents’ overall satisfaction with IT increased by the respective percentage of a point. (Info-Tech Research Group, CIO Business Vision, 2021; N=119,409)
Only Windows
Group Policy & Client Management
Limited to email on phones
Hands-on with images
Virtual Desktop Infrastructure in the Data Center
Performed by IT
Rare
Phone calls and transactional interactions
Only Windows
Microsoft is still the dominant player in end-user computing, but Windows has only a fraction of the share it once had.
IT needs to revisit their device management practices. Modern management tools such as unified endpoint management (UEM) tools are better suited than traditional client management tools (CMT) for a cross-platform world.
IT must also revisit their application portfolios. Are business apps supported on Android and iOS or are they only supported on Windows? Is there an opportunity to offer more options to end users? Are end users already running apps and handling sensitive data on Android and iOS through software-as-a-service and bring-your-own-device (BYOD) capabilities in Office 365 and Google apps?
IT can’t expect everyone to be fluent on Windows and Mac, have a computer at home, or even have home broadband.
Of US adults aged 18-29:
Further, only 59% of US adults making less than $30,000/year have a laptop or desktop. (“Mobile Technology” and “Digital Divide,” Pew Research, 2021.)
Globally, people are likelier to have a cell subscription than they are to have access to broadband.
Group Policy & Client Management
CMTs such as Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager (ConfigMgr, aka SCCM) can be used to distribute apps, apply patches, and enforce group policy.
EMM tools allow you to manage multiple device platforms through mobile device management (MDM) protocols. These tools enforce security settings, allow you to push apps to managed devices, and monitor patch compliance through reporting.
EMM tools often support mobile application management (MAM) and mobile content management (MCM). Most EMM tools can manage devices running Windows, Mac OS, iOS, and Android, although there are exceptions.
UEM solutions combine CMT and EMM for better control of remote computers running Windows or Macs. Examples include:
Most UEM tools can manage devices running Windows, Mac OS, iOS, and Android, allowing IT to manage all end-user devices from a unified tool set (although there are exceptions).
MAM provides the ability to package an app with security settings, distribute app updates, and enforce app updates. Some capabilities do not require apps to be enrolled in an EMM or UEM solution.
MCM tools distribute files to remote devices. Many MCM solutions allow for security settings to be applied, such as encrypting the files or prohibiting data from leaving the secure container. Examples include OneDrive, Box, and Citrix ShareFile.
| Windows Management Features | Traditional CMT | Hybrid UEM | Cloud-Based EMM |
|---|---|---|---|
| Group Policy | ✔ Primary management approach | ✔ Available alongside configuration service providers | X Replaced by configuration service providers |
| Manage remote devices without VPN | X | X | ✔ |
| No longer manage and maintain images | X | ✔ Images are still available | ✔ Images replaced by provisioning packages |
| Secure and support BYOD | X (Certain tools may offer limited MDM capabilities) | ✔ | ✔ |
| Support remote zero-touch provisioning | X (Only available via PXE boot) | ✔ | ✔ |
| App, patch, update deployments | Via defined distribution points | Via defined distribution points or MAM | Via MAM |
Hands-on with images
Supply chain issues are making computers longer to procure, meaning users are waiting longer for computers (Cision, 2021). The resulting silicon chip shortage is expected to last until at least 2023 (Light Reading, 2021).
IT departments are delaying purchases, delaying refreshes, and/or purchasing more to reserve devices before they need them.
Remote work has increased by 159% over the past 12 years (NorthOne, 2021). New hires and existing users can’t always go into the office to get a new computer.
IT departments are paying vendors to hold onto computers and then drop-ship them directly to the end user. The devices are provisioned using zero touch (e.g. Autopilot, Apple Device Manager, or another tool). Since zero-touch provisioning tools do not support images, teams have had to switch to provisioning packages.
Virtual Desktop Infrastructure in the Data Center
Citrix saw subscription revenue increase 71% year over year in 2020 (Citrix 2020 Annual Report, p. 4). VMware saw subscription and SaaS revenue increase 38% from January 2020 to 2021 – while on-premises licensing revenue decreased by 5% (VMware Annual Report 2021, p. 40).
Microsoft and AWS are offering desktops as a service (i.e. cloud-based virtual desktops). IT needs to manage only the device, not the underlying virtual desktop infrastructure. This is in addition to Citrix’s and VMware’s cloud offerings, where IT doesn’t need to manage the underlying infrastructure that supports VDI.
Visit the blueprint Implement Desktop Virtualization and Transition to Everything as a Service to get started.
Rare
“More technical troubleshooting due to users working from home a lot more. It can be more difficult to talk users through fixes when they are off site if you cannot remotely assist so more emphasis on the communication skill which was already important.” (Service Desk Institute, 2021)
Visit the Hybrid Workplace Research Center to better support a hybrid workforce.
Limited to email on phones
Action Item: Identify how IT can provide more support to personally owned computers, tablets, and smartphones.
58% of working Americans say their work devices are “awful to work on." (PCMag, 2021)
But only 22% of organizations provide full support to BYOD. (Cybersecurity Insiders, 2021)
IT must either provide better devices or start fully supporting users on personal PCs.
Performed by IT
Action Item: Build a governance framework that describes the roles and responsibilities involved in business-owned apps. Identify the user’s role and end-user computing’s role in supporting low-code apps.
Visit the blueprint Embrace Business-Managed Apps to learn how to build a governance framework for low-code development platforms.
Visit the Low-Code Business Process Management SoftwareReviews category to compare different platforms.
Phone calls and transactional interactions
Microsoft’s 2019 “Global State of Customer Service” report shows that people have high expectations:
End users have the same expectations of IT, the service desk, and end-user computing teams:
Most Important Aspects of Customer Service
Resolving issue in one interaction - 35%
Knowledgeable agent - 31%
Finding information myself - 11%
Not repeating information - 20%
(Microsoft, 2019)
Action Item: Apply shift-left enablement to train tier 1 agents on troubleshooting more incidents and fulfilling more service requests. Build top-notch self-service capabilities for end users.
Work with your service desk on the blueprint Optimize the Service Desk with a Shift-Left Strategy.
Take end-user computing beyond the device
Only Windows
Group Policy & Client Management
Limited to email on phones
Hands-on with images
Virtual Desktop Infrastructure in the Data Center
Performed by IT
Rare
Phone calls and transactional interactions
Improvements in the service desk, business apps, networks and communication infrastructure, and IT policy have a higher impact on increasing satisfaction.
Impact of End-User Satisfaction of IT by Area Compared to Devices
Devices (x1.0)
IT Policy (x1.09)
Network & Communications Infrastructure (x1.41)
Business Apps (x1.51)
Service Desk (x1.54)
(Info-Tech Research Group, CIO Business Vision, 2021; n=119,409)
End-User Group Analysis
Supported Devices & Apps
Device Support
Fitness for Use
Vision
The right balance will be unique for every organization. Get the balance right by aligning your strategy's goals to senior leadership’s most important priorities.
Have a more prestigious option ready for users, such as VIPs, who want more than the usual offerings. This approach will help you to proactively anticipate your users' needs.
These five personas will exist in one form or another throughout your user groups.
| 1. Set the Direction | 2. Define the Offering | 3. Build the Roadmap | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Phase Steps |
1.1 Identify Desired Benefits 1.2 Perform a User Group Analysis 1.3 Define the Vision |
2.1 Define the Standard Offerings 2.2 Outline Supporting Services 2.3 Define Governance and Policies |
3.1 Develop Initiatives |
| Phase Outcomes |
Current-State Assessment Goals Cascade User Group Assessment Vision Statement Mission Statement Guiding Principles |
Standard Offerings by User Group Device Management Model Technical Support Model Device Entitlement Policy Acceptable Use Policy Remote Wipe Policy & Waiver Personal Device Reimbursement Policy |
End-User Migration Journey Map Strategy and Roadmap |
Once users are satisfied with devices, focus on the bigger picture
If end users are dissatisfied with devices, they will also be dissatisfied with IT. But if you don’t also focus on apps and supportability, then giving users better devices will only marginally increase satisfaction with IT.
Bring it back to stakeholder priorities
Before you build your vision statement, make sure it resonates with the business by identifying senior leadership’s priorities and aligning your own goals to them.
Balance choice, risk, and cost
The balance of user choice, risk mitigation, and cost optimization is unique for each company. Get the balance right by aligning your strategy’s goals to senior leadership’s most important priorities.
Communicate early and often with users
Expect users to become anxious when you start targeting their devices. Address this anxiety by bringing them into the conversation early in the planning – they will see that their concerns are being addressed and may even feel a sense of ownership over the strategy.
Standardize the nonstandard
When users such as VIP users want more than the standard offering, have a more prestigious option available. This approach will help you to proactively anticipate your users’ needs.
Consider multiple personas when building your standards, training, and migrations
Early Adopters, Late Adopters, VIP Users, Road Warriors, and Hoarders – these five personas will exist in one form or another throughout your user groups.
Use these worksheets to guide your analysis.
Compare options for your end-user computing environment.
Define your supported offerings and publish this document in your service catalog.
Use these templates as a starting point for addressing policy gaps.
Document your strategy using this boardroom-ready template.
"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."
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 10 calls over the course of 4 to 6 months.
Contact your account representative for more information.
workshops@infotech.com 1-888-670-8889
| Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Set the Direction | Define the Offering | Support the Offering | Bridge the Gap and Create the Roadmap | Next Steps and Wrap-Up (offsite) | |
| Activities |
1.1 Identify desired benefits. 1.1.1 Assess the current state of end-user computing. 1.1.2 Perform a SWOT analysis. 1.1.3 Map benefits to stakeholder drivers and priorities. 1.2 Analyze user groups. 1.2.1 Identify user groups. 1.2.2 Identify supporting technology. 1.2.3 Record use cases. 1.2.4 Identify opportunities to provide value. |
1.3 Define the vision. 1.3.1 Prioritize benefits. 1.3.2 Craft a vision and mission statement. 1.3.3 Identify goals. 1.3.4 Define guiding principles for your strategy. 2.1 Define the standard offerings. 2.1.1 Select a provisioning model for each persona. 2.1.2 Define the standard device offerings. 2.1.3 Document each personas’ entitlements. |
2.2 Outline supporting practices. 2.2.1 Define device management tools and approach. 2.2.2 Identify groups involved in supporting practices. 2.2.4 Identify opportunities to improve customer service. 2.3 Define policies. 2.3.1 Define acceptable use. 2.3.2 Define BYOD policies. 2.3.3 Define procurement and entitlement policies. 2.3.4 Define security policies. |
3.1 Develop initiatives. 3.1.1 Identify the gaps in devices, user support, use cases, policy & governance, and fitness for use. 3.1.2 Plan the deployment and user migration journey. 3.1.3 Document initiatives in the roadmap . |
5.1 Complete in-progress deliverables from previous four days. 5.2 Set up time to review workshop deliverables and discuss next steps |
| Deliverables |
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1.1 Identify Desired Benefits
1.2 Perform a User Group Analysis
1.3 Define the Vision
2.1 Define the Standard Offerings
2.2 Outline Supporting Services
2.3 Define Governance and Policies
3.1 Develop Initiatives
This phase will walk you through the following activities:
This phase involves the following participants:
Download the End-User Computing Strategy Template.
1.1.1 Assess the current state of end-user computing
1.1.2 Perform a SWOT analysis
1.1.3 Map benefits to stakeholder drivers and priorities
Optional: Identify current total cost of ownership
This step requires the following inputs:
This step involves the following participants:
Download the End-User Computing Strategy Template.
Devices: As shown in the executive brief, devices are necessary for satisfaction in IT. In your current-state assessment, outline the principal means by which users are provided with a desktop and computing.
User support: Examine how the end-user computing team enables a high-quality customer service experience. Especially consider self-service and tier 1 support.
Use cases: Reflect on how IT and end-user computing supports users’ most important use cases. Consider these aspects:
Policy and governance: Document the current state of policies governing the use of end-user computing devices, both corporate-issued and personally owned. Review Step 2.3 for a list of policy questions to address and for links to policy templates.
IT policies: List your current policy documents. Include policies that relate to end-user computing, such as security policy documents; acceptable use policy documents; purchasing policies; documents governing entitlements to computers, tablets, smartphones, and prestigious devices; and employee monitoring policy documents.
Fitness for use: Reflect on your ability to secure users, enterprise data, and computers. Document your current capabilities to ensure devices are adequately secured and risks adequately mitigated.
Record your SWOT analysis in the “Current-State Assessment” section of your End-User Computing Strategy Template.
Download the End-User Computing Strategy Template.
| Stakeholder | Drivers and Strategic Priorities | End-User Computing Benefits |
|---|---|---|
| CEO | Ensure service continuity with remote work |
|
| Respond to COVID-19 changes with agility |
|
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| Reduce unnecessary costs |
|
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| COO | Business continuity: being able to work from home |
|
Record this table on the “Goals Cascade” slide in the “Vision and Desired Benefits” section of your End-User Computing Strategy Template.
Use the CEO-CIO Alignment Program to identify which business benefits are most important.
| Business Goals | End-User Computing Benefits | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Manage risk | Controls are effectively enforced on remote devices | Sensitive data is secured | Devices and data are accounted for | |
| Ensure service continuity | Business processes can still function with remote personnel | Customers can still be served by remote workers | Personnel can be productive from anywhere | IT practices can still operate remotely |
| Comply with external regulation | Improved ability to demonstrate compliance | |||
| Respond to change with agility | Personnel can be productive from anywhere | More business processes can be performed remotely | ||
| Improve operational efficiency | More efficient sales practices | More efficient customer service practices | Increased number of digitized business processes | Increased use of IT and HR self-service tools |
| Offer competitive products and services | Increased customer satisfaction with online services | Number of piloted new products | ||
| Manage people | Increased employee productivity | Increased employee engagement | Increased talent attraction | Increased workforce retention |
| Make data-driven decisions | Increased workforce retention | Improved understanding of customers | Access to accurate data on services and spending | Improved IT cost forecasting |
| Improve customer experience | Increased customer satisfaction with online services | Ability to scale up capacity to meet increased demand | Customers can still be served by remote workers | Improved customer self-service options |
| Maximize stakeholder value | Transition to OpEx spend and reduce CapEx investments | Access to accurate data on services and spending | Improved IT cost forecasting | |
Insert the results into your End-User Computing Strategy Template.
Download the HAM Budgeting Tool.
Download the Mobile Strategy TCO Calculator.
1.2.1 Organize roles based on how they work
1.2.2 Organize users into groups
1.2.3 Document the current offerings
1.2.4 Brainstorm pain points and desired gains for each user group
This step requires the following inputs:
This step involves the following participants:
Use the Application Portfolio Assessment to run a relationship survey.
Dive deeper with the blueprint Improve Requirements Gathering.
Organization chart: Consult with HR or department leaders to provide a list of the different roles that exist in each department.
Identity access management tools: You can consult tools like Active Directory, but only if the data is clean.
Apps and devices used: Run a report from your endpoint management tool to see what devices and apps are used by one another. Supplement this report with a report from a network management tool to identify software as a service that are in use and/or consult with department leaders.
Relationship surveys: Tools like the End-User Application Satisfaction Diagnostic allow you to assess overall satisfaction with IT.
Focus groups and interviews: Gather unstructured feedback from users about their apps and devices.
User shadowing: Observe people as they use technology to identify improvement opportunities (e.g. shadow meetings, review video call recordings).
Ticket data: Identify apps or systems that users submit the most incidents about as well as high-volume requests that could be automated.
| Always Works in the Same Location | Sometimes Works in Different Locations | Always Works in Different Locations | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Predominantly Reads Information |
|
||
| Reads and Writes Information |
|
|
|
| Predominantly Creates Information |
|
Download the User Group Analysis Workbook.
Standardize the nonstandard
When users such as VIP users want more than the standard offering, have a more prestigious option available. This approach will help you to proactively anticipate your users’ needs.
Record each user group’s pain points and desired gains on their respective worksheet.
For additional questions you can ask, visit this Strategyzer blog post by Alexander Osterwalder.
Info-Tech Insight
Identify out-of-scope benefits?
If that desired gain is required for the vision to be achieved for a specific role, you have two options:
Forcing a user group to use an unsatisfactory tool will severely undermine your chance of success, especially in the project’s early stages.
1.3.1 Prioritize which benefits you want to achieve
1.3.2 Identify how you will track performance
1.3.3 Craft a vision statement that demonstrates what you’re trying to create
1.3.4 Craft a mission statement for your end-user computing team
1.3.5 Define guiding principles
This step requires the following inputs:
This step involves the following participants:
Record the output in your End-User Computing Strategy Template under “Benefit Prioritization” in the “Vision and Desired Benefits” section.
Sample output:
| Must Have | Should Have | Could Have | Won't Have |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|
|
Record this information in your End-User Computing Strategy Template.
Sample output:
| Critical Success Factor | Key Performance Indicator | Metrics |
|---|---|---|
| Improve remote worker productivity | Increase employee engagement by 10% in two years |
|
| Integrate relevant information sources into one spot for sales | Integrate three information sources that will be useful to sales in one year |
|
| Reduce real-estate costs | Reduce office space by 50% in two cities over three years |
|
| Securely deliver all apps, information, and data to any device, anywhere, at any time | Build the apps and information sources into a digital workspace for three business processes over one year |
|
Strong IT vision statements have the following characteristics:
Sample IT Vision Statements:
Strong IT mission statements have the following characteristics:
Sample IT Mission Statements:
| IT Principle Name | IT Principle Statement |
|---|---|
| 1. Enterprise value focus | We aim to provide maximum long-term benefits to the enterprise as a whole while optimizing total costs of ownership and risks. |
| 2. Fit for purpose | We maintain capability levels and create solutions that are fit for purpose without over-engineering them. |
| 3. Simplicity | We choose the simplest solutions and aim to reduce operational complexity of the enterprise. |
| 4. Reuse > buy > build | We maximize reuse of existing assets. If we can’t reuse, we procure externally. As a last resort, we build custom solutions. |
| 5. Managed data | We handle data creation, modification, and use enterprise-wide in compliance with our data governance policy. |
| 6. Controlled technical diversity | We control the variety of technology platforms we use. |
| 7. Managed security | We manage, support, and assist in the implementation of security enterprise-wide in collaboration with our security governance team. |
| 8. Compliance to laws and regulations | We operate in compliance with all applicable laws and regulations. |
| 9. Innovation | We seek innovative ways to use technology for business advantage. |
| 10. Customer centricity | We deliver best experiences to our end users by aligning to customer service best practices. |
1.1 Identify Desired Benefits
1.2 Perform a User Group Analysis
1.3 Define the Vision
Define the Offering
2.1 Define the Standard Offerings
2.2 Outline Supporting Services
2.3 Define Governance and Policies
Build the Roadmap
3.1 Develop Initiatives
This phase will walk you through the following activities:
This phase involves the following participants:
2.1.1 Identify the provisioning models for each user group
2.1.2 Define the standard device offerings
2.1.3 Document each user group’s entitlements
This step requires the following inputs:
This step involves the following participants:
Action Item: Provide a defined set of standard options to the business to proactively address different needs.
A good end-user computing strategy will effectively balance:
Your standard offerings need to strike the right balance for your organization.
The catalog provides information about choices in:
Review the catalog to learn about items that can help your organization to achieve the desired vision from Phase 1.
As you review the catalog, think about these questions:
Download the End-User Computing Ideas Catalog.
Download the End-User Computing Ideas Catalog.
Download the Standard End-User Entitlements and Offerings Template.
| Persona | Primary Computing Device | Secondary Laptops or Computers | Smartphone | Tablet |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sales | COPE | BYOD | BYOD | BYOD |
| Field Sales | CYOD | BYOD | COBO | COBO |
| Customer Service | COBO | None | None | None |
| Knowledge Worker | COPE | BYOD | BYOD | BYOD |
| App Dev | CYOPED | None | CYOD | CYOD |
| VIP | CYOPED | CYOPED | CYOPE | BYOD |
When users such as VIP users want more than the standard offering, have a more prestigious option ready to offer. This approach will help you to proactively anticipate your users’ needs.
Generally, if it is a supported device, then the budget owner determines whether to allow the user to receive a more powerful or more prestigious device.
This decision can be based on factors such as:
If IT gets this answer wrong, then it can result in shadow IT
Document your answer in the Device Entitlement Policy Template.
| Windows | Mac OS | iOS | Android | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Laptops | Lenovo T15 Gen 2 | MacBook Pro 14” | N/A | N/A |
| Power Laptops | Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon | MacBook Pro 16” | N/A | N/A |
| Prestigious Laptops | Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 6 | MacBook Pro 16” | N/A | N/A |
| Tablets | Microsoft Surface | N/A | iPad Pro | Samsung Galaxy Tab |
| Smartphones | N/A | N/A | iPhone 13 | Samsung Galaxy S21 |
Download the Standard End-User Entitlements and Offerings Template.
2.2.1 Review device management tools and capabilities
2.2.2 Identify common incidents and requests for devices
2.2.3 Record how you want to shift resolution
2.2.4 Define which IT groups are involved in supporting practices
Define the Offering
This step requires the following inputs:
This step involves the following participants:
Outcomes of this step
| Provision | Protect from loss/theft | Deploy/update apps | Backup & protect | Protect from injections | Complies with policies | Track | Decommission | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Windows 10 & 11 (co-managed) | Autopilot | Gap | ConfigMgr | Gap | Windows Security | ConfigMgr | ConfigMgr Intune | Intune and Autopilot |
| Windows 10 & 11 (Intune) | Autopilot | Intune (remote wipe) | Intune | OneDrive for Business | Windows Security | Microsoft Advanced Threat Protection | Intune | Intune and Autopilot |
| Mac OS | Jamf Pro | Intune (remote wipe) | Jamf Pro | OneDrive for Business | Gap | Jamf Pro | Intune | Jamf Pro |
Document the results on the “IT Management Tools” slide in the “IT Support” section of your End-User Computing Strategy Template.
Analyze your service desk ticket data. Look for the following information:
Record the level at which these tickets can be resolved today. Ensure you include these groups:
Record the desired state. For each incident and request, to where do you want to shift resolution?
Record this chart on the “Current State of IT Support” slide in the “IT Support” section of your End-User Computing Strategy Template.
| Most Common Incidents & Requests | Self-Service | Service Desk Tier 1 | Desk-Side or Field Support | End-User Computing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Connect/fix a printer | X | |||
| Web conferencing issue | X | |||
| Bluetooth issues | X | |||
| Outlook issues | X | |||
| Install standard app | X | |||
| Install app requiring approval | X | |||
| Install nonstandard app | X | |||
| Enroll personal iOS/Android device | X | |||
| Enroll personal Mac/Windows computer | X | |||
| Perform a factory reset on a lost or stolen device | X | |||
| Unenroll device | X |
Starting with the chart you created in Activity 2.2.2, record the desired state. For each incident and request, to where do you want to shift resolution?
Use the “Opportunities to Provide Self-Service and Articles” and “Desired State” slides in the “IT Support” section of your End-User Computing Strategy Template to document quick wins and high-value, high-effort shifts.
| Most Common Incidents & Requests | Self-Service | Service Desk Tier 1 | Desk-Side or Field Support | End-User Computing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Connect/fix a printer | H | QW | X | |
| Web conferencing issue | H | X | ||
| Bluetooth issues | L | X | ||
| Outlook issues | H | H | X | |
| Install standard app | X | |||
| Install app requiring approval | H | X | ||
| Install nonstandard app | OoS | X | ||
| Enroll personal iOS/Android device | QW | QW | X | |
| Enroll personal Mac/Windows computer | QW | QW | X | |
| Perform a factory reset on a lost or stolen device | QW | QW | X | |
| Unenroll device | QW | QW | X |
2.3.1 Answer these organizational policy questions
2.3.2 Answer these security policy questions
Define the Offering
This step requires the following inputs:
This step involves the following participants:
Outcomes of this step
Use the “Policies” section in the End-User Computing Strategy Template to document the answers in this section. Activities 2.3.2 and 2.3.3 present links to policy templates. Use these templates to help address any gaps in your current policy suite.
Use the “Policies” section of the End-User Computing Strategy Template to document these answers.
Download the Mobile Device Connectivity & Allowance Policy template.
Download the Purchasing Policy template.
Download the Mobile Device Reimbursement Policy template.
Download the Mobile Device Reimbursement Agreement template.
Download the General Security – User Acceptable Use Policy template.
Download the BYOD Acceptable Use Policy template.
Download the Mobile Device Remote Wipe Waiver template.
Download the General Security – User Acceptable Use Policy template.
Visit the Reduce and Manage Your Organization’s Insider Threat Risk blueprint to address this gap.
Use the “Policies” section of the End-User Computing Strategy Template to document these answers.
Download the General Security – User Acceptable Use Policy template.
Visit the Discover and Classify Your Data blueprint to address this gap.
Download the General Security – User Acceptable Use Policy template.
Download the General Security – User Acceptable Use Policy template.
Visit the Develop and Deploy Security Policies blueprint to address this gap.
For help defining your own security configuration baselines for each operating system, reference best practice documentation such as:
National Institute of Standards and Technology’s National Checklist Program.
Center for Internet Security’s solutions.
Microsoft’s security baseline settings for Windows 10 and 11 Configuration Service Providers.
1.1 Identify Desired Benefits
1.2 Perform a User Group Analysis
1.3 Define the Vision
2.1 Define the Standard Offerings
2.2 Outline Supporting Services
2.3 Define Governance and Policies
3.1 Develop Initiatives
This phase will walk you through the following activities:
This phase involves the following participants:
3.1.1 Identify initiatives for each EUC practice
3.1.2 Build out the user’s migration journey map
3.1.3 Build out a list of initiatives
Build the Roadmap
This step requires the following inputs:
This step involves the following participants:
Outcomes of this step
For each of the five areas, build a profile for the changes you want to implement. Record:
Identify the initiatives involved in each area.
Document these profiles and initiatives in the “Roadmap” section of your End-User Computing Strategy Template.
Users execute the migrate on their own (e.g. Microsoft’s consumer migration to Windows 10).
Users come in person, select a device, and perform the migration with a specialist. If the device needs support, they return to the same place (e.g. buying a computer from a store).
Users select a device. When the device is ready, they can schedule time to pick up the device and perform the migration with a specialist (e.g. purchasing an iPhone in advance from Apple’s website with in-store pick-up).
Migrations to the new tool may fail. IT should check in with the user to confirm that the device successfully made the migration.
Download the End-User Computing Strategy Template.
On tab “1. Setup”:
Use tab “2. Data Entry” to record your list of initiatives.
Use tab “3. Roadmap” to visualize your data. You will have to press “Refresh All” under Data in the ribbon for the PivotChart to update.
Copy the roadmap visual on tab “3. Roadmap” into your End-User Computing Strategy Template. You can also copy the list of initiatives over into the document.
Download the Roadmap Tool.
You built a strategy to improve the balance between user enablement, risk mitigation, and cost optimization. Throughout the blueprint, you identified opportunities to provide additional value to end users and stakeholders during these activities:
Contact your account representative for more information.
workshops@infotech.com
1-888-670-8889
If you would like additional support, have our analysts guide you through other phases as part of an Info-Tech Workshop.
Contact your account representative for more information.
workshops@infotech.com 1-888-670-8889
To accelerate this project, engage your IT team in an Info-Tech workshop with an Info-Tech analyst team.
Info-Tech analysts will join you and your team at your location or welcome you to Info-Tech’s historic Toronto office to participate in an innovative onsite workshop.
The following are sample activities that will be conducted by Info-Tech analysts with your team:
Identify User Groups
Identify each user group based on the business processes, tasks, and applications they use.
Define Standard Device Offerings
Record your provisioning models for each user group and the primary and secondary devices, apps, and peripherals that each group receives.
This project helps you align your zero-touch approach with stakeholder priorities and larger IT strategies. You will be able to build your zero-touch provisioning and patching plan from both the asset lifecycle and the end-user perspective to create a holistic approach that emphasizes customer service. Tailor deployment plans to more easily scope and resource deployment projects.
This project will help you analyze the current state of your HAM program, define assets that will need to be managed, and build and involve the ITAM team from the beginning to help embed the change. It will also help you define standard policies, processes, and procedures for each stage of the hardware asset lifecycle, from procurement through to disposal.
This project will help you conduct a goals exercise and capability assessment for Office 365. You will be able to refine governance objectives, build out controls, formalize governance, build out one pagers, and finalize a communication plan.
A special thank-you to 6 anonymous contributors
“2020 Annual Report and Proxy.” Citrix, 2020. Accessed Oct. 2021.
“2021 BYOD Security Report.” Cybersecurity Insiders, 2021. Web.
Anderson, Arabella. “12 Remote Work Statistics to Know in 2022.” NorthOne, 2021. Accessed Oct. 2021.
Bayes, Scarlett. “ITSM: 2021 & Beyond.” Service Desk Institute, 14 April 2021, p. 14. Web.
Belton, Padraig. “Intel: Chip shortage will extend to at least 2023.” Light Reading, 22 Oct. 2021. Web.
Beroe Inc. “Demand for PC Components Saw a Surge Due to COVID-19, Says Beroe Inc.” Cision PR Newswire, 2 Sept. 2021. Web.
Devaraj, Vivekananthan. “Reference Architecture: Remote PC Access.” Citrix, 2021. Accessed Aug. 2021.
“Elements of the Project Charter and Project Scope Statement.” A Guide to PMBOK, 7th edition, PMI, 2021. Accessed Sept. 2021.
Elliott, Christopher. “This Is How The Pandemic Improved Customer Service.” Forbes, 2021. Accessed Oct. 2021.
“Enable TMP 2.0 on your PC.” Microsoft, Support, Aug. 2021. Web.
“End User Computing Trends to Look Out for in 2021.” Stratodesk, 30 Oct. 2020. Accessed September 2021.
“Global State of Customer Service: The Transformation of Customer Service from 2015 to Present Day.” Microsoft, 2019. Web.
Goodman, Elizabeth et al. “Observing the User Experience” A Practitioner's Guide to User Research, 2nd edition. Elsevier, 2012. Accessed Sept. 2021.
Govindarajulu, Chittibabu. “An Instrument to Classify End-Users Based On the User Cube” Informing Science, June 2002. Accessed September 2021.
Griffith, Eric. “Remote Employees to Bosses: Our PCs Suck!” PCMag, 11 Oct. 2021. Web.
Hutchings, Jeffrey D., and Craig A. de Ridder. “Impact of Remote Working on End User Computing Solutions and Services.” Pillsbury, 2021. Accessed Sept. 2021
“ITIL4 Create, Deliver, and Support.” Axelos, 2020. Accessed Sept. 2021.
“ITIL4 Drive Stakeholder Value” Axelos, 2020. Accessed Sept. 2021.
Mcbride, Neil, and Trevor Wood-Harper. “Towards User-Oriented Control of End-User Computing in Large Organizations” Journal of Organizational and End User Computing, vol. 14, no. 1, pp. 33-41, 2002. Accessed September 2021.
““Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager Documentation.” Microsoft Docs, Microsoft, 2021. Accessed Sept. 2021.
“Microsoft Intune documentation.” Microsoft Docs, Microsoft. Accessed Sept. 2021.
“Mobile Cellular Subscriptions (per 100 People).” The World Bank, International Telecommunication Union (ITU) World Telecommunication/ICT Indicators Database, 2020. Web.
Morgan, Jacob. “The Employee Experience Advantage: How to Win the War for Talent by Giving Employees the Workspaces they Want, the Tools they Need, and a Culture They Can Celebrate.” Wiley, 2017. Accessed Sept. 2021.
Murphy, Anna. “How the pandemic has changed customer support forever.” Intercom, 2021. Accessed Sept. 2021.
“Operating System Market Share Worldwide, Jan 2021-Jan 2022.” StatCounter GlobalStats, 2022. Web.
“Operating System Market Share Worldwide, Jan-Dec 2011.” StatCounter GlobalStats, 2012. Web.
Pereira, Karla Susiane, et al. “A Taxonomy to Classify Risk End-User Profile in Interaction with the Computing Environment.” In: Tryfonas T. (eds.) Human Aspects of Information Security, Privacy, and Trust. HAS 2016. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol. 9750. Accessed Sept. 2021.
Perrin, Andrew. “Mobile Technology and Home Broadband 2020.” Pew Research Center, 3 June 2021. Web.
Quan-Haase, Anabel. “Technology and Society: Social Networks, Power, and Inequality” Oxford University Press, 2012. Accessed Aug. 2021.
Reed, Karin, and Joseph Allen. “Suddenly Virtual: Making Remote Meetings Work.” Wiley, 2021. Accessed Aug. 2021.
Rockart, John F., and Lauren S. Flannery. “The management of end user computing.” Communications of the ACM, vol. 26, no. 10, Oct. 1983. Accessed September 2021.
Turek, Melanie. “Employees Say Smartphones Boost Productivity by 34 Percent: Frost & Sullivan Research.” Samsung Insights, 3 Aug. 2016. Web.
Vladimirskiy, Vadim. “Windows 365 vs. Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD) – Comparing Two DaaS Products.” Nerdio, 2021. Accessed Aug. 2021.
“VMware 2021 Annual Report.” VMware, Financial Document Library, 2021. Web.
VMworld 2021, Oct. 2021.
Vogels, Emily A. “Digital divide persists even as americans with lower incomes make gains in tech adoption.” Pew Research Center, 22 June 2021. Web.
“What is End-User computing?” VMware, 2021. Accessed Aug. 2021.
“Windows 10 Home and Pro.” Microsoft, Docs, 2021. Web.
Zibreg, Christian. “Microsoft 365 Now Boasts Over 50 Million Subscribers.” MUD, 29 April 2021. Web.
Once upon a time, a young woman named Emma lived a hectic professional life. She was always running around, making decisions, and trying to stay ahead in the competitive world of entrepreneurship. However, she felt overwhelmed and stressed on the battlefield, and she couldn't seem to make the right choices no matter how hard she tried.
Continuous assessment and optimization of your Workday enterprise resource planning (ERP) is critical to the success of your organization.
Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:
Enterprise resource planning (ERP) is a core tool that the business leverages to accomplish its goals. Take a proactive approach to optimize your enterprise applications. Strategically re-align business goals, identify business application capabilities, complete a process assessment, evaluate user satisfaction, measure module satisfaction, and vendor relations to create an optimization plan that will drive a cohesive technology strategy that delivers results.
The Get the Most out of Workday Workbook serves as the holding document for the different elements of the Get the Most out Workday blueprint. Use each assigned tab to input the relevant information for the process of optimizing Workday.
Use this tool provide Info-Tech with information surrounding your ERP application(s). This inventory will be used to create a custom Application Portfolio Assessment (APA) for your ERP. The template includes demographics, application inventory, departments to be surveyed and data quality inclusion.
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.
Define your workday application vision.
Set the foundation for optimizing Workday by building a cross-functional team, aligning with organizational strategy, inventorying current system state, defining your timeframe, and exploring current costs.
1.1 Identify stakeholders and build your optimization team.
1.2 Build an ERP strategy model.
1.3 Inventory current system state.
1.4 Define optimization timeframe.
1.5 Understand Workday costs.
Workday optimization team
Workday business model
Workday optimization goals
System inventory and data flow
Application and business capabilities list
Workday optimization timeline
Map current-state capabilities.
Measure the state of your current Workday system to understand where it is not performing well.
2.1 Assess Workday capabilities.
2.2 Review your satisfaction with the vendor/product and willingness for change.
Workday capability gap analysis
Workday user satisfaction (application portfolio assessment)
Workday SoftwareReviews survey results
Workday current costs
Assess Workday.
Explore underperforming areas to:
Uncover where user satisfaction is lacking and possible root causes.
Identify process and workflows that are creating issues for end users and identify improvement options.
Understand where data issues are occurring and explore how you can improve these.
Identify integration points and explore if there are any areas of improvement.
Investigate your relationship with the vendor and product, including that relative to others.
Identify any areas for cost optimization (optional).
3.1 Prioritize optimization opportunities.
3.2 Discover optimization initiatives.
Product and vendor satisfaction opportunities
Capability and feature optimization opportunities
Process optimization opportunities
Integration optimization opportunities
Data optimization opportunities
Workday cost-saving opportunities
Build the optimization roadmap.
Understanding where you need to improve is the first step, now understand where to focus your optimization efforts, build out next steps and put a timeframe in place.
4.1 Build your optimization roadmap.
Workday optimization roadmap
HR, finance, and planning systems are the core foundation of enterprise resource systems (ERP) systems. These are core tools that the business leverages to accomplish its goals. An ERP that is doing its job well is invisible to the business. The challenges come when the tool is no longer invisible. It has become a source of friction in the functioning of the business.
Workday is expensive, benefits can be difficult to quantify, and optimization can be difficult to navigate. Over time, technology evolves, organizational goals change, and the health of these systems is often not monitored. This is complicated in today’s digital landscape with multiple integration points, siloed data, and competing priorities.
Too often organizations jump into selecting replacement systems without understanding the health of their systems. We can do better than this.
IT leaders need to take a proactive approach to continually monitor and optimize their enterprise applications. Strategically realign business goals, identify business application capabilities, complete a process assessment, evaluate user satisfaction, measure module satisfaction, and improve vendor relations to create an optimization plan that will drive a cohesive technology strategy that delivers results.
Lisa Highfield
Research Director, Enterprise Applications
Info-Tech Research Group
Your Workday systems are critical to supporting the organization’s business processes. They are expensive. Direct benefits and ROI can be hard to measure.
Workday application portfolios are often behemoths to support. With complex integration points and unique business processes, stabilization is the norm.
Application optimization is essential to staying competitive and productive in today’s digital environment.
Balancing optimization with stabilization is one of the most difficult decisions for Workday application leaders.
Competing priorities and often unclear enterprise application strategies make it difficult to make decisions about what, how, and when to optimize.
Enterprise applications involve large numbers of processes, users, and evolving vendor roadmaps.
Teams do not have a framework to illustrate, communicate, and justify the optimization effort in the language your stakeholders understand.
In today’s changing world, it is imperative to evaluate your applications for optimization and to look for opportunities to capitalize on rapidly expanding technologies, integrated data, and employee solutions that meet the needs of your organization.
Assess your Workday applications and the environment in which they exist. Take a business-first strategy to prioritize optimization efforts.
Validate capabilities, user satisfaction, and issues around data, vendor management, and costs to build out an overall roadmap and optimization strategy.
Pull this all together to prioritize optimization efforts and develop a concrete roadmap.
Info-Tech Insight
Workday is investing heavily in expanding and deepening its finance and expanded product offerings, but we cannot stand still on our optimization efforts. Understand your product(s), processes, user satisfaction, integration points, and the availability of data to business decision makers. Examine these areas to develop a personalized Workday optimization roadmap that fits the needs of your organization. Incorporate these methodologies into an ongoing optimization strategy aimed at enabling the business, increasing productivity, and reducing costs.

Workday enterprise resource planning (ERP) facilitates the flow of information across business units. It allows for the seamless integration of data across financial and people systems to create a holistic view of the enterprise to support decision making.
In many organizations, Workday is considered the core people systems and is becoming more widely adopted for finance and a full ERP system.
ERP systems are considered the lifeblood of organizations. Problems with this key operational system will have a dramatic impact on the ability of the enterprise to survive and grow.
ERP implementation should not be a one-and-done exercise. There needs to be ongoing optimization to enable business processes and optimal organizational results.
Workday
Workday has many modules that work together to facilitate the flow of information across the business. Workday’s unique data platform allows for seamless integration of systems and creates a holistic view of the enterprise to support decision making.
In many organizations, the ERP system is considered the lifeblood of the enterprise. Problems with this key operational system will have a dramatic impact on the ability of the enterprise to survive and grow.
Workday operates in many industry verticals and performs well in service organizations.
An ERP system:
Product Description
Evolution of Workday
Workday HCM 2006
Workday Financial Management 2007
Workday 10 (Finance & HCM) 2010
Workday Student (Higher Education) 2011
Workday Cloud (PAAS) 2017
Acquisition of Adaptive Insights 2018
Acquisition of VNDLY 2021
Vendor Description
Employees: 12,500
Headquarters: Pleasanton, CA
Website: workday.com
Founded: 2005
Presence: Global, Publicly Traded
77% of clients were satisfied with the product’s business value created. 78% of clients were satisfied that the cost is fair relative to value, and 95% plan to renew. (SoftwareReviews, 2022)
Workday has seen steady growth working with over 50% of Fortune 500 companies. 4,100 of those are HCM and finance customers. It has seen great success in service industries and has a 95% gross retention rate. (Diginomica)
Workday reported a 40% year-over-year increase in Workday Financial Management deployments for both new and existing customers, as accelerated demand for Workday cloud-based continues. (Workday, June 2021)
Workday continues to invest in Workday Finance
Recent Finance-Related Acquisitions
Workday challenges and dissatisfaction
Organizational
People and teams
Technology
Data
Finance, IT, Sales, and other users of the ERP system can only optimize ERP with the full support of each other. The cooperation of the departments is crucial when trying to improve ERP technology capabilities and customer interaction.
Info-Tech Insight
While technology is the key enabler of building strong customer experiences, there are many other drivers of dissatisfaction. IT must stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the business to develop a technology framework for ERP.
Enterprise Application Optimization - 124%
Product - 65%
Enterprise Application Selection - 76%
Agile - 79%
(Info-Tech case data, 2022; N=3,293)
We are seeing Applications leaders’ priorities change year over year, driven by a shift in their approach to problem solving. Leaders are moving from a process-centric approach to a collaborative approach that breaks down boundaries and brings teams together.
Application Portfolio Management - 13%
Business Process Management - 4%
Software Development Lifecycle -25%
(Info-Tech case data, 2022; N=3,293)
Software development lifecycle topics are tactical point solutions. Organizations have been “shifting left” to tackle the strategic issues such as product vision and Agile mindset to optimize the whole organization.
“A successful application optimization strategy starts with the business need in mind and not from a technological point of view. No matter from which angle you look at it, modernizing a legacy application is a considerable undertaking that can’t be taken lightly. Your best approach is to begin the journey with baby steps.” – Norelus, Pamidala, and Senti, 2020
| 1. Map Current-State Capabilities | 2. Assess Your Current State | 3. Identify Key Optimization Areas | 4. Build Your Optimization Roadmap | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Phase Steps |
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| Phase Outcomes |
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Identify and prioritize your Workday optimization goals.
Assess IT-enabled user satisfaction across your Workday portfolio.
Complete an assessment of processes, user satisfaction, data quality, and vendor management.
MANAGED AP AUTOMATION with OneSource Virtual
TripAdvisor + OneSource
INDUSTRY: Travel
SOURCE: OneSource Virtual, 2017
TripAdvisor needed a solution that would decrease administrative labor from its accounting department.
“We needed something that was already compatible with our Workday tenant, that didn’t require a lot of customizations and would be an enhancement to our processes.” – Director of Accounting Operations, Scott Garner
Requirements included:
TripAdvisor chose to outsource its accounts payable services to OneSource Virtual (OSV).
OneSource Virtual offers the comprehensive finance and accounting outsourcing solutions needed to improve efficiency, eliminate paper processes, reduce errors, and improve cash flow.
Managed AP services include scanning and auditing all extracted invoice data for accuracy, transmitting AP files with line-item details from invoices, and creating full invoice images in Workday.
“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
A Guided Implementation (GI) is series of calls with an Info-Tech analyst to help implement our best practices in your organization.
A typical GI is between 8 to 12 calls over the course of 4 to 6 months.
Phase 1
Call #1: Scope requirements, objectives, and your specific challenge.
Phase 2
Call #2:
Call #3:
Phase 3
Call #4: Understand product satisfaction and vendor management.
Call #5: Review APA results.
Call #6: Understand Workday optimization opportunities.
Call #7: Determine the right Workday path for your organization.
Phase 4
Call #8: Build out optimization roadmap and next steps.
Contact your account representative for more information.
workshops@infotech.com 1-888-670-8889
| Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Define Your Workday Application Vision | Map Current State | Assess Workday | Build Your Optimization Roadmap | Next Steps and Wrap-Up (offsite) | |
| Activities | 1.1 Identify Stakeholders and Build Your Optimization Team 1.2 Build an ERP Strategy Model 1.3 Inventory Current System State 1.4 Define Optimization Timeframe 1.5 Understand Workday Costs | 2.1 Assess Workday Capabilities 2.2 Review Your Satisfaction With the Vendor/Product and Willingness for Change | 3.1 Prioritize Optimization Opportunities 3.2 Discover Optimization Initiatives | 4.1 Build Your Optimization Roadmap | 5.1 Complete In-progress Deliverables From Previous Four Days. 5.2 Set Up Review Time for Workshop Deliverables and to Discuss Next Steps. |
| Deliverables |
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Phase 1
1.1 Identify Stakeholders and Build Your Optimization Team
1.2 Build an ERP Strategy Model
1.3 Inventory Current System State
1.4 Define Optimization Timeframe
1.5 Understand Workday Costs
Phase 2
2.1 Assess Workday Capabilities
2.2 Review Your Satisfaction With the Vendor/Product and Willingness for Change
Phase 3
3.1 Prioritize Optimization Opportunities
3.2 Discover Optimization Initiatives
Phase 4
4.1 Build Your Optimization Roadmap
This phase will guide you through the following activities:
This phase involves the following participants:
1.1.1 Identify Stakeholders Critical to Success
1.1.2 Map Your Workday Optimization Stakeholders
1.1.3 Determine Your Workday Optimization Team
Map Current State Capabilities
Step 1.1
Step 1.2
Step 1.3
Step 1.4
Step 1.5
This step will guide you through the following activities:
This step involves the following participants:
Outcomes of this step
| Title | Role Within the Project Structure |
|---|---|
| Organizational Sponsor |
|
| Project Manager |
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| Business Unit Leaders |
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| Optimization Team |
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| Steering Committee |
|
Info-Tech Insight
Do not limit project input or participation. Include subject-matter experts and internal stakeholders at stages within the project. Such inputs can be solicited on a one-off basis as needed. This ensures you take a holistic approach to create your ERP optimization strategy.
1 hour
Record this information in the Get the Most Out of Your Workday Workbook.
Download the Get the Most Out of Your Workday Workbook
Identify which stakeholders to include and what their level of involvement should be during requirements elicitation based on relevant topic expertise.
| Sponsor | End User | IT | Business | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Description | An internal stakeholder who has final sign-off on the ERP project. | Front-line users of the ERP technology. | Back-end support staff who are tasked with project planning, execution, and eventual system maintenance. | Additional stakeholders that will be impacted by any ERP technology changes. |
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| Values | Executive buy-in and support is essential to the success of the project. Often, the sponsor controls funding and resource allocation. | End users determine the success of the system through user adoption. If the end user does not adopt the system, the system is deemed useless and benefits realization is poor. | IT is likely to be responsible for more in-depth requirements gathering. IT possesses critical knowledge around system compatibility, integration, and data. | Involving business stakeholders in the requirements gathering will ensure alignment between HR and organizational objectives. |
Large-scale ERP projects require the involvement of many stakeholders from all corners and levels of the organization, including project sponsors, IT, end users, and business stakeholders. Consider the influence and interest of stakeholders in contributing to the requirements elicitation process and involve them accordingly.
1 hour
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Consider the core team functions when putting together the project team. Form a cross-functional team (i.e. across IT, Marketing, Sales, Service, and Operations) to create a well-aligned ERP optimization strategy.
Don’t let your project team become too large when trying to include all relevant stakeholders. Carefully limiting the size of the project team will enable effective decision making while still including functional business units such as Human Resources, Operations, Manufacturing, Marketing, Sales, Service, and Finance as well as IT.
| Required Skills/Knowledge | Suggested Project Team Members |
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1 hour
Note: Depending on your initiative and size of your organization, the size of this team will vary.
Record this information in the Get the Most Out of Your Workday Workbook.
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1.2.1 Explore Organizational Goals and Business Needs
1.2.2 Discover Environmental Factors and Technology Drivers
1.2.3 Consider Potential Barriers to Achieving Workday Optimization
1.2.4 Set the Foundation for Success
1.2.5 Discuss Workday Strategy and Develop Your ERP Optimization Goals
Map Current State Capabilities
Step 1.1
Step 1.2
Step 1.3
Step 1.4
Step 1.5
This step will guide you through the following activities:
This step involves the following participants:
Outcomes of this step
Your corporate strategy:
Your IT strategy:
ERP projects are more successful when the management team understands the strategic importance and the criticality of alignment. Time needs to be spent upfront aligning business strategies with ERP capabilities. Effective alignment between IT and the business should happen daily. Alignment doesn’t just need to occur at the executive level but at each level of the organization.
Begin by conducting interviews of your executive team. Interview the following leaders:
INTERVIEWS MUST UNCOVER:
| Business Needs | Business Drivers | |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A business need is a requirement associated with a particular business process. | A business need is a requirement associated with a particular business process. |
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Info-Tech Insight
One of the biggest drivers for ERP adoption is the ability to make quicker decisions from timely information. This driver is a result of external considerations. Many industries today are highly competitive, uncertain, and rapidly changing. To succeed under these pressures, there needs to be timely information and visibility into all components of the organization.
60 minutes
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Organizational Goals
Business Needs
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Organizational Goals
Business Needs
| Technology Drivers | Environmental Factors | |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Technology drivers are technological changes that have created the need for a new ERP enablement strategy. Many organizations turn to technology systems to help them obtain a competitive edge. | These external considerations are factors that take place outside of the organization and impact the way business is conducted inside the organization. These are often outside the control of the business. Look three to five years ahead, what challenges will the business face? Where will you have to adapt and pivot? How can we prepare for this? |
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Info-Tech Insight
A comprehensive plan that takes into consideration organizational goals, departmental needs, technology drivers, and environmental factors will allow for a collaborative approach to defining your Workday strategy.
30 minutes
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External Considerations
Technology Considerations
Functional Requirements
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There are several different factors that may stifle the success of an ERP implementation. Organizations that are creating an ERP foundation must scan their current environment to identify internal barriers and challenges.
Common Internal Barriers
| Management Support | Organizational Culture | Organizational Structure | IT Readiness | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Definition | The degree of understanding and acceptance toward ERP systems. | The collective shared values and beliefs. | The functional relationships between people and departments in an organization. | The degree to which the organization’s people and processes are prepared for a new ERP system. |
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1-3 hours
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Functional Gaps
Technical Gaps
Process Gaps
Barriers to Success
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Organizational Goals
Barriers
(Epizitone and Olugbara, 2019; CC BY 4.0)
Info-Tech Insight
Complement your ability to deliver on your critical success factors with the capabilities of your implementation partner to drive a successful ERP implementation.
“Implementation partners can play an important role in successful ERP implementations. They can work across the organizational departments and layers creating a synergy and a communications mechanism.” – Ayogeboh Epizitone, Durban University of Technology
1-3 hours
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Business Benefits
IT Benefits
Organizational Benefits
Enablers of Success
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Benefits can be realized internally and externally to the organization or department and have different drivers of value.
Organizational Goals
Increased Revenue
Application functions that are specifically related to the impact on your organization’s ability to generate revenue and deliver value to your customers.
Reduced Costs
Reduction of overhead. The ways in which an application limits the operational costs of business functions.
Enhanced Services
Functions that enable business capabilities that improve the organization’s ability to perform its internal operations.
Reach Customers
Application functions that enable and improve the interaction with customers or produce market information and insights.
Business Value Matrix
30 minutes
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1.3.1 Inventory Workday Applications and Interactions
1.3.2 Draw Your Workday System Diagram
1.3.3 Inventory Your Workday Modules and Business Capabilities (or Business Processes)
1.3.4 Define Your Key Workday Optimization Modules and Business Capabilities
Map Current-State Capabilities
Step 1.1
Step 1.2
Step 1.3
Step 1.4
Step 1.5
This step will guide you through the following activities:
This step involves the following participants:
Outcomes of this step
1-3+ hours
Record this information in the Get the Most Out of Your Workday Workbook.
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When assessing the current application portfolio that supports your ERP, the tendency will be to focus on the applications under the ERP umbrella. These relate mostly to marketing, sales, and customer service. Be sure to include systems that act as input to, or benefit due to outputs from, ERP or similar applications.
1-3+ hours
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In business architecture, the primary view of an organization is known as a business capability map.
A business capability defines what a business does to enable value creation, rather than how.
Business capabilities:
A business capability map provides details that help the business architecture practitioner direct attention to a specific area of the business for further assessment.
Value stream defined:
Value Streams:
Design Product
Produce Product
Sell Product
Customer Service
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.
Taking a value stream approach to process mapping allows you to move across departmental and system boundaries to understand the underlying business capability.
Some mistakes organizations make are over-customizing processes, or conversely, not customizing when required. Workday provides good baseline process that work for most organizations. However, if a process is broken or not working efficiently take the time to investigate it, including underlying policies, roles, workflows, and integrations.
| Operating Processes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Develop vision and strategy | 2. Develop and manage products and services | 3. Market and sell products and services | 4. Deliver physical products | 5. Deliver services |
| Management and Support Processes | ||||
| 6. Manage customer service | ||||
| 7. Develop and manage human capital | ||||
| 8. Manage IT | ||||
| 9. Manage financial resources | ||||
| 10. Acquire, construct, and manage assets | ||||
| 11. Manage enterprise risk, compliance, remediation, and resiliency | ||||
| 12. Manage external relationships | ||||
| 13. Develop and manage business capabilities | ||||
(APQC)
If you do not have a documented process model, you can use the APQC Framework to help define your inventory of sales business processes.
APQC’s Process Classification Framework is a taxonomy of cross-functional business processes intended to allow the objective comparison of organizational performance within and among organizations.
A process classification framework is helpful for organizations to effectively define their processes and manage them appropriately.
Use Info-Tech’s related industry resources or publicly available process frameworks (such as APQC) to develop and map your business processes.
These processes can then be mapped to supporting applications and modules. Policies, roles, and workflows also play a role and should be considered in the overall functioning.
APQC’s Process Classification Framework
(APQC)
| Level 1 | Level 2 | Level 3 | Level 4 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Market and sell products and services | Understand markets, customers, and capabilities | Perform customer and market intelligence analysis | Conduct customer and market research |
| Market and sell products and services | Develop a sales strategy | Develop a sales forecast | Gather current and historic order information |
| Deliver services | Manage service delivery resources | Manage service delivery resource demand | Develop baseline forecasts |
| ? | ? | ? | ? |
Info-Tech Insight
Focus your initial assessment on the level-1 processes that matter to your organization. This allows you to target your scant resources on the areas of optimization that matter most to the organization and minimize the effort required from your business partners.
You may need to iterate the assessment as challenges are identified. This allows you to be adaptive and deal with emerging issues more readily and become a more responsive partner to the business.
An operating model is a framework that drives operating decisions. It helps to set the parameters for the scope of ERP and the processes that will be supported. The operating model will serve to group core operational processes. These groupings represent a set of interrelated, consecutive processes aimed at generating a common output.
From your developed processes and your Workday license agreements you will be able to pinpoint the scope for investigation, including the processes and modules.
1-3+ hours
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1-3+ hours
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1.4.1 Define Workday Key Dates, and Workday Optimization Roadmap Timeframe and Structure
Step 1.1
Step 1.2
Step 1.3
Step 1.4
Step 1.5
This step will guide you through the following activities:
This step involves the following participants:
Outcomes of this step
1-3+ hours
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1.5.1 Document Costs Associated With Workday
Step 1.1
Step 1.2
Step 1.3
Step 1.4
Step 1.5
This step will walk you through the following activities:
This step involves the following participants:
Outcomes of this step
1-3 hours
Before you can make changes and optimization decisions, you need to understand the high-level costs associated with your current application architecture. This activity will help you identify the types of technology and people costs associated with your current systems.
Record this information in the Get the Most Out of Your Workday Workbook.
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Phase 1
1.1 Identify Stakeholders and Build Your Optimization Team
1.2 Build an ERP Strategy Model
1.3 Inventory Current System State
1.4 Define Optimization Timeframe
1.5 Understand Workday Costs
Phase 2
2.1 Assess Workday Capabilities
2.2 Review Your Satisfaction With the Vendor/Product and Willingness for Change
Phase 3
3.1 Prioritize Optimization Opportunities
3.2 Discover Optimization Initiatives
Phase 4
4.1 Build Your Optimization Roadmap
This phase will guide you through the following activities:
This phase involves the following participants:
2.1.1 Rate Capability Relevance to Organizational Goals
2.1.2 Complete a Workday Application Portfolio Assessment
2.1.3 (Optional) Assess Workday Process Maturity
Step 2.1
Step 2.2
This step will guide you through the following activities:
This step involves the following participants:
Outcomes of this step
3 hours
Option 1: Use Info-Tech’s Application Portfolio Assessment to generate your user satisfaction score. This tool not only measures application satisfaction but also elicits great feedback from users regarding the support they receive from the IT team around Workday.
Option 2: Create a survey manually.
Record this information in the Get the Most Out of Your Workday Workbook.
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3 hours
Option 1: Use Info-Tech’s Application Portfolio Assessment to generate your user satisfaction score. This tool not only measures application satisfaction but also elicits great feedback from users regarding the support they receive from the IT team around Workday.
Option 2: Create a survey manually.
Record this information in the Get the Most Out of Your Workday Workbook.
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Record this information in the Get the Most Out of Your Workday Workbook.
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Process Assessment
Strong
Moderate
Weak
1.1 Financial Planning and Analysis
1.2 Accounting and Financial Close
1.3 Treasury Management
1.4 Financial Operations
1.5 Governance, Risk & Compliance
2.1 Core HR
| Description | All aspects related to financial operations | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Key Success Indicators | Month-end reporting in 5 days | AR at risk managing down (zero over 90 days) | Weekly operating cash flow updates |
| Timely liquidity for claims payments | Payroll audit reporting and insights reporting | 90% of workflow tasks captured in ERP | |
| EFT uptake | Automated reconciliations | Reduce audit hours required | |
| Current Pain Points | A lot of voided and re-issued checks | NIDPP | Integration with banks; can’t get the information back into existing ERP |
| There is no payroll integration | No payroll automation and other processes | Lack of integration with HUB | |
| Not one true source of data | Incentive payment processing | Rewards program management | |
| Audit process is onerous | Reconcile AP and AR for dealers | ||
The process is formalized, documented, optimized, and audited.
The process is poorly documented. More than one person knows how to do it. Inefficient and error-prone.
The process is not documented. One person knows how to do it. The process is ad hoc, not formalized, inconsistent.
General Ledger
Accounts Receivable
Incentives Management
Accounts Payable
General Ledger Consolidation
Treasury Management
Cash Management
Subscription / recurring payments
Treasury Transactions
2.2.1 Rate Your Vendor and Product Satisfaction
2.2.2 Review Workday Product Scores (if applicable)
2.2.3 Evaluate Your Product Satisfaction
2.2.4 Check Your Business Process Change Tolerance
Step 2.1
Step 2.2
This step will guide you through the following activities:
This step involves the following participants:
Outcomes of this step
30 minutes
Use Info-Tech’s vendor satisfaction survey to identify optimization areas with your ERP product(s) and vendor(s).
Record this information in the Get the Most Out of Your Workday Workbook
SoftwareReviews’ Enterprise Resource Planning Category
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30 minutes
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SoftwareReviews’ Enterprise Resource Planning Category
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(SoftwareReviews ERP Mid-Market, 2022; SoftwareReviews ERP Enterprise, 2022)
1 hours
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Legend:
Willing to follow best practice
May be challenging or unique business model
Low tolerance for change
Out of Scope
| Product-Centric Capabilities | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| R&D | Production | Supply Chain | Distribution | Asset Mgmt |
| Idea to Offering | Plan to Produce | Procure to Pay | Forecast to Delivery | Acquire to Dispose |
| Add/Remove | Shop Floor Scheduling | Add/Remove | Add/Remove | Add/Remove |
| Add/Remove | Product Costing | Add/Remove | Add/Remove | Add/Remove |
| Service-Centric Capabilities | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Finance | HR | Marketing | Sales | Service |
| Record to Report | Hire to Retire | Market to Order | Quote to Cash | Issue to Resolution |
| Add/Remove | Add/Remove | Add/Remove | Add/Remove | Add/Remove |
| Add/Remove | Add/Remove | Add/Remove | Add/Remove | Add/Remove |
Determine the areas of risk to conform to best practice and minimize customization. These will be areas needing focus from the vendor, supporting change and guiding best practice.
For example: Must be able to support our unique process manufacturing capabilities and enhance planning and visibility to detailed costing.
Phase 1
1.1 Identify Stakeholders and Build Your Optimization Team
1.2 Build an ERP Strategy Model
1.3 Inventory Current System State
1.4 Define Optimization Timeframe
1.5 Understand Workday Costs
Phase 2
2.1 Assess Workday Capabilities
2.2 Review Your Satisfaction With the Vendor/Product and Willingness for Change
Phase 3
3.1 Prioritize Optimization Opportunities
3.2 Discover Optimization Initiatives
Phase 4
4.1 Build Your Optimization Roadmap
This phase will walk you through the following activities:
This phase involves the following participants:
3.1.1 Prioritize Optimization Capability Areas
Build Your Optimization Roadmap
Step 3.1
Step 3.2
This step will guide you through the following activities:
This step involves the following participants:
Outcomes of this step
Info-Tech Insight
Enabling a high-performing organization requires excellent management practices and continuous optimization efforts. Your technology portfolio and architecture are important, but we must go deeper. Taking a holistic view of ERP technologies in the environments in which they operate allows for the inclusion of people and process improvements – this is key to maximizing business results. Using a formal ERP optimization initiative will drive business-IT alignment, identify IT automation priorities, and dig deep into continuous process improvement.
Address process gaps:
Support user satisfaction:
Improve data quality:
Proactively manage vendors:
The Business
Keepers of the organization’s mission, vision, and value statements that define IT success. The business maintains the overall ownership and evaluation of the applications.
Business Value of Applications
IT
Technical subject matter experts of the applications they deliver and maintain. Each IT function works together to ensure quality applications are delivered to stakeholder expectations.
First, the authorities on business value need to define and weigh their value drivers that describe the priorities of the organization. This will allow the applications team to apply a consistent, objective, and strategically aligned evaluation of applications across the organization.
In this context…
business value is
the value of the business outcome that the application produces. Additionally, it is how effective the application is at producing that outcome.
Business value IS NOT
the user’s experience or satisfaction with the application.
Create or Improve:
Capabilities are what the system and business do that creates value for the organization.
Optimization initiatives are projects with a definitive start and end date, and they enhance, create, maintain, or remove capabilities with the goal of increasing value.
Brainstorm ERP optimization initiatives in each area. Ensure you are looking for all-encompassing opportunities within the context of IT, the business, and Workday systems.
Financial vs. Human Benefits
Financial benefits refer to the degree to which the value source can be measured through monetary metrics and are often quite tangible.
Human benefits refer to how an application can deliver value through a user’s experience.
Inward vs. Outward Orientation
Inward refers to value sources that have an internal impact and improve your organization’s effectiveness and efficiency in performing its operations.
Outward refers to value sources that come from your interaction with external factors, such as the market or your customers.
Increased Revenue
Application functions that are specifically related to the impact on your organization’s ability to generate revenue and deliver value to your customers.
Reduced Costs
Reduction of overhead. The ways in which an application limits the operational costs of business functions.
Enhanced Services
Functions that enable business capabilities that improve the organization’s ability to perform its internal operations.
Reach Customers
Application functions that enable and improve the interaction with customers or produce market information and insights.
Review your ERP capability areas and rate them according to relevance to organizational goals. This will allow you to eliminate optimization ideas that may not bring value to the organization.
| How important is it? | How Difficult is it? |
|---|---|
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What is the value?
What is the benefit?
What is the impact?
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What is the cost?
What is the level of effort?
What is the risk of implementing/not implementing? What is the complexity? |
(Roadmunk)
| Reach | Impact | Confidence | Effort |
|---|---|---|---|
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How many people will this improvement impact? Internal: # of users OR # of transactions per period External: # of customers OR # of transactions per period |
What is the scale of impact? How much will the improvement affect satisfaction? Example Weighting: 1 = Massive Impact 2 = High Impact 1 = Medium Impact 0.5 = Low Impact 0.25 = Very Low Impact |
How confident are we that the improvements are achievable and that they will meet the impact estimates? Example Weighting: 1 = High Confidence 0.80 = Medium Confidence 0.50 = Low Confidence |
How much investment will be required to implement the improvement initiative? FTE hours x cost per hour |
(Intercom)
1-3 hours
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Activities
3.2.1 Discover Product and Vendor Satisfaction Opportunities
3.2.2 Discover Capability and Feature Optimization Opportunities
3.2.3 Discover Process Optimization Opportunities
3.2.4 Discover Integration Optimization Opportunities
3.2.5 Discover Data Optimization Opportunities
3.2.6 Discover Workday Cost-Saving Opportunities
Build Your Optimization Roadmap
Step 3.1
Step 3.2
This step will guide you through the following activities:
This step involves the following participants:
Outcomes of this step


Workday Advisory Partners have in-depth knowledge to help customers determine what’s best for their needs and how to maximize business value. They guide you through digital acceleration strategy and planning, product selection, change management, and more.
Workday Services Partners represent a curated community of global systems integrators and regional firms that help companies deploy Workday and continually adopt new capabilities.
Workday Software Partners are a global ecosystem of application, content, and technology software companies that design, build, and deploy solution extensions to help customers enhance the capabilities of Workday.
Workday’s Global Payroll Cloud (GPC) program makes it easy to expand payroll (outside of the US, Canada, the UK, and France) to third-party payroll providers around the world using certified, prebuilt integrations from Workday Partners. Payroll partners provide solutions in more than 100 countries.
Adaptive planning partners guide you through all aspects of everything from integration to deployment.
With large-scale ERP and HCM systems, the success of the system can be as much about the SI (Systems Integrator) or vendor partners as it is about the core product.
In evaluating your Workday system, think about Workday’s extensive partner network to understand how you can capitalize on your installation.
You do not need to reinvent the system; you may just need an additional service partner or bolt-on solution to round out your product functionality.
Info-Tech Insight
A vendor management initiative is an organization’s formalized process for evaluating, selecting, managing, and optimizing third-party providers of goods and services.
The amount of resources you assign to managing vendors depends on the number and value of your organization’s relationships. Before optimizing your vendor management program around the best practices presented in Info-Tech’s Jump Start Your Vendor Management Initiative blueprint, assess your current maturity and build the process around a model that reflects the needs of your organization.
Note: Info-Tech uses VMI interchangeably with the terms “vendor management office (VMO),” “vendor management function,” “vendor management process,” and “vendor management program.”
1-2 hours
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1-2 hours
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| Goals of Process Improvement | Process Improvement Sample Areas | Improvement Possibilities |
|---|---|---|
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1-2 hours
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The benefits of integration
The challenges of integration
| Financial Consolidation | Data Backup | Synchronization Across Sites | Legacy Consolidation |
|---|---|---|---|
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For more information: Implement a Multi-site ERP
1-2 hours
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IT has several concerns around ERP data and wide dissemination of that data across sites. Large organizations can benefit from building a data warehouse or at least adopting some of the principles of data warehousing. The optimal way to deal with the issue of integration is to design a metadata-driven data warehouse that acts as a central repository for all ERP data. This serves as the storage facility for millions of transactions, formatted to allow analysis and comparison.
Key considerations:
Info-Tech Insight
Data warehouse solutions can be expensive. See Info-Tech’s Build a Data Warehouse on a Solid Foundation for guidance on what options are available to meet your budget and data needs.
| Data Quality Management | Effective Data Governance | Data-Centric Integration Strategy | Extensible Data Warehousing |
|---|---|---|---|
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1-2 hours
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Info-Tech Insight
The number one reason organizations leave Workday is because of cost. Do not be strong-armed into a contract you do not feel comfortable with. Do your homework, know your leverage points, be fully prepared for cost negotiations, use their competition to your advantage, and get support – such as Info-Tech’s vendor management resources and team.
Since 2007, Workday has been steadily growing its market share and footprint in human capital management, finance, and student information systems.
Organizations considering additional modules or undergoing contract renewal need to gain insight into areas of leverage and other relevant vendor information.
Key issues that occur include pricing transparency and contractual flexibility on terms and conditions. Adequate planning and communication need to be taken into consideration before entering into any agreement.
1-2 hours
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Phase 1
1.1 Identify Stakeholders and Build Your Optimization Team
1.2 Build an ERP Strategy Model
1.3 Inventory Current System State
1.4 Define Optimization Timeframe
1.5 Understand Workday Costs
Phase 2
2.1 Assess Workday Capabilities
2.2 Review Your Satisfaction With the Vendor/Product and Willingness for Change
Phase 3
3.1 Prioritize Optimization Opportunities
3.2 Discover Optimization Initiatives
Phase 4
4.1 Build Your Optimization Roadmap
This phase will walk you through the following activities:
This phase involves the following participants:
Get the Most Out of Your Workday
4.1.1 Evaluate Optimization Initiatives
4.1.2 Prioritize Your Workday Initiatives
4.1.3 Build a Roadmap
4.1.4 Build a Visual Roadmap
Next steps
Step 4.1
This step will walk you through the following activities:
This step involves the following participants:
Outcomes of this step
1 hour
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1 hour
Optimization initiatives: Determine which if any to proceed with.
Record this information in the Get the Most Out of Your Workday Workbook.
Note: Your roadmap should be treated as a living document that is updated and shared with the stakeholders on a regular schedule.
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1 hour
For some, a visual representation of a roadmap is easier to comprehend.
Consider taking the roadmap built in 4.1.2 and creating a visual roadmap.
Record this information in the Get the Most Out of Your Workday Workbook.
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ERP technology is critical to facilitating an organization’s flow of information across business units. It allows for seamless integration of systems and creates a holistic view of the enterprise to support decision making. ERP implementation should not be a one-and-done exercise. There needs to be ongoing optimization to enable business processes and optimal organizational results.
Get the Most Out of Your Workday allows organizations to proactively implement continuous assessment and optimization of their enterprise resource planning system, including:
This formal Workday optimization initiative will drive business-IT alignment, identify IT automation priorities, and dig deep into continuous process improvement.
If you would like additional support, have our analysts guide you through other phases as part of an Info-Tech workshop.
Contact your account representative for more information.
workshops@infotech.com
1-888-670-8889
Ben Dickie
Research Practice Lead
Info-Tech Research Group
Ben Dickie is a Research Practice Lead at Info-Tech Research Group. His areas of expertise include customer experience management, CRM platforms, and digital marketing. He has also led projects pertaining to enterprise collaboration and unified communications.
Scott Bickley
Practice Lead and Principal Research
Director Info-Tech Research Group
Scott Bickley is a Practice Lead and Principal Research Director at Info-Tech Research Group focused on vendor management and contract review. He also has experience in the areas of IT asset management (ITAM), software asset management (SAM), and technology procurement along with a deep background in operations, engineering, and quality systems management.
Andy Neil
Practice Lead, Applications
Info-Tech Research Group
Andy is a Senior Research Director, Data Management and BI, at Info-Tech Research Group. He has over 15 years of experience in managing technical teams, information architecture, data modeling, and enterprise data strategy. He is an expert in enterprise data architecture, data integration, data standards, data strategy, big data, and the development of industry standard data models.
“9 product prioritization frameworks for product managers.” Roadmunk, n.d. Accessed 15 May 2022.
Armel, Kate. "New Article: Data-Driven Estimation, Management Lead to High Quality." QSM: Quantitative Software Management, 14 May 2013. Accessed 4 Feb. 2021.
Collins, George, et al., “Connecting Small Businesses in the US.” Deloitte Commissioned by Google, 2017. Web.
Epizitone, Ayogeboh, and Oludayo O. Olugbara. "Critical Success Factors for ERP System Implementation to Support Financial Functions." Academy of Accounting and Financial Studies Journal, vol. 23, no. 6, 2019. Accessed 12 Oct. 2021
Gheorghiu, Gabriel. "The ERP Buyer’s Profile for Growing Companies." Selecthub, 2018. Accessed 21 Feb. 2021.
Karlsson, Johan. "Product Backlog Grooming Examples and Best Practices." Perforce, 18 May 2018. Accessed 4 Feb. 2021.
Lauchlan, Stuart. “Workday accelerates into fiscal 2023 with a strong year end as cloud adoption gets a COVID-bounce.” diginomica, 1 March 2022. Web.
"Maximizing the Emotional Economy: Behavioral Economics." Gallup, n.d. Accessed 21 Feb. 2021.
Noble, Simon-Peter. “Workday: A High-Quality Business That's Fairly Valued.” Seeking Alpha, 8 Apr. 2019. Web.
Norelus, Ernese, Sreeni Pamidala, and Oliver Senti. "An Approach to Application Modernization: Discovery and Assessment Phase," Medium, 24 Feb. 2020. Accessed 21 Feb. 2021.
"Process Frameworks." APQC, n.d. Accessed 21 Feb. 2021.
Saxena, Deepak, and Joe Mcdonagh. "Evaluating ERP Implementations: The Case for a Lifecycle-based Interpretive Approach." The Electronic Journal of Information Systems Evaluation, vol. 22, no. 1, 2019, pp. 29-37. Accessed 21 Feb. 2021.
“Workday Enterprise Management Cloud Product Scorecard.” SoftwareReviews, May 2022. Web.
“Workday Meets Growing Customer Demand with Record Number of Deployments and Industry-Leading Customer Satisfaction Score.” Workday, Inc., 7 June 2021. Web.
Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:
Identify the organization’s standing in terms of the enterprise architecture practice, and know the gaps and what the EA practice needs to fulfill to create a good governance framework.
Understand the EA fundamentals and then refresh them to better align the EA practice with the organization and create business benefit.
Analyze the IT operating model and identify EA’s role at each stage; refine it to promote effective EA engagement upfront in the early stages of the IT operating model.
Set up EA governing bodies to provide guidance and foster a collaborative environment by identifying the correct number of EA governing bodies, defining the game plan to initialize the governing bodies, and creating an architecture review process.
Create an EA policy to provide a set of guidelines designed to direct and constrain the architecture actions of the organization in the pursuit of its goals in order to improve architecture compliance and drive business value.
Define architecture standards to facilitate information exchange, improve collaboration, and provide stability. Develop a process to update the architectural standards to ensure relevancy and promote process transparency.
Craft a plan to engage the relevant stakeholders, ascertain the benefits of the initiative, and identify the various communication methods in order to maximize the chances of success.
Workshops offer an easy way to accelerate your project. If you are unable to do the project yourself, and a Guided Implementation isn't enough, we offer low-cost delivery of our project workshops. We take you through every phase of your project and ensure that you have a roadmap in place to complete your project successfully.
Conduct stakeholder interviews to understand current state of EA practice and prioritize gaps for EA governance based on organizational complexity.
Prioritized list of actions to arrive at the target state based on the complexity of the organization
1.1 Determine organizational complexity.
1.2 Conduct an assessment of the EA governance components.
1.3 Identify and prioritize gaps.
1.4 Conduct senior management interviews.
Organizational complexity score
EA governance current state and prioritized list of EA governance component gaps
Stakeholder perception of the EA practice
Refine EA fundamentals to align the EA practice with the organization and identify EA touchpoints to provide guidance for projects.
Alignment of EA goals and objectives with the goals and objectives of the organization
Early involvement of EA in the IT operating model
2.1 Review the output of the organizational complexity and EA assessment tools.
2.2 Craft the EA vision and mission.
2.3 Develop the EA principles.
2.4 Identify the EA goals.
2.5 Identify EA engagement touchpoints within the IT operating model.
EA vision and mission statement
EA principles
EA goals and measures
Identified EA engagement touchpoints and EA level of involvement
Set up EA governing bodies to provide guidance and foster a collaborative environment by identifying the correct number of EA governing bodies, defining the game plan to initialize the governing bodies and creating an architecture review process.
Business benefits are maximized and solution design is within the options set forth by the architectural reference models while no additional layers of bureaucracy are introduced
3.1 Identify the number of governing bodies.
3.2 Define the game plan to initialize the governing bodies.
3.3 Define the architecture review process.
Architecture board structure and coverage
Identified architecture review template
Create an EA policy to provide a set of guidelines designed to direct and constrain the architecture actions of the organization in the pursuit of its goals in order to improve architecture compliance and drive business value.
Improved architecture compliance, which ties investments to business value and provides guidance to architecture practitioners
4.1 Define the scope.
4.2 Identify the target audience.
4.3 Determine the inclusion and exclusion criteria.
4.4 Craft an assessment checklist.
Defined scope
Inclusion and exclusion criteria for project review
Architecture assessment checklist
Define architecture standards to facilitate information exchange, improve collaboration, and provide stability.
Craft a communication plan to implement the new EA governance framework in order to maximize the chances of success.
Consistent development of architecture, increased information exchange between stakeholders
Improved process transparency
Improved stakeholder engagement
5.1 Identify and standardize EA work products.
5.2 Classifying the architectural standards.
5.3 Identifying the custodian of standards.
5.4 Update the standards.
5.5 List the changes identified in the EA governance initiative
5.6 Create a communication plan.
Identified set of EA work products to standardize
Architecture information taxonomy
Identified set of custodian of standards
Standard update process
List of EA governance initiatives
Communication plan for EA governance initiatives
"Enterprise architecture is not a technology concept, rather it is the foundation on which businesses orient themselves to create and capture value in the marketplace. Designing architecture is not a simple task and creating organizations for the future requires forward thinking and rigorous planning.
Architecture processes that are supposed to help facilitate discussions and drive option analysis are often seen as an unnecessary overhead. The negative perception is due to enterprise architecture groups being overly prescriptive rather than providing a set of options that guide and constrain solutions at the same time.
EA groups should do away with the direct and control mindset and change to a collaborate and mentor mindset. As part of the architecture governance, EA teams should provide an option set that constrains design choices, and also be open to changes to standards or best practices. "
Gopi Bheemavarapu, Sr. Manager, CIO Advisory Info-Tech Research Group
Info-Tech Insight
Enterprise architecture is critical to ensuring that an organization has the solid IT foundation it needs to efficiently enable the achievement of its current and future strategic goals rather than focusing on short-term tactical gains.
An architecture governance process is the set of activities an organization executes to ensure that decisions are made and accountability is enforced during the execution of its architecture strategy. (Hopkins, “The Essential EA Toolkit.”)
EA governance includes the following:
(TOGAF)
IT governance sets direction through prioritization and decision making, and monitors overall IT performance.
EA governance ensures that optimal architectural design choices are being made that focus on long-term value creation.
Effective EA governance ensures alignment between organizational investments and corporate strategic goals and objectives.
Architecture standards provide guidance to identify opportunities for reuse and eliminate redundancies in an organization.
Architecture review processes and assessment checklists ensure that solutions are within the acceptable risk levels of the organization.
EA governance is difficult to structure appropriately, but having an effective structure will allow you to:
Recent Info-Tech research found that organizations that establish EA governance realize greater benefits from their EA initiatives.
(Info-Tech Research Group, N=89)
Define key operational measures for internal use by IT and EA practitioners. Also, define business value measures that communicate and demonstrate the value of EA as an “enabler” of business outcomes to senior executives.
| EA performance measures (lead, operational) | EA value measures (lag) | |
|---|---|---|
| Application of EA management process | EA’s contribution to IT performance | EA’s contribution to business value |
Enterprise Architecture Management
IT Investment Portfolio Management
Solution Development
Operations Management
Business Value
Industry Insurance
Source Info-Tech
The insurance sector has been undergoing major changes, and as a reaction, businesses within the sector have been embracing technology to provide innovative solutions.
The head of EA in a major insurance provider (henceforth to be referred to as “INSPRO01”) was given the mandate to ensure that solutions are architected right the first time to maximize reuse and reduce technology debt. The EA group was at a critical point – to demonstrate business value or become irrelevant.
The project management office had been accountable for solution architecture and had placed emphasis on short-term project cost savings at the expense of long term durability.
There was a lack of awareness of the Enterprise Architecture group within INSPRO01, and people misunderstood the roles and responsibilities of the EA team.
Info-Tech helped define the responsibilities of the EA team and clarify the differences between the role of a Solution Architect vs. Enterprise Architect.
The EA team was able to make the case for change in the project management practices to ensure architectures are reviewed and approved prior to implementation.
As a result, INSPRO01 saw substantial increases in reuse opportunities and thereby derived more value from its technology investments.
The success of any EA governance initiative revolves around adopting best practices, setting up repeatable processes, and establishing appropriate controls.
Our best-practice approach is grounded in TOGAF and enhanced by the insights and guidance from our analysts, industry experts, and our clients.
Value-focused. Focus EA governance on helping the organization achieve business benefits. Promote EA’s contribution in realizing business value.
Right-sized. Insert EA governance into existing process checkpoints rather than creating new ones. Clearly define EA governance inclusion criteria for projects.
Measured. Define metrics to measure EA’s performance, and integrate EA governance with other governance processes such as project governance. Also clearly define the EA governing bodies’ composition, domain, inputs, and outputs.
Balanced. Adopt architecture principles that strikes the right balance between business and technology.
Info-Tech’s architectural governance framework provides a value-focused, right-sized approach with a strong emphasis on process standardization, repeatability, and sustainability.
As you move through the project, capture your progress with a summary in the EA Governance Framework Template.
Download the EA Governance Framework Template document for use throughout this project.
“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.”
| Current state of EA governance | EA Fundamentals | Engagement Model | EA Governing Bodies | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Best-Practice Toolkit |
1.1 Determine organizational complexity 1.2 Conduct an assessment of the EA governance components 1.3 Identify and prioritize gaps |
2.1 Craft the EA vision and mission 2.2 Develop the EA principles 2.3 Identify the EA goals |
3.1 Build the case for EA engagement 3.2 Identify engagement touchpoints within the IT operating model |
4.1 Identify the number of governing bodies 4.2 Define the game plan to initialize the governing bodies 4.3 Define the architecture review process |
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| Best-Practice Toolkit |
5.1 Define the scope of EA policy 5.2 Identify the target audience 5.3 Determine the inclusion and exclusion criteria 5.4 Craft an assessment checklist |
6.1 Identify and standardize EA work products 6.2 Classify the architectural standards 6.3 Identify the custodian of standards 6.4 Update the standards |
7.1 List the changes identified in the EA governance initiative 7.2 Identify stakeholders 7.3 Create a communication plan |
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Phase 5 Results:
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Phase 6 Results:
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Phase 7 Results:
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Contact your account representative or email Workshops@InfoTech.com for more information.
| Pre-workshop | Workshop Day 1 | Workshop Day 2 | Workshop Day 3 | Workshop Day 4 | |
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| Activities | Current state of EA governance | EA fundamentals and engagement model | EA governing bodies | EA policy | Architectural standards and communication plan |
1.1 Determine organizational complexity 1.2 Conduct an assessment of the EA governance components 1.3 Identify and prioritize gaps 1.4 Senior management interviews |
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This phase will walk you through the following activities:
This step involves the following participants:
Outcomes of this step
Info-Tech Insight
Correlation is not causation – an apparent problem might be a symptom rather than a cause. Assess the organization’s current EA governance to discover the root cause and go beyond the symptoms.
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: Current State of EA Governance
Proposed Time to Completion: 2 weeks
Step 1.1: Determine organizational complexity
Start with an analyst kick-off call:
Then complete these activities…
With these tools & templates:
Step 1.2: Assess current state of EA governance
Start with an analyst kick-off call:
Then complete these activities…
With these tools & templates:
Determining organizational complexity is not rocket science. Use Info-Tech’s tool to quantify the complexity and use it, along with common sense, to determine the appropriate level of architecture governance.
1.1 2 hours
Step 1 - Facilitate
Download the EA Capability – Risk and Complexity Assessment Tool to facilitate a session on determining your organization’s complexity.
Download EA Organizational - Risk and Complexity Assessment Tool
Step 2 - Summarize
Summarize the results in the EA governance framework document.
Update the EA Governance Framework Template
EA governance is multi-faceted and it facilitates effective use of resources to meet organizational strategic objectives through well-defined structural elements.
EA Governance
Components of architecture governance
Next Step: Based on the organization’s complexity, conduct a current state assessment of EA governance using Info-Tech’s EA Governance Assessment Tool.
1.2 2 hrs
Step 1 - Facilitate
Download the “EA Governance Assessment Tool” to facilitate a session on identifying the best practices to be applied in your organization.
Download Info-Tech’s EA Governance Assessment Tool
Step 2 - Summarize
Summarize the identified best practices in the EA governance framework document.
Update the EA Governance Framework Template
Industry Insurance
Source Info-Tech
INSPRO01 was planning a major transformation initiative. The organization determined that EA is a strategic function.
The CIO had pledged support to the EA group and had given them a mandate to deliver long-term strategic architecture.
The business leaders did not trust the EA team and believed that lack of business skills in the group put the business transformation at risk.
The EA group had been traditionally seen as a technology organization that helps with software design.
The EA team lacked understanding of the business and hence there had been no common language between business and technology.
Info-Tech helped the EA team create a set of 10 architectural principles that are business-value driven rather than technical statements.
The team socialized the principles with the business and technology stakeholders and got their approvals.
By applying the business focused architectural principles, the EA team was able to connect with the business leaders and gain their support.
The following are sample activities that will be conducted by Info-Tech analysts with your team:
Key Activities
Outcomes
This phase will walk you through the following activities:
This step involves the following participants:
Outcomes of this step
Info-Tech Insight
A house divided against itself cannot stand – ensure that the EA fundamentals are aligned with the organization’s goals and objectives.
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.
Proposed Time to Completion: 3 weeks
Step 2.1: Develop the EA fundamentals
Review findings with analyst:
Then complete these activities…
With these tools & templates:
Review findings with analyst:
Then complete these activities…
With these tools & templates:
Vision, mission, goals and measures, and principles form the foundation of the EA function.
The vision and mission statements provide strategic direction to the EA team. These statements should be created based on the business and technology drivers in the organization.
"The very essence of leadership is [that] you have a vision. It's got to be a vision you articulate clearly and forcefully on every occasion. You can't blow an uncertain trumpet." – Theodore Hesburgh
Articulates the desired future state of EA capability expressed in the present tense.
Example: To be recognized by both the business and IT as a trusted partner that drives [Company Name]’s effectiveness, efficiency, and agility.
Articulates the fundamental purpose of the EA capability.
Example: Define target enterprise architecture for [Company Name], identify solution opportunities, inform IT investment management, and direct solution development, acquisition, and operation compliance.
EA capability goals define specific desired outcomes of an EA management process execution. EA capability measures define how to validate the achievement of the EA capability goals.
Example:
Goal: Improve reuse of IT assets at [Company Name].
Measures:
EA principles are shared, long-lasting beliefs that guide the use of IT in constructing, transforming, and operating the enterprise by informing and restricting target-state enterprise architecture design, solution development, and procurement decisions.
Example:
Policies can be seen as “the letter of the law,” whereas EA principles summarize “the spirit of the law.”
EA capability goals, i.e. specific desired outcomes of an EA management process execution. Use COBIT 5, APO03 process goals, and metrics as a starting point.
Define key operational measures for internal use by IT and EA practitioners. Also, define business value measures that communicate and demonstrate the value of EA as an enabler of business outcomes to senior executives.
| EA performance measures (lead, operational) | EA value measures (lag) | |
|---|---|---|
| Application of EA management process | EA’s contribution to IT performance | EA’s contribution to business value |
Enterprise Architecture Management
IT Investment Portfolio Management
Solution Development
Operations Management
Business Value
2.1 2 hrs
Download the three templates and hold a working session to facilitate a session on creating EA fundamentals.
Download the EA Vision and Mission Template, the EA Principles Template, and the EA Goals and Measures Template
Document the final vision, mission, principles, goals, and measures within the EA Governance Framework.
Update the EA Governance Framework Template
Industry Insurance
Source Info-Tech
The EA group at INSPRO01 was being pulled in multiple directions with requests ranging from architecture review to solution design to code reviews.
Project level architecture was being practiced with no clarity on the end goal. This led to EA being viewed as just another IT function without any added benefits.
Info-Tech recommended that the EA team ensure that the fundamentals (vision, mission, principles, goals, and measures) reflect what the team aspired to achieve before fixing any of the process concerns.
The EA team was mostly comprised of technical people and hence the best practices outlined were not driven by business value.
The team had no documented vision and mission statements in place. In addition, the existing goals and measures were not tied to the business strategic objectives.
The team had architectural principles documented, but there were too many and they were very technical in nature.
With Info-Tech’s guidance, the team developed a vision and mission statement to succinctly communicate the purpose of the EA function.
The team also reduced and simplified the EA principles to make sure they were value driven and communicated in business terms.
Finally, the team proposed goals and measures to track the performance of the EA team.
With the fundamentals in place, the team was able to show the value of EA and gain organization-wide acceptance.
The following are sample activities that will be conducted by Info-Tech analysts with your team:
Info-Tech Insight
Perform due diligence prior to decision making. Use the EA Engagement Model to promote conversations between stage gate meetings as opposed to having the conversation during the stage gate meetings.
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.
Proposed Time to Completion: 2 weeks
Start with an analyst kick-off call:
Then complete these activities…
With these tools & templates:
Review findings with analyst:
Then complete these activities…
With these tools & templates:
Effective EA engagement revolves around three basic principles – generating business benefits, creating adaptable models, and being able to replicate the process across the organization.
Business Value Driven
Focus on generating business value from organizational investments.
Repeatable
Process should be standardized, transparent, and repeatable so that it can be consistently applied across the organization.
Flexible
Accommodate the varying needs of projects of different sizes.
Where these pillars meet: Advocates long-term strategic vs. short-term tactical solutions.
EA’s engagement in each stage within the plan, build, and run phases should be clearly defined and communicated.
| Plan | Strategy Development | Business Planning | Conceptualization | Portfolio Management |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ↓ | ||||
| Build | Requirements | Solution Design | Application Development/ Procurement | Quality Assurance |
| ↓ | ||||
| Run | Deploy | Operate |
3.1 2-3 hr
Hold a working session with the participants to document the current IT operating model. Facilitate the activity using the following steps:
1. Map out the IT operating model.
2. Determine EA’s current role in the operating model.
Download the EA Engagement Model Template to document the organization’s current IT operating model.
Strategy Development
Also known as strategic planning, strategy development is fundamental to creating and running a business. It involves the creation of a longer-term game plan or vision that sets specific goals and objectives for a business.
| R | Those in charge of performing the task. These are the people actively involved in the completion of the required work. | → | Business VPs, EA, IT directors | R |
| A | The one ultimately answerable for the correct and thorough completion of the deliverable or task, and the one who delegates the work to those responsible. | → | CEO | A |
| C | Those whose opinions are sought before a decision is made, and with whom there is two-way communication. | → | PMO, Line managers, etc. | C |
| I | Those who are kept up to date on progress, and with whom there is one-way communication. | → | Development managers, etc. | I |
Next Step: Similarly define the RACI for each stage of the IT operating model; refer to the activity slide for prompts.
| Plan |
Strategy Development C |
Business Planning C |
Conceptualization A |
Portfolio Management C |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Build |
Requirements C |
Solution Design R |
Application Development/ Procurement R |
Quality Assurance I |
| Run |
Deploy I |
Operate I |
Next Step: Define the role of EA in each stage of the IT operating model; refer to the activity slide for prompts.
3.2 2 hrs
Download the EA Engagement Model Template and hold a working session to define EA’s target role in each step of the IT operating model.
Download the EA Engagement Model Template
Document the target state role of EA within the EA Governance Framework document.
Update the EA Governance Framework Template
Industry Insurance
Source Info-Tech
INSPRO01 had a high IT cost structure with looming technology debt due to a preference for short-term tactical gains over long-term solutions.
The business satisfaction with IT was at an all-time low due to expensive solutions that did not meet business needs.
INSPRO01’s technology landscape was in disarray with many overlapping systems and interoperability issues.
No single team within the organization had an end-to-end perspective all the way from strategy to project execution. A lot of information was being lost in handoffs between different teams.
This led to inconsistent design/solution patterns being applied. Investment decisions had not been grounded in reality and this often led to cost overruns.
Info-Tech helped INSPRO01 identify opportunities for EA team engagement at different stages of the IT operating model. EA’s role within each stage was clearly defined and documented.
With Info-Tech’s help, the EA team successfully made the case for engagement upfront during strategy development rather than during project execution.
The increased transparency enabled the EA team to ensure that investments were aligned to organizational strategic goals and objectives.
The following are sample activities that will be conducted by Info-Tech analysts with your team:
Key Activities
Outcomes
This phase will walk you through the following activities:
This step involves the following participants:
Outcomes of this step
Info-Tech Insight
Use architecture governance like a scalpel rather than a hatchet. Implement governing bodies to provide guidance rather than act as a police force.
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.
Proposed Time to Completion: 2 weeks
Step 4.1: Identify architecture boards and develop charters
Start with an analyst kick-off call:
Then complete these activities…
With these tools & templates:
Step 4.2: Develop an architecture review process
Follow-up with an analyst call:
Then complete these activities…
With these tools & templates:
The primary purpose of architecture boards is to ensure that business benefits are maximized and solution design is within the options set forth by the architectural reference models without introducing additional layers of bureaucracy.
The optimal number of architecture boards required in an organization is a function of the following factors:
Commonly observed architecture boards:
Info-Tech Insight
Before building out a new governance board, start small by repurposing existing forums by adding architecture as an agenda item. As the items for review increase consider introducing dedicated governing bodies.
EA teams can be organized in three ways – distributed, federated, and centralized. Each model has its own strengths and weaknesses. EA governance must be structured in a way such that the strengths are harvested and the weaknesses are mitigated.
| Distributed | Federated | Centralized | |
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| Level 1 | Architecture Review Board | IT and Business Leaders | ||||
| Level 2 | Business Architecture Board | Data Architecture Board | Application Architecture Board | Infrastructure Architecture Board | Security Architecture Board | IT and Business Managers |
| Level 3 | Architecture Working Groups | Architects | ||||
Start with this:
| Level 1 | Architecture Review Board |
| Level 2 | Technical Architecture Committee |
| Level 3 | Architecture Working Groups |
Change to this:
| Architecture Review Board | IT and Business Leaders | ||||
| Business Architecture Board | Data Architecture Board | Application Architecture Board | Infrastructure Architecture Board | Security Architecture Board | IT and Business Managers |
| Architecture Working Groups | Architects | ||||
The boards at each level should be set up with the correct agenda – ensure that the boards’ composition and activities reflect their objective. Use the entry criteria to communicate the agenda for their meetings.
| Architecture Review Board | Technical Architecture Committee | |
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4.1 2 hrs
Hold a working session with the participants to identify the number of governing bodies. Facilitate the activity using the following steps:
Download the Architecture Board Charter Template to document this activity.
The charter represents the agreement between the governing body and its stakeholders about the value proposition and obligations to the organization.
4.2 3 hrs
Hold a working session with the stakeholders to define the charter for each of the identified architecture boards.
Download Architecture Board Charter Template
Update the EA Governance Framework document
The best-practice model presented facilitates the creation of sound solution architecture through continuous engagement with the EA team and well-defined governance checkpoints.
4.3 2 hours
Hold a working session with the participants to develop the architecture review process. Facilitate the activity using the following steps:
Download the Architecture Review Process Template for additional guidance regarding developing an architecture review process.
4.3 2 hrs
Download Architecture Review Process Template and facilitate a session to customize the best-practice model presented in the template.
Download the Architecture Review Process Template
Summarize the process changes and document the process flow in the EA Governance Framework document.
Update the EA Governance Framework Template
Industry Insurance
Source Info-Tech
At INSPRO01, architecture governance boards were a bottleneck. The boards fielded all project requests, ranging from simple screen label changes to complex initiatives spanning multiple applications.
These boards were designed as forums for technology discussions without any business stakeholder involvement.
INSPRO01’s management never gave buy-in to the architecture governance boards since their value was uncertain.
Additionally, architectural reviews were perceived as an item to be checked off rather than a forum for getting feedback.
Architectural exceptions were not being followed through due to the lack of a dispensation process.
Info-Tech has helped the team define adaptable inclusion/exclusion criteria (based on project complexity) for each of the architectural governing boards.
The EA team was able to make the case for business participation in the architecture forums to better align business and technology investment.
An architecture dispensation process was created and operationalized. As a result architecture reviews became more transparent with well-defined next steps.
The following are sample activities that will be conducted by Info-Tech analysts with your team:
Key Activities
Info-Tech Insight
Use the EA policy to promote EA’s commitment to deliver value to business stakeholders through process transparency, stakeholder engagement, and compliance.
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.
Proposed Time to Completion: 3 weeks
Start with an analyst kick-off call:
Then complete these activities…
With these tools & templates:
Review findings with analyst:
Then complete these activities…
With these tools & templates:
Architecture policy is a set of guidelines, formulated and enforced by the governing bodies of an organization, to guide and constrain architectural choices in pursuit of strategic goals.
Architecture compliance – promotes compliance to organizational standards through well-defined assessment checklists across architectural domains.
Business value – ensures that investments are tied to business value by enforcing traceability to business capabilities.
Architectural guidance – provides guidance to architecture practitioners on the application of the business and technology standards.
An enterprise architecture policy is an actionable document that can be applied to projects of varying complexity across the organization.
5.1 2.5 hrs
Step 1 - Facilitate
Download the EA Policy Template and hold a working session to draft the EA policy.
Download the EA Policy Template
Step 2 - Summarize
Update the EA Governance Framework Template
Architecture assessment checklist is a list of future-looking criteria that a project will be assessed against. It provides a set of standards against which projects can be assessed in order to render a decision on whether or not the project can be greenlighted.
Architecture checklists should be created for each EA domain since each domain provides guidance on specific aspects of the project.
Business Architecture:
Data Architecture:
Application Architecture:
Infrastructure Architecture:
Security Architecture:
5.2 2 hrs
Step 1 - Facilitate
Download the EA Assessment Checklist Template and hold a working session to create the architectural assessment checklists.
Download the EA Assessment Checklist Template
Step 2 - Summarize
Update the EA Governance Framework Template
Approved
Conditional Approval
Not Approved
Waivers are not permanent. Waiver terms must be documented for each waiver specifying:
5.4 3-4 hrs
Step 1 - Facilitate
Download the EA compliance waiver template and hold a working session to customize the best-practice process to your organization’s needs.
Download the EA Compliance Waiver Process Template
Step 2 - Summarize
Update the EA Governance Framework Template
Industry Insurance
Source Info-Tech
EA program adoption across INSPRO01 was at its lowest point due to a lack of transparency into the activities performed by the EA group.
Often, projects ignored EA entirely as it was viewed as a nebulous and non-value-added activity that produced no measurable results.
There was very little documented information about the architecture assessment process and the standards against which project solution architectures were evaluated.
Additionally, there were no well-defined outcomes for the assessment.
Project groups were left speculating about the next steps and with little guidance on what to do after completing an assessment.
Info-Tech helped the EA team create an EA policy containing architecture significance criteria, assessment checklists, and reference to the architecture review process.
Additionally, the team also identified guidelines and detailed next steps for projects based on the outcome of the architecture assessment.
These actions brought clarity to EA processes and fostered better engagement with the EA group.
The following are sample activities that will be conducted by Info-Tech analysts with your team:
Key Activities
Outcomes
Info-Tech Insight
The architecture standard is the currency that facilitates information exchange between stakeholders. The primary purpose is to minimize transaction costs by providing a balance between stability and relevancy.
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.
Proposed Time to Completion: 4 weeks
Start with an analyst kick-off call:
Then complete these activities…
Review with analyst:
Then complete these activities…
With these tools & templates:
6.1 3 hrs
Instructions:
Hold a working session with the participants to identify and standardize work products. Facilitate the activity using the steps below.
As the EA function begins to grow and accumulates EA work products, having a well-designed folder structure helps you find the necessary information efficiently.
Describes the organizationally tailored architecture framework.
Defines the parameters, structures, and processes that support the enterprise architecture group.
An architectural presentation of assets in use by the enterprise at particular points in time.
Captures the standards with which new architectures and deployed services must comply.
Provides guidelines, templates, patterns, and other forms of reference material to accelerate the creation of new architectures for the enterprise.
Provides a record of governance activity across the enterprise.
6.2 5-6 hrs
Instructions:
Hold a working session with the participants to create a repository structure. Facilitate the activity using the steps below:
Identify
Assess
Document
Approve
Communicate
6.3 1.5 hrs
Step 1 - Facilitate
Download the standards update process template and hold a working session to customize the best practice process to your organization’s needs.
Download the Architecture Standards Update Process Template
Step 2 - Summarize
Summarize the objectives and the process flow in the EA governance framework document.
Update the EA Governance Framework Template
Industry Insurance
Source Info-Tech
INSPRO01 didn’t maintain any centralized standards and each project had its own solution/design work products based on the preference of the architect on the project. This led to multiple standards across the organization.
Lack of consistency in architectural deliverables made the information hand-offs expensive.
INSPRO01 didn’t maintain the architectural documents in a central repository and the information was scattered across multiple project folders.
This caused key stakeholders to make decisions based on incomplete information and resulted in constant revisions as new information became available.
Info-Tech recommended that the EA team identify and standardize the various EA work products so that information was collected in a consistent manner across the organization.
The team also recommended an information taxonomy to store the architectural deliverables and other collateral.
This resulted in increased consistency and standardization leading to efficiency gains.
The following are sample activities that will be conducted by Info-Tech analysts with your team:
Key Activities
Outcomes
Info-Tech Insight
By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail – maximize the likelihood of success for EA governance by engaging the relevant stakeholders and communicating the changes.
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.
Proposed Time to Completion: 1 week
Start with an analyst kick-off call:
Then complete these activities…
With these tools & templates:
Start with an analyst kick-off call:
Then complete these activities…
With these tools & templates:
The changes made to the EA governance components need to be reviewed, approved, and communicated to all of the impacted stakeholders.
Step 1: Hold a meeting with stakeholders to review, refine, and agree on the changes.
Step 2: Obtain an official approval from the stakeholders.
Step 3: Communicate the changes to the impacted stakeholders.
7.1 3 hrs
Hold a working session with the participants to create the EA governance framework as well as the communication plan. Facilitate the activity using the steps below:
Download the EA Governance Communication Plan Template and EA Governance Framework Template for additional instructions and to document your activities in this phase.
Industry Insurance
Source Info-Tech
The EA group followed Info-Tech’s methodology to assess the current state and has identified areas for improvement.
Best practices were adopted to fill the gaps identified.
The team planned to communicate the changes to the technology leadership team and get approvals.
As the EA team tried to roll out changes, they encountered resistance from various IT teams.
The team was not sure of how to communicate the changes to the business stakeholders.
Info-Tech has helped the team conduct a thorough stakeholder analysis to identify all the stakeholders who would be impacted by the changes to the architecture governance framework.
A comprehensive communication plan was developed that leveraged traditional email blasts, town hall meetings, and non-traditional methods such as team blogs.
The team executed the communication plan and was able to manage the change effectively.
The following are sample activities that will be conducted by Info-Tech analysts with your team:
Key Activities
Outcomes
Government of British Columbia. “Architecture and Standards Review Board.” Government of British Columbia. 2015. Web. Jan 2016. < http://www.cio.gov.bc.ca/cio/standards/asrb.page >
Hopkins, Brian. “The Essential EA Toolkit Part 3 – An Architecture Governance Process.” Cio.com. Oct 2010. Web. April 2016. < http://www.cio.com/article/2372450/enterprise-architecture/the-essential-ea-toolkit-part-3---an-architecture-governance-process.html >
Kantor, Bill. “How to Design a Successful RACI Project Plan.” CIO.com. May 2012. Web. Jan 2016. < http://www.cio.com/article/2395825/project-management/how-to-design-a-successful-raci-project-plan.html >
Sapient. “MIT Enterprise Architecture Guide.” Sapient. Sep 2004. Web. Jan 2016. < http://web.mit.edu/itag/eag/FullEnterpriseArchitectureGuide0.1.pdf >
TOGAF. “Chapter 41: Architecture Repository.” The Open Group. 2011. Web. Jan 2016. < http://pubs.opengroup.org/architecture/togaf9-doc/arch/chap41.html >
TOGAF. “Chapter 48: Architecture Compliance.” The Open Group. 2011. Web. Jan 2016. < http://pubs.opengroup.org/architecture/togaf9-doc/arch/chap48.html >
TOGAF. “Version 9.1.” The Open Group. 2011. Web. Jan 2016. http://pubs.opengroup.org/architecture/togaf9-doc/arch/
United States Secret Service. “Enterprise Architecture Review Board.” United States Secret Service. Web. Jan 2016. < http://www.archives.gov/records-mgmt/toolkit/pdf/ID191.pdf >
Virginia Information Technologies Agency. “Enterprise Architecture Policy.” Commonwealth of Virginia. Jul 2006. Web. Jan 2016. < https://www.vita.virginia.gov/uploadedfiles/vita_main_public/library/eapolicy200-00.pdf >
Alan Mitchell, Senior Manager, Global Cities Centre of Excellence, KPMG
Alan Mitchell has held numerous consulting positions before his role in Global Cities Centre of Excellence for KPMG. As a Consultant, he has had over 10 years of experience working with enterprise architecture related engagements. Further, he worked extensively with the public sector and prides himself on his knowledge of governance and how governance can generate value for an organization.
Ian Gilmour, Associate Partner, EA advisory services, KPMG
Ian Gilmour is the global lead for KPMG’s enterprise architecture method and Chief Architect for the KPMG Enterprise Reference Architecture for Health and Human Services. He has over 20 years of business design experience using enterprise architecture techniques. The key service areas that Ian focuses on are business architecture, IT-enabled business transformation, application portfolio rationalization, and the development of an enterprise architecture capability within client organizations.
Djamel Djemaoun Hamidson, Senior Enterprise Architect, CBC/Radio-Canada
Djamel Djemaoun is the Senior Enterprise Architect for CBC/Radio-Canada. He has over 15 years of Enterprise Architecture experience. Djamel’s areas of special include service-oriented architecture, enterprise architecture integration, business process management, business analytics, data modeling and analysis, and security and risk management.
Sterling Bjorndahl, Director of Operations, eHealth Saskatchewan
Sterling Bjorndahl is now the Action CIO for the Sun Country Regional Health Authority, and also assisting eHealth Saskatchewan grow its customer relationship management program. Sterling’s areas of expertise include IT strategy, enterprise architecture, ITIL, and business process management. He serves as the Chair on the Board of Directors for Gardiner Park Child Care.
Huw Morgan, IT Research Executive, Enterprise Architect
Huw Morgan has 10+ years experience as a Vice President or Chief Technology Officer in Canadian internet companies. As well, he possesses 20+ years experience in general IT management. Huw’s areas of expertise include enterprise architecture, integration, e-commerce, and business intelligence.
Serge Parisien, Manager, Enterprise Architecture at Canada Mortgage Housing Corporation
Serge Parisien is a seasoned IT leader with over 25 years of experience in the field of information technology governance and systems development in both the private and public sectors. His areas of expertise include enterprise architecture, strategy, and project management.
Alex Coleman, Chief Information Officer at Saskatchewan Workers’ Compensation Board
Alex Coleman is a strategic, innovative, and results-driven business leader with a proven track record of 20+ years’ experience planning, developing, and implementing global business and technology solutions across multiple industries in the private, public, and not-for-profit sectors. Alex’s expertise includes program management, integration, and project management.
L.C. (Skip) Lumley , Student of Enterprise and Business Architecture
Skip Lumley was formerly a Senior Principle at KPMG Canada. He is now post-career and spends his time helping move enterprise business architecture practices forward. His areas of expertise include enterprise architecture program implementation and public sector enterprise architecture business development.
Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:
Bureaucracy saps innovation out of large corporations. Some even believe that bureaucracy is inevitable and is an outcome of a complex business operating in a complex market and regulatory environment.
So, what is the antidote to bureaucracy? Some look to startups like Uber, Airbnb, Netflix, and Spotify, but they are digital native and don’t compare well to a large monolithic corporation.
However, all is not lost for large corporations. Inspiration can be drawn from a company in China – Haier, which is not a typical poster child of the digital age like Spotify. In fact, three decades ago, it was a state-owned company with a shoddy product quality.
Haier uses an intriguing organization structure based on microenterprises and platforms that has proven to be an antidote to bureaucracy.
Vivek Mehta
Research Director, Digital & Innovation
Info-Tech Research Group
Large corporations are prone to bureaucracies, which sap their organizations of creativity and make them blind to new opportunities. Though many executives express the desire to get rid of it, bureaucracy is thriving in their organizations.
As organizations grow and become more complex over time, they yearn for efficiency and control. Some believe bureaucracy is the natural outcome of running a complex organization in a complex business and regulatory environment.
A new organizational form – the platform structure – is challenging the bureaucratic model. The platform structure makes employees directly accountable to customers and organizes them in an ecosystem of autonomous units.
As a starting point, sketch out a platform structure that works for your organization. Then, establish a governance model and identify and nurture key capabilities for the platform structure.
The antidote to bureaucracy is a platform structure: small, autonomous teams operating as startups within the organization.
Industry: Manufacturing
Source: Harvard Business Review November-December 2018
Haier, based in China, is currently the world’s largest appliance maker. Zhang Ruimin, Haier’s CEO, has built an intriguing organizing structure where every employee is directly accountable to customers – internal and/or external. A large corporation often consists of a few operating units, each with its own idiosyncrasies, which makes it slow to innovate. To avoid that, Haier has divided itself into 4,000 microenterprises (MEs), most of which have ten to 15 employees. There are three types of microenterprises in Haier:
Each ME operates as an autonomous unit with its own targets – an organizing structure that enables innovation at Haier.
(Harvard Business Review, 2018)
Tech companies like Facebook, Netflix, and Spotify are organized around a set of modular platforms run by accountable platform teams. This modular org structure enables them to experiment, learn, and scale quickly – a key attribute of innovative organizations.
Facebook ~2,603 million monthly active users
India ~1,353 million population
Netflix ~183 million monthly paid subscribers
Spotify ~130 million premium subscribers
Canada ~37 million population
(“Facebook Users Worldwide 2020,” “Number of Netflix Subscribers 2019,” “Spotify Users - Subscribers in 2020,” Statista.)
“Platforms consist of a logical cluster of activities and associated technology that delivers on a specific business goal and can therefore be run as a business, or ‘as a service’ … Platforms focus on business solutions to serve clients (internal or external) and to supply other platforms.” – McKinsey, 2019
Platforms operate as independent units with their own business, technology, governance, processes, and people management. As an instance, a bank could have payments platform under a joint business and IT leadership. This payments-as-a-service platform could provide know-how, processes, and technology to the bank’s internal customers such as retail and commercial business units.
Many leading IT organizations are set up in a platform-based structure that allows them to rapidly innovate. It’s an imperative for organizations in other industries that they must pilot and then scale with a platform play.
An organism consists of multiple cells of different types, sizes, and shapes. Each cell is independent in its working. Regardless of the type, a cell would have three features –the nucleus, the cell membrane, and, between the two, the cytoplasm.
Similarly, an organization could be imagined as one consisting of several platforms of different types and sizes. Each platform must be autonomous, but they all share a few common features – have a platform leader, set up and monitor targets, and enable interoperability amongst platforms. Platforms could be of three types (McKinsey, 2019):
The payments platform is led by an SVP – the platform leader. Business and IT teams are colocated and have joint leadership. The platform team works with a mindset of a startup, serving internal customers of the bank – retail and commercial lines of business.
Advisory Council: An Advisory Council is responsible for strategy, business, and IT architecture and for overseeing the work within the team. The Advisory Council prioritizes the work, earmarks project budgets, sets standards such as for APIs and ISO 20022, and leads vendor evaluation.
International payments (VISA, WU, etc.): Project execution teams are structured around payment modes. Teams collaborate with each other whenever a common functionality is to be developed, like fraud check on a payment or account posting for debits and credits.
Payments innovation: A think tank keeping track of trends in payments and conducting proof of concepts (POCs) with prospective fintech partners and with new technologies.
Corral your organization’s activities and associated tech into a set of 20 to 40 platforms that cover customer journeys, business capabilities, and core IT. Business and IT teams must jointly work on this activity and could use a capability map as an aid to facilitate the discussion.
| Design Policy | Create Policy | Issue Policy | Service Customers | Process Claims | Manage Investments | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Defining | Market Research & Analysis | Underwriting Criteria Selection | Customer Targeting | Interaction Management | First Notice of Loss (FNOL) | Investment Strategy |
| Actuarial Analysis | Product Reserving | Needs Assessment & Quotes | Payments | Claims Investigation | Portfolio Management | |
| Catastrophe Risk Modeling | Reinsurance Strategy | Contract Issuance | Adjustments | Claims Adjudication | Deposits & Disbursements | |
| Product Portfolio Strategy | Product Prototyping | Application Management | Renewals | Claims Recovery (Subrogation) | Cash & Liquidity Management | |
| Rate Making | Product Testing | Sales Execution | Offboarding | Dispute Resolution | Capital Allocation | |
| Policy Definition | Product Marketing | Contract Change Management |
Customer Retention [Servicing a customer request is a customer-journey platform.] |
Claims Inquiry [Filing a claim is a customer-journey platform.] |
Credit Bureau Reporting | |
| Shared | Customer Management |
Account Management [Customer and account management is a business-capability platform to enable journeys.] |
Channel Management | Risk Management | Regulatory & Compliance | Knowledge Management |
| Partner Management |
Access and Identity Management [Access and identity management is a core IT platform.] |
Change Management | Enterprise Data Management | Fraud Detection [Fraud detection is a business-capability platform to enable journeys.] | Product Innovation | |
| Enabling | Corporate Governance | Strategic Planning | Reporting | Accounting | Enterprise Architecture | Human Resources |
| Legal | Corporate Finance | IT | Facilities Management |
Advisory Council (AC) operates like a conductor at an orchestra, looking across all the activities to understand and manage the individual components.
Team structure, processes and technologies must be thoughtfully orchestrated and nurtured.
While platforms are distinct units, they must be in sync with each other, like individual musicians in an orchestra. The Advisory Council (AC) must act like a conductor of the orchestra and lead and manage across platforms in three ways.
“Zero distance from the customer” is the focus of platform structure. Each platform must operate with a mindset of a startup serving internal and/or external users.
Platform teams iteratively develop their offerings. With guidance from Advisory Council, they can avoid bottlenecks of formal alignment and approvals.
The raison d'être of enterprise architecture discipline is to enable modularity in the architecture, encourage reusability of assets, and simplify design.
Microservices allow systems to grow with strong cohesion and weak coupling and enable teams to scale components independently.
With their ability to link systems and data, APIs play a crucial role in making IT systems more responsive and adaptable.
With the drop in its cost, predictability is becoming the new electricity for business. Platforms use machine learning capability for better predictions.
Drive Digital Transformation With Platform Strategies
Innovate and transform your business models with digital platforms.
Implement Agile Practices That Work
Guide your organization through its Agile transformation journey.
Design a Customer-Centric Digital Operating Model
Putting the customer at the center of digital transformation.
Bossert, Oliver, and Jürgen Laartz. “Perpetual Evolution—the Management Approach Required for Digital Transformation.” McKinsey, 5 June 2017. Accessed 21 May 2020.
Bossert, Oliver, and Driek Desmet. “The Platform Play: How to Operate like a Tech Company.” McKinsey, 28 Feb. 2019. Accessed 21 May 2020.
“Facebook Users Worldwide 2020.” Statista. Accessed 21 May 2020.
Hamel, Gary, and Michele Zanini. “The End of Bureaucracy.” Harvard Business Review. Nov.-Dec. 2018. Accessed 21 May 2020.
“Number of Netflix Subscribers 2019.” Statista. Accessed 21 May 2020.
“Spotify Users - Subscribers in 2020.” Statista. Accessed 21 May 2020.
Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:
Equip managers to become more effective with managing remote teams.
The workbook serves as a reference guide participants will use to support formal training.
Many organizations are developing plans to allow employees more flexible work options, including remote work. Use these resources to help managers and employees make the most of remote work arrangements.
Describe the benefits of virtual teams.
Create a plan for adopting effective management practices and setting clear expectations with virtual teams.
Identify potential solutions to the challenges of managing performance and developing members of virtual teams.
Create an action plan to increase effectiveness in managing virtual teams.
People managers who manage or plan to manage virtual teams.
Two three-hour sessions
|
Section 1 |
Section 2 |
||
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 min |
Welcome: Overview & Introductions
|
10 min |
Welcome: Overview & Introductions
|
| 50 min |
1.1 Introduction to virtual teams
|
55 min |
2.1 Managing wellbeing in a virtual team context
|
| 5 min |
Break |
5 min | Break |
| 45 min |
1.2 Laying the foundation for a virtual team
|
60 min |
2.2 Managing performance in a virtual team context
|
| 10 min |
Break |
10 min | Break |
| 55 min |
1.2 Laying the foundation for a virtual team
|
40 min |
Action planning & conclusion
|
| 5 min |
Session 1 Wrap-Up |
||
Review all slides and adjust the language or content as needed to suit your organizational context and culture.
The pencil icon to the left denotes slides requiring customization of the slide and/or the speaker’s notes, e.g. adding in an organization-specific process.
Customization instructions are found in the notes pane.
Practical foundations for managing teams in a remote environment
Most organizations are planning some combination of remote and onsite work in 2022.
Source: IT Talent Trends, 2022; n=199
Most organizations are planning some combination of remote and onsite work in 2022 – the highest reported plans for WFH were hybrid, balanced, and partial work-from-home. This builds on our findings in the IT Talent Trends 2022 report.
What percentage of roles in IT are capable of being performed remotely permanently?
IT Talent Trends, 2022; n=207
80% of respondents estimated that 50 to 100% of IT roles can be performed remotely.
A virtual team is any team that has members that are not colocated and relies on technology for communications.
Before we start, it will be useful to review what we mean by the term “virtual team.” For our purposes we will be defining a virtual team as any team that has members that are not colocated and relies on technology for communications.
There are a wide variety of virtual work arrangements and a variety of terms used to describe them. For example, some common terms include:
Our definition of virtual work covers all of these terms. It is also distance neutral, meaning that it applies equally to teams that are dispersed globally or regionally or even those working in the same cities but dispersed throughout different buildings. Our definition also applies whether virtual employees work full time or part time.
The challenges facing managers arise as soon as some team members are not colocated and have to rely on technology to communicate and coordinate work. Greater distances between employees can complicate challenges (e.g. time zone coordination), but the core challenges of managing virtual teams are the same whether those workers are merely located in different buildings in the same city or in different buildings on different continents.
Working on your own, take five minutes to figure out what kind of virtual team you lead.
Download the Workbook: Equip Managers to Effectively Manage Virtual Teams
|
Benefits to the organization |
Benefits to employees |
|---|---|
|
Operational continuity in disaster situations that prevent employees from coming into the office. |
Cost savings: Employees who WFH half the time can save $2,500 to $4,000 per year (Global Workplace Analytics, 2021). |
|
Cost savings: Organizations save ~$11,000 annually per employee working from home half the time (Global Workplace Analytics, 2021). |
Time savings: Employees who WFH half the time save on average 11 workdays per year (Global Workplace Analytics, 2021). |
|
Increased attraction: 71% of employees would likely choose one employer over another based on WFH offerings (Owl Labs, 2021). |
Improved wellbeing: 83% employees agree that WFH would make them happier. 80% agree that WFH would decrease their stress. 81% agree that WFH would improve their ability to manage their work-life balance. (Owl Labs, 2021) |
|
Increased retention: 74% of employees would be less likely to leave their employer if they could WFH (Owl Labs, 2021). |
Increased flexibility: 32% of employees rated the “ability to have a flexible schedule” as the biggest benefit of WFH (OWL Labs, 2021). |
|
Increased productivity: 50% of employees report they would maintain or increase their productivity while working from home (Glassdoor Team, 2020). |
|
|
Increased engagement: Offsite employees tend to have higher overall engagement than onsite employees (McLean & Company Engagement Survey, 2020). |
Remote work arrangements are becoming more and more common, and for good reason: there are a lot of benefits to the organization – and to employees.
Perhaps one of the most common reasons for opting for remote-work arrangements is the potential cost savings. One study found that organizations could save about $11,000 per employee working from home half the time (Global Workplace Analytics, 2021).
In addition, supporting remote-work arrangements can attract employees. One study found that 71% of employees would likely choose one employer over another based on WFH offerings (Owl Labs, 2019).
There are also improvements to productivity. Fifty percent of employees report they would maintain or increase their productivity while working from home (Glassdoor Team, 2020).
Remote work also has benefits to employees.
As with organizations, employees also benefit financially from remote work arrangements, saving between $2,500 and $4,000 and on average 11 working days while working from home half of the time.
Most employees agree that working from home makes them happier, reduces stress, and provides an improved work-life balance through increased flexibility.
Many of these barriers can be addressed by changing traditional mindsets and finding alternative ways of working, but the traditional approach to work is so entrenched that it has been hard to make the shift.
Many organizations are still grappling with the challenges of remote work. Some are just perceived challenges, while others are quite real.
Limited innovation and a lack of informal interaction are a potential consequence of failing to properly adapt to the remote-work environment.
Leaders also face challenges with remote work. Losing in-person supervision has led to the lack of trust and a perceived drop in productivity.
A study conducted 2021 asked remote workers to identify their biggest struggle with working remotely. The top three struggles remote workers report facing are unplugging after work, loneliness, and collaborating and/or communicating.
Seeing the struggles remote workers identify is a good reminder that these employees have a unique set of challenges. They need their managers to help them set boundaries around their work; create feelings of connectedness to the organization, culture, and team; and be expert communicators.
Download the Workbook: Equip Managers to Effectively Manage Virtual Teams
Laying the foundations for a virtual team
|
Inform |
Interact | Involve |
|---|---|---|
|
↓ Down |
Connect |
↑ Up |
|
Tell employees the whys |
Get to know employees |
Solicit input from employees |
Effectively managing a virtual team really comes down to adopting management approaches that will engage virtual employees.
Managing a virtual team does not actually require a new management style. The basics of effective management are the same in both colocated and virtual teams; however, the emphasis on certain behaviors and actions we take often differs. Managing a virtual team requires much more thoughtfulness and planning in our everyday interactions with our teams as we cannot rely on the relative ease of face-to-face interactions available to colocated teams.
The 3i’s Engaging Management Model is useful when interacting with all employees and provides a handy framework for more planful interactions with virtual employees.
Think of your management responsibilities in these three buckets – they are the most important components of being an effective manager. We’re first going to look at inform and involve before moving on to interact.
Inform: Relay information down from senior management and leaders to employees. Communicate the rationale behind decisions and priorities, and always explain how they will directly affect employees.
Why is this important? According to McLean & Company’s Engagement Survey data, employees who say their managers keep them well informed about decisions that affect them are 3.4 times more likely to be engaged (Source: McLean & Company, 2020; N=77,363). Your first reaction to this might be “I already do this,” which may very well be the case. Keep in mind, though, we sometimes tend to communicate on a “need-to-know basis,” especially when we are stressed or short on time. Engaging employees takes more. Always focus on explaining the “why?” or the rationale behind business decisions.
It might seem like this domain should be the least affected, since important company announcements probably continue in a remote environment. But remember that information like that also flows informally. And even in formal settings, there are question-and-answer opportunities. Or maybe your employee might come to your office to ask for more details. Virtual team members can’t gather around the watercooler. They don’t have the same opportunities to hear information in passing as people who are colocated do, so managers need to make a concerted effort to share information with virtual team members in a clear and timely way.
Swinging over to the other end, we have involve: Involve your employees. Solicit information and feedback from employees and collaborate with them.
However, it’s not enough to just solicit their feedback and input; you also need to act on it.
Make sure you involve your employees in a meaningful way. Such collaboration makes employees feel like a valued part of the team. Not to mention that they often have information and perspectives that can help make your decisions stronger!
Employees who say their department leaders act on feedback from them are 3.9 times more likely to be engaged than those whose leaders don’t. (Source: McLean & Company, 2020; N=59,779). That is a huge difference!
Keeping virtual employees engaged and feeling connected and committed to the organization requires planful and regular application of the 3i’s model.
Finally, Interact: Connect with employees on a personal level; get to know them and understand who they are on a personal and professional level.
Why? Well, over and above the fact that it can be rewarding for you to build stronger relationships with your team, our data shows that human connection makes a significant difference with employees. Employees who believe their managers care about them as a person are 3.8 times more likely to be engaged than those who do not (Source: McLean & Company, 2017; N=70,927).
And you might find that in a remote environment, this is the area that suffers the most, since a lot of these interactions tend to be unscripted, unscheduled, and face to face.
Typically, if we weren’t in the midst of a pandemic, we’d emphasize the importance of allocating some budget to travel and get some face-to-face time with your staff. Meeting and interacting with team members face to face is crucial to building trusting relationships, and ultimately, an effective team, so given the context of our current circumstances, we recommend the use of video when interacting with your employees who are remote.
Relay information down from senior management to employees.
Ensure they’ve seen and understand any organization-wide communication.
Share any updates in a timely manner.
Connect with employees on a personal level.
Ask how they’re doing with the new work arrangement.
Express empathy for challenges (sick family member, COVID-19 diagnosis, etc.).
Ask how you can support them.
Schedule informal virtual coffee breaks a couple of times a week and talk about non-work topics.
Get information from employees and collaborate with them.
Invite their input (e.g. have a “winning remotely” brainstorming session).
Escalate any challenges you can’t address to your VP.
Give them as much autonomy over their work as possible – don’t micromanage.
Download the Workbook: Equip Managers to Effectively Manage Virtual Teams
Clear expectations are important in any environment, remote or not. But it is much harder to do in a remote environment. The barrier to seeking clarification is so much higher (For example, email vs. catching someone in hallway, or you can’t notice that a colleague is struggling without them asking).
Communication – This is one area where the importance actually changes in a remote context. We’ve been talking about a lot of practices that are the same in importance whether you’re in an office or remote, and maybe you just enact them differently. But clarity around communication processes is actually tremendously more important in a remote environment.
Suggested best practices: Hold daily team check-ins and hold separate individual check-ins. Increase frequency of these.
With organizational expectations set, we need to establish team expectations around how we collaborate and communicate.
Today there is no lack of technology available to support our virtual communication. We can use the phone, conference calls, videoconferencing, Skype, instant messaging, [insert organization-specific technological tools.], etc.
However, it is important to have a common understanding of which tools are most appropriate when and for what.
What are some of the communication channel techniques you’ve found useful in your informal interactions with employees or that you’ve seen work well between employees?
[Have participants share any technological tools they find useful and why.]
Whenever we interact, we make the following kinds of social exchanges. We exchange:
We need to make sure that these exchanges are happening as each team member intends. To do this, we have to be sensitive to what information is being conveyed, what emotions are involved in the interaction, and how we are motivating each other to act through the interaction. Every interaction will have intended and unintended effects on others. No one can pay attention to all of these aspects of communication all the time, but if we develop habits that are conducive to successful exchanges in all three areas, we can become more effective.
In addition to being mindful of the exchange in our communication, as managers it is critical to build trusting relationships and rapport with employees as we saw in the 3i's model. However, in virtual teams we cannot rely on running into someone in the kitchen or hallway to have an informal conversation. We need to be thoughtful and deliberate in our interactions with employees. We need to find alternative ways to build these relationships with and between employees that are both easy and accepted by ourselves and employees. Because of that, it is important to set communication norms and really understand each other’s preferences. For example:
Download the Workbook: Equip Managers to Effectively Manage Virtual Teams
Section 2.1
Balancing wellbeing and performance in a virtual team context
44% of employees reported declined mental wellbeing since the start of the pandemic.
"If one of our colleagues were to fall, break their leg, and get a cast, colleagues would probably rally around that person signing their cast. But, really, we don’t view the health of our brain the same as we do the health of our body."
– Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) Employee
Despite being over two years into the pandemic, we are still seeing its effect on the physical and mental health of employees.
The mental health aspect has been often overlooked by organizations, but in order to have a safe, happy, and productive team, you need to give mental health the same level of focus as physical heath. This requires a change in mindset in order for you as a leader to support your team's mental wellbeing during the pandemic and beyond.
Employees report increasingly high levels of stress from the onset of COVID-19, stating that it has been the most stressful time in their careers.
(Qualtrics, 2020)
Similarly, employees’ anxiety levels have peaked because of the pandemic and the uncertainty it brings.
(Qualtrics, 2020)
The stress and uncertainty about the future caused by the pandemic and its fallout are posing the biggest challenges to employees.
Organizations shutting down operations, moving to fully remote, or requiring some of their employees to be on site based on the current situation causes a lot of anxiety as employees are not able to plan for what is coming next.
Adding in the loss of social networks and in-person interactions exacerbates the problem employees are facing. As leaders, it is your job to understand and mitigate these challenges wherever possible.
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Organizational barriers to mental wellbeing are sadly not new. Workloads, stigma around mental health, lack of sick days, and limits to benefits for mental health supports were challenges before the pandemic. Adding in the new barriers can very easily result in a tipping point for many employees who are simply not equipped to deal with or supported in dealing with the added burden of remote work in a post-pandemic world.
To provide the needed support to your employees, it’s important to be mindful of the key considerations.
The physical body; ensuring a person has the freedom, opportunities, and resources needed to sustainably maintain bodily health.
The psychological ability to cope with information, emotions, desires, and stressors (e.g. change, threats, etc.) in a healthy and balanced way. Essential for day-to-day living and functioning.
The state of personal and professional relationships, including personal and community engagement. The capability for genuine, authentic, and mutually affirming interactions with others.
The state of a person’s finances; ensuring that a person feels capable to handle their financial situation and behaviors. The ability to live productively without the weight of financial stress.
As a manager, you need to be mindful of all of these. Create an atmosphere where people are able to come to you for help if they are struggling in one of these areas. For example, some people might be more comfortable raising physical safety or comfort concerns (personal protective equipment, ergonomics) than concerns about mental health. Or they might feel like their feelings of loneliness are not appropriate to bring into their professional life.
Wellbeing is a delicate subject, and most of the time, people are reluctant to talk about it. It requires vulnerability. And here’s the thing about it: Your staff will not drive a change in your team around making these topics more acceptable. It has to be the manager. You have to be the one to not just tell but show them that it’s OK to talk about this
As a leader, your focus should be on encouraging the right behaviors on your team and in yourself.
Show empathy; allowing room for emotion and showing you are willing and able to listen goes a long way to establishing trust.
A growth mindset applies to resilience too. A person with a growth mindset is more likely to believe that even though they’re struggling now, they will get through it.
Infuse fun – schedule social check-ins. This is not wasted time, or time off work – it is an integral part of the workday. We have less of it now organically, so you must bring it back deliberately. Remember that theme? We are deliberately reinfusing important organic elements into the workday.
The last item, empowerment, is interesting – being clear on accountability. Have clear performance expectations. It might sound like telling people what to do would be disempowering, but it’s the opposite. By clarifying the goals of what they need to achieve, you empower them to invent their own “how,” because you and they are both sure they will arrive at the place that you agreed on. We will talk more about this in performance management.
Emphasize the importance of wellbeing with what you do. If you do not model self-care behavior, people will follow what you do, not what you say.
Lead by example – Live the behaviors you want to see in your employees. If you show confidence, positivity, and resiliency, it will filter down to your team.
Encourage open communication – Have regular meetings where your team is able to set the agenda, or allow one-on-ones to be guided by the employee. Make sure these are scheduled and keep them a priority.
Acknowledge the situation – Pretending things are normal doesn’t help the situation. Talk about the stress that the team is facing and express confidence that you will get through it together.
Promote wellbeing – Take time off, don’t work when you’re sick, and you will be better able to support your team!
Reduce stigma – Call it out when you see it and be sure to remind people of and provide access to any supports that the organization has.
Going back to the idea of a growth mindset – this may be uncomfortable for you as a manager. So here’s a step-by-step guide that over time you can morph into your own style.
With your team – be prepared to share first and to show it is OK to be vulnerable and address wellbeing seriously.

As a leader, it is important to be on the lookout for warning signs of burnout and know when to step in and direct individuals to professional help.
Poor work performance – They struggle to maintain work performance, even after you’ve worked with them to create coping strategies.
Overwhelmed – They repeatedly tell you that they feel overwhelmed, very stressed, or physically unwell.
Frequent personal disclosure – They want to discuss their personal struggles at length on a regular basis.
Trouble sleeping and focusing – They tell you that they are not sleeping properly and are unable to focus on work.
Frequent time off – They feel the need to take time off more frequently.
Strained relationships – They have difficulty communicating effectively with coworkers; relationships are strained.
Substance abuse – They show signs of substance abuse (e.g. drunk/high while working, social media posts about drinking during the day).
Keeping an eye out for these signs and being able to step in before they become unmanageable can mean the difference between keeping and losing an employee experiencing burnout.
If you’ve got managers under you, be mindful of their unique stressors. Don’t forget to check in with them, too.
If you are a manager, remember to take care of yourself and check in with your own manager about your own wellbeing.
Download the Workbook: Equip Managers to Effectively Manage Virtual Teams
A survey indicated that, overall, remote employees showed less satisfaction with manager interactions compared to other non-remote employees.
In many cases, we have put people into virtual roles because they are self-directed and self-motivated workers who can thrive with the kind of autonomy and flexibility that comes with virtual work. As managers, we should expect many of these workers to be proactively interested in how they are performing and in developing their careers.
It would be a mistake to take a hands-off approach when managing virtual workers. A recent survey indicated that, overall, remote employees showed less satisfaction with manager interactions compared to other non-remote employees. It was also one of the aspects of their work experience they were least satisfied with overall (Gallup, State of the American Workplace, 2017). Simply put, virtual employees are craving more meaningful conversations with their managers.
While conversations about performance and development are important for all employees (virtual or non-virtual), managers of remote teams can have a significant positive impact on their virtual employees’ experience and engagement at work by making efforts to improve their involvement and support in these areas.
During this module we will work together to identify ways that each of us can improve how we manage the performance of our virtual employees. At the end of the module everyone will create an action plan that they can put in place with their own teams. In the next module, we go through a similar set of activities to create an action plan for our interactions with employees about their development.
[Include a visualization of your existing performance management process in the slide. Walk the participants through the process to remind them of what is expected. While the managers participating in the training should know this, there may be different understandings of it, or it might just be the case that it’s been a while since people looked at the official process. The intention here is merely to ensure everyone is on the same page for the purposes of the activities that follow.]
Now that we’ve reviewed performance management at a high level, let’s dive into what is currently happening with the performance management of virtual teams.
I know that you have some fairly extensive material at your organization around how to manage performance. This is fantastic. And we’re going to focus mainly on how things change in a virtual context.
When measuring progress, how do you as a manager make sure that you are comfortable not seeing your team physically at their desks? This is the biggest challenge for remote managers.
Download the Workbook: Equip Managers to Effectively Manage Virtual Teams
When assisting your employees with their goals, think about the organization’s overall mission and goals to help you determine team and individual goals.
Sometimes it’s difficult to get employees thinking about goals and they need assistance from managers. It’s also important to be clear on team goals to help guide employees in setting individual ones.
The basic idea is to show people how their individual day-to-day work contributes to the overall success of the organization. It gives them a sense of purpose and a rationale, which translates to motivation. And also helps them problem solve with more autonomy.
You’re giving people a sense of the importance of their own contribution.
Tailor performance goals to address any root causes of poor performance.
For example:
Focus on results: Be flexible about how and when work gets done, as long as team members are hitting their targets.
Encourage your team members to unplug: If they’re sending you emails late at night and they haven’t made an alternate work hours agreement with you, encourage them to take time away from work.
How well tasks are accomplished
Related to specific employee actions, skills, or attitudes
How much work gets done
Holistic measures demonstrate all the components required for optimal performance. This is the biggest driver in having comfort as a manager of a remote team and avoiding micromanagement. Typically these are set at the organizational level. You may need to adjust for individual roles, etc.
Metrics come in different types. One way to ensure your metrics capture the full picture is to use a mix of different kinds of metrics.
Some metrics are quantitative: they describe quantifiable or numerical aspects of the goal. This includes timeliness. On the other hand, qualitative metrics have to do with the final outcome or product. And behavioral metrics have to do with employees' actions, skills, or attitudes. Using different kinds of metrics together helps you set holistic measures, which capture all the components of optimal performance toward your goal and prevent gaming the system.
Let's take an example:
A courier might have an objective to do a good job delivering packages. An example of a quantitative measure might be that the courier is required to deliver X number of packages per day on time. The accompanying metrics would be the number of packages delivered per day and the ratio of packages delivered on time vs. late.
Can you see a problem if we use only these quantitative measures to evaluate the courier's performance?
Wait to see if anyone volunteers an answer. Discuss suggestions.
That's right, if the courier's only goal is to deliver more packages, they might start to rush, may ruin the packages, and may offer poor customer service. We can help to guard against this by implementing qualitative and behavioral measures as well. For example, a qualitative measure might be that the courier is required to deliver the packages in mint condition. And the metric would be the number of customer complaints about damaged packages or ratings on a satisfaction survey related to package condition.
For the behavioral aspect, the courier might be required to provide customer-centric service with a positive attitude. The metrics could be ratings on customer satisfaction surveys related to the courier's demeanor or observations by the manager.
It’s crucial to acknowledge that an employee might have an “off week” or need time to balance work and life – things that can be addressed with performance management (PM) techniques. Managers should move into the process for performance improvement when:
Always use video calls instead of phone calls when possible so that you don’t lose physical cues and body language.
Adding HR/your leader to a meeting invite about performance may cause undue stress. Think through who needs to participate and whether they need to be included in the invite itself.
Ensure there are no misunderstandings by setting context for each discussion and having the employee reiterate the takeaways back to you.
Don’t assume the intent behind the behavior(s) being discussed. Instead, just focus on the behavior itself.
Be sure to adhere to any relevant HR policies and support systems. Working with HR throughout the process will ensure none are overlooked.
There are a few best practices you should follow when having performance conversations:
Download the Workbook: Equip Managers to Effectively Manage Virtual Teams
As we have seen, our virtual employees crave more meaningful interactions with their managers. In addition to performance conversations, managers should also be having regular discussions with their employees about their employee development plans. One key component of these discussions is career planning. Whether you are thinking shorter term – how to become better at their current role – or longer term – how to advance beyond their current role – discussions about employee development are a great way to engage employees. Employees are ultimately responsible for creating and executing their own development plans, but managers are responsible for making sure that employees have thought through these plans and helping employees identify opportunities for executing those plans.
To help us think about our own employee development practices, identify challenges they pose when working with virtual employees, and create solutions to these challenges, it is useful to think about employee development opportunities according to three types:
According to McLean & Company, organizations should use the “70-20-10” rule as a rough guideline when working with employees to create their development plans: 10% of the plan should be dedicated to formal training opportunities, 20% to relational learning, and 70% to experiential learning. Managers should work with employees to identify their performance and career goals, ensure that their development plans are aligned with these goals, and include an appropriate mixture of all three kinds of development opportunities.
To help identify challenges and solutions, think about how virtual work arrangements will impact the employee’s ability to leverage each type of opportunity at our organization.
Here are some examples that can help us start thinking about the kinds of challenges virtual employees on our team face:
Now that we have considered some general examples of challenges and solutions, let’s look at our own employee development practices and think about the practical steps we can take as managers to improve employee development for our virtual employees.
[Customize this slide according to your organization’s own policies and processes for employee development. Provide useful images that outline this on the slide, and in these notes describe the processes/policies that are in place. Note: In some cases policies or processes may not be designed with virtual employees or virtual teams in mind. That is okay for the purposes of this training module. In the following activities participants will discuss how they apply these policies and processes with their virtual teams. If your organization is interested in adapting its policies/processes to better support virtual workers, it may be useful to record those conversations to supplement existing policies later.]
Now that we have considered some general examples of challenges and solutions, let’s look at our own employee development practices and think about the practical steps we can take as managers to improve employee development for our virtual employees.
Download the Workbook: Equip Managers to Effectively Manage Virtual Teams
Download the Workbook: Equip Managers to Effectively Manage Virtual Teams
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First, let’s take a moment to summarize the key things we have learned today:
Is there anything that anyone has learned that is not on this list and that they would like to share with the group?
Finally, were there any challenges identified today that were not addressed?
[Note to facilitator: Take note of any challenges not addressed and commit to getting back to the participants with some suggested solutions.]
Train managers to navigate the interpersonal challenges associated with change management and develop their communication and leadership skills. Upload this LMS module into your learning management system to enable online training.
Management skills training is needed, but organizations are struggling to provide training that makes a long-term difference in the skills managers use in their day to day.
Many training programs are ineffective because they offer the wrong content, deliver it in a way that is not memorable, and are not aligned with the IT department’s business objectives.
Assess and improve remote work performance with our ready-to-use tools.
April, Richard. “10 KPIs Every Sales Manager Should Measure in 2019.” HubSpot, 24 June 2019. Web.
Banerjea, Peter. “5 Powerful Strategies for Managing a Remote Sales Team.” Badger - Maps for field sales, n.d. Web.
Bibby, Adrianne. “5 Employers’ Awesome Quotes about Work Flexibility.” FlexJobs, 9 January 2017. Web.
Brogie, Frank. “The 14 KPIs every field sales rep should strive to improve.” Repsly, 2018. Web.
Dunn, Julie. “5 smart tips for leading field sales teams.” LevelEleven, March 2015. Web.
Edinger, Scott. “How great sales leaders coach.” Forbes, 2013. Web.
“Employee Outlook: Employee Views on Working Life.” CIPD, April 2016. Web.
Hall, Becki. “The 5 biggest challenges facing remote workers (and how to solve them).” interact, 7 July 2017. Web.
Hofstede, Geert. “National Cultural Dimensions.” Hofstede Insights, 2012. Web.
“Inventory of U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks: 1990-2014 (EPA 430-R-16-002).” Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), 15 April 2016.
“Latest Telecommuting Statistics.” Global Workplace Analytics, June 2021. Web.
Knight, Rebecca. “How to manage remote direct reports.” Harvard Business Review, 2015. Web.
“Rewards and Recognition: 5 ways to show remote worker appreciation.” FurstPerson, 2019. Web.
Palay, Jonathan. "How to build your sales management cadence." CommercialTribe, 22 March 2018. Web.
“Sales Activity Management Matrix.” Asian Sales Guru, 2019. Web.
Smith, Simone. “9 Things to Consider When Recognizing Remote Employees.” hppy, 2018. Web.
“State of Remote Work 2017.” OWL Labs, 2021. Web.
“State of the American Workplace.” Gallup, 2017. Web.
“Telework Savings Potential.” Global Workplace Analytics, June 2021. Web.
“The Future of Jobs Employment Trends.” World Economic Forum, 2016. Web.
“The other COVID-19 crisis: Mental health.” Qualtrics, 14 April 2020. Web.
Thompson, Dan. “The straightforward truth about effective sales leadership.” Sales Hacker, 2017. Web.
Tsipursky, Gleb. “Remote Work Can Be Better for Innovation Than In-Person Meetings.” Scientific American, 14 Oct. 2021. Web.
Walsh, Kim. “New sales manager? Follow this guide to crush your first quarter.” HubSpot, May 2019. Web.
“What Leaders Need to Know about Remote Workers: Surprising Differences in Workplace Happiness and Relationships.” TINYpulse, 2016.
Zenger, Jack, and Joe Folkman. “Feedback: The Leadership Conundrum.” Talent Quarterly: The Feedback Issue, 2015.
Anonymous CAMH Employee
Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:
Use the Info-Tech templates to identify and document your requirements, plan your project, and prepare to engage with vendors.
Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:
Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:
This blueprint provides the steps necessary to build your own enterprise application implementation playbook that can be deployed and leveraged by your implementation teams.
Build 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.
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
Info-Tech Research Group
| Your Challenge | Common Obstacles | Info-Tech's Approach |
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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.
| Understand Assess the challenges, lay out the reasons, define your legacy, and prepare to remove the barriers to modernization. |
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| Assess Determine the benefits by business capability. Leverage APM foundations to select the candidate applications and prioritize. |
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| Define Use the prioritized application list to drive the next steps to modernization. |
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
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:
Source: U.S. Government Accountability Office, 2021
| 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) |
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
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:
This phase involves the following participants:
Don’t architect for normal situations. That is a shallow approach and leads to decisions that may seem “right” but will not be able to stand up to system elasticity needs.
Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:
Translate stakeholder objectives into architecture requirements, solutions, and changes. Incorporate architecture quality attributes in decisions to increase your architecture’s life. Evaluate your solution architecture from multiple views to obtain a holistic perspective of the range of issues, risks, and opportunities.
Identify and detail the value maps that support the business, and discover the architectural quality attribute that is most important for the value maps. Brainstorm solutions for design decisions for data, security, scalability, and performance.
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.
Document a vision statement for the solution architecture practice (in general) and/or a specific vision statement, if using a single project as an example.
Document business architecture and capabilities.
Decompose capabilities into use cases.
Provide a great foundation for an actionable vision and goals that people can align to.
Develop a collaborative understanding of business capabilities.
Develop a collaborative understanding of use cases and personas that are relevant for the business.
1.1 Develop vision statement.
1.2 Document list of value stream maps and their associated use cases.
1.3 Document architectural quality attributes needed for use cases using SRME.
Solution Architecture Template with sections filled out for vision statement canvas and value maps
Map value stream to required architectural attributes.
Prioritize architecture decisions.
Discuss and document data architecture.
An understanding of architectural attributes needed for value streams.
Conceptual understanding of data architecture.
2.1 Map value stream to required architectural attributes.
2.2 Prioritize architecture decisions.
2.3 Discuss and document data architecture.
Solution Architecture Template with sections filled out for value stream and architecture attribute mapping; a prioritized list of architecture design decisions; and data architecture
Discuss security and threat assessment.
Discuss resolutions to threats via security architecture decisions.
Discuss system’s scalability needs.
Decisions for security architecture.
Decisions for scalability architecture.
3.1 Discuss security and threat assessment.
3.2 Discuss resolutions to threats via security architecture decisions.
3.3 Discuss system’s scalability needs.
Solution Architecture Template with sections filled out for security architecture and scalability design
Discuss performance architecture.
Compile all the architectural decisions into a solutions architecture list.
A complete solution architecture.
A set of principles that will form the foundation of solution architecture practices.
4.1 Discuss performance architecture.
4.2 Compile all the architectural decisions into a solutions architecture list.
Solution Architecture Template with sections filled out for performance and a complete solution architecture
Application architecture is a critical foundation for supporting the growth and evolution of application systems. However, the business is willing to exchange the extension of the architecture’s life with quality best practices for the quick delivery of new or enhanced application functionalities. This trade-off may generate immediate benefits to stakeholders, but it will come with high maintenance and upgrade costs in the future, rendering your system legacy early.
Technical teams know the importance of implementing quality attributes into architecture but are unable to gain approval for the investments. Overcoming this challenge requires a focus of architectural enhancements on specific problem areas with significant business visibility. Then, demonstrate how quality solutions are vital enablers for supporting valuable application functionalities by tracing these solutions to stakeholder objectives and conducting business and technical risk and impact assessments through multiple business and technical perspectives.
Andrew Kum-Seun
Research Manager, Applications
Info-Tech Research Group
EXECUTIVE BRIEF
Well-received applications can have poor architectural qualities. Functional needs often take precedence over quality architecture. Quality must be baked into design, execution, and decision-making practices to ensure the right tradeoffs are made.
A well-thought-through and strategically designed solution architecture is essential for the long-term success of any software system, and by extension, the organization because:
In its need for speed, a business often doesn’t see the value in making sure architecture is maintainable, reusable, and scalable. This demand leads to an organizational desire for development practices and the procurement of vendors that favor time-to-market over long-term maintainability. Unfortunately, technical teams are pushed to omit design quality and validation best practices.
Poor quality application architecture impedes business growth opportunities, exposes enterprise systems to risks, and consumes precious IT budgets in maintenance that could otherwise be used for innovation and new projects.
Previous estimations indicate that roughly 50% of security problems are the result of software design. […] Flaws in the architecture of a software system can have a greater impact on various security concerns in the system, and as a result, give more space and flexibility for malicious users.(Source: IEEE Software)
Errors in software requirements and software design documents are more frequent than errors in the source code itself according to Computer Finance Magazine. Defects introduced during the requirements and design phase are not only more probable but also more severe and more difficult to remove. (Source: iSixSigma)
… describes the dependencies, structures, constraints, standards, and development guidelines to successfully deliver functional and long-living applications. This artifact lays the foundation to discuss the enhancement of the use and operations of your systems considering existing complexities.
Lowers maintenance costs by revealing key issues and risks early. The Systems Sciences Institute at IBM has reported that the cost to fix an error found after product release was 4 to 5 times as much as one uncovered during design.
(iSixSigma)
Supports the design and implementation activities by providing key insights for project scheduling, work allocation, cost analysis, risk management, and skills development.(IBM: developerWorks)
Eliminates unnecessary creativity and activities on the part of designers and implementers, which is achieved by imposing the necessary constraints on what they can do and making it clear that deviation from constraints can break the architecture.(IBM: developerWorks)
Solution architecture is not a one-size-fits-all conversation. There are many design considerations and trade-offs to keep in mind as a product or services solution is conceptualized, evaluated, tested, and confirmed. The following is a list of good practices that should inform most architecture design decisions.
Principle 1: Design your solution to have at least two of everything.
Principle 2: Include a “kill switch” in your fault-isolation design. You should be able to turn off everything you release.
Principle 3: If it can be monitored, it should be. Use server and audit logs where possible.
Principle 4: Asynchronous is better than synchronous. Asynchronous design is more complex but worth the processing efficiency it introduces.
Principle 5: Stateless over stateful: State data should only be used if necessary.
Principle 6: Go horizonal (scale out) over vertical (scale up).
Principle 7: Good architecture comes in small packages.
Principle 8: Practice just-in-time architecture. Delay finalizing an approach for as long as you can.
Principle 9: X-ilities over features. Quality of an architecture is the foundation over which features exist. A weak foundation can never be obfuscated through shiny features.
Principle 10: Architect for products not projects. A product is an ongoing concern, while a project is short lived and therefore only focused on what is. A product mindset forces architects to think about what can or should be.
Principle 11: Design for rollback: When all else fails, you should be able to stand up the previous best state of the system.
Principle 12: Test the solution architecture like you test your solution’s features.
Solution architecture is a technical response to a business need, and like all complex evolutionary systems, must adapt its design for changing circumstances.
The triggers for changes to existing solution architectures can come from, at least, three sources:
A solution’s architecture is cross-cutting and multi-dimensional and at the minimum includes:
along with several qualitative attributes (also called non-functional requirements).
Integrate Portfolios to Create Exceptional Customer Value
Deliver on Your Digital Portfolio Vision
Build a Data Architecture Roadmap
Build a Data Pipeline for Reporting and Analytics
Optimize Application Release Management
Build Your Infrastructure Roadmap
Identify Opportunities to Mature the Security Architecture
Solution Architecture Template
Record the results from the exercises to help you define, detail, and make real your digital product vision.
Each step of this blueprint is accompanied by supporting deliverables to help you accomplish your goals:
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
Contact your account representative for more information. workshops@infotech.com 1-888-670-8889
| Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | |
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What does a typical GI on this topic look like?
A Guided Implementation (GI) is series of calls with an Info-Tech analyst to help implement our best practices in your organization.
This GI is between 8 to 10 calls over the course of approximately four to six months.
| Phase 1 | Phase 2 | Phase 2 |
|---|---|---|
| Call #1: Articulate an architectural vision. |
Call #4: Continue discussion on value stream mapping and related use cases. |
Call #6: Document security design decisions. |
| Call #2: Discuss value stream mapping and related use cases. |
Call #5:
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Call #7:
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| Call #3: Continue discussion on value stream mapping and related use cases. |
Call #8: Bring it all together. |
1.1 Articulate an Architectural Vision
1.2 Develop Dynamic Value Stream Maps
1.3 Map Value Streams, Use Cases, and Required Architectural Attributes
1.4 Create a Prioritized List of Architectural Attributes
2.1 Develop a Data Architecture That Supports Transactional and Analytical Needs
2.2 Document Security Architecture Risks and Mitigations
3.1 Document Scalability Architecture
3.2 Document Performance Enhancing Architecture
3.3 Combine the Different Architecture Design Decisions Into a Unified Solution Architecture
Enhance Your Solution Architecture Practice
If you start off by saying I want to architect a system,
you’ve already lost.
Remember what a vision is for!
Your product vision serves as the single fixed point for product development and delivery.
It gets everyone on the same page.
There is no pride in being a rudderless ship. It can also be very expensive.
We know where to go, we know who to bring along, and we know the steps to get there. Let’s plan this out.
Who is the target customer (or customers)?
What is the key benefit a customer can get from using our service or product?
Why should they be engaged with you?
What makes our service or product better than our competitors?
(Adapted from Crossing the Chasm)
It doesn’t matter if you are delivering value to internal or external stakeholders, you need a product vision to ensure everyone understands the “why.”
The solution architecture canvas provides a single dashboard to quickly define and communicate the most important information about the vision. A canvas is an effective tool for aligning teams and providing an executive summary view.
There are different statement templates available to help form your product vision statements. Some include:
We believe (in) a [noun: world, time, state, etc.] where [persona] can [verb: do, make, offer, etc.], for/by/with [benefit/goal].
Our vision is to [verb: build, design, provide] the [goal, future state] to [verb: help, enable, make it easier to...] [persona].
(Adapted from Crossing the Chasm)
Download the Solution Architecture Template and document your vision statement.
Sets and communicates the direction of the entire organization.
Segments, groups, and creates a coherent narrative as to how an organization creates value.
Decomposes an organization into its component parts to establish a common language across the organization.
Implements the business strategy through capability building or improvement projects.
Revenue Growth
Stream 1- Product Purchase
Stream 2- Customer Acquisition
stream 3- Product Financing
There are many techniques that help with constructing value streams and their capabilities.
Domain-driven design is a technique that can be used for hypothesizing the value maps, their capabilities, and associated solution architecture.
Read more about domain-driven design here.
Value chains set a high-level context, but architectural decisions still need to be made to deal with the dynamism of user interaction and their subsequent expectations. User stories (and/or use cases) and themes are great tools for developing such decisions.

The use case Confirming Customer’s Online Order has four actors:
Each use case theme links back to a feature(s) in the product backlog.
Deliver on Your Digital Portfolio Vision
Document Your Business Architecture
*Refer to the next slide for an example of a dynamic value stream map.
Download the Solution Architecture Template for documentation of dynamic value stream map
*Value Stream Name: Usually has the same name as the capability it illustrates.
**Value Stream Components: Specific functions that support the successful delivery of a value stream.
The use case Disbursement of Funds has three actors:
| Loan Provision: Disbursement of Funds | ||
|---|---|---|
| Use Case | Actors | Expectation |
| Deposit Loan Into Applicant’s Bank Account |
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Quality attributes can be viewed as the -ilities (e.g. scalability, usability, reliability) that a software system needs to provide. A system not meeting any of its quality attribute requirements will likely not function as required. Examples of quality attributes are:
| Examples of Qualitative Attributes | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Performance | Compatibility | Usability | Reliability | Security | Maintainability |
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Focus on quality attributes that are architecturally significant.
*Abstract since attributes like performance and reliability are not directly measurable by a user.
For applicable use cases: (*Adapted from S Carnegie Mellon University, 2000)
Three out of four is bad. Don’t architect for normal situations because the solution will be fragile and prone to catastrophic failure under unexpected events.
Read article: Retail sites crash under weight of online Black Friday shoppers.
Assume analysis is being done for a to-be developed system.
| User | Loan Applicant | |
|---|---|---|
| Expectations | On login to the web system, should be able to see accurate bank balance after loan funds are deposited. | |
| User signs into the online portal and opens their account balance page. | ||
| Expected Response From System | System creates a connection to the data source and renders it on the screen in under 10ms. | |
| Measurement | Under Normal Loads:
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Under Peak Loads:
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| Quality Attribute Required | Required Attribute # 1: Performance
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Use cases developed in Phase 1.2 should be used here. (Adapted from the ATAM Utility Tree Method for Quality Attribute Engineering)
Assume analysis is being done for a to-be developed system.
| User | Loan Applicant | |
|---|---|---|
| Expectations | On login to the web system, should be able to see accurate bank balance after loan funds are deposited. | |
| User signs into the online portal and opens their account balance page. | ||
| Expected Response From System | System creates a connection to the data source and renders it on the screen in under 10ms. | |
| Measurement | Under Normal Loads:
| Under Peak Loads:
|
| Quality Attribute Required | Required Attribute # 1: Performance
Required Attribute # 2: Data Reliability
Required Attribute # 3: Scalability
| |
Loan Application → Disbursement of Funds → Risk Management → Service Accounts
| Value Stream Component | Use Case | Required Architectural Attribute |
|---|---|---|
| Loan Application | UC1: Submit Loan Application UC2: Review Loan Application UC3: Approve Loan Application UCn: …….. |
UC1: Resilience, Data Reliability UC2: Data Reliability UC3: Scalability, Security, Performance UCn: ….. |
| Disbursement of Funds | UC1: Deposit Funds Into Applicant’s Bank Account UCn: …….. |
UC1: Performance, Scalability, Data Reliability |
| Risk Management | ….. | ….. |
| Service Accounts | ….. | ….. |
*Refer to the next slide for an example of a dynamic value stream map.
Download the Solution Architecture Template for documentation of dynamic value stream map
*Value Stream Name: Usually has the same name as the capability it illustrates.
**Value Stream Components: Specific functions that support the successful delivery of a value stream.
The use case Disbursement of Funds has three actors:
| Loan Provision: Disbursement of Funds | ||
|---|---|---|
| Use Case | Actors | Expectation |
| Deposit Loan Into Applicant’s Bank Account |
|
|
Quality attributes can be viewed as the -ilities (e.g. scalability, usability, reliability) that a software system needs to provide. A system not meeting any of its quality attribute requirements will likely not function as required. Examples of quality attributes are:
| Examples of Qualitative Attributes | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Performance | Compatibility | Usability | Reliability | Security | Maintainability |
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Focus on quality attributes that are architecturally significant.
*Abstract since attributes like performance and reliability are not directly measurable by a user.
For applicable use cases: (*Adapted from S Carnegie Mellon University, 2000)
Three out of four is bad. Don’t architect for normal situations because the solution will be fragile and prone to catastrophic failure under unexpected events.
Read article: Retail sites crash under weight of online Black Friday shoppers.
Assume analysis is being done for a to-be developed system.
| User | Loan Applicant | |
|---|---|---|
| Expectations | On login to the web system, should be able to see accurate bank balance after loan funds are deposited. | |
| User signs into the online portal and opens their account balance page. | ||
| Expected Response From System | System creates a connection to the data source and renders it on the screen in under 10ms. | |
| Measurement | Under Normal Loads:
|
Under Peak Loads:
|
| Quality Attribute Required | Required Attribute # 1: Performance
|
|
Use cases developed in Phase 1.2 should be used here. (Adapted from the ATAM Utility Tree Method for Quality Attribute Engineering)
Assume analysis is being done for a to-be developed system.
| User | Loan Applicant | |
|---|---|---|
| Expectations | On login to the web system, should be able to see accurate bank balance after loan funds are deposited. | |
| User signs into the online portal and opens their account balance page. | ||
| Expected Response From System | System creates a connection to the data source and renders it on the screen in under 10ms. | |
| Measurement | Under Normal Loads:
| Under Peak Loads:
|
| Quality Attribute Required | Required Attribute # 1: Performance
Required Attribute # 2: Data Reliability
Required Attribute # 3: Scalability
| |
Trade-offs are inherent in solution architecture. Scaling systems may impact performance and weaken security, while fault-tolerance and redundancy may improve availability but at higher than desired costs. In the end, the best solution is not always perfect, but balanced and right-engineered (versus over- or under-engineered).
Loan Application → Disbursement of Funds → Risk Management → Service Accounts
In our example, the prioritized list of architectural attributes are:
Download the Solution Architecture Template and document the list of architectural attributes by priority.
1.1 Articulate an Architectural Vision
1.2 Develop Dynamic Value Stream Maps
1.3 Map Value Streams, Use Cases, and Required Architectural Attributes
1.4 Create a Prioritized List of Architectural Attributes
2.1 Develop a Data Architecture That Supports Transactional and Analytical Needs
2.2 Document Security Architecture Risks and Mitigations
3.1 Document Scalability Architecture
3.2 Document Performance Enhancing Architecture
3.3 Combine the Different Architecture Design Decisions Into a Unified Solution Architecture
Enhance Your Solution Architecture Practice
Source: Flexera
In addition, companies are faced with:
A robust and reliable integrated data architecture is essential for any organization that aspires to be relevant and impactful in its industry.
Data used to be the new oil. Now it’s the life force of any organization that has serious aspirations of providing profit-generating products and services to customers. Architectural decisions about managing data have a significant impact on the sustainability of a software system as well as on quality attributes such as security, scalability, performance, and availability.
Storage and Processing go hand in hand and are the mainstay of any data architecture. Due to their central position of importance, an architecture decision for storage and processing must be well thought through or they become the bottleneck in an otherwise sound system.
Ingestion refers to a system’s ability to accept data as an input from heterogenous sources, in different formats, and at different intervals.
Dissemination is the set of architectural design decisions that make a system’s data accessible to external consumers. Major concerns involve security for the data in motion, authorization, data format, concurrent requests for data, etc.
Orchestration takes care of ensuring data is current and reliable, especially for systems that are decentralized and distributed.
Most companies have a combination of data. They have data they own using on-premises data sources and on the cloud. Hybrid data management also includes external data, such as social network feeds, financial data, and legal information amongst many others.
| Application to Application Integration (or “speed matters”) | Analytical Data Integrations (or “send it to me when its all done”) |
|---|---|
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Data ingestion/dissemination frameworks capture/share data from/to multiple data sources.
What is the mode for data movement?
What is the ingestion/dissemination architecture deployment strategy?
How many different and disparate data sources are sending/receiving data?
What are the different formats flowing through?
What are expected performance SLAs as data flow rate changes?
What are the security requirements for the data being stored?
… but that’s a good thing because the range of data formats that organizations must deal with is also richer than in the past.
The data processing tool to use may depend upon the workloads the system has to manage.
Expanding upon the Risk Management use case (as part of the Loan Provision Capability), one of the outputs for risk assessment is a report that conducts a statistical analysis of customer profiles and separates those that are possibly risky. The data for this report is spread out across different data systems and will need to be collected in a master data management storage location. The business and data architecture team have discussed three critical system needs, noted below:
| Data Management Requirements for Risk Management Reporting | Data Design Decision |
|---|---|
| Needs to query millions of relational records quickly |
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| Needs a storage space for later retrieval of relational data |
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| Needs turnkey geo-replication mechanism with document retrieval in milliseconds |
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A task or application may periodically fail, and therefore, as a part of our data architecture strategy, there must be provisions for scheduling, rescheduling, replaying, monitoring, retrying, and debugging the entire data pipeline in a holistic way.
Some of the functionality provided by orchestration frameworks are:
| Data Orchestration Has Three Stages | ||
|---|---|---|
| Organize | Transform | Publicize |
| Organizations may have legacy data that needs to be combined with new data. It’s important for the orchestration tool to understand the data it deals with. | Transform the data from different sources into one standard type. | Make transformed data easily accessible to stakeholders. |
Download the Solution Architecture Template for documenting data architecture decisions.
| Data Management Requirements for Risk Management Reporting | Data Design Decision |
|---|---|
| Needs to query millions of relational records quickly |
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| Needs a storage space for later retrieval of relational data |
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| Needs turnkey geo-replication mechanism with document retrieval in milliseconds |
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Ensuring that any real system is secure is a complex process involving tradeoffs against other important quality attributes (such as performance and usability). When architecting a system, we must understand:
Authentication mechanisms help systems verify that a user is who they claim to be.
Examples of authentication mechanisms are:
Authorization helps systems limit access to allowed features, once a user has been authenticated.
Examples of authentication mechanisms are:
Securely recording security events through auditing proves that our security mechanisms are working as intended.
Auditing is a function where security teams must collaborate with software engineers early and often to ensure the right kind of audit logs are being captured and recorded.
Defects in your application software can compromise privacy and integrity even if cryptographic controls are in place. A security architecture made after thorough TRA does not override security risk introduced due to irresponsible software design.
STRIDE is a threat modeling framework and is composed of:
| Example of using STRIDE for a TRA on a solution using a payment system |
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| Spoofing | PayPal | Bad actor can send fraudulent payment request for obtaining funds. | |
| Tampering | PayPal | Bad actor accesses data base and can resend fraudulent payment request for obtaining funds. | |
| Repudiation | PayPal | Customer claims, incorrectly, their account made a payment they did not authorize. | |
| Disclosure | PayPal | Private service database has details leaked and made public. | |
| Denial of Service | PayPal | Service is made to slow down through creating a load on the network, causing massive build up of requests | |
| Elevation of Privilege | PayPal | Bad actor attempts to enter someone else’s account by entering incorrect password a number of times. | |
Download the Solution Architecture Template for documenting data architecture decisions.
| Example of using STRIDE for a TRA on a solution using a payment system | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Threat | System Component | Description | Quality Attribute Impacted | Resolution |
| Spoofing | PayPal | Bad actor can send fraudulent payment request for obtaining funds. | Confidentiality | Authorization |
| Tampering | PayPal | Bad actor accesses data base and can resend fraudulent payment request for obtaining funds. | Integrity | Authorization |
| Repudiation | PayPal | Customer claims, incorrectly, their account made a payment they did not authorize. | Integrity | Authentication and Logging |
| Disclosure | PayPal | Private service database has details leaked and made public. | Confidentiality | Authorization |
| Denial of Service | PayPal | Service is made to slow down through creating a load on the network, causing massive build up of requests | Availability | N/A |
| Elevation of Privilege | PayPal | Bad actor attempts to enter someone else’s account by entering incorrect password a number of times. | Confidentiality, Integrity, and Availability | Authorization |
1.1 Articulate an Architectural Vision
1.2 Develop Dynamic Value Stream Maps
1.3 Map Value Streams, Use Cases, and Required Architectural Attributes
1.4 Create a Prioritized List of Architectural Attributes
2.1 Develop a Data Architecture That Supports Transactional and Analytical Needs
2.2 Document Security Architecture Risks and Mitigations
3.1 Document Scalability Architecture
3.2 Document Performance Enhancing Architecture
3.3 Combine the Different Architecture Design Decisions Into a Unified Solution Architecture
Enhance Your Solution Architecture Practice
Scale and scope of workloads are more important now than they were, perhaps, a decade and half back. Architects realize that scalability is not an afterthought. Not dealing with it at the outset can have serious consequences should an application workload suddenly exceed expectations.
… the ability of a system to handle varying workloads by either increasing or decreasing the computing resources of the system.
An increased workload could include:
… not easy since organizations may not be able to accurately judge, outside of known circumstances, when and why workloads may unexpectedly increase.
A scalable architecture should be planned at the:
… balancing the demands of the system with the supply of attributes.
If demand from system > supply from system:
If supply from system > demand from system:
The best input for an effective scaling strategy is previously gathered traffic data mapped to specific circumstances.
In some cases, either due to lack of monitoring or the business not being sure of its needs, scalability requirements are hard to determine. In such cases, use stated tactical business objectives to design for scalability. For example, the business might state its desire to achieve a target revenue goal. To accommodate this, a certain number of transactions would need to be conducted, assuming a particular conversion rate.
| Scaling strategies can be based on Vertical or Horizontal expansion of resources. | ||
|---|---|---|
| Pros | Cons | |
| Vertical Scale up through use of more powerful but limited number of resources |
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| Horizontal Scale out through use of similarly powered but larger quantity of resources |
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Through this mechanism, incoming traffic is partitioned around a characteristic of the workload flowing in. Examples of partitioning characteristics are user groups, geo-location, and transaction type.
Beware of:
As the name suggests, clone the compute resources along with the underlying databases. The systems will use a load balancer as the first point of contact between itself and the workload flowing in.
This involves breaking up the system into specific functions and services and bundling their business rules/databases into deployable containers.
To know where to go, you must know where you are. Before introducing architectural changes to database designs, use the right metrics to get an insight into the root cause of the problem(s).
In a nutshell, the purpose of scaling solutions is to have the technology stack do less work for the most requested services/features or be able to effectively distribute the additional workload across multiple resources.
For databases, to ensure this happens, consider these techniques:
A non-scalable architecture has more than just technology-related ramifications. Hoping that load balancers or cloud services will manage scalability-related issues is bound to have economic impacts as well.
Database Caching
Fetches and stores result of database queries in memory. Subsequent requests to the database for the same queries will investigate the cache before making a connection with the database.
Tools like Memcached or Redis are used for database caching.
Precompute Database Caching
Unlike database caching, this style of caching precomputes results of queries that are popular and frequently used. For example, a database trigger could execute several predetermined queries and have them ready for consumption. The precomputed results may be stored in a database cache.
Application Object Caching
Stores computed results in a cache for later retrieval. For data sources, which are not changing frequently and are part of a computation output, application caching will remove the need to connect with a database.
Proxy Caching
Caches retrieved web pages on a proxy server and makes them available for the next time the page is requested.
A synchronous request (doing one thing at a time) means that code execution will wait for the request to be responded to before continuing.
Asynchronous requests (doing many things at the same time) do not block the system they are targeting.
| STATELESS SERVICES | VERSUS | STATEFUL SERVICES |
|---|---|---|
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| It is generally accepted that stateless services are better for system scalability, especially if vertical scaling is costly and there is expectation that workloads will increase. | ||
| MICROSERVICES | VERSUS | SERVERLESS FUNCTIONS |
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| Serverless function is an evolving technology and tightly controlled by the vendor. As and when vendors make changes to their serverless products, your own systems may need to be modified to make the best use of these upgrades. | ||
A critical aspect of any system is its ability to monitor and report on its operational outcomes.
Any system, however well architected, will break one day. Strategically place kill-switches to counter any failures and thoroughly test their functioning before releasing to production.
include kill-switchesand
architect for x-ilities over features), introduce tactics at the code and higher levels that can be used to put a system in its previous best state in case of failure.
(International Organization for Standardization, 2011)
Measurement Category 1: System performance in terms of end-user experience during different load scenarios.
Measurement Category 2: System performance in terms of load managed by computational resources.
Good architecture comes in small packages) and Principle 10 (
Architect for products, not projects), a microservices architecture based on domain-driven design helps process performance. Microservices use lightweight HTTP protocols and have loose coupling, adding a degree of resilience to the system as well. *An overly-engineered microservices architecture can become an orchestration challenge.
Performance modeling and testing helps architecture teams predict performance risks as the solution is being developed.
(CSA Principle 12: Test the solution architecture like you test your solution’s features)
Create a model for your system’s hypothetical performance testing by breaking an end-to-end process or use case into its components. *Use the SIPOC framework for decomposition.
Performance testing process should be fully integrated with software development activities and as automated as possible. In a fast-moving Agile environment, teams should attempt to:
*In a real production scenario, a combination of these tests are executed on a regular basis to monitor the performance of the system over a given period.
Download the Solution Architecture Template for documenting data architecture decisions.
| Value Stream Component | Design Decision for User Interface Layer | Design Decisions for Middle Processing Layer |
|---|---|---|
| Loan Application | Scalability: N/A Resilience: Include circuit breaker design in both mobile app and responsive websites. Performance: Cache data client. |
Scalability: Scale vertically (up) since loan application processing is very compute intensive. Resilience: Set up fail-over replica. Performance: Keep servers in the same geo-area. |
| Disbursement of Funds | *Does not have a user interface | Scalability: Scale horizontal when traffic reaches X requests/second. Resilience: Create microservices using domain-driven design; include circuit breakers. Performance: Set up application cache; synchronous communication since order of data input is important. |
| …. | …. | …. |
Download the Solution Architecture Template for documenting data architecture decisions.
This blueprint covered the domains tagged with the yellow star.
The right design decision is never the same for all perspectives. Along with varying opinions, comes the “at odds with each other set” of needs (scalability vs. performance, or access vs. security).
An evidence-based decision-making approach using a domain-driven design strategy is a good mix of techniques for creating the best (right?) solution architecture.
Ambysoft Inc. “UML 2 Sequence Diagrams: An Agile Introduction.” Agile Modeling, n.d. Web.
Bass, Len, Paul Clements, and Rick Kazman. Software Architecture in Practices: Third Edition. Pearson Education, Inc. 2003.
Eeles, Peter. “The benefits of software architecting.” IBM: developerWorks, 15 May 2006. Web.
Flexera 2020 State of the Cloud Report. Flexera, 2020. Web. 19 October 2021.
Furdik, Karol, Gabriel Lukac, Tomas Sabol, and Peter Kostelnik. “The Network Architecture Designed for an Adaptable IoT-based Smart Office Solution.” International Journal of Computer Networks and Communications Security, November 2013. Web.
Ganzinger, Matthias, and Petra Knaup. “Requirements for data integration platforms in biomedical research networks: a reference model.” PeerJ, 5 February 2015. (https://peerj.com/articles/755/).
Garlan, David, and Mary Shaw. An Introduction to Software Architecture. CMU-CS-94-166, School of Computer Science Carnegie Mellon University, January 1994.
Gupta, Arun. “Microservice Design Patterns.” Java Code Geeks, 14 April 2015. Web.
How, Matt. The Modern Data Warehouse in Azure. O’Reilly, 2020.
ISO/IEC 17788:2014: Information technology – Cloud computing, International Organization for Standardization, October 2014. Web.
ISO/IEC 18384-1:2016: Information technology – Reference Architecture for Service Oriented Architecture (SOA RA), International Organization for Standardization, June 2016. Web.
ISO/IEC 25010:2011(en) Systems and software engineering — Systems and software Quality Requirements and Evaluation (SQuaRE) — System and software quality models. International Organization for Standardization, March 2011. Web.
Kazman, R., M. Klein, and P. Clements. ATAM: Method for Architecture Evaluation. S Carnegie Mellon University, August 2000. Web.
Microsoft Developer Network. “Chapter 16: Quality Attributes.” Microsoft Application Architecture Guide. 2nd Ed., 13 January 2010. Web.
Microsoft Developer Network. “Chapter 2: Key Principles of Software Architecture.” Microsoft Application Architecture Guide. 2nd Ed., 13 January 2010. Web.
Microsoft Developer Network. “Chapter 3: Architectural Patterns and Styles.” Microsoft Application Architecture Guide. 2nd Ed., 14 January 2010. Web.
Microsoft Developer Network. “Chapter 5: Layered Application Guidelines.” Microsoft Application Architecture Guide. 2nd Ed., 13 January 2010. Web.
Mirakhorli, Mehdi. “Common Architecture Weakness Enumeration (CAWE).” IEEE Software, 2016. Web.
Moore, G. A. Crossing the Chasm, 3rd Edition: Marketing and Selling Disruptive Products to Mainstream Customers (Collins Business Essentials) (3rd ed.). Harper Business, 2014.
OASIS. “Oasis SOA Reference Model (SOA RM) TC.” OASIS Open, n.d. Web.
Soni, Mukesh. “Defect Prevention: Reducing Costs and Enhancing Quality.” iSixSigma, n.d. Web.
The Open Group. TOGAF 8.1.1 Online, Part IV: Resource Base, Developing Architecture Views. TOGAF, 2006. Web.
The Open Group. Welcome to the TOGAF® Standard, Version 9.2, a standard of The Open Group. TOGAF, 2018. Web.
Watts, S. “The importance of solid design principles.” BMC Blogs, 15 June 2020. 19 October 2021.
Young, Charles. “Hexagonal Architecture–The Great Reconciler?” Geeks with Blogs, 20 Dec 2014. Web.
Many solutions exist for improving the layers of the application stack that may address architecture issues or impact your current architecture. Solutions range from capability changes to full stack replacement.
| Method | Description | Potential Benefits | Risks | Related Blueprints |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Business Capabilities: Enablement and enhancement |
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Use Info-Tech’s Document Your Business Architecture blueprint to gain better understanding of business and IT alignment. |
| Removal |
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Use Info-Tech’s Build an Application Rationalization Framework to rationalize your application portfolio. |
| Business Process: Process integration and consolidation |
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| Business Process (continued): Process automation |
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| Lean business processes |
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| Outsource the process |
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| Business Process (continued): Standardization |
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| User Interface: Improve user experience (UX) |
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| Code: Update coding language |
Translate legacy code into modern coding language. |
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| Code (continued): Open source code |
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| Update the development toolchain |
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| Update source code management |
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| Data: Outsource extraction |
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| Update data structure |
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| Update data mining and data warehousing tools |
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| Integration: Move from point-to-point to enterprise service bus (ESB) |
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| Leverage API integration |
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As a software space, strategic portfolio management lacks a unified definition. In the same way that it took many years for project portfolio management to stabilize as a concept distinct from traditional enterprise project management, strategic portfolio management is experiencing a similar period of formational uncertainty. Unpacking what’s truly new and valuable in helping to define strategy and drive strategic outcomes versus what’s just repackaged as SPM is an important first step, but it's not an easy undertaking.
In this concise publication, we will cut through the marketing to unpack what strategic portfolio management is, and what makes it distinct from similar capabilities. We’ll help to situate you in the space and assess the extent to which your tooling needs can be met by a strategic portfolio management offering.
Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:
In this concise publication we introduce you to strategic portfolio management and consider the extent to which your organization can leverage an SPM application to help drive strategic outcomes.
Use this Excel workbook to determine if your organization can benefit from the features and functionality of an SPM approach or whether you need something more like a traditional project portfolio management tool.

Travis Duncan
Research Director, PPM and CIO Strategy
Info-Tech Research Group
While the market is eager to get users into what they're calling "strategic portfolio management," there's a lot of uncertainty out there about what this market is and how it's different from other, more established portfolio disciplines – most significantly, project portfolio management.
Indeed, if you look at how the space is covered within the industry, you'll encounter a dog's breakfast of players, a comparison of apples and oranges: Jira in the same quadrants as Planisware, Smartsheets in the same profiles as Planview and ServiceNow. While each of the individual players is impressive, their areas of focus are unique and the extent to which they should be compared together under the category of strategic portfolio management is questionable.
It speaks to some of the grey area within the SPM space more generally, which is at a bit of a crossroads: Will it formally shed the guardrails of its antecedents to become its own space, or will it devolve into a bait and switch through which capabilities that struggled to gain much traction beyond IT settings seek to infiltrate the business and grow their market share under a different name?
Part of it is up to the rest of us as users and potential customers. Clarifying what we need before we jump into something simply because our prior attempts failed will help determine whether we need a unique space for strategic portfolio management or whether we simply need to do portfolio management more strategically.
| Your Challenge | Common Obstacles | Info-Tech's Approach |
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Info-Tech Insight
In the same way that it took many years for PPM to stabilize as a concept distinct from traditional enterprise project management, strategic portfolio management is experiencing a similar period of formational uncertainty. In a space that can be all things to all users, clarify your actual needs before jumping onto a bandwagon and ending up with something that you don't need, and that the organization can't adopt.
While the concept of 'strategic portfolio management' has been written about within project portfolio management circles for nearly 20 years, SPM, as a distinct organizational competence and software category, is a relatively new and largely vendor-driven capability.
First emerging in the discourse during the mid-to-late 2010s, SPM has evolved from its roots in traditional enterprise project portfolio management. Though, as we will discuss, it has other antecedents not limited to PPM.
In this publication, we'll unpack what SPM is, how it is distinct (and, in turn, how it is not distinct) from PPM and other capabilities, and we will consider the extent to which your organization can and should leverage an SPM application to help drive strategic outcomes.
–The increasing need to deliver value from digital initiatives is giving rise to strategic portfolio management, a digital investment management discipline that enables strategy realization in complex dynamic environments."
– OnePlan, "Is Strategic Portfolio Management the Future of PPM?"
Only 2% of business leaders are confident that they will achieve 80% to 100% of their strategic objectives.
Source: Smith, 2022
SPM is a new stage in the history of project portfolio management more generally. While it's emerging as a distinct capability, and it borrows from capabilities beyond PPM, unpacking its distinctiveness is best done by first understanding its source.

Triggers for the emergence of strategic portfolio management in the discourse include the pace of technology-introduced change, the waning of enterprise project management, and challenges around enterprise PPM tool adoption.

| Project Portfolio Management | Differentiator | Strategic Portfolio Management |
|---|---|---|
| Work-Level (Tactical) | Primary Orientation | High-Level (Strategic) |
| CIO | Accountable for Outcomes | CxO |
| Project Manager | Responsible for Outcomes | Product Management Organization |
| Project Managers, PMO Staff | Targeted Users | Business Leaders, ePMO Staff |
| Project Portfolio(s) | Essential Scope | Multi-Portfolio (Project, Application, Product, Program, etc.) |
| IT Project Delivery and Business Results Delivery | Core Focus | Business Strategy and Change Delivery |
| Project Scope | Change Impact Sensitivity | Enterprise Scope |
| IT and/or Business Benefit | Language of Value | Value Stream |
| Project Timelines | Main View | Strategy Roadmaps |
| Resource Capacity | Primary Currency | Money |
| Work-Assignment Details | Modalities of Planning | Value Milestones & OKRs |
| Work Management | Modalities of Execution | Governance (Project, Product, Strategy, Program, etc.) |
| Project Completion | Definitions of "Done" | Business Capability Realization |
Info-Tech Insight
The distinction between the two capabilities is not necessarily as black and white as the table above would have it (some "PPM" tools offer what we're identifying above as "SPM" capabilities), but it can be helpful to think in these binaries when trying to distinguish the two capabilities. At the very least, SPM broadens its scope to target more executive and business users, and functions best when it's speaking at a higher level, to a business audience.
Perhaps the biggest evolution from traditional PPM that strategic portfolio management promises is that it casts a wider net in terms of the types of work it tracks (and how it tracks that work) and the types of portfolios it accommodates.
Not bound to the concepts of "projects" and a "project portfolio" specifically, SPM broadens its scope to encompass capabilities like product and product portfolio management, enterprise architecture management, security and risk management, and more.

"An SPM tool will capture business strategy, business capabilities, operating models, the enterprise architecture and the project portfolio with unmatched visibility into how they all relate. This will give...a robust understanding of the impact of a proposed IT change " and enable IT and business to act like cocreators driving innovation."
– Paula Ziehr
Sixty one percent of leaders acknowledge their companies struggle to bridge the gap between creating a strategy and executing on that strategy.
Source: StrategyBlocks, 2020
| ePMO or Strategy Realization Office | Senior Leadership and Executive Stakeholders | Business Leads and IT Directors and Managers |
|---|---|---|
| SPM tools are best facilitated through enterprise PMOs or strategy realization offices. After all, in enterprises, these are the entities charged with the planning, execution, and tracking of strategy.
Their roles within the tool typically entail:
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As those with the accountability and authority to drive the organization's strategy, you could argue that these stakeholders are the primary stakeholders for an SPM tool.
Their roles within the tool typically entail:
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SPM targets more business users as well as senior IT managers and directors.
Their roles within the tool typically entail:
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| Name | Description |
| Analytics and Reporting | SPM should provide access to real-time dashboards and data interpretation, which can be exported as reports in a range of formats. |
| Strategy Mapping and Road Mapping | SPM should provide access to up-to-date timeline views of strategies and initiatives, including the ability to map such things as dependencies, market needs, funding, priorities, governance, and accountabilities. |
| Value Tracking and Measurement | SPM should include the ability to forecast, track, and measure return on investment for strategic investments. This includes accommodations for various paradigms of value delivery (e.g. traditional value delivery and measurement, OKRs, as well as value mapping and value streams). |
| Ideation and Innovation Management | SPM should include the ability to facilitate innovation management processes across the organization, including the ability to support stage gates from ideation through to approval; to articulate, socialize, and test ideas; perform impact assessments; create value canvas and OKR maps; and prioritize. |
| Multi-Portfolio Management | SPM should include the ability to perform various modalities of portfolio management and portfolio optimization, including project portfolio management, applications portfolio management, asset portfolio management, etc. |
| Interoperability/APIs | An SPM tool should enable seamless integration with other applications for data interoperability. |
| Name | Description |
| Product Management | SPM can include product-management-specific functionality, including the ability to connect product families, roadmaps, and backlogs to enterprise goals and priorities, and track team-level activities at the sprint, release, and campaign levels. |
| Enterprise Architecture Management | SPM can include the ability to define and map the structure and operation of an organization in order to effectively coordinate various domains of architecture and governance (e.g. business architecture, data architecture, application architecture, security architecture, etc.) in order to effectively plan and introduce change. |
| Security and Risk Management | SPM can include the ability to identify and track enterprise risks and ensure compliance controls are met. |
| Lean Portfolio Management | SPM can include the ability to plan and report on portfolio performance independent from task level details of product, program, or project delivery. |
| Investment and Financial Management | SPM can include the ability to forecast, track, and report on financials at various levels (strategy, product, program, project, etc.). |
| Multi-Methodology Delivery | SPM can include the ability to plan and execute work in a way that accommodates various planning and delivery paradigms (predictive, iterative, Kanban, lean, etc.). |
| 1. SPM accommodates various ways of working. |
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| 2. SPM puts the focus on value and change. |
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| 3. SPM fosters a coherent approach to demand management. |
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| 1. The space is rife with IT buzzwords and, as a concept, is sometimes used as a repackaging of failing concepts. |
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| 2. Some solutions that identify as SPM are not. |
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| 3. SPM tools may have a capacity blind spot. |
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Download Info-Tech's Strategic Portfolio Management Needs Assessment
10 to 20 minutes
This screenshot shows a sample output from the assessment. Based upon your inputs, you'll be grouped within three ranges:

| Input | Output |
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| Materials | Participants |
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If the analysis in the previous slides suggested you can benefit from an SPM tool, you can quick-start your vendor evaluation process with SoftwareReviews.
SoftwareReviews has extensive coverage of not just the SPM space, but of the project portfolio management (pictured to the top right) and project management spaces as well. So, from the tactical to the strategic, SoftwareReviews can help you find the right tools.
Further, as you settle in on a shortlist, you can begin your vendor analysis using our rapid application selection methodology (see framework on bottom right). For more information see our The Rapid Application Selection Framework blueprint.

Info-Tech's Rapid Application Selection Framework (RASF)
Develop a Project Portfolio Management Strategy
Drive IT project throughput by throttling resource capacity.
Prepare an Actionable Roadmap for your PMO
Turn planning into action with a realistic PMO timeline.
Maintain an Organized Portfolio
Align portfolio management practices with COBIT (APO05: Manage Portfolio)
Angliss, Katy, and Pete Harpum. Strategic Portfolio Management: In the Multi-Project and Program Organization. Book. Routledge. 30 Dec. 2022.
Anthony, James. "95 Essential Project Management Statistics: 2022 Market Share & Data Analysis." Finance Online. 2022. Web. Accessed 21 March 2022
Banham, Craig. "Integrating strategic planning with portfolio management." Sopheon. Webinar. Accessed 6 Feb. 2023.
Garfein, Stephen J. "Executive Guide to Strategic Portfolio Management: roadmap for closing the gap between strategy and results." PMI. Conference Paper. Oct. 2007. Accessed 6 Feb. 2023.
Garfein, Stephen J. "Strategic Portfolio Management: A smart, realistic and relatively fast way to gain sustainable competitive advantage." PMI. Conference Paper. 2 March 2005. Accessed 6 Feb. 2023.
Hontar, Yulia. "Strategic Portfolio Management." PPM Express. Blog 16 June 2022. Accessed 6 Feb. 2023.
Milsom, James. "6 Strategic Portfolio Management Trends for 2023." i-nexus. Blog. 25 Jan. 2022. Accessed 6 Feb. 2023.
Milsom, James. "Strategic Portfolio Management 101." i-nexus. 8 Dec. 2021. Blog . Accessed 6 Feb. 2023.
OnePlan, "Is Strategic Portfolio Management the Future of PPM?" YouTube. 17 Nov. 2022. Accessed 6 Feb. 2023.
OnePlan. "Strategic Portfolio Management for Enterprise Agile." YouTube. 27 May 2022. Accessed 6 Feb. 2023.
Piechota, Frank. "Strategic Portfolio Management: Enabling Successful Business Outcomes." Shibumi. Blog . 31 May 2022. Accessed 6 Feb. 2023.
ServiceNow. "Strategic Portfolio Management—The Thing You've Been Missing." ServiceNow. Whitepaper. 2021. Accessed 6 Feb. 2023.
Smith, Shepherd, "50+ Eye-Opening Strategic Planning Statistics" ClearPoint Strategy. Blog. 13 Sept. 2022. Accessed 6 Feb. 2023.
SoftwareAG. "What is Strategic Portfolio Management (SPM)?" SoftwareAG. Blog. Accessed 6 Feb. 2023.
Stickel, Robert. "What It Means to be Adaptive." OnePlan. Blog. 24 May 2021. Accessed 6 Feb. 2023.
UMT360. "What is Strategic Portfolio Management?" YouTube. Webinar. 22 Oct. 2020. Accessed 6 Feb. 2023.
Wall, Caroline. "Elevating Strategy Planning through Strategic Portfolio Management." StrategyBlocks. Blog. 26 Feb. 2020. Accessed 6 Feb. 2023.
Westmoreland, Heather. "What is Strategic Portfolio Management." Planview. Blog. 19 Oct 2002. Accessed 6 Feb. 2023.
Wiltshire, Andrew. "Shibumi Included in Gartner Magic Quadrant for Strategic Portfolio Management for the 2nd Straight Year." Shibumi. Blog. 20 Apr. 2022. Accessed 6 Feb. 2023.
Ziehr, Paula. "Keep your eye on the prize: Align your IT investments with business strategy." SoftwareAG. Blog. 5 Jul. 2022. Accessed 6 Feb. 2023.
Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:
Acquire the right hire.
Ensure an effective and seamless interview process.
Be an effective interviewer.
The Business Impact Analysis (BIA) is easily one of the most misunderstood processes in the modern enterprise. For many, the term conjures images of dusty binders filled with disaster recovery plans. A compliance checkbox exercise focused solely on what to do when the servers are smoking or the building is flooded. This view, while not entirely incorrect, is dangerously incomplete. It relegates the BIA to a reactive, insurance-policy mindset when it should be a proactive, strategic intelligence tool.
Yes, I got that text from AI. So recognizable. But you know what? There is a kernel of truth in this.
A modern BIA is about understanding and protecting value more than just about planning for disaster. That is the one thing we must keep in mind at all times. The BIA really is a deep dive into the DNA of the organization. It maps the connections between information assets, operational processes, and business outcomes. It answers the critical question, “What matters? And why ? And what is the escalating cost of its absence?”
To answer “what matters,” the process must begin at the highest level: with senior management and, ideally, the board. Defining the organization's core mission and priorities is a foundational governance task, a principle now embedded in European regulations like DORA.
The process begins at the highest level with senior management. I would say, the board. They need to decide what the business is all about. (This is in line with the DORA rules in Europe.) The core business units or departments of the organization are ranked based on their contribution to the company's mission. This ranking is frequently based on revenue generation, but it can also factor in strategic importance, market position, or essential support functions. For example, the “Production” and “Sales” units might be ranked higher than “Internal HR Administration.” This initial ranking provides the foundational context for all subsequent decisions.
I want to make something crystal clear: this ranking is merely a practical assessment. Obviously the HR and well being departments play a pivotal role in the value delivery of the company. Happy employees make for happy customers.
But, being a bit Wall-Streety about it, the sales department generating the biggest returns is probably only surpassed by the business unit producing the product for those sales. And with that I just said that the person holding the wrench, who knows your critical production machine, is your most valuable HR asset. Just saying.
With the business units prioritized, the next step is to drill down into each one and identify its critical operational functions. The focus here is on processes, not technology. For the top-ranked “Sales” unit, critical functions might include:
SF-01: Processing New Customer Orders
SF-02: Managing the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) System
SF-03: Generating Sales Quotes
These functions are then rated against each other within the business unit to create a prioritized list of what truly matters for that unit to achieve its goals.
And here I'm going to give you some food for thought. There will be a superficial geographical difference in importance. If you value continuity then new business may not be the top critical department. I can imagine this is completely counter intuitive. But remember that it is cheaper to keep and upsell an existing client than it is to acquire a new one.
With a clear map of what the business does, the next logical step is to identify what it uses to get it done. This brings us to the non-negotiable foundation of resilience: comprehensive information asset classification.
Without knowing what you have, where it is, and what it's worth, any attempt at risk management is simply guesswork. You risk spending millions protecting low/mid-value data while leaving the crown jewels exposed (I guess your Ciso will have said something 😊). In this article, we will explore how foundational asset classification can evolve into a mature, value-driven impact analysis, offering a blueprint for transforming the BIA from a tactical chore into a strategic imperative.
Before you can determine the effect of losing an asset, you must first understand the asset itself. Information asset classification is the systematic process of inventorying, categorizing, and assigning business value to your organization's data. Now that we have terabyte-scale data on servers, cloud environments, and countless SaaS applications, you have your work cut out for you. It is, however, a most critical investment in the risk management lifecycle.
Classification forces an organization to look beyond the raw data and evaluate it through two primary lenses: criticality and sensitivity.
Criticality is a measure of importance. It answers the question: “How much damage would the business suffer if this asset were unavailable or corrupted?” This is directly tied to the operational functions that depend on the asset. The criticality of a customer database, for instance, is determined by the impact on the sales, marketing, and support functions that would grind to a halt without it. This translates to the availability rating.
Sensitivity is a measure of secrecy. It answers the question: “What is the potential harm if this asset were disclosed to unauthorized parties?” This considers reputational damage, competitive disadvantage, legal penalties, and customer privacy violations. This translates to the confidentiality rating.
Without this dual understanding, it's impossible to implement a proportional and cost-effective security program. The alternative is a one-size-fits-all approach, which invariably leads to one of two expensive failures:
Overprotection: Applying the highest level of security controls to all information is prohibitively expensive and creates unnecessary operational friction. It's like putting a bank vault door on a broom closet.
Underprotection: Applying a baseline level of security to all assets leaves your most critical and sensitive information dangerously vulnerable. It exposes your organization to unacceptable risk. Remember assigning an A2 rating to all your infra because it cannot be related to specific business processes? The “we'll take care of it at the higher levels” approach leads to exactly this issue.
By understanding the criticality and sensitivity of assets, organizations can ensure that security efforts are directly tied to business objectives, making the investment in protection proportional to the asset's value. Proportionality is also embedded in new European legislation.
While the concept is straightforward, the execution can be complex. A successful classification program requires a methodical framework that moves from high-level policy to granular implementation. in this first stage, we're going to talk about data.
The first step is to establish a simple, intuitive classification scheme. When you complicate it, you lose your people. Most organizations find success with a three- or four-tiered model, which is easy for employees to understand and apply. For example:
Public: Information intended for public consumption with no negative impact from disclosure (e.g., marketing materials, press releases).
Internal: Information for use within the organization but not overly sensitive. Its disclosure would be inconvenient but not damaging (e.g., internal memos on non-sensitive topics, general project plans).
Confidential: Sensitive business information that, if disclosed, could cause measurable damage to the organization's finances, operations, or reputation (e.g., business plans, financial forecasts, customer lists).
Restricted or secret: The most sensitive data that could cause severe financial or legal damage if compromised. Access is strictly limited on a need-to-know basis (e.g., trade secrets, source code, PII, M&A details).
This is often the most challenging phase: identifying and locating all information assets. You must create a comprehensive inventory and detail not just the data itself but its entire context:
Data Owners: The business leader accountable for the data and for determining its classification.
Data Custodians: The IT or operational teams responsible for implementing and managing the security controls on the data.
Location: Where does the data live? Is it in a specific database, a cloud storage bucket, a third-party application, or a physical filing cabinet?
External Dependencies: Crucially, this inventory must extend beyond the company's walls. Which third-party vendors (payroll processors, cloud hosting providers, marketing agencies) handle, store, or transport your data? Their security posture is now part of your risk surface. In Europe, this is now a foundation of your data management through GDPR, DORA, the AI Act and other legislation.
Information isn't static. Its value and handling requirements can change over its lifecycle. Your classification process must define clear rules for each stage:
Creation: How is data classified when it's first created? How is it marked (e.g., digital watermarks, document headers)?
Storage & Use: What security controls apply to each classification level at rest and in transit (e.g., encryption standards, access control rules)? What about legislative initiatives?
Archiving & Retention: How long must the data be kept to meet business needs and legal requirements? What about external storage?
Destruction: What are the approved methods for securely destroying the data (e.g., cryptographic erasure, physical shredding) once it's no longer required?
Without clear, consistent handling standards for each level, the classification labels themselves are meaningless. The classification directly dictates the required security measures.
This dual (business processes and asset classification) top-down approach to determining criticality is often referred to as the 'hierarchy of importance,' which helps in systematically prioritizing assets based on their business value.
Once assets are inventoried, the next step is to systematically determine their criticality. Randomly assigning importance to thousands of assets is futile. A far more effective method is a top-down, hierarchical approach that mirrors the structure of the business itself. This method creates a clear “chain of criticality,” where the importance of a technical asset is directly derived from the value of the business function it supports.
Only now, once you have clearly defined the critical business functions and prioritized them, can you finally map the specific assets and resources they depend on. These are the people, technology, and facilities that enable the function. For the critical function “Processing New Customer Orders,” the supporting assets might include:
Application: SAP ERP System (Module SD)
Database: Oracle Customer Order Database
Hardware: Primary ERP Server Cluster
Personnel: Sales team and Order Entry team
The criticality of the “Oracle Customer Order Database” is now clear. It is clearly integrated into the business; it is critically important because it is an essential asset for a top-priority function (SF-01) within a top-ranked business unit (“Sales”). This top-down structure provides a clear, business-justified view of risk that management can easily understand. It allows you to see precisely how a technical risk (e.g., a vulnerability in the Oracle database) can bubble up to impact a core business operation.
With a clear understanding of what's indispensable, the BIA can now finally move to its core purpose: analyzing the tangible and intangible impacts of a disruption over time. A robust impact analysis prevents “impact inflation,” which is the common tendency to focus solely on unrealistic scenarios or self-importance assurances, as this just causes management to discount your findings. That just causes management to discount your findings. A more credible approach uses a range of outcomes that paint a realistic picture of escalating damage over time.
Your analysis should assess the loss of the four core pillars of information security:
Loss of Confidentiality: The unauthorized disclosure of sensitive information. The impact can range from legal fines for a data breach to the loss of competitive advantage from a leaked product design.
Loss of Integrity: The unauthorized or improper modification of data. This can lead to flawed decision-making based on corrupted reports, financial fraud, or a complete loss of trust in the system.
Loss of Availability: The inability to access a system or process. This is the most common focus of traditional BIA, leading to lost productivity, missed sales, and an inability to deliver services.
This brings us to the CIAA rating, which encompasses Confidentiality, Integrity, Availability, and Authenticity, providing a comprehensive framework for assessing information security impacts.
Impacts can be measured in two ways, and the most effective BIAs use a combination of both:
Qualitative Analysis: This uses descriptive scales (e.g., High, Medium, Low) to assess impacts that are difficult to assign a specific monetary value to. This is ideal for measuring things like reputational damage, loss of customer confidence, or employee morale. Its main advantage is prioritizing risks quickly, but it lacks the financial precision needed for a cost-benefit analysis.
Quantitative Analysis: This assigns a specific monetary value ($) to the impact. This is used for measurable losses like lost revenue per hour, regulatory fines, or the cost of manual workarounds. The major advantage is that it provides clear financial data to justify security investments. For example, “This outage will cost us $100,000 per hour in lost sales” is a powerful statement when requesting funding for a high-availability solution.
A mature analysis might involve scenario modeling—where we walk through a small set of plausible disruption scenarios with business stakeholders to define a range of outcomes (minimum, maximum, and most likely). This provides a far more nuanced and credible dataset that aligns with how management views other business risks.
To elevate the BIA from an internal exercise to a truly strategic tool, we can apply one more lens: the Customer Value Chain Contribution (CVCC)©. This approach reframes the impact analysis to focus explicitly on the customer. Instead of just asking, “What is the impact on our business?” we ask, “What is the impact on our customer's experience and our ability to deliver value to them?”
The CVCC method involves mapping your critical processes and assets to specific stages of the customer journey. For example:
Awareness/Acquisition: A disruption to the company website or marketing automation platform directly impacts your ability to attract new customers.
Conversion/Sale: An outage of the e-commerce platform or CRM system prevents customers from making purchases, directly impacting revenue and frustrating users at a key moment.
Service Delivery/Fulfillment: A failure in the warehouse management or logistics system means orders can't be fulfilled, breaking promises made to the customer.
Support/Retention: If the customer support ticketing system is down, customers with problems can't get help, leading to immense frustration and potential churn.
By analyzing impact through the CVCC lens, the consequences become far more vivid and compelling. “Loss of the CRM system” becomes “a complete inability to process new sales leads or support existing customers, causing direct revenue loss and significant reputational damage.” This framing aligns the BIA directly with the goal of any business: creating and retaining satisfied customers. It transforms the discussion from technical risk to the preservation of the customer relationship and the value chain that supports it.
When you build your BIA on this framework, meaning that it is rooted in sound asset classification, structured by the correct top-down criticality analysis, and enriched by the customer-centric view of impact, then it is no longer a static document. It becomes the dynamic, strategic blueprint for organizational resilience.
These insights generate business decisions:
Prioritized risk mitigation: they show exactly where to focus security efforts and resources for the greatest return on investment.
Justified security spending: they provide the quantitative and qualitative data needed to make a compelling business case for new security controls, technologies, and processes.
Informed recovery planning: they establish clear, business-justified Recovery Time Objectives (RTOs) and Recovery Point Objectives (RPOs) that form the foundation of any effective business continuity and disaster recovery plan.
I'm convinced that this expanded vision of the business impact analysis embeds the right analytical understanding of value and risk into the fabric of the organization. I want you to move beyond the fear of disaster and toward a confident, proactive posture of resilience. Like that, you ensure that in a world of constant change and disruption, the things that truly matter are always understood, always protected, and always available.
Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:
Evaluate the readiness of the pilot functional group and Agile development processes to adopt scaled Agile practices.
Alleviate scaling issues and risks and introduce new opportunities to enhance business value delivery with Agile practices.
Roll out scaling Agile initiatives in a gradual, iterative approach and define the right metrics to demonstrate success.
Workshops offer an easy way to accelerate your project. If you are unable to do the project yourself, and a Guided Implementation isn't enough, we offer low-cost delivery of our project workshops. We take you through every phase of your project and ensure that you have a roadmap in place to complete your project successfully.
Identify the business objectives and functional group drivers for adopting Agile practices to gauge the fit of scaling Agile.
Select the pilot project to demonstrate the value of scaling Agile.
Review and evaluate your current Agile development process and functional group structure.
Understanding of the notable business and functional group gaps that can derail the scaling of Agile.
Selection of a pilot program that will be used to gather metrics to continuously improve implementation and obtain buy-in for wider rollout.
Realization of the root causes behind functional group and process issues in the current Agile implementation.
1.1 Assess your pilot functional group
Fit assessment of functional group to pilot Agile scaling
Selection of pilot program
List of critical success factors
Think of solutions to address the root causes of current communication and process issues that can derail scaling initiatives.
Brainstorm opportunities to enhance the delivery of business value to customers.
Generate a target state for your scaled Agile implementation.
Defined Agile capabilities and services of your functional group.
Optimized functional group team structure, development process, and program framework to support scaled Agile in your context.
Identification and accommodation of the risks associated with implementing and executing Agile capabilities.
2.1 Define Agile capabilities at scale
2.2 Build your scaled Agile target state
Solutions to scaling issues and opportunities to deliver more business value
Agile capability map
Functional group team structure, Agile development process and program framework optimized to support scaled Agile
Risk assessment of scaling Agile initiatives
List metrics to gauge the success of your scaling Agile implementation.
Define the initiatives to scale Agile in your organization and to prepare for a wider rollout.
Strategic selection of the right metrics to demonstrate the value of scaling Agile initiatives.
Scaling Agile implementation roadmap based on current resource capacities, task complexities, and business priorities.
3.1 Create your implementation plan
List of metrics to gauge scaling Agile success
Scaling Agile implementation roadmap
Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:
Get your desktop and mobile device support teams out of firefighting mode by identifying the real problem.
Improve the day-to-day operations of your desktop and mobile device support teams through role definition, training, and process standardization.
Stop using management tools and techniques from the Windows XP era. Save yourself, and your technicians, from needless pain.
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.
Identify how unified endpoint management (UEM) can improve the lives of the end user and of IT.
Cutting through the vendor hype and aligning with business needs.
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.
Executive presentation
Ensure that your teams have a consistent approach to end-user device management.
Developed a standard approach to roles and responsibilities, to training, and to device management processes.
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.
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
Modernize the toolset used by IT to manage end-user devices.
Saving time and resources for many standard device management processes.
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.
Core image outline
Application package outline
End-user device management roadmap
End-user device management communication plan
Moreso than any other time, our world is changing. As a result, organizations – and their vendors – need to be able to adapt their strategic plans to accommodate risk on an unprecedented level.
A new global change will impact your organizational strategy at any given time. So, make sure your plans are flexible enough to manage the inevitable consequences.
Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:
Use this research to identify and quantify the potential strategic impacts caused by vendors. Use Info-Tech’s approach to look at the strategic impact from various perspectives to better prepare for issues that may arise.
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.
Like most people, organizations are poor at assessing the likelihood of risk. If the past few years have taught us anything, it is that the probability of a risk occurring is far more flexible in the formula Risk = Likelihood * Impact than we ever thought possible. The impacts of these risks have been catastrophic, and organizations need to be more adaptive in managing them to strengthen their strategic plans.
Frank Sewell,
Research Director, Vendor Management
Info-Tech Research Group
Moreso than any other time, our world is changing. As a result, organizations – and their vendors – need to be able to adapt their strategic plans to accommodate risk on an unprecedented level.
A new global change will impact your organizational strategy at any given time. So, make sure your plans are flexible enough to manage the inevitable consequences.
Identifying and managing a vendor’s potential strategic impact on your organization requires multiple people in the organization across several functions. Those people all need coaching on the potential changes in the market and how these changes affect strategic plans.
Organizational leadership is often taken unaware during crises, and their plans lack the flexibility needed to adjust to significant market upheavals.
Vendor management practices educate organizations on the different potential risks to vendors in your market and suggest creative and alternative ways to avoid and help manage them.
Prioritize and classify your vendors with quantifiable, standardized rankings.
Prioritize focus on your high-risk vendors.
Standardize your processes for identifying and monitoring vendor risks to manage potential impacts on your strategic plan with our Strategic Impacts Tool.
Organizations must evolve their strategic risk assessments to be more adaptive to respond to global changes in the market. Ongoing monitoring of the market and the vendors tied to company strategies is imperative to achieving success.
This series will focus on the individual components of vendor risk and how vendor management practices can facilitate organizations’ understanding of those risks.
This series will not tackle risk governance, determining overall risk tolerance and appetite, or quantifying inherent risk.
The IT market is constantly reacting to global influences. By anticipating changes, leaders can set expectations and work with their vendors to accommodate them.
When the unexpected happens, being able to adapt quickly to new priorities ensures continued long-term business success.
Below are some things no one expected to happen in the last few years:
of IT professionals are more concerned about being a victim of ransomware than they were a year ago.
of Microsoft’s non-essential employees shifted to working from home in 2020, joining the 18% already remote.
of organizations invested in web conferencing technology to facilitate collaboration.
Source: Info-Tech Tech Trends Survey 2022
Make sure you have the right people at the table to identify and plan to manage impacts.
Very few people could have predicted that a global pandemic would interrupt business on the scale experienced today. Organizations should look at their lessons learned and incorporate adaptable preparations into their strategic planning moving forward.
The IT market is an ever-shifting environment. Larger companies often gobble up smaller ones to control their sectors. Incorporating plans to manage those shifts in ownership will be key to many strategic plans that depend on niche vendor solutions for success. Be sure to monitor the potentially affected markets on an ongoing cadence.
Organizations need to accept that shortages will recur periodically and that preparing for them will significantly increase the success potential of long-term strategic plans. Understand what your business needs to stock for project needs and where those supplies are located, and plan how to rapidly access and distribute them as required if supply chain disruptions occur.
For example:
Sometimes an organization has the right mindset to take advantage of the changes in the market but can fail to plan for the particulars.
When your strategic plan changes, you need to revisit all the steps in the processes to ensure a successful outcome.
It is important to identify potential risks to strategic plans to manage the risk and be agile enough in planning to adapt to the changing environments.
Info-Tech Insight
Few organizations are good at identifying risks to their strategic plan. As a result, almost none realistically plan to monitor, manage, and adapt their strategies to those risks.
(Adapted from COSO)
Organizations build portions of their strategies around chosen vendors and should protect those plans against the risks of unforeseen acquisitions in the market.
Is your vendor solvent? Does it have enough staff to accommodate your needs? Has its long-term planning been affected by changes in the market? Is it unique in its space?
Organizations’ strategic plans need to be adaptable to avoid vendors’ negative actions causing an expedited shift in priorities.
For example, Philip's recall of ventilators impacted its products and the availability of its competitor’s products as demand overwhelmed the market.
Organizations need to become better at risk assessment and actively manage the identified risks to their strategic plans.
Few organizations are good at identifying risks to their strategic plan. As a result, almost none realistically plan to monitor, manage, and adapt their strategies to those risks.
Strategic risk impacts are often unanticipated, causing unforeseen downstream effects. Anticipating the potential changes in the global IT market and continuously monitoring vendors’ risk levels can help organizations modify their strategic alignment with the new norms.
Review your strategic plans for new risks and evolving likelihood on a regular basis.
Keep in mind Risk = Likelihood x Impact (R=L*I).
Impact (I) tends to remain the same, while Likelihood (L) is a very flexible variable.
Organizations need to be reviewing their strategic risk plans considering the likelihood of incidents in the global market.
Pandemics, extreme weather, and wars that affect global supply chains are a current reality, not unlikely scenarios.
Sometimes disasters occur despite our best plans to manage them.
When this happens, it is important to document the lessons learned and improve our plans going forward.
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.
Download the Strategic Risk Impact Tool
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Industry: Airline
Impact categories: Pandemic, Lockdowns, Travel Bans, Increased Fuel Prices
The pandemic prompted systemic change to the overall strategic planning of the airline industry.
Organizations must evolve their strategic risk assessments to be more adaptive to respond to global changes in the market.
Ongoing monitoring of the market and the vendors tied to company strategies is imperative to achieving success.
Olaganathan, Rajee. “Impact of COVID-19 on airline industry and strategic plan for its recovery with special reference to data analytics technology.” Global Journal of Engineering and Technology Advances, vol 7, no 1, 2021, pp. 033-046.
Tonello, Matteo. “Strategic Risk Management: A Primer for Directors.” Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance, 23 Aug. 2012.
Frigo, Mark L., and Richard J. Anderson. “Embracing Enterprise Risk Management: Practical Approaches for Getting Started.” COSO, 2011.
Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:
Choose the right PPM strategy for your organization and get executive buy-in before you start to set PPM process goals.
Use the advice and tools in this phase to align the PPM processes that make up the infrastructure around projects with your new PPM strategy.
Refine your PPM strategic plan with inputs from the previous phases by adding a cost-benefit analysis and PPM tool recommendation.
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.
Choose the right PPM strategy for your organization and ensure executive buy-in.
Set process goals to address PPM strategic expectations and steer the PPM strategic plan.
A right-sized PPM strategy complete with executive buy-in for it.
A prioritized list of PPM process goals.
1.1 Assess leadership mandate.
1.2 Determine potential resource capacity.
1.3 Create a project inventory.
1.4 Prepare to communicate your PPM strategy to key stakeholders.
1.5 Translate each strategic goal into process goals.
1.6 Set metrics and preliminary targets for PPM process goals.
Choice of PPM strategy and the leadership mandate
Analysis of current project capacity
Analysis of current project demand
PPM Strategic Plan – Executive Brief
PPM strategy-aligned process goals
Metrics and long-term targets for PPM process goals
Examine your current-state PPM processes and create a high-level description of the target-state process for each of the five PPM processes within Info-Tech’s PPM framework.
Build a sound business case for implementing the new PPM strategy by documenting roles and responsibilities for key PPM activities as well as the time costs associated with them.
Near-term and long-term goals as well as an organizationally specific wireframe for your PPM processes.
Time cost assumptions for your proposed processes to ensure sustainability.
2.1 Develop and refine the project intake, prioritization, and approval process.
2.2 Develop and refine the resource management process.
2.3 Develop and refine the portfolio reporting process.
2.4 Develop and refine the project closure process
2.5 Develop and refine the benefits realization process.
Process capability level
Current-state PPM process description
Retrospective examination of the current-state PPM process
Action items to achieve the target states
Time cost of the process at current and target states
Perform a PPM tool analysis in order to determine the right tool to support your processes.
Estimate the total cost-in-use of managing the project portfolio, as well as the estimated benefits of an optimized PPM strategy.
A right-sized tool selection to help support your PPM strategy.
A PPM strategy cost-benefit analysis.
3.1 Right-size the PPM tools for your processes.
3.2 Conduct a cost-benefit analysis of implementing the new PPM strategy.
3.3 Define roles and responsibilities for the new processes.
3.4 Refine and consolidate the near-term action items into a cohesive plan.
Recommendation for a PPM tool
Cost-benefit analysis
Roles and responsibilities matrix for each PPM process
An implementation timeline for your PPM strategy
"Organizations typically come to project portfolio management (PPM) with at least one of two misconceptions: (1) that PPM is synonymous with project management and (2) that a collection of PPM processes constitutes a PPM strategy.
Both foundations are faulty: project management and PPM are separate disciplines with distinct goals and processes, and a set of processes do not comprise a strategy – they should flow from a strategy, not precede one. When built upon these foundations, the benefits of PPM go unrealized, as the means (i.e. project and portfolio processes) commonly eclipse the ends of a PPM strategy – e.g. a portfolio better aligned with business goals, improved project throughput, increased stakeholder satisfaction, and so on.
Start with the end in mind: articulate a PPM strategy that is truly project portfolio in nature, i.e. focused on the whole portfolio and not just the individual parts. Then, let your PPM strategy guide your process goals and help to drive successful outcomes, project after project." (Barry Cousins, Senior Director of Research, PMO Practice, Info-Tech Research Group)
Reported Importance: Initially, when CIOs were asked to rank the importance of IT services, respondents ranked “projects” low on the list – 10 out of a possible 12.
Actual Importance: Despite this low “reported importance,” of those organizations that were “satisfied” to “fully satisfied” with IT, the service that had the strongest correlation to high business satisfaction was “projects,” i.e. IT’s ability to help plan, support, and execute projects and initiatives that help the business achieve its strategic goals.
Info-Tech’s CIO Business Vision Survey data highlights the importance of IT projects in supporting the business achieve its strategic goals. However, Info-Tech’s CEO-CIO Alignment Survey (N=124) data indicates that CEOs perceive IT to be poorly aligned to business’ strategic goals:
The most recent data from the Project Management Institute (PMI) shows that more projects are meeting their original goals and business intent and less projects are being deemed failures. However, at the same time, more projects are experiencing scope creep. Scope creeps result in schedule and cost overrun, which result in dissatisfied project sponsors, stakeholders, and project workers.
Meanwhile, the primary causes of project failures remain largely unchanged. Interestingly, most of these primary causes can be traced to sources outside of a project manager’s control, either entirely or in part. As a result, project management tactics and processes are limited in adequately addressing them.
| Relative rank | ||||
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| Change in organization's priorities | 1st | 1st | 1st | Stable |
| Inaccurate requirements gathering | 2nd | 3rd | 2nd | Stable |
| Change in project objectives | 3rd | 2nd | 3rd | Stable |
| Inadequate vision/goal for project | 6th | 5th | 4th | Rising |
| Inadequate/poor communication | 5th | 7th | 5th | Stable |
| Poor change management | 11th | 9th | 6th | Rising |
Interrelated organizational processes by which an organization evaluates, selects, prioritizes, and allocates its limited internal resources to best accomplish organizational strategies consistent with its vision, mission, and values. (PMI, Standard for Portfolio Management, 3rd ed.)
Selecting and prioritizing projects with the strongest alignment to business strategy goals and ensuring that resources are properly allocated to deliver them, enable IT to:
"In today’s competitive business environment, a portfolio management process improves the linkage between corporate strategy and the selection of the ‘right’ projects for investment. It also provides focus, helping to ensure the most efficient and effective use of available resources." (Lou Pack, PMP, Senior VP, ICF International (PMI, 2015))
55% ... of IT organizations believe that their PPM processes are neither effective nor important.
21% ... of IT organizations reported having no one responsible or accountable for PPM.
62% ... of projects in organizations effective in PPM met/exceeded the expected ROI (PMI, 2015).
In addition to PPM’s benefits, improving PPM processes presents an opportunity for getting ahead of the curve in the industry.
Our methodology is designed to tackle your hardest challenge first to deliver the highest-value part of the deliverable. For developing a PPM strategy, the biggest challenge is to get the buy-in of the executive layer.
"Without senior management participation, PPM doesn’t work, and the organization is likely to end up with, or return to, a squeaky-wheel-gets-the-grease mindset for all those involved." (Mark Price Perry, Business Driven Project Portfolio Management)
A PPM strategic plan is the end deliverable of this blueprint. In the first step, download the pre-filled template with content that represents the most common case. Then, throughout the blueprint, customize with your data.
Buy-in from the owners of project portfolio (Steering Committee, C-suite management, etc.) is a critical prerequisite for any PPM strategy. This blueprint will give you the tools and templates to help you make your case and win the buy-in of portfolio owners.
This blueprint offers a methodology to translate the broad aim of PPM to practical, tactical goals of the five core PPM processes, as well as how to measure the results. Our methodology is supported with industry-leading frameworks, best practices, and our insider research.
This blueprint takes you through a series of steps to translate the process goals into a high-level process description, as well as a business case and a roadmap for implementing the new PPM processes.
Our methodology is also equally as applicable for making your existing PPM processes better, and help you draft a roadmap for improvement with well-defined goals, roles, and responsibilities.
These processes create an infrastructure around projects, which aims to enable:
PPM has many moving pieces. To ensure that all of these processes work in harmony, you need a PPM strategy.
Info-Tech’s PPM thought model enables you to manage your project portfolio independent of your PM methodology or capability. Projects interact with PPM via:
Learn about project management approach for small projects in Info-Tech’s Tailor PM Processes to Fit Your Projects blueprint.
Info-Tech uses PMI and ISACA frameworks for areas of this research.
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| PMI’s Standard for Portfolio Management, 3rd ed. is the leading industry framework, proving project portfolio management best practices and process guidelines. | COBIT 5 is the leading framework for the governance and management of enterprise IT. |
In addition to industry-leading frameworks, our best-practice approach is enhanced by the insights and guidance from our analysts, industry experts, and our clients.
33,000+ Our peer network of over 33,000 happy clients proves the effectiveness of our research.
1000+ Our team conducts 1,000+ hours of primary and secondary research to ensure that our approach is enhanced by best practices.
At first, there were no less than 14 teams of developers, each with their own methodologies and processes. Changes to projects were not managed. Only 35% of the projects were completed on time.
Anyone had the right to ask for something; however, converting ideas to a formal project demand required senior leadership within a business division getting on board with the idea.
The CIO and senior leadership decided that projects, previously assigned to IT, were to be owned and driven by the business, as the projects are undertaken to serve its needs and rarely IT’s own. The rest of the organization understood that the business, not IT, was accountable for prioritizing project work: IT was re-positioned as a facilitator of business projects. While it was a long process, the result speaks for itself: 75% of projects were now being completed on time.
What about maintaining and feeding the IT infrastructure? The CIO reserved 40% of IT project capacity for “keeping the lights on,” and 20% for reactive, unplanned activities, with an aim to lower this percentage. With the rest of the time, IT facilitated business projects
"Projects are dumped on IT, and the business abdicates responsibility. Flip that over, and say ‘that's your project’ and ‘how can we help you?’"
Use these icons to help guide you through each step of the blueprint and direct you to content related to the recommended activities.
This icon denotes a slide where a supporting Info-Tech tool or template will help you perform the activity or step associated with the slide. Refer to the supporting tool or template to get the best results and proceed to the next step of the project.
This icon denotes a slide with an associated activity. The activity can be performed either as part of your project or with the support of Info-Tech team members, who will come onsite to facilitate a workshop for your organization.
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." |
1. Get executive buy-in for your PPM strategy |
2. Align PPM processes to your strategic goals |
3. Complete your PPM strategic plan |
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1.1 Choose the right PPM strategy for your organization 1.2 Translate PPM strategy expectations to specific process goals |
2.1 Develop and refine project intake, prioritization, and resource management processes 2.2 Develop and refine portfolio reporting, project closure, and benefits realization processes |
3.1 Select a right-sized PPM solution for supporting your new processes 3.2 Finalize customizing your PPM Strategic Plan Template |
Guided Implementations |
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Module 1:
Set strategic expectations and realistic goals for the PPM strategy |
Module 2:
Develop and refine strategy-aligned PPM processes |
Module 3:
Compose your PPM strategic plan |
Phase 1 Outcome:
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Phase 2 Outcome:
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Phase 3 Outcome:
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Workshop Day 2 |
Workshop Day 3 |
Workshop Day 4 |
Workshop Day 5 |
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| Get leadership buy-in for PPM strategy | Set PPM process goals and metrics with strategic expectations | Develop and Refine PPM processes | Develop and Refine PPM processes | Complete the PPM strategic plan | |
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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.
| Step 1.1: Choose the right PPM strategy | Step 1.2: Translate strategic expectations to process goals |
Start with an analyst kick-off call:
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Work with an analyst to:
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Then complete these activities…
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Then complete these activities…
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With these tools & templates:
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With these tools & templates:
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Phase 1 Results & Insights
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Where traditional models of consulting can take considerable amounts of time before delivering value to clients, Info-Tech’s methodology for developing a PPM strategy gets you to value fast.
In the first step of this blueprint, you will define your PPM strategy and prepare an executive presentation to get buy-in for the strategy. The presentation can be prepared in just a few hours.
Once you have received buy-in for your PPM strategy, the remainder of this blueprint will help you customize section 2 of the Template.
Download Info-Tech’s PPM Strategic Plan Template.
PHASE 1 |
PHASE 2 |
PHASE 3 |
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| 1.1 | 1.2 | 2.1 | 2.2 | 3.1 | 3.2 |
| Choose the right PPM strategy | Translate strategy into process goals | Define intake & resource mgmt. processes | Define reporting, closure, & benefits mgmt. processes | Select a right-sized PPM solution | Finalize your PPM strategic plan |
In today’s organizations, the desires of business units for new products and enhancements, and the appetites of senior leadership to approve more and more projects for those products and services, far outstrips IT’s ability to realistically deliver on everything.
The vast majority of IT departments lack the resourcing to meet project demand – especially given the fact that day-to-day operational demands frequently trump project work.
As a result, project throughput suffers – and with it, IT's reputation within the organization.
A PPM strategy should enable executive decision makers to make sense of the excess of demand and give IT the ability to prioritize those projects that are of the most strategic value to the business.
With the right PPM strategy, IT can improve project outcomes across its portfolio and drive business value – all while improving the workloads of IT project staff.
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Option B: |
Goals of this approach:
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Who this approach is for:
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Who this approach is for:
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Each of these strategy options is driven by a set of specific strategic expectations to help communicate your PPM goals. See the following slides for an articulation of each strategy option.
Serve the executive with insight before you impede the projects with governance. This strategy option is where Info-Tech sees the most PPM success. A strategy focused at improving decision making at the executive layer will both improve project outcomes and help alleviate project workloads.
Right-size governance to maximize success. Project management and governance success don’t necessarily equal project success. Project management processes should be a means to an end (i.e. successful project outcomes), and not an end in themselves. Ensure the ends justify the means.
The most common IT project problems – schedule and budget overruns, scope creep, and poor quality – can ultimately, in the vast majority of cases, be traced back to bad decisions made at the portfolio level:
No amount of project management rigor can help alleviate these common root causes of project failure.
With a top-down PPM strategy, however, you can make sure that leadership is informed and engaged in making the right project decisions and that project managers and teams are situated for success.
"There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all." (Peter Drucker (quoted in Lessing))
Get Strategic About Project Success.
The difference between project management and project portfolio management comes down to doing things right vs. doing the right things. Both are important, no doubt; but doing the wrong things well doesn’t provide much value to the business in the long run.
Get insight into the big picture with a top-down strategy before imposing more administrative overhead on project managers and leads.
INPUT: Leadership expectations for portfolio and project management.
OUTPUT: Leadership mandate bar chart
Materials: Tab 6 of Info-Tech’s PPM High-Level Supply-Demand Calculator
Participants: Portfolio manager (or equivalent), PPM strategy sponsor(s), CIO and other members of senior management
Use the “Leadership Mandate Survey” (located on tab 6 of Info-Tech’s PPM High-Level Supply-Demand Calculator) to assess the degree to which your leadership expects the PPM strategy to provide outcomes across the following capabilities: portfolio reporting, project governance, and project management.
Refer to the next slide for assistance analyzing the outputs in tab 6 and using them to inform your choice of strategy.
Customize Info-Tech’s PPM Strategic Plan Template. Insert screenshots of the survey and the bar graph from tab 6 of the PPM High-Level Supply-Demand Calculator onto slides 7 and 8, “PPM Strategy Leadership Mandate,” of the PPM Strategic Plan Template.
Based upon the results of the “Leadership Mandate Survey,” and your assessment of each strategy option as described in the previous slides, choose the strategy option that is right for your IT department/PMO at this time.
"Without a strategic methodology, project portfolio planning is frustrating and has little chance of achieving exceptional business success." (G Wahl (quoted in Merkhofer))
Those proceeding with Option A should continue with remainder of this blueprint. Update your strategy statement on slide 3 of your PPM Strategic Plan Template to reflect your choice
Those proceeding with Option B should exit this blueprint and refer to Info-Tech’s Tailor Project Management Processes to Fit Your Projects blueprint to help define a project management standard operating procedure.
Customize Info-Tech’s PPM Strategic Plan Template. If you’re proceeding with Option A, update slide 4, “Project Portfolio Management Strategy,” of your PPM Strategic Plan Template to reflect your choice of PPM strategy. If you’re proceeding with Option B, you may want to include your strategy statement in your Project Management SOP Template.
Info-Tech’s research shows that the ability to provide a centralized view of IT’s capacity for projects is one of the top PPM capabilities that contributes to overall project success.
Accurate and reliable forecasts into IT’s capacity, coupled with an engaged executive layer making project approval and prioritization decisions based upon that capacity data, is the hallmark of an effective top-down PPM strategy.
Download Info-Tech’s PPM High-Level Supply/Demand Calculator.
Where does the time go? The portfolio manager (or equivalent) should function as the accounting department for time, showing what’s available in IT’s human resources budget for projects and providing ongoing visibility into how that budget of time is being spent.
INPUT: Staff resource types, Average work week, Estimated allocations
OUTPUT: Breakdown of annual portfolio HR spend, Capacity pie chart
Materials: PPM High-Level Supply/Demand Calculator, tab 3
Participants: Portfolio manager (or equivalent), Resource and/or project managers
Based upon the inputs from columns B to J, the rest of tab 3 analyzes how IT available time is spent across the time categories, highlighting how much of IT’s capacity is actually available for projects after admin work, support and maintenance work, and absences have been taken into account.
Customize Info-Tech’s PPM Strategic Plan Template. Update slide 10, “Current Project Capacity,” of your PPM Strategic Plan Template to include the outputs from tab 3 of the Calculator.
INPUT: Number of active and backlog projects across different sizes
OUTPUT: Total project demand in estimated hours of work effort
Materials: PPM High-Level Supply/Demand Calculator, tab 4
Participants: Portfolio manager (or equivalent), Project managers
Once tabs 3 and 4 are complete, use tab 5 to analyze the supply/demand data to help build your case for a top-down PPM strategy and get buy-in for it.
Customize Info-Tech’s PPM Strategic Plan Template. Update slides 11 and 12, “Current Project Demand,” of your PPM Strategic Plan Template to include the outputs from tabs 4 and 5 of the Calculator.
Info-Tech’s PPM Current State Scorecard diagnostic provides a comprehensive view of your portfolio management strengths and weaknesses, including project portfolio management, project management, customer management, and resource utilization.
Customize Info-Tech’s PPM Strategic Plan Template. Update slides 14 and 15, “Current State Resource Utilization” of your PPM Strategic Plan Template to include the resource utilization outputs from your PPM Current State Scorecard.
INPUT: The previous activities from this step
OUTPUT: An presentation communication your PPM strategy
Materials: PPM Strategic Plan Template, section 1
Participants: Portfolio manager (or equivalent)
The purpose of this section of the Template is to capture the outputs of this step and use them to communicate the value of a top-down PPM strategy and to get buy-in for this strategy from senior management before you move forward to develop your PPM processes in the subsequent phases of this blueprint.
It is essential that you get preliminary buy-in for this strategy from the executive layer before you move forward to develop your PPM processes in the subsequent phases of this blueprint. Lack of executive engagement is one of the top barriers to PPM strategy success.
"Gaining executive sponsorship early is key…It is important for the executives in your organization to understand that the PPM initiatives and the PMO organization are there to support (but never hinder) executive decision making." (KeyedIn Projects)
Engage(d) sponsorship. According to Prosci, the top factor in contributing to the success of a change initiative is active and visible executive sponsorship. Use this meeting to communicate to your sponsor(s) the importance of their involvement in championing the PPM strategy.
The PMO operated in a way that is, in their self-assessment, reactive; project requests and capacity were not effectively managed. Perhaps due to this, the leadership team was not always visible, or regularly available, to PM leaders. This, in turn, complicated efforts to effectively manage their projects.
Establishing a simple prioritization methodology enabled the senior leadership to engage and effectively steer the project portfolio by strategic importance. The criteria and tool also gave the business units a clear understanding to promote the strategic value of each of their project requests.
PM leaders now have the support and confidence of the senior leadership team to both proactively manage and deliver on strategic projects. This new prioritization model brought the PM Leader and senior leadership team in direct access with each other.
"By implementing this new project intake and prioritization framework, we drastically improved our ability to predict, meet, and manage project requests and unit workload. We adopted a client-focused and client-centric approach that enabled all project participants to see their role and value in successful project delivery. We created methodologies that were easy to follow from the client participation perspective, but also as PM leaders, provided us with the metrics, planning, and proactive tools to meet and anticipate client project demand. The response from our clients was extremely positive, encouraging, and appreciative."
PHASE 1 | PHASE 2 | PHASE 3 | |||
| 1.1 | 1.2 | 2.1 | 2.2 | 3.1 | 3.2 |
| Choose the right PPM strategy | Translate strategy into process goals | Define intake & resource mgmt. processes | Define reporting, closure, & benefits mgmt. processes | Select a right-sized PPM solution | Finalize your PPM strategic plan |
INPUT: PPM strategy & expectations, Organizational strategy and culture
OUTPUT: Prioritized list of strategy-aligned PPM process goals
Materials: PPM Strategy-Process Translation Matrix
Participants: CIO, Steering Committee, Business Unit Leaders, PMO Director/ Portfolio Manager
This activity is designed for key departmental stakeholders to articulate how PPM processes should be developed or refined to meet the PPM strategic expectations.
Participation of the key departmental stakeholders in this exercise is critical, e.g. CIO, Steering Committee, business unit leaders.
| Strategic Expectations | x | Processes | = | Process goals aligned to strategy |
| Throughput | Project Intake, Approval, & Prioritization | |||
| Visibility | Resource Management | |||
| Responsiveness | Status & Progress Reporting | |||
| Resource Utilization | Project Closure | |||
| Benefits | Benefits Realization |
Download Info-Tech’s PPM Strategy-Process Goals Translation Matrix Template.
Example 1:
To answer the question “who can request a project, and how?” in a way that we can maximize the throughput of the best projects, it will be important to standardize the project request process.
Example 2:
To answer the question “how will they decide what to fund?” in a way that we can maximize the throughput of the best projects, it will be important to reach a consensus on project prioritization criteria.
Example 3:
To answer the question “how will we track the projected benefits?” in a way that we can maximize the throughput of the best projects, it will be important to double-check the validity of benefits before projects are approved.
1.2.2 – 1-2 hours
INPUT: Prioritized list of strategy-aligned PPM process goals, Organizational strategy and culture
OUTPUT: Metrics and targets for high-priority PPM process goals
Materials: PPM Strategy-Process Translation Matrix
Participants: CIO, Steering Committee, Business Unit Leaders, PMO Director/ Portfolio Manager
Your highest-priority process goals and their corresponding strategy expectations are displayed in tab 3 of the PPM Strategy-Process Translation Matrix template (example below).
Through a group discussion, document what will be measured to decide the achievement of each process goal, as well as your current estimate and the long-term target. If necessary, adjust the approximate target duration.
"We had no effective means of tracking project intake requests vs. capacity. We struggled using ad hoc processes and methods which worked to meet immediate needs, but we quickly realized that they were ineffective in tracking critical project metrics, key performance indicators (KPIs), or performance measures...In short, we were being reactive, instead of proactive."
The result was a disorganized portfolio that led to low client satisfaction and team morale.
With the guiding principle of “through the eyes of the client,” PPM processes and tools were developed to formalize project intake, prioritization, and capacity planning. All touchpoints between client and PPM processes were identified, and practices for managing client expectations were put in place. A client satisfaction survey was formulated as part of the post-project assessment and review.
People, processes, and tools are now aligned to support client demand, manage client expectations, measure project KPIs, and perform post-project analysis. A standard for client satisfaction metrics was put in place. The overwhelmingly positive feedback has increased team confidence in their ability to deliver quality efforts.
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Determine your actual resource capacity for projects
Work with Info-Tech analysts to define your project vs. non-project ratio to help define how much of your overall resource capacity is actual available for projects. |
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Set realistic PPM process goals
Leverage Info-Tech facilitators to help walk you through our PPM framework and define achievable process goals that are rooted in your current PPM maturity levels and organizational culture. |
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.
| Step 2.1: Develop intake & resource mgmt. processes | Step 2.2: Define reporting, closure, & benefits processes |
Work with an analyst to:
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Work with an analyst to:
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Then complete these activities…
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Then complete these activities…
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With these tools & templates:
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With these tools & templates:
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Phase 2 Results & Insights
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In the previous step of the blueprint, key department stakeholders established the PPM process goals, metrics, and targets in a way that aligns with the overall PPM strategy. In this phase, we draft a high-level description of the five PPM processes that reflect those goals using the following methodology:
INPUT |
–› | PROCESS |
–› | OUTPUT |
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Time spent on managing the project portfolio is an investment. Like any other business endeavors, the benefits must outweigh the costs to be worth doing.
As you draft a high-level description of the PPM processes in this phase of the blueprint, use Info-Tech’s PPM Strategy Development Tool to track the estimate the cost-in-use of the process. In the next phase, this information will be inform a cost-benefit analysis, which will be used to support your plan to implement the PPM strategy.
Download Info-Tech’s PPM Strategy Development Tool.
PHASE 1 | PHASE 2 | PHASE 3 | |||
| 1.1 | 1.2 | 2.1 | 2.2 | 3.1 | 3.2 |
| Choose the right PPM strategy | Translate strategy into process goals | Define intake & resource mgmt. processes | Define reporting, closure, & benefits mgmt. processes | Select a right-sized PPM solution | Finalize your PPM strategic plan |
This process aims to control the project demand. A balance between rigor and flexibility is critical in order to avoid the “analysis paralysis” as much as the “gut feel” approach.
Info-Tech recommends following a four-step process for managing project intake.
An excess number of intake channels is the tell-tale sign of a project portfolio in distress. The PMO needs to exercise and enforce discipline on stakeholders. PMO should demand proper documentation and diligence from stakeholders before proceeding with requests.
Info-Tech recommends following a five-step process for managing project intake, prioritization, and approval.

“Approval” can be a dangerous word in project and portfolio management. Use it carefully. Clarify precisely what is being “approved” at each step in the process, what is required to pass each gate, and how long the process will take.
INPUT: Organizational strategy and culture
OUTPUT: Project intake, prioritization, and approval capability level
Materials: PPM Strategy Development Tool
Participants: PMO Director/ Portfolio Manager, Project Managers, Resource Managers, Business Analysts
Kick-off the discussion about the project intake, prioritization, and approval process by reading the capability level descriptions below and discussing which level currently applies to you the most.
Capability Level Descriptions |
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| Capability Level 5: Optimized | We have effective intake processes with right-sized administrative overhead. Work is continuously prioritized to keep up with emerging challenges and opportunities. |
| Capability Level 4: Aligned | We have very strong intake processes. Project approvals are based on business cases and aligned with future resource capacity. |
| Capability Level 3: Engaged | Processes are in place to track project requests and follow up on them. Priorities are periodically re-evaluated, based largely on the best judgment of one or several executives. |
| Capability Level 2: Defined | Some processes are in place, but there is no capacity to say no to new projects. There is a backlog, but little or no method for grooming it. |
| Capability Level 1: Unmanaged | Our organization has no formal intake processes in place. Most work is done reactively, with little ability to prioritize project work proactively. |
2.1.1b – 1-2 hours
INPUT: Documentation describing the current process (e.g. standard operating procedures), Process goals from activity 1.2.1
OUTPUT: Retrospective review of current process
Materials: 4x6” recipe cards, Whiteboard
Participants: PMO Director/ Portfolio Manager, Project Managers, Resource Managers, Business Analysts
Conduct a table-top planning exercise to map out the process currently in place.
| Start | Stop | Continue |
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2.1.1c – 30 minutes - 1 hour
INPUT: Outcome of the retrospective review, Process goals and metrics from activity 1.2.1
OUTPUT: Action items for evolving the process to a target state
Materials: Whiteboard
Participants: PMO Director/ Portfolio Manager, Project Managers, Resource Managers, Business Analysts
Analyze each item in the start-stop-continue retrospective to compile a set of near-term and long-term action items.
| The near-term plan should include steps that are within the authority of the PMO and do not require approval or investment outside of that authority. | The long-term plan should include steps that may require a longer approval process, buy-in of external stakeholders, and the investment of time and money. | |
| Near-Term Action Items | Long-Term Action Items | |
For example:
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For example:
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Review and customize slide 23, “Project intake, prioritization, and approval: action items,” in Info-Tech’s PPM Strategic Plan Template.
2.1.1d – 1-2 hours
INPUT: Action items for evolving the process to a target state
OUTPUT: High-level description of the process at the target state
Materials: Whiteboard, PPM Strategy Development Tool
Participants: PMO Director/ Portfolio Manager, Project Managers, Resource Managers, Business Analysts
| An example of high-level breakdown: project intake, prioritization, and approval | ||||||||
| Collect project requests | –› | Screen requests | –› | Develop business case | –› | Prioritize project | –› | Approve project |
Question |
Description |
| Input | What information do you need to perform the work? |
| Output | What artifacts/deliverables are produced as a result? |
| Frequency/Timing | How often, and when, will the work be performed? |
| Responsibility | Who will perform the work? |
| Accountability | Who will approve the work and assume the ownership of any decisions? |
Record the time cost of each high-level process task from Activity 2.1.1d.
INPUT: High-level description of the process at the target state
OUTPUT: Updated PPM strategic plan
Materials: Whiteboard, PPM Strategic Plan Template
Participants: PMO Director/ Portfolio Manager
Update your PPM strategic plan with the new high-level description for the new project intake, prioritization, and approval process. Depending on your current process capability level, you may wish to include additional information on your strategic document, for example:
Info-Tech has a dedicated blueprint to help you develop the high-level process description into a fully operationalized process. Upon completion of this PPM strategy blueprint, speak to an Info-Tech account manager or analyst to get started.
Read Info-Tech’s Optimize Project Intake, Prioritization, and Approval blueprint.
Review and customize slide 24, “Project intake, prioritization, and approval: target state,” in Info-Tech’s PPM Strategic Plan Template.
"Our challenge from the start was to better understand the strategic perspective and priorities of our client departments.
In addition, much of the work requested was not aligned to corporate goals and efforts, and seemed to be contradictory, redundant, and lacking strategic focus."
Complicating this challenge was the fact that work requests were being received via all means of communication, which made the monitoring and controlling of requests more difficult.
Client departments were consulted to improve the understanding of their strategic goals and priorities. Based on the consultation:
"By creating and implementing a tool for departments to prioritize strategic efforts, we helped them consider the important overall project criteria and measure them uniformly, across all anticipated projects. This set a standard of assessment, prioritization, and ranking, which helped departments clearly see which efforts were supportive and matched their strategic goals."

This process aims to control the resource supply to meet the demand – project and non-project alike. Coordinate this process with the intake, approval, and prioritization process.
2.1.2a – 10 minutes
INPUT: Organizational strategy and culture
OUTPUT: Resource management capability level
Materials: PPM Strategy Development Tool
Participants: PMO Director/ Portfolio Manager, Project Managers, Resource Managers, Business Analysts
Kick-off the discussion about the resource management process by reading the capability level descriptions below and discussing which level currently applies to you the most.
Capability Level Descriptions | |
| Capability Level 5: Optimized | Our organization has an accurate picture of project versus non-project work loads and allocates resources accordingly. We periodically reclaim lost capacity through organizational and behavioral change. |
| Capability Level 4: Aligned | We have an accurate picture of how much time is spent on project versus non-project work. We allocate resources to these projects accordingly. We are checking in on project progress bi-weekly. |
| Capability Level 3: Pixelated | We are allocating resources to projects and tracking progress monthly. We have a rough estimate of how much time is spent on project versus non-project work. |
| Capability Level 2: Opaque | We match resources teams to projects and check in annually, but we do not forecast future resource needs or track project versus non-project work. |
| Capability Level 1: Unmanaged | Our organization expects projects to be finished, but there is no process in place for allocating resources or tracking project progress. |
2.1.2b – 1-2 hours
INPUT: Documentation describing the current process (e.g. standard operating procedures), Process goals from activity 1.2.1
OUTPUT: Retrospective review of current process
Materials: 4x6” recipe cards, Whiteboard
Participants: PMO Director/ Portfolio Manager, Project Managers, Resource Managers, Business Analysts
Conduct a table-top planning exercise to map out the process currently in place.
| Start | Stop | Continue |
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2.1.2c – 30 minutes - 1 hour
INPUT: Outcome of the retrospective review, Process goals and metrics from activity 1.2.1
OUTPUT: Action items for evolving the process to a target state
Materials: Whiteboard
Participants: PMO Director/ Portfolio Manager, Project Managers, Resource Managers, Business Analysts
Analyze each item in the start-stop-continue retrospective to compile a set of near-term and long-term action items.
| The near-term plan should include steps that are within the authority of the PMO and do not require approval or investment outside of that authority. | The long-term plan should include steps that may require a longer approval process, buy-in of external stakeholders, and the investment of time and money. | |
| Near-Term Action Items | Long-Term Action Items | |
For example:
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For example:
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Review and customize slide 26, “Resource management: action items,” in Info-Tech’s PPM Strategic Plan Template.
2.1.2d – 1-2 hours
INPUT: Action items for evolving the process to a target state
OUTPUT: High-level description of the process at the target state
Materials: Whiteboard, PPM Strategy Development Tool
Participants: PMO Director/ Portfolio Manager, Project Managers, Resource Managers, Business Analysts
| An example of high-level breakdown: resource management | ||||||||
| Collect resource availability | –› | Collect resource demand | –› | Identify need for reconciliation | –› | Resolve conflicts and over-allocation | –› | Update resource forecast |
Question |
Description |
| Input | What information do you need to perform the work? |
| Output | What artifacts/deliverables are produced as a result? |
| Frequency/Timing | How often, and when, will the work be performed? |
| Responsibility | Who will perform the work? |
| Accountability | Who will approve the work and assume the ownership of any decisions? |
2.1.2e – 30 minutes - 1 hour
INPUT: High-level description of the process at the target state
OUTPUT: Updated PPM strategic plan
Materials: PPM Strategic Plan Template
Participants: PMO Director/ Portfolio Manager
Update your PPM strategic plan with the new high-level description for the new resource management process. Depending on your current process capability level, you may wish to include additional information on your strategic plan, for example:
Info-Tech has a dedicated blueprint to help you develop the high-level process description into a fully operationalized process. Upon completion of this PPM strategy blueprint, speak to an Info-Tech account manager or analyst to get started.
Read Info-Tech’s Develop a Resource Management for the New Reality blueprint.
Review and customize slide 27, “Resource management: target state,” in Info-Tech’s PPM Strategic Plan Template.
PHASE 1 | PHASE 2 | PHASE 3 | |||
| 1.1 | 1.2 | 2.1 | 2.2 | 3.1 | 3.2 |
| Choose the right PPM strategy | Translate strategy into process goals | Define intake & resource mgmt. processes | Define reporting, closure, & benefits mgmt. processes | Select a right-sized PPM solution | Finalize your PPM strategic plan |
If you can only do one thing, establish frequently current reporting on project status. Reporting doesn’t have to be detailed or precise, as long as it’s accurate.
Start by establishing a regular reporting cadence with lightweight project status KPIs:
| Red | Issue or risk that requires intervention | For projects that are red or yellow, high-level status reports should be elaborated on with additional comments on budget, estimated hours/days until completion, etc. |
| Yellow | Issue or risk that stakeholders should be aware of | |
| Green | No significant risks or issues |
2.2.1a – 10 minutes
INPUT: Organizational strategy and culture
OUTPUT: Portfolio reporting capability level
Materials: PPM Strategy Development Tool
Participants: PMO Director/ Portfolio Manager, Project Managers
Kick-off the discussion about the portfolio reporting process by reading the capability level descriptions below and discussing which level currently applies to you the most.
Capability Level Descriptions | |
| Capability Level 5: Optimized | With the right tools, we can ensure that all projects are planned and maintained at a detailed task level with high-quality estimates, and that actual task progress is updated at least weekly. |
| Capability Level 4: Aligned | We have the skills, knowledge, and resources needed to prepare a detailed cost-benefit analysis for all proposed projects. We track the progress throughout project execution. |
| Capability Level 3: Intervention | With the right tools, we can ensure that project issues and risks are identified and addressed on a regular basis (e.g. at least monthly) for all projects. |
| Capability Level 2: Oversight | With the right tools, we can ensure that project status updates are revised on a regular basis (e.g. at least monthly) for all ongoing projects. |
| Capability Level 1: Reactive | Project managers escalate issues directly with their direct supervisor or project sponsor because there is no formal PPM practice. |
INPUT: Documentation describing the current process (e.g. standard operating procedures), Process goals from activity 1.2.1
OUTPUT: Retrospective review of current process
Materials: 4x6” recipe cards, Whiteboard
Participants: PMO Director/ Portfolio Manager, Project Managers
Conduct a table-top planning exercise to map out the process currently in place.
| Start | Stop | Continue |
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2.2.1c – 30 minutes - 1 hour
INPUT: Outcome of the retrospective review, Process goals and metrics from activity 1.2.1
OUTPUT: Action items for evolving the process to a target state
Materials: Whiteboard
Participants: PMO Director/ Portfolio Manager, Project Managers
Analyze each item in the start-stop-continue retrospective to compile a set of near-term and long-term action items.
| The near-term plan should include steps that are within the authority of the PMO and do not require approval or investment outside of that authority. | The long-term plan should include steps that may require a longer approval process, buy-in of external stakeholders, and the investment of time and money. | |
| Near-Term Action Items | Long-Term Action Items | |
For example:
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For example:
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Review and customize slide 29, “Portfolio reporting: action items,” in Info-Tech’s PPM Strategic Plan Template.
2.2.1d – 1-2 hours
INPUT: Action items for evolving the process to a target state
OUTPUT: High-level description of the process at the target state
Materials: Whiteboard, PPM Strategy Development Tool
Participants: PMO Director/ Portfolio Manager, Project Managers
| An example of high-level breakdown: portfolio reporting | ||||||
| Create project status reports | –› | Create a project portfolio status report | –› | Report on project portfolio status | –› | Act on portfolio steering decisions |
Question | Description |
| Input | What information do you need to perform the work? |
| Output | What artifacts/deliverables are produced as a result? |
| Frequency/Timing | How often, and when, will the work be performed? |
| Responsibility | Who will perform the work? |
| Accountability | Who will approve the work and assume the ownership of any decisions? |
2.2.1e – 30 minutes - 1 hour
INPUT: High-level description of the process at the target state
OUTPUT: Updated PPM strategic plan
Materials: PPM Strategic Plan Template
Participants: PMO Director/ Portfolio Manager
Update your PPM strategic plan with the new high-level description for the new portfolio reporting process. Depending on your current process capability level, you may wish to include additional information on your strategic plan, for example:
Info-Tech has a dedicated blueprint to help you develop the high-level process description into a fully operationalized process. Upon completion of this PPM strategy blueprint, speak to an Info-Tech account manager or analyst to get started.
Read Info-Tech’s Enhance PPM Dashboards and Reports blueprint.
Review and customize slide 30, “Portfolio reporting: target state,” in Info-Tech’s PPM Strategic Plan Template.
The client had no effective real-time reporting in place to summarize their work efforts. In addition, the client struggled with managing existing resources against the ability to deliver on the requested project workload.
Existing project reporting processes were manually intensive and lacked mature reporting capabilities.
Through a short and effective engagement, IAG conducted surveys and facilitated interviews to identify the information needed by each stakeholder. From this analysis and industry best practices, IAG developed scorecards, dashboards, and project summary reports tailored to the needs of each stakeholder group. This integrated reporting tool was then made available on a central portal for PPM stakeholders.
Stakeholders can access project scorecard and dashboard reports that are available at any given time.
Resource reporting enabled the PMO to better balance client demand with available project capacity and forecast any upcoming deficiencies in resourcing that affect project delivery.
Although “change in organizational priority” is the most frequently cited cause of project failure (PMI Pulse of Profession, 2017), closing projects that don’t align with organizational priority ought to be a key PPM goal. Therefore, don’t think of it as project failure; instead, think of it as PPM success.

Post-implementation review checks which benefits (including those set out in the business case) have been achieved and identifies opportunities for further improvement. Without it, it can be difficult to demonstrate that investment in a project was worthwhile.
2.2.2a – 10 minutes
INPUT: Organizational strategy and culture
OUTPUT: Project closure capability level
Materials: PPM Strategy Development Tool
Participants: PMO Director/ Portfolio Manager, Project Managers, Business Analysts
Kick-off the discussion about the project closure process by reading the capability level descriptions below and discussing which level currently applies to you the most.
Capability Level Descriptions | |
| Capability Level 5: Optimized | Project closure is centrally managed and supports post-project benefits tracking. |
| Capability Level 4: Aligned | Project closure is centrally managed at the portfolio level to ensure completion/acceptance criteria are satisfied. |
| Capability Level 3: Engaged | Project closure is confirmed at the portfolio level, but with minimal enforcement of satisfaction of completion/acceptance criteria. |
| Capability Level 2: Encouraged | Project managers often follow handoff and closure procedures, but project closure is not confirmed or governed at the portfolio level. |
| Capability Level 1: Unmanaged | Project closure is not governed at either the project or portfolio level. |
2.2.2b – 1-2 hours
INPUT: Documentation describing the current process (e.g. standard operating procedures), Process goals from activity 1.2.1
OUTPUT: Retrospective review of current process
Materials: 4x6” recipe cards, Whiteboard
Participants: PMO Director/ Portfolio Manager, Project Managers, Business Analysts
Conduct a table-top planning exercise to map out the process currently in place.
| Start | Stop | Continue |
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2.2.2c – 30 minutes - 1 hour
INPUT: Outcome of the retrospective review, Process goals and metrics from activity 1.2.1
OUTPUT: Action items for evolving the process to a target state
Materials: Whiteboard
Participants: PMO Director/ Portfolio Manager, Project Managers, Resource Managers, Business Analysts
Analyze each item in the start-stop-continue retrospective to compile a set of near-term and long-term action items.
| The near-term plan should include steps that are within the authority of the PMO and do not require approval or investment outside of that authority. | The long-term plan should include steps that may require a longer approval process, buy-in of external stakeholders, and the investment of time and money. | |
| Near-Term Action Items | Long-Term Action Items | |
For example:
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For example:
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Review and customize slide 32, “Project closure: action items,” in Info-Tech’s PPM Strategic Plan Template.
2.2.2d – 1-2 hours
INPUT: Action items for evolving the process to a target state
OUTPUT: High-level description of the process at the target state
Materials: Whiteboard, PPM Strategy Development Tool
Participants: PMO Director/ Portfolio Manager, Project Managers, Resource Managers, Business Analysts
| An example of high-level breakdown: project closure | ||||||
| Complete or terminate projects | –› | Validate project closure | –› | Conduct post-project work | –› | Conduct post-implementation review |
Question |
Description |
| Input | What information do you need to perform the work? |
| Output | What artifacts/deliverables are produced as a result? |
| Frequency/Timing | How often, and when, will the work be performed? |
| Responsibility | Who will perform the work? |
| Accountability | Who will approve the work and assume the ownership of any decisions? |
2.2.2e – 30 minutes - 1 hour
INPUT: High-level description of the process at the target state
OUTPUT: Updated PPM strategic plan
Materials: PPM Strategic Plan Template
Participants: PMO Director/ Portfolio Manager
Update your PPM strategic plan with the new high-level description for the new project closure process. Depending on your current process capability level, you may wish to include additional information on your strategic plan, for example:
Info-Tech has several research notes that elaborate on aspects of project closure. Upon completion of this PPM strategy blueprint, speak to an Info-Tech account manager or analyst to get started.
Read Info-Tech’s research notes on project closure:
Review and customize slide 33, “Project closure: target state,” in Info-Tech’s PPM Strategic Plan Template.
Too many projects fail to achieve the originally proposed benefits, and too few organizations are able to identify and address the root causes of those shortfalls.
In reality, benefits realization process extends across the entire project life cycle: during intake, during the execution of the project, and after project completion. Be mindful of this extended scope when you discuss benefits realization in the following activity.

At the heart of benefits realization is accountability: who is held accountable for projects that don’t realize the benefits and how? Without the buy-in from the entire executive layer team, addressing this issue is very difficult.
2.2.3a – 10 minutes
INPUT: Organizational strategy and culture
OUTPUT: benefits realization capability level
Materials: PPM Strategy Development Tool
Participants: PMO Director/ Portfolio Manager, Project Managers, Resource Managers, Business Analysts
Kick-off the discussion about the benefits realization process by reading the capability level descriptions below and discussing which level currently applies to you the most.
Capability Level Descriptions | |
| Capability Level 5: Optimized | Project sponsors and key stakeholders are accountable for stated project benefits before, during and after the project. There is a process to maximize the realization of project benefits. |
| Capability Level 4: Aligned | Project benefits are forecasted and taken into account for approval, updated when changes are made to the project, and monitored/reported after projects are completed. |
| Capability Level 3: Engaged | Project benefits are forecasted and taken into account for approval, and there is a loosely defined process to report on benefits realization. |
| Capability Level 2: Defined | Project benefits are forecasted and taken into account for approval, but there is no process to monitor whether the said benefits are realized. |
| Capability Level 1: Unmanaged | Projects are approved and initiated without discussing benefits. |
2.2.3b – 1-2 hours
INPUT: Documentation describing the current process (e.g. standard operating procedures), Process goals from activity 1.2.1
OUTPUT: Retrospective review of current process
Materials: 4x6” recipe cards, Whiteboard
Participants: PMO Director/ Portfolio Manager, Project Managers, Resource Managers, Business Analysts
Conduct a table-top planning exercise to map out the process currently in place.
| Start | Stop | Continue |
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2.2.3c – 30 minutes - 1 hour
INPUT: Outcome of the retrospective review, Process goals and metrics from activity 1.2.1
OUTPUT: Action items for evolving the process to a target state
Materials: Whiteboard
Participants: PMO Director/ Portfolio Manager, Project Managers, Resource Managers, Business Analysts
Analyze each item in the start-stop-continue retrospective to compile a set of near-term and long-term action items.
| The near-term plan should include steps that are within the authority of the PMO and do not require approval or investment outside of that authority. | The long-term plan should include steps that may require a longer approval process, buy-in of external stakeholders, and the investment of time and money. | |
| Near-Term Action Items | Long-Term Action Items | |
For example:
|
For example:
|
Review and customize slide 35, “Benefits realization: action items,” in Info-Tech’s PPM Strategic Plan Template.
2.2.3d – 1-2 hours
INPUT: Action items for evolving the process to a target state
OUTPUT: High-level description of the process at the target state
Materials: Whiteboard, PPM Strategy Development Tool
Participants: PMO Director/ Portfolio Manager, Project Managers, Resource Managers, Business Analysts
| An example of high-level breakdown: benefits realization | ||||||
| Validate benefits in business case | –› | Update project benefits during execution | –› | Hand-off benefits ownership | –› | Monitor and report on benefits |
Question | Description |
| Input | What information do you need to perform the work? |
| Output | What artifacts/deliverables are produced as a result? |
| Frequency/Timing | How often, and when, will the work be performed? |
| Responsibility | Who will perform the work? |
| Accountability | Who will approve the work and assume the ownership of any decisions? |
2.2.3e – 30 minutes - 1 hour
INPUT: High-level description of the process at the target state
OUTPUT: Updated PPM strategic plan
Materials: PPM Strategic Plan Template
Participants: PMO Director/ Portfolio Manager
Update your PPM strategic plan with the new high-level description for the new benefits realization process. Depending on your current process capability level, you may wish to include additional information on your strategic plan, for example:
Info-Tech has a dedicated blueprint to help you develop the high-level process description into a fully operationalized process. Upon completion of this PPM strategy blueprint, speak to an Info-Tech account manager or analyst to get started.
Read Info-Tech’s Establish the Benefits Realization Process blueprint.
Review and customize slide 36, “Benefits realization: target state,” in Info-Tech’s PPM Strategic Plan Template.
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Align your project intake, prioritization, and approval process to the PPM strategy
Examine the process at the current state and develop an action plan to improve it, with a high-level description of the process at a target state and its overhead costs. The outcome of this activity feeds into the overall PPM strategic plan. |
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Align your resource management process to the PPM strategy
Examine the process at the current state and develop an action plan to improve it, with a high-level description of the process at a target state and its overhead costs. The outcome of this activity feeds into the overall PPM strategic plan. |
![]() | Align your portfolio reporting process to the PPM strategy Examine the process at the current state and develop an action plan to improve it, with a high-level description of the process at a target state and its overhead costs. The outcome of this activity feeds into the overall PPM strategic plan. |
![]() | Align your project closure process to the PPM strategy Examine the process at the current state and develop an action plan to improve it, with a high-level description of the process at a target state and its overhead costs. The outcome of this activity feeds into the overall PPM strategic plan. |
![]() | Align your benefits realization process to the PPM strategy Examine the process at the current state and develop an action plan to improve it, with a high-level description of the process at a target state and its overhead costs. The outcome of this activity feeds into the overall PPM strategic plan. |
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.
| Step 3.1: Select a right-sized PPM solution | Step 3.2: Finalize your PPM Strategic Plan Template |
Work with an analyst to:
| Review findings with analyst:
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Then complete these activities…
| Then complete these activities…
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With these tools & templates:
| With these tools & templates:
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Phase 3 Insight:
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PHASE 1 | PHASE 2 | PHASE 3 | |||
| 1.1 | 1.2 | 2.1 | 2.2 | 3.1 | 3.2 |
| Choose the right PPM strategy | Translate strategy into process goals | Define intake & resource mgmt. processes | Define reporting, closure, & benefits mgmt. processes | Select a right-sized PPM solution | Finalize your PPM strategic plan |
PPM tools act as both a receptacle for portfolio data generated by your processes and a source of portfolio data to drive your processes forward. Therefore, choosing a suitable PPM tool is critical to the success of your PPM strategy:
User adoption is an often cited cause of failed PPM tool implementation:
"The biggest problem is getting the team to work with the tool. We need to make sure that we’re not wasting time delving too far down into the tool, yet putting enough information to get useful information back." (IT Director, Financial Services)
This final step of the blueprint will discuss the choice of PPM tools to ensure the success of PPM strategy by avoiding the process-tool disconnect.
An optimized PPM solution is the vehicle that provides decision makers with four key pieces of information they require when making decisions for your project portfolio:
Without the proper information, decision makers are driving blind and are forced to make gut feel decisions as opposed to data-informed decisions. Implement a PPM solution to allocate projects properly and ensure time and money don’t vanish without being accounted for.
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"Price tags [for PPM tools] vary considerably. Expensive products don't always provide more capability. Inexpensive products are generally low cost for good reason." (Merkhofer)
Despite the rapid growth in the commercial PPM tool market today, homegrown approaches like spreadsheets and intranet sites continue to be used as PPM tools.
(Source: Info-Tech Research Group (2016), N=433)
Category |
Characteristics |
PPM maturity |
| Enterprise tool |
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High |
| Mid-market tool |
|
High |
| Entry-level tool |
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Intermediate |
| Spreadsheet based |
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Intermediate Low |
3.1.1 – 20 minutes
INPUT: PPM strategic plan
OUTPUT: Modified PPM strategic plan with a proposed choice of PPM tool
Materials: PPM Strategy Development Tool
Participants: PMO Director/ Portfolio Manager, Project Managers, IT Managers
3.1.2 – 20 minutes
INPUT: PPM strategic plan
OUTPUT: Modified PPM strategic plan with a proposed choice of PPM tool
Materials: PPM Strategy Development Tool
Participants: CIO, PMO Director/ Portfolio Manager, Project Managers, IT Managers
3.1.3 – 20 minutes

If you are in one of the non-covered areas, consider revisiting your functional requirements and PPM strategy. You may need to lessen your expectations to be able to stay within your budget, or find a way to get more money.
Keep in mind that the long-term goal can be to work towards a commercial tool, while the short-term goal would be to be able to maintain your portfolio in a simple spreadsheet first.
If you choose a commercial solution, you will need to gain executive buy-in in order to implement the tool; proceed to near-term and long-term plans to get the ball rolling on this decision.
Review and customize slide 37, “Tools for PPM: proposed near- and long-term solutions,” in Info-Tech’s PPM Strategic Plan Template.
Info-Tech’s Grow Your Own PPM Solution blueprint will help you implement a highly evolved spreadsheet-based PPM solution. It features the Portfolio Manager 2017, a Microsoft Excel-based workbook that leverages its business intelligence features to provide a basis for implementing a scalable, highly customizable PPM tool with useful and easy-to-manipulate analytics.
Read Info-Tech’s Grow Your Own PPM Solution blueprint.
Info-Tech’s Select and Implement a PPM Solution blueprint is part of our Vendor Landscape research. Make sense of the diversity of PPM solutions available in today’s market, and choose the most appropriate solutions for your organization’s size and level of PPM maturity.
Read Info-Tech’s Select and Implement a PPM Solution blueprint.
“The approach makes it easy to run the portfolio without taking time away from the project themselves.” (IT Manager, Energy Resources Firm)
PHASE 1 | PHASE 2 | PHASE 3 | |||
| 1.1 | 1.2 | 2.1 | 2.2 | 3.1 | 3.2 |
| Choose the right PPM strategy | Translate strategy into process goals | Define intake & resource mgmt. processes | Define reporting, closure, & benefits mgmt. processes | Select a right-sized PPM solution | Finalize your PPM strategic plan |
The time cost of PPM processes (tab 3) and PPM tool costs (tab 4) are summarized in this tab. Enter additional data to estimate the total PPM cost-in-use: the setup information and the current cost of PPM software tools.
The benefits of PPM processes are estimated by projecting the sources of waste on your resource capacity.
This tab summarizes the costs and benefits of your PPM strategic plan.
Capture this summary in your PPM strategic plan.
Customize slides 40 and 41, “Return on PPM investment,” in Info-Tech’s PPM Strategic Plan Template.
You will need to determine responsibilities and accountabilities for portfolio management functions within your team.
If you do not have a clearly identifiable portfolio manager at this time, you will need to clarify who will wear which hats in terms of facilitating intake and prioritization, high-level capacity awareness, and portfolio reporting.
Download Info-Tech’s Project Portfolio Analyst Job Description Template.
3.2.4 – 30 minutes
INPUT: Near-term action items
OUTPUT: Near-term action plan
Materials: PPM Strategy Development Tool
Participants: PMO Director/ Portfolio Manager, Project Managers, Resource Managers, Business Analysts
Collect the near-term action items for each of the five PPM processes and arrange them into a table that outlines the near-term action plan. Once it is compiled, adjust the timeline and responsibility so that the plan is coherent and realistic as a whole.
Example:
Outcome |
Action required |
Timeline |
Responsibility |
| Determine the percentage distribution of project vs. non-project work | Run a time audit survey with all project resources | 2 weeks | Resource managers |
| Test a simple dashboard for project status | Pilot Info-Tech’s Portfolio Manager 2017 workbook | 2 weeks | PMO Director |
"There is a huge risk of taking on too much too soon, especially with the introduction of specific tools and tool sets. There is also an element of risk involved that can lead to failure and disappointment with PPM if these tools are not properly introduced and supported." (Jim Carse, Director of the Portfolio Office, Queen’s University)
Review and customize slide 43, “Summary of near-term action plan,” in Info-Tech’s PPM Strategic Plan Template.
Table of Contents |
Read over the document to ensure its completeness and consistency.At this point, you have a PPM strategic plan that is actionable and realistic, which addresses the goals set by the senior leadership. The executive brief establishes the need for PPM strategy, the goals and metrics are set by members of the senior leadership that gave the initial buy-in, and the target states of PPM processes that meet those goals are described. Finally, the costs and benefits of the improved PPM practice are laid out in a way that can be validated. The next step for your PPM strategy is to use this document as a foundation for implementing and operationalizing the target-state PPM processes.Review and publish the document for your executive layer and key project stakeholders. Solicit their feedback. Info-Tech has a library of blueprints that will guide you through each of the five processes. Contact your Info-Tech account manager or Info-Tech analyst to get started. |
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Scope the right-sized PPM solution for your PPM strategy
Use the PPM Strategy Development Tool to quickly determine our near- and long-term recommendation for your PPM solution. |
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Conduct a cost-benefit analysis of your PPM strategic plan
Using the time cost estimates of each process and the requirement for a PPM tool, Info-Tech helps you quantify the overhead costs of PPM and estimate the monetary benefits of reclaimed project capacity for your project portfolio. |
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Kiron D. Bondale PMP, PMI-RMP, CDAP, CDAI Senior Project Portfolio Management Professional Kiron has worked in the project management domain for more than fifteen years managing multiple projects, leading Project Management Offices (PMO) and providing project portfolio management consulting services to over a hundred clients across multiple industries. He has been an active member of the Project Management Institute (PMI) since 1999 and served as a volunteer director on the Board of the PMI Lakeshore Chapter for six years. Kiron has published articles on project and project portfolio management in multiple journals and has delivered over a hundred webinar presentations on a variety of PPM and PM topics and has presented at multiple industry conferences. Since 2009, Kiron has been blogging on a weekly basis on project management topics and responds to questions daily in the LinkedIn PMI Project, Program and Portfolio Management discussion group. |
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Shaun Cahill, Project Manager & Jim Carse, Director of the Project Portfolio Office Queen’s University |
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Amy Fowler Stadler, Managing Partner Lewis Fowler Amy has more than 20 years of experience in business and technology, most recently owning her own management consulting firm since 2002, focused on business transformation, technology enablement, and operational improvement. Prior to that, she was at CenturyLink (formerly Qwest) as an IT Director, Perot Systems in various roles, and Information Handling Services, Inc. as a Software Development Product Manager. Amy holds a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science with a minor in Business Communications and is also a 2015 Hall of Fame inductee to Illinois State University College of Applied Science and Technology. |
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Rick Morris, President R2 Consulting LLC Rick A. Morris, PMP, is a certified Scrum Agile Master, Human Behavior Consultant, best-selling author, mentor, and evangelist for project management. Rick is an accomplished project manager and public speaker. His appetite for knowledge and passion for the profession makes him an internationally sought after speaker delivering keynote presentations for large conferences and PMI events around the world. He holds the PMP (Project Management Professional), MPM (Masters of Project Management), Scrum Agile Master, OPM3, Six Sigma Green Belt, MCITP, MCTS, MCSE, TQM, ATM-S, ITIL, and ISO certifications, and is a John Maxwell Certified Speaker, Mentor, and Coach. Rick is the Owner of R2 Consulting, LLC and has worked for organizations such as GE, Xerox, and CA, and has consulted with numerous clients in a wide variety of industries including financial services, entertainment, construction, non-profit, hospitality, pharmaceutical, retail, and manufacturing. |
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Terry Lee Ricci PgMP, PfMP, PMP, PPM Practice Lead IAG Consulting Terry is passionate and highly skilled at PMO transformation, developing high-performing teams that sustain long-term business results. Terry has a reputation built upon integrity, resourcefulness, and respect. She has the vision to implement long and short-term strategies, meeting both current and evolving business needs. Change Management/Business transformation: Terry has extensive background in PMO strategy development aligned to corporate goals. Many years in the PMO organization integration/transformation building or overhauling programs and processes. Governance: Terry loves to monitor and measure performance and outcomes and uses her collaborative style to successfully bring simplicity to complexity (technology – people – process). Performance optimization results are easy to use and clearly define who is doing what across functions. End results consistently align to business strategy while mitigating risks effectively. Comprehensive: A “through the ranks” executive with a comprehensive understanding of PMO operations, high-performance teams, and the respective business units they support. |
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Alana Ruckstuhl MSc, IT Project Officer Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario |
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Jay Wardle, Director of the PMO Red Wing Shoes Co. |
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Bob White, Vice President/Chief Information Officer ALM Holding Company As vice president and chief information officer for ALM Holding Company, Bob White directs all technology activity and support for three main verticals: road construction, energy management, and delivery and transportation. He has been with ALM Holding Company for one and a half years, focusing on PPM process improvement, cybersecurity initiatives, and IT service management. Prior to joining ALM, Bob was executive vice president/chief information officer at Ashley Furniture Industries, Inc. where he led the strategic direction, implementation, and management of information technology throughout the company’s global operations. Bob has also held VP/CIO positions at the Stride Rite Corporation and Timex Corporation. Bob holds a Master’s degree in Operations Management from the University of Arkansas and a Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Engineering from Southern Illinois University. |
Bersin, Josh. “Time to Scrap Performance Appraisals?” Forbes Magazine, 5 June 2013. Web. 30 Oct 2013.
Cheese, Peter et al. “Creating an Agile Organization.” Accenture, Oct. 2009. Web. Nov. 2013.
Croxon, Bruce et al. “Dinner Series: Performance Management with Bruce Croxon from CBC's 'Dragon's Den'” HRPA Toronto Chapter. Sheraton Hotel, Toronto, ON. 12 Nov. 2013. Panel discussion.
Culbert, Samuel. “10 Reasons to Get Rid of Performance Reviews.” Huffington Post Business, 18 Dec. 2012. Web. 28 Oct. 2013.
Denning, Steve. “The Case Against Agile: Ten Perennial Management Objections.” Forbes Magazine, 17 Apr. 2012. Web. Nov. 2013.
Estis, Ryan. “Blowing up the Performance Review: Interview with Adobe’s Donna Morris.” Ryan Estis & Associates, 17 June 2013. Web. Oct. 2013.
Gallup, Inc. “Gallup Study: Engaged Employees Inspire Company Innovation.” Gallup Management Journal, 12 Oct. 2006. Web. 12 Jan 2012.
Gartside, David et al. “Trends Reshaping the Future of HR.” Accenture, 2013. Web. 5 Nov. 2013.
KeyedIn Solutions. “Why PPM and PMOs Fail.” KeyedIn Projects, 2013. Ebook.
Lessing, Lawrence. Free Culture. Lulu Press Inc.: 30 July 2016.
Merkhofer, Lee. “Keys to Implementing Project Portfolio Management.” Lee Merkhofer Consulting, 2017.
Perry, Mark Price. Business Driven Project Portfolio Management. J Ross Pub: 17 May 2011.
Project Management Institute. “Pulse of the Profession 2015: Capturing the Value of Project Management.” PMI, Feb. 2015. Web.
Project Management Institute. “Pulse of the Profession 2016: The High Cost of Low Performance.” PMI, 2016. Web.
Project Management Institute. “Pulse of the Profession 2017: Success Rates Rise.” PMI, 2017. Web.
Project Management Institute. The Standard for Portfolio Management – Third Edition. PMI: 1 Dec. 2012.
WGroup. “Common Pitfalls in Project Portfolio Management – Part 2.” WGroup, 24 Jan. 2017. Web.
Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:
Sponsor a mandate for innovation and assemble a small team to start sourcing ideas with IT staff.
Identify critical opportunities for innovation and brainstorm effective solutions.
Prototype ideas rapidly to gain user feedback, refine solutions, and make a compelling case for project investment.
Formalize the innovation process and implement a program to create a strong culture of innovation in IT.
Workshops offer an easy way to accelerate your project. If you are unable to do the project yourself, and a Guided Implementation isn't enough, we offer low-cost delivery of our project workshops. We take you through every phase of your project and ensure that you have a roadmap in place to complete your project successfully.
Introduce innovation.
Assess overall IT maturity to understand what you want to achieve with innovation.
Define the innovation mandate.
Introduce ideation.
A set of shared objectives for innovation will be defined.
A mandate will be created to help focus innovation efforts on what is most critical to the advancement of IT's maturity.
The group will be introduced to ideation and prepared to begin addressing critical IT or business pains.
1.1 Define workshop goals and objectives.
1.2 Introduce innovation.
1.3 Assess IT maturity.
1.4 Define the innovation mandate.
1.5 Introduce ideation.
Workshop goals and objectives.
An understanding of innovation.
IT maturity assessment.
Sponsored innovation mandate.
An understanding of ideation.
Identify and prioritize opportunities for IT-led innovation.
Map critical processes to identify the pains that should be ideated around.
Brainstorm potential solutions.
Assess, pitch, and prioritize ideas that should be investigated further.
The team will learn best practices for ideation.
Critical pain points that might be addressed through innovation will be identified and well understood.
A number of ideas will be generated that can solve identified pains and potentially feed the project pipeline.
The team will prioritize the ideas that should be investigated further and prototyped after the workshop.
2.1 Identify processes that present opportunities for IT-led innovation.
2.2 Map selected processes.
2.3 Finalize problem statements.
2.4 Generate ideas.
2.5 Assess ideas.
2.6 Pitch and prioritize ideas.
A list of processes with high opportunity for IT-enablement.
Detailed process maps that highlight pain points and stakeholder needs.
Problem statements to ideate around.
A long list of ideas to address pain points.
Detailed idea documents.
A shortlist of prioritized ideas to investigate further.
Ideate around a more complex problem that presents opportunity for IT-led innovation.
Map the associated process to define pain points and stakeholder needs in detail.
Brainstorm potential solutions.
Assess, pitch, and prioritize ideas that should be investigated further.
Introduce prototyping.
Map the user journey for prioritized ideas.
The team will be ready to facilitate ideation independently with other staff after the workshop.
A critical problem that might be addressed through innovation will be defined and well understood.
A number of innovative ideas will be generated that can solve this problem and help IT position itself as a source of innovative projects.
Ideas will be assessed and prioritized for further investigation and prototyping after the workshop.
The team will learn best practices for prototyping.
The team will identify the assumptions that need to be tested when top ideas are prototyped.
3.1 Select an urgent opportunity for IT-led innovation.
3.2 Map the associated process.
3.3 Finalize the problem statement.
3.4 Generate ideas.
3.5 Assess ideas.
3.6 Pitch and prioritize ideas.
3.7 Introduce prototyping.
3.8 Map the user journey for top ideas.
Selection of a process which presents a critical opportunity for IT-enablement.
Detailed process map that highlights pain points and stakeholder needs.
Problem statement to ideate around.
A long list of ideas to solve the problem.
Detailed idea documents.
A shortlist of prioritized ideas to investigate further.
An understanding of effective prototyping techniques.
A user journey for at least one of the top ideas.
Establish a process for generating, managing, prototyping, prioritizing, and approving new ideas.
Create an action plan to operationalize your new process.
Develop a program to help support the innovation process and nurture your innovators.
Create an action plan to implement your innovation program.
Decide how innovation success will be measured.
The team will learn best practices for managing innovation.
The team will be ready to operationalize an effective process for IT-led innovation. You can start scheduling ideation sessions as soon as the workshop is complete.
The team will understand the current innovation ecosystem: drivers, barriers, and enablers.
The team will be ready to roll out an innovation program that will help generate wider engagement with IT-led innovation.
You will be ready to measure and report on the success of your program.
4.1 Design an IT-led innovation process.
4.2 Assign roles and responsibilities.
4.3 Generate an action plan to roll out the process.
4.4 Determine critical process metrics to track.
4.5 Identify innovation drivers, enablers, and barriers.
4.6 Develop a program to nurture a culture of innovation.
4.7 Create an action plan to jumpstart each of your program components.
4.8 Determine critical metrics to track.
4.9 Summarize findings and gather feedback.
A process for IT-led innovation.
Defined process roles and responsibilities.
An action plan for operationalizing the process.
Critical process metrics to measure success.
A list of innovation drivers, enablers, and barriers.
A program for innovation that will leverage enablers and minimize barriers.
An action plan to roll out your innovation program.
Critical program metrics to track.
Overview of workshop results and feedback.
Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:
Use Info-Tech’s methodology to establish an effective service management program with proper oversight.
Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:
Determine whether you are ready to focus your attention on evolving your role.
Create a plan to establish key business partnerships and position IT as a co-leader of transformation.
Mobilize the IT organization and prepare for the new mandate.
Align IT with the business through a direct, concentrated focus on the customer.
Determine the key behaviors necessary for transformation success and delegate effectively to make room for new responsibilities.
Track the key success metrics that will help you manage transformation effectively.
Workshops offer an easy way to accelerate your project. If you are unable to do the project yourself, and a Guided Implementation isn't enough, we offer low-cost delivery of our project workshops. We take you through every phase of your project and ensure that you have a roadmap in place to complete your project successfully.
Understand stakeholder and executive perception of the CIO’s performance and leadership.
Determine whether the CIO is ready to lead transformation.
Decision to evolve role or address areas of improvement as a pre-requisite to becoming a transformational CIO.
1.1 Select data collection techniques.
1.2 Conduct diagnostic programs.
1.3 Review results and define readiness.
Select stakeholder and executive perception of the CIO
Decision as to whether to proceed with the role evolution
Identify potential business partners and create a plan to establish key partnerships.
An actionable set of initiatives that will help the CIO create valuable partnerships with internal or external business stakeholders.
2.1 Identify potential business partners.
2.2 Evaluate and prioritize list of potential partners.
2.3 Create a plan to establish the target partnerships.
Partnership strategy
Make the case and plan for the development of key capabilities that will enable the IT organization to handle transformation.
A maturity assessment of critical capabilities.
A plan to address maturity gaps in preparation for a transformational mandate.
3.1 Define transformation as a capability.
3.2 Assess the current and target transformation capability maturity.
3.3 Develop a roadmap to address gaps.
Transformation capability assessment
Roadmap to develop the transformation capability
Gain an understanding of the end customer of the organization.
A change in IT mindset away from a focus on operational activities or internal customers to external customers.
A clear understanding of how the organization creates and delivers value to customers.
Opportunities for business transformation.
4.1 Analyze value streams that impact the customer.
4.2 Map business capabilities to value streams.
Value stream maps
Business capability map
Establish a formal process for empowering employees and developing new leaders.
Create a culture of continuous improvement and a long-term focus.
Increased ability to sustain momentum that is inherent to business transformations.
Better strategic workforce planning and a clearer career path for individuals in IT.
A system to measure IT’s contribution to business transformation.
5.1 Set the structure for the office of the CIO.
5.2 Assess current leadership skills and needs.
5.3 Spread a culture of self-discovery.
5.4 Maintain the transformation capability.
OCIO structure document
Transformational leadership dashboard
Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:
Create the foundation that enables management, monitoring, and control of all AI activities within the organization. The AI governance framework will allow you to define an AI risk management approach and defines methodology for managing and monitoring the AI/ML models in production.
| In recent years, following technological breakthroughs and advances in development of machine learning (ML) models and management of large volumes of data, organizations are scaling their use of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies.
The use of AI and ML has gained momentum as organizations evaluate the potential applications of AI to enhance the customer experience, improve operational efficiencies, and automate business processes. Growing applications of AI have reinforced concerns about ethical, fair, and responsible use of the technology that assists or replaces human decision-making. Implementing AI systems requires careful management of the AI lifecycle, governing data, and machine learning model to prevent unintentional outcomes not only to an organization’s brand reputation but also, more importantly, to workers, individuals, and society. When adopting AI, it is important to have strong ethical and risk management frameworks surrounding its use. |
“Responsible AI is the practice of designing, building and deploying AI in a manner that empowers people and businesses, and fairly impacts customers and society – allowing companies to engender trust and scale AI with confidence.” (World Economic Forum) |
Source of data: OECD.AI (2021), powered by EC/OECD (2021), database of national AI policies, accessed on 7/09/2022, https://oecd.ai.
| To ensure responsible, transparent, and ethical AI systems, organizations will need to review existing risk control frameworks and update them to include AI risk management and impact assessment frameworks and processes.
As ML and AI technologies are constantly evolving, the AI governance and AI risk management frameworks will need to evolve to ensure the appropriate safeguards and controls are in place. This applies not only to the machine learning models and AI system custom built by the organization’s data science and AI team, but it also includes AI-powered vendor tools and technologies. The vendors should be able to explain how AI is used in their products, how the model was trained, and what data was used to train the model. AI governance enables management, monitoring, and control of all AI activities within an organization. |
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Machine learning systems learn from experience and without explicit instructions. They learn patterns from data, then analyze and make predictions based on past behavior and the patterns learned.
Artificial intelligence is a combination of technologies and can include machine learning. AI systems perform tasks that mimic human intelligence, such as learning from experience and problem solving. Most importantly, AI makes its own decisions without human intervention.
We use the definition of data ethics by Open Data Institute: “Data ethics is a branch of ethics that considers the impact of data practices on people, society and the environment. The purpose of data ethics is to guide the values and conduct of data practitioners in data collection, sharing and use.”
Algorithmic or machine bias is systematic and repeatable errors in a computer system that create unfair outcomes, such as privileging one arbitrary group of users over others. Algorithmic bias is not a technical problem. It’s a social and political problem, and in the context of implementing AI for business benefits, it’s a business problem.
Download the blueprint Mitigate Machine Bias blueprint for detailed discussion on bias, fairness, and transparency in AI systems
| “Responsible AI is the practice of designing, building and deploying AI in a manner that empowers people and businesses and fairly impacts customers and society – allowing companies to engender trust and scale AI with confidence” (CIFAR).
The AI system is considered trustworthy when people understand how the technology works and when we can assess that it’s safe and reliable. We must be able to trust the output of the system and understand how the system was designed, what data was used to train it, and how it was implemented. Explainable AI, sometimes abbreviated as XAI, refers to the ability to explain how an AI model makes predictions, its anticipated impact, and its potential biases. Transparency means communicating with and empowering users by sharing information internally and with external stakeholders, including beneficiaries and people impacted by the AI-powered product or service. |
68% [of Canadians] are concerned they don’t understand the technology well enough to know the risks. 77% say they are concerned about the risks AI poses to society (TD, 2019) |
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Monitoring
Tools & Technologies
Model Governance
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Organization
Structure, roles, and responsibilities of the AI governance organization Operating Model
Risk and Compliance
Policies and procedures to support implementation of AI governance |
Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:
This phase helps the VMI stay focused and aligned by reviewing existing materials, updating the existing maturity assessment, and ensuring that the foundational elements of the VMI are up to date. The main outcomes from this phase are a current maturity assessment and updated or revised Plan documents.
This phase helps you configure, create, and understand the tools and templates used to elevate the VMI. The main outcomes from this phase are a clear understanding of the tools that identify which vendors are important to you, tools and concepts to help you take key vendor relationships to the next level, and tools to help you evaluate and improve the VMI and its personnel.
This phase helps you begin integrating the new tools and templates into the VMI’s operations. The main outcomes from this phase are guidance and the steps required to continue your VMI’s maturation and evolution.
This phase helps the VMI stay aligned with the overall organization, stay current, and improve its strategic value as it evolves. The main outcomes from this phase are ways to advance the VMI’s strategic impact.
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.
Review existing tools and templates and configure new tools and templates.
Updated Maturity Assessment and configured tools and templates.
1.1 Existing Plan document review and new maturity assessment.
1.2 Optional classification models.
1.3 Customer positioning model.
1.4 Two-way scorecards.
Updated Plan documents.
New maturity assessment.
Configured classification model.
Customer positioning for top five vendors.
Configured scorecard and feedback form.
Configure VMI Tools and Templates.
Configured Tools and Templates for the VMI.
2.1 Performance improvement plans (PIPs).
2.2 Relationship improvement plans (RIPs).
2.3 Vendor-at-a-Glance reports.
2.4 VMI Personnel Competency Evaluation Tool.
Configured Performance Improvement Plan.
Configured Relationship Assessment and Relationship Improvement Plan.
Configured 60-Second Report and completed Vendor Calendar for one vendor.
Configured VMI Personnel Competency Evaluation Tool.
Continue configuring VMI Tools and Templates and enhancing VM competencies.
Configured Tools and Templates for the VMI and market intelligence to gather.
3.1 Internal feedback tool.
3.2 VMI ROI calculation.
3.3 Vendor recognition program.
3.4 Assess the Relationship Landscape.
3.5 Gather market intelligence.
3.6 Improve professional skills.
Configured Internal Feedback Tool.
General framework for a vendor recognition program.
Completed Relationship Landscape Assessment (representative sample).
List of market intelligence to gather for top five vendors.
Improve the VMI’s brand awareness and impact on the organization; continue to maintain alignment with the overall organization.
Raising the organization’s awareness of the VMI, and ensuring the VMI Is becoming more strategic.
4.1 Expand professional knowledge.
4.2 Create brand awareness.
4.3 Investigate potential alliances.
4.4 Continue increasing the VMI’s strategic value.
4.5 Review and update (governances, policies and procedures, lessons learned, internal alignment, and leading practices).
Branding plan for the VMI.
Branding plan for individual VMI team members.
EXECUTIVE BRIEF
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By the time you start using this blueprint, you should have established a solid foundation for your vendor management initiative (VMI) and implemented many or all of the principles outlined in Info-Tech’s blueprint Jump Start Your Vendor Management (the Jump Start blueprint). This blueprint (the Elevate blueprint) is meant to continue the evolutionary or maturation process of your VMI. Many of the items presented here will build on and refer to the elements from the Jump Start blueprint. The goal of the Elevate blueprint is to assist in the migration of your VMI from transactional to strategic. Why? Simply put, the more strategic the VMI, the more value it adds and the more impact it has on the organization as a whole. While the day-to-day, transactional aspect of running a VMI will never go away, getting stuck in transactional mode is a horrible place for the VMI and its team members:
To prevent these tragic things from happening, transform the VMI into a strategic contributor and partner internally. This Elevate blueprint provides a roadmap and guidance to get your journey started. Focus on expanding your understanding of customer/vendor dynamics, improving the skills, competencies, and knowledge of the VMI’s team members, contributing value beyond the savings aspect, and building a solid brand internally and with your vendors. This requires a conscious effort and a proactive approach to vendor management…not to mention treating your internal “clients” with respect and providing great customer service. At the end of the day, ask yourself one question: If your internal clients had to pay for your services, would they? If you can answer yes, you are well on your way to being strategic. If not, you still have some work to do. Long live the strategic VMI! |
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Phil Bode |
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Your Challenge |
Common Obstacles |
Info-Tech’s Approach |
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Each year, IT organizations “outsource” tasks, activities, functions, and other items. During 2021:
This leads to more spend, less control, and more risk for IT organizations. Managing this becomes a higher priority for IT, but many IT organizations are ill-equipped to do this proactively. |
As new contracts are negotiated and existing contracts are renegotiated or renewed, there is a perception that the contracts will yield certain results, output, performance, solutions, or outcomes. The hope is that these will provide a measurable expected value to IT and the organization. Often, much of the expected value is never realized. Many organizations don’t have a VMI to help:
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Vendor Management is a proactive, cross-functional lifecycle. It can be broken down into four phases:
The Info-Tech process addresses all four phases and provides a step-by-step approach to configure and operate your VMI. The content in this blueprint helps you and the VMI evolve to add value and impact to the organization that was started with the Info-Tech blueprint Jump Start Your VMI. |
The VMI must continue to mature and evolve, or it will languish, atrophy, and possibly be disbanded.
Spend on managed service providers and as-a-service providers continues to increase. In addition, IT services vendors continue to be active in the mergers and acquisitions arena. This increases the need for a VMI to help with the changing IT vendor landscape.
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38% 2021 |
16% 2021 |
47% 2021 |
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Spend on As-a-Service Providers |
Spend on Managed Services Providers |
IT Services Merger & Acquisition Growth (Transactions) |
When organizations execute, renew, or renegotiate a contract, there is an “expected value” associated with that contract. Without a robust VMI, most of the expected value will never be realized. With a robust VMI, the realized value significantly exceeds the expected value during the contract term.
A sound, cyclical approach to vendor management will help ensure your VMI meets your needs and stays in alignment with your organization as they both change (i.e. mature and evolve).
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Phase 1 - Plan |
Phase 2 - Build |
Phase 3 - Run |
Phase 4 – Review |
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Phase Steps |
1.1 Review and Update Existing Plan Materials |
2.1 Vendor Classification Models 2.2 Customer Positioning Model 2.3 Two-Way Scorecards 2.4 Performance Improvement Plan (PIP) 2.5 Relationship Improvement Plan (RIP) 2.6 Vendor-at-a-Glance Reports 2.7 VMI Personnel Competency Evaluation Tool 2.8 Internal Feedback Tool 2.9 VMI ROI Calculation 2.10 Vendor Recognition Program |
3.1 Classify Vendors & Identify Customer Position 3.2 Assess the Relationship Landscape 3.3 Leverage Two-Way Scorecards 3.4 Implement PIPs and RIPs 3.5 Gather Market Intelligence 3.6 Generate Vendor-at-a-Glance Reports 3.7 Evaluate VMI Personnel 3.8 Improve Professional Skills 3.9 Expand Professional Knowledge 3.10 Create Brand Awareness 3.11 Survey Internal Clients 3.12 Calculate VMI ROI 3.13 Implement Vendor Recognition Program |
4.1 Investigate Potential Alliances 4.2 Continue Increasing the VMI’s Strategic Value 4.3 Review and Update |
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Phase Outcomes |
This phase helps the VMI stay focused and aligned by reviewing existing materials, updating the existing maturity assessment, and ensuring that the foundational elements of the VMI are up-to-date. |
This phase helps you configure, create, and understand the tools and templates used to elevate the VMI. |
This phase helps you begin integrating the new tools and templates into the VMI’s operations. |
This phase helps the VMI stay aligned with the overall organization, stay current, and improve its strategic value as it evolves. |
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Insight 1 |
An organization’s vendor management initiative must continue to evolve and mature to reach its full strategic value. In the early stages, the vendor management initiative may be seen as transactional, focusing on the day-to-day functions associated with vendor management. The real value of a VMI comes from becoming strategic partner to other functional groups (departments) within your organization. |
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Insight 2 |
Developing vendor management personnel is critical to the vendor management initiative’s evolution and maturation. For the VMI to mature, its personnel must mature as well. Their professional skills, competencies, and knowledge must increase over time. Failure to accentuate personal growth within the team limits what the team can achieve and how the team is perceived. |
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Insight 3 |
Vendor management is not about imposing your will on vendors; it is about understanding the multifaceted dynamics between your organization and your vendors and charting the appropriate path forward. Resource allocation and relationship expectations flow from these dynamics. Each critical vendor requires an individual plan to build the best possible relationship and to leverage that relationship. What works with one vendor may not work or even be possible with another vendor – even if both vendors are critical to your success. |
The four phases of maturing and evolving your vendor management initiative are supported with configurable tools, templates, and checklists to help you stay aligned internally and achieve your goals.
VMI Tools and Templates
Continue building your foundation for your VMI and configure tools and templates to help you manage your vendor relationships.
Info-Tech’s
A suite of tools and templates to help you upgrade and evolve your vendor management initiative.
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IT Benefits |
Business Benefits |
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DIY Toolkit |
Guided Implementation |
Workshop |
Consulting |
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| “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.” |
| Phase 1 | Phases 2 and 3 | Phase 4 | |
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Call #1: Review status of existing plan materials. Call #2: Conduct a new maturity assessment. |
Call #3: Review optional classification models. Call #4: Determine customer positioning for top vendors. Call #5: Configure vendor Scorecards and vendor feedback forms. Call #6: Discuss PIPs, RIPs, and vendor-at-a-glance reports. |
Call #7: VMI personnel competency evaluation tool. Call #8: Create internal feedback tool and discuss ROI. Call #9: Identify vendor recognition program attributes and assess the relationship landscape. Call #10: Gather market intelligence and create brand awareness. |
Call #11: Identify potential vendor alliances, review the components of a strategic VMI, and discuss the continuous improvement loop. |
A Guided Implementation (GI) is a series of calls with an Info-Tech analyst to help implement our best practices in your organization.
A typical GI is between 6 to 12 calls over the course of 3 to 6 months.
Contact your account representative for more information.
workshops@infotech.com 1-888-670-8889
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Day 1 |
Day 2 |
Day 3 |
Day 4 |
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Plan/Build Run |
Build/Run |
Build/Run |
Run/Review |
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Activities |
1.1 Existing Plan document review and new maturity assessment. 1.2 Optional classification models. 1.3 Customer positioning model. 1.4 Two-way scorecards. |
2.1 Performance improvement plans (PIPs). 2.2 Relationship improvement plans (RIPs). 2.3 Vendor-at-a-glance reports. 2.4 VMI personnel competency evaluation tool. |
3.1 Internal feedback tool. 3.2 VMI ROI calculation. 3.3 Vendor recognition program. 3.4 Assess the relationship landscape. 3.5 Gather market intelligence. 3.6 Improve professional skills. |
4.1 Expand professional knowledge. 4.2 Create brand awareness. 4.3 Investigate potential alliances. 4.4 Continue increasing the VMI’s strategic value. 4.5 Review and update (governances, policies and procedures, lessons learned, internal alignment, and leading practices). |
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Deliverables |
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Phase 1 | Phase 2 | Phase 3 | Phase 4 |
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| 1.1 Review and update existing Plan materials | 2.1 Vendor classification models 2.2 Customer positioning model 2.3 Two-way scorecards 2.4 Performance improvement plan (PIP) 2.5 Relationship improvement plan (RIP) 2.6 Vendor-at-a-glance reports 2.7 VMI personnel competency evaluation tool 2.8 Internal feedback tool 2.9 VMI ROI calculation 2.10 Vendor recognition program | 3.1 Classify vendors and identify customer position 3.2 Assess the relationship landscape 3.3 Leverage two-way scorecards 3.4 Implement PIPs and RIPs 3.5 Gather market intelligence 3.6 Generate vendor-at-a-glance reports 3.7 Evaluate VMI personnel 3.8 Improve professional skills 3.9 Expand professional knowledge 3.10 Create brand awareness 3.11 Survey internal clients 3.12 Calculate VMI ROI 3.13 Implement vendor recognition program | 4.1 Investigate potential alliances 4.2 Continue increasing the VMI’s strategic value 4.3 Review and update |
This phase will walk you through the following activities:
This phase helps the VMI stay focused and aligned by reviewing existing materials, updating the existing maturity assessment, and ensuring that the foundational elements of the VMI are up-to-date. The main outcomes from this phase are a current maturity assessment and updated or revised Plan documents.
This phase involves the following participants:
Phase 1 – Plan revisits the foundational elements from the Info-Tech blueprint Jump Start Your Vendor Management Initiative. As the VMI continues to operate and mature, looking backward periodically provides a new perspective and helps the VMI move forward:
Keep an eye on the past as you begin looking toward the future.
At this point, the basic framework for your VMI should be in place. However, now is a good time to correct any oversights in your foundational elements. Have you:
If any of these elements is missing, revisit the Info-Tech blueprint Jump Start Your Vendor Management Initiative to complete these components. If they exist, review them and make any required modifications.
Download the Info-Tech blueprint Jump Start Your Vendor Management Initiative
1 – 6 Hours
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Download the Info-Tech blueprint Jump Start Your Vendor Management Initiative
Download the Jump - Phase 1 Tools and Templates Compendium
Phase 1 | Phase 2 | Phase 3 | Phase 4 |
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| 1.1 Review and update existing Plan materials | 2.1 Vendor classification models 2.2 Customer positioning model 2.3 Two-way scorecards 2.4 Performance improvement plan (PIP) 2.5 Relationship improvement plan (RIP) 2.6 Vendor-at-a-glance reports 2.7 VMI personnel competency evaluation tool 2.8 Internal feedback tool 2.9 VMI ROI calculation 2.10 Vendor recognition program | 3.1 Classify vendors and identify customer position 3.2 Assess the relationship landscape 3.3 Leverage two-way scorecards 3.4 Implement PIPs and RIPs 3.5 Gather market intelligence 3.6 Generate vendor-at-a-glance reports 3.7 Evaluate VMI personnel 3.8 Improve professional skills 3.9 Expand professional knowledge 3.10 Create brand awareness 3.11 Survey internal clients 3.12 Calculate VMI ROI 3.13 Implement vendor recognition program | 4.1 Investigate potential alliances 4.2 Continue increasing the VMI’s strategic value 4.3 Review and update |
This phase will walk you through the following activities:
This phase helps you configure, create, and understand the tools and templates used to elevate the VMI. The main outcomes from this phase are a clear understanding of the tools that identify which vendors are important to you, tools and concepts to help you take key vendor relationships to the next level, and tools to help you evaluate and improve the VMI and its personnel.
This phase involves the following participants:
Phase 2 – Build is similar to its counterpart in the Info-Tech blueprint Jump Start Your Vendor Management Initiative; this phase focuses on tools, templates, and concepts that help the VMI increase its strategic value and impact. The items referenced in this phase will require your customization or configuration to integrate them within your organization and culture for maximum effect.
One goal of this phase is to provide new ways of looking at things and alternate approaches. (For example, two methods of classifying your vendors are presented for your consideration.) You don’t live in a one-size-fits-all world, and options allow you (or force you) to evaluate what’s possible rather than running with the herd. As you review this phase, keep in mind that some of the concepts presented may not be applicable in your environment…or it may be that they just aren’t applicable right now. Timing, evolution, and maturity will always be factors in how the VMI operates.
Another goal of this phase is to get you thinking about the value the VMI brings to the organization, and just as important, how to capture and report it. Money alone may be at the forefront of most people’s minds when return on investment is brought up, but there are many ways to measure a VMI’s value and impact. This Phase will help you in your pursuit.
Lastly, a VMI must focus on its internal clients, and that starts with the VMI’s personnel. The VMI is a reflection of its team members – what they do, say, and know will determine how the VMI is perceived…and used.
The classification model in the Info-Tech blueprint Jump Start Your Vendor Management Initiative is simple and easy to use. It provides satisfactory results for the first one or two years of the VMI’s life. After that, a more sophisticated model should be used, one with more parameters or flexibility to accommodate the VMI’s new maturity.
Two models are presented on the following pages. The first is a variation of the COST model used in the Jump Start Your Vendor Management Initiative blueprint. The second is the MVP model, which segments vendors into three categories instead of four and eliminates the 50/50 allocation constraint inherent in a 2x2 model.
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If you used the COST classification model in the Jump Start Your Vendor Management Initiative blueprint, you are familiar with its framework: vendors are plotted into a 2x2 matrix based on their spend and switching costs and their value to your operation. The simple variation of this model uses three variables to assess the vendor’s value to your operation and two variables to determine the vendor’s spend and switching cost implications. The COST classification model presented here sticks to the same basic tenets but adds to the number of variables used to plot a vendor’s position within the matrix. Six variables are used to define a vendor’s value and three variables are used to set the spend and switching cost. This provides greater latitude in identifying what makes a vendor important to you. |
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Another option for classifying vendors is the MVP classification model. In this model, vendors fall into one of three categories: minor, valued, or principal. Similar to the COST vendor classification model, the MVP classification model requires a user to evaluate statements or questions to assess a vendor’s importance to the organization. In the MVP approach, each question/statement is weighted, and the potential responses to each question/statement are assigned points (100, 33, or 10) based on their impact. Multiplying the weight (expressed as a percentage) for each question/statement by the response points for each question/statement yields a line-item score. The total number of points obtained by a vendor determines its classification category. A vendor receiving a score of 75 or greater would be a principal vendor (similar to a strategic vendor under the COST model); 55 to 74 points would be a valued vendor (similar to operational or tactical vendor); less than 55 points would be a minor vendor (similar to a commodity vendor). |
By now, you may be asking yourself, “Which model should I use? What is the advantage of the MVP model?” Great questions! Both models work well, but the COST model has a limitation inherent in any basic 2x2 model. Since two axes are used in a 2x2 approach, the effective weighting for each axis is 50%. As a result, the weights assigned to an individual element are reduced by 50%. A simple but extreme example will help clarify this issue (hopefully).
Suppose you wanted to use an element such as How integrated with our business processes are the vendor's products/services? and weighted it 100%. Under the 2x2 matrix approach, this element only moves the X-axis score; it has no impact on the Y-axis score. The vendor in this hypothetical could max out the X-axis under the COST model, but additional elements would be needed for the vendor to rise from the tactical quadrant to the strategic quadrant. In the MVP model, if the vendor maxed out the score on that one element (at 100%), the vendor would be at the top of the pyramid and would be a principal vendor.
One model is not necessarily better than the other. Both provide an objective way for you to determine the importance of your vendors. However, if you are using elements that don’t fit neatly into the two axes of the COST model, consider using the MVP model. Play with each and see which one works best in your environment, knowing you can always switch at a later point.
15 – 45 Minutes
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Download the Info-Tech Elevate - COST Model Vendor Classification Tool
15 – 45 Minutes
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Download the Info-Tech Elevate – MVP Model Vendor Classification Tool
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Now that you have configured your choice of vendor classification model (or decided to stick with your original model), it’s time to think about the other side of the coin: How do your vendors view your organization. Why is this important? Because the VMI will have only limited success if you are trying to impose your will on your vendors without regard for how they view the relationship from their perspective. For example, if the vendor is one of your strategic (COST Model) or principal (MVP Model) vendors, but you don’t spend much money with them, you are difficult to work with, and there is no opportunity for future growth, you may have a difficult time getting the vendor to show up for BAMs (business alignment meetings), caring about scorecards, or caring about the relationship period. Our experience at Info-Tech interacting with our members through vendor management workshops, guided implementations, and advisory calls has led us to a significant conclusion on this topic: Most customers tend to overvalue their importance to their vendors. To open your eyes about how your vendors actually view your account, use Info-Tech’s OPEN Model Customer Positioning Tool. (It is based on the supplier preferencing model pioneered by Steele & Court in 1996 in which the standard 2x2 matrix tool for procurement [and eventually vendor management] was repurposed to provide insights from the vendor’s perspective.) For our purposes, think of the OPEN model for customer positioning as a mirror’s reflection of the COST model for vendor classification. The OPEN model provides a more objective way to determine your importance to your vendors. Ultimately, your relationship with each vendor will be plotted into the 2x2 grid, and it will indicate whether your account is viewed as an opportunity, preferred, exploitable, or negligible. |
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As with the vendor classification models discussed in Step 2.1, the two-way scorecards presented here are an extension of the scorecard and feedback material from the Jump Start Your Vendor Management Initiative blueprint. The vendor scorecard in this blueprint provides additional flexibility and sophistication for your scorecarding approach by allowing the individual variables (or evidence indicators) within each measurement category to be evaluated and weighted. (The prior version only allowed the evaluation and weighting at the category level.) On the vendor feedback side, the next evolution is to formalize the feedback and document it in its own scorecard format rather than continuing to list questions in the BAM agenda. The vendor feedback template included with this blueprint provides a sample approach to quantifying the vendor’s feedback and tracking the information. The fundamentals of scorecarding remain the same:
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15 – 60 Minutes
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Download the Info-Tech Elevate – Tools and Templates Compendium
15 – 60 Minutes
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Download the Info-Tech Elevate – Tools and Templates Compendium
It is not uncommon to see performance dips from even the best vendors. However, when poor performance becomes a trend, the vendor manager can work with the vendor to create and implement a performance improvement plan (PIP).
Performance issues can come from a variety of sources:
PIPs should focus on at least a few key areas:
PIPs are most effective when the vendor is an operational, strategic, or tactical vendor (COST model) or a principal or valued vendor (MVP model) and when you are an opportunity or preferred customer (OPEN model).
15 – 30 Minutes
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Download the Info-Tech Elevate – Tools and Templates Compendium
Relationships are often taken for granted, and many faulty assumptions are made by both parties in the relationship: good relationships will stay good, bad relationships will stay bad, and relationships don’t require any work. In the vendor management space, these assumptions can derail the entire VMI and diminish the value added to your organization by vendors.
To complicate matters, relationships are multi-faceted. They can occur:
Improving or maintaining a relationship will not happen by accident. There must be a concerted effort to achieve the desired results (or get as close as possible). A relationship improvement plan can be used to improve or maintain a relationship with the vendor and the individuals who make up the vendor’s organization.
Improving relationships (or even maintaining them) requires a plan. The first step is to understand the current situation: Is the relationship good, bad, or somewhere in between? While the analysis will be somewhat subjective, it can be made more objective than merely thinking about relationships emotionally or intuitively. Relationships can be assessed based on the presence and quality of certain traits, factors, and elements. For example, you may think communication is important in a relationship. However, that is too abstract and subjective; to be more objective, you would need to identify the indicators or qualities of good communication. For a vendor relationship, they might include (but wouldn’t necessarily be limited to):
Evaluating these statements on a predefined and consistent scale establishes the baseline necessary to conduct a gap analysis. The second half of the equation is the future state. Using the same criteria, what would or should the communication component look like a year from now? After that is determined, a plan can be created to improve the deficient areas and maintain the acceptable areas.
Although this example focused on one category, the same methodology can be used for additional categories. It all starts with the simple question that requires a complex answer, “What traits are important to you and are indicators of a good relationship?”
15 – 60 Minutes
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Download the Info-Tech Elevate – Relationship Assessment and Improvement Plan tool
Executives and stakeholders (“E&S”) discuss vendors during internal meetings and often meet directly with vendors as well. Having a solid working knowledge of all the critical vendors used by an organization is nearly impossible for E&S. Without situational awareness, though, E&S can appear uninformed, can be at the mercy of others with better information, and can be led astray by misinformation. To prevent these and other issues from derailing the E&S, two essential vendor-at-a-glance reports can be used.
The first report is the 60-Second Report. As the name implies, the report can be reviewed and digested in roughly a minute. The report provides a lot of information on one page in a combination of graphics, icons, charts, and words.
The second report is a vendor calendar. Although it is a simple document, the Vendor Calendar is a powerful communication tool to keep E&S informed of upcoming events with a vendor. The purpose is not to replace the automated calendaring systems (e.g. Outlook), but to supplement them.
Combined, the 60-Second Report and the Vendor Calendar provide E&S with an overview of the information required for any high-level meeting with a vendor or to discuss a vendor.
30 – 90 Minutes
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Download the Info-Tech Elevate – Tools and Templates Compendium
15 – 30 Minutes
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Download the Info-Tech Elevate – Tools and Templates Compendium
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By now, you have built and begun managing the VMI’s 3-year roadmap and 90-day plans to help you navigate the VMI’s day-to-day operational path. To complement these plans, it is time to build a roadmap for the VMI’s personnel as well. It doesn’t matter whether VMI is just you, you and some part-time personnel, a robust and fully staffed vendor management office, or some other point on the vendor management spectrum. The VMI is a reflection of its personnel, and they must improve their skills, competencies, and knowledge (“S/C/K”) over time for the VMI to reach its potential. As the adage says, “What got you here won’t get you there.” To get there requires a plan that starts with creating an inventory of the VMI’s team members’ S/C/K. Initially, focus on two items:
Conducting an assessment of and developing an improvement plan for each team member will be addressed later in this blueprint. (See steps 3.7 – Evaluate VMI Personnel, 3.8 – Improve Professional Skills, and 3.9 - Expand Professional Knowledge.) |
15 – 60 Minutes
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An assessment and inventory of competencies, skills, knowledge, and other intellectual assets by VMI team member |
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Download the Info-Tech Elevate – Tools and Templates Compendium.
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*Adapted from “Best Practices for Every Step of Survey Creation” from surveymonkey.com and “The 9 Most Important Survey Design Tips & Best Practices” by Swetha Amaresan. |
As part of the vendor management lifecycle, the VMI conducts an annual review to assesses compliance with policies and procedures, to incorporate changes in leading practices, to ensure that lessons learned are captured and leveraged, to validate that internal alignment is maintained, and to update governances as needed. As the VMI matures, the annual review process should incorporate feedback from those the VMI serves and those directly impacted by the VMI’s efforts. Your internal clients and others will be able to provide insights on what the VMI does well, what needs improvement, what challenges arise when using the VMI’s services, and other issues. A few best practices for creating surveys are set out below:*
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4. Pay attention to your vocabulary and phrasing; use simple words. The goal is to communicate effectively and solicit feedback, and that all starts with the respondents being able to understand what you are asking or seeking. 5. Use response scales and keep the answer choices balanced. You want the respondents to find an answer that matches their feedback. For example, potential answers such as “strongly agree, agree, neutral, disagree, strongly disagree” are better than “strongly agree, agree, other.” 6. To improve your response rate, keep your survey short. Most people don’t like surveys, but they really hate long surveys. Make every question count, and keep the average response time to a maximum of a couple of minutes. 7. Watch out for “absolutes;” they can hurt the quality of your responses. Avoid using language such as always, never, all, and every in your questions or statements. They tend to polarize the evaluation and make it feel like an all-or-nothing situation. 8. Ask one question at a time or request evaluation of one statement at a time. Combining two topics into the same question or statement (double-barreled questions or statements) makes it difficult for the respondent to determine how to answer if both parts require different answers, for example, “During your last interaction with the VMI, how would you rate our assistance and friendliness?” |
15 – 60 Minutes
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Download the Info-Tech Elevate –Tools and Templates Compendium
After the VMI has been operating for a year or two, questions may begin to surface about the value the VMI provides. “We’re making an investment in the VMI. What are we getting in return?” “Does the VMI provide us with any tangible benefits, or is it another mandatory area like Internal Audit?” To keep the naysayers at bay, start tracking the value the VMI adds to the organization or the return on investment (ROI) provided.
The easy thing to focus on is money: hard-dollar savings, soft-dollar savings, and cost avoidance. However, the VMI often plays a critical role in vendor-facing activities that lead to saving time, improving performance, and managing risk. All of these are quantifiable and trackable. In addition, internal customer satisfaction (step 2.8 and step 3.11) can provide examples of the VMI’s impact beyond the four pillars of money, time, performance, and risk.
VMI ROI is a multifaceted and complex topic that is beyond the scope of this blueprint. However, you can do a deep (or shallow) dive on this topic by downloading and reading Info-Tech’s blueprint Capture and Market the ROI of Your VMO to plot your path for tracking and reporting the VMI’s ROI or value.
Download the Info-Tech blueprint Capture and Market the ROI of Your VMO
2 – 4 Hours
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Download the Info-Tech blueprint Capture and Market the ROI of Your VMO
A vendor recognition program can provide many benefits to your organization. Obtaining those benefits requires a solid plan and the following foundational elements:
As with any project, there are advantages and disadvantages with implementing and operating a vendor recognition program.
Advantages:
Just as a coin has two sides, there are two sides to a vendor recognition program. Advantages must be weighed against disadvantages, or at the very least, you must be aware of the potential disadvantages.
Disadvantages:
There is no one-size-fits-all approach to creating a vendor recognition program. Your program should align with your goals. For example, do you want to drive performance and collaboration, or do you want to recognize vendors that exceed your expectations? While these are not mutually exclusive, the first step is to identify your goals. Next, focus on whether you want a formal or informal program. An informal program could consist of sending thank-you emails or notes to vendor personnel who go above and beyond; a formal program could consist of objective criteria announced and measured annually, with the winners receiving plaques, publicity, and/or recognition at a formal award ceremony with your executives. Once you have determined the type of program you want, you can begin building the framework.
Take a “crawl, walk, run” approach to designing, implementing, and running your vendor recognition program. Start small and build on your successes. If you try something and it doesn’t work the way you intended, regroup and try again.
The vendor recognition program may or may not end up residing in the VMI. Regardless, the VMI can be instrumental in creating the program and reinforcing it with the vendors. Even if the program is run and operated by the VMI, other departments will need to be involved. Seek input from the legal and marketing departments to build a durable program that works for your environment and maximizes its impact.
Lastly, don’t overlook the simple gestures…they go a long way to making people feel appreciated in today’s impersonal world. A simple (but specific) thank-you can have a lasting impact, and not everything needs to be about the vendor’s organization. People make the organization “go,” not the other way around.
30 – 90 Minutes
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Download the Info-Tech Elevate – Tools and Templates Compendium
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Phase 1 |
Phase 2 |
Phase 3 |
Phase 4 |
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| 1.1 Review and update existing Plan materials |
2.1 Vendor classification models 2.2 Customer positioning model 2.3 Two-way scorecards 2.4 Performance improvement plan (PIP) 2.5 Relationship improvement plan (RIP) 2.6 Vendor-at-a-glance reports 2.7 VMI personnel competency evaluation tool 2.8 Internal feedback tool 2.9 VMI ROI calculation 2.10 Vendor recognition program |
3.1 Classify vendors and identify customer position 3.2 Assess the relationship landscape 3.3 Leverage two-way scorecards 3.4 Implement PIPs and RIPs 3.5 Gather market intelligence 3.6 Generate vendor-at-a-glance reports 3.7 Evaluate VMI personnel 3.8 Improve professional skills 3.9 Expand professional knowledge 3.10 Create brand awareness 3.11 Survey internal clients 3.12 Calculate VMI ROI 3.13 Implement vendor recognition program |
4.1 Investigate potential alliances 4.2 Continue increasing the VMI’s strategic value 4.3 Review and update |
This phase will walk you through the following activities:
This phase helps you begin integrating the new tools and templates into the VMI’s operations. The main outcomes from this phase are guidance and the steps required to continue your VMI’s maturation and evolution.
This phase involves the following participants:
The review and assessment conducted in Phase 1 – Plan and the tools and templates created and configured during Phase 2 – Build are ready for use and incorporation into your operations. As you trek through Phase 3 – Run, a couple of familiar concepts will be reviewed (vendor classification and scorecarding), and additional details on previously introduced concepts will be provided (customer positioning, surveying internal clients); in addition, new ideas will be presented for your consideration:
The methodology used to classify your vendors in the blueprint Jump Start Your Vendor Management Initiative applies here as well, regardless of whether you use the COST model or the MVP model. Info-Tech recommends using an iterative approach initially to validate the results from the model you configured in step 2.1.
Remember to share the results with executives and stakeholders. Switching from one classification model to another may lead to concerns or questions. As always, obtain their buy-in on the final results.
If you use the MVP model, the same features will be applicable and the same processes will be followed after classifying your vendors, despite the change in nomenclature. (Strategic vendors are the equivalent of principal vendors; high operational and high tactical vendors are the equivalent of valued vendors; and all other vendors are the equivalent of minor vendors.)
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After classifying your vendors, run your top 25 vendors through the OPEN Model Customer Positioning Tool. The information you need can come from multiple sources, including:
At first blush, the results can run the emotional and logical gamut: shocking, demeaning, degrading, comforting, insightful, accurate, off-kilter, or a combination of these and other reactions. To a certain extent, that is the point of the activity. As previously stated, customers often overestimate their importance to a vendor. To be helpful, your perspective must be as objective as possible rather than the subjective view painted by the account team and others within the vendor (e.g. “You’re my favorite client,” “We love working with you,” “You’re one of our key accounts,” or “You’re one of our best clients.”) The vendor often puts customers on a pedestal that is nothing more than sales puffery. How a vendor treats you is more important than them telling you how great you are. Use the OPEN model results and the material on the following pages to develop a game plan as you move forward with your vendor-facing VMI activities. The outcomes of the OPEN model will impact your business alignment meetings, scorecards, relationships, expectations, and many other facets of the VMI. |
The OPEN Model Customer Positioning Tool can be adapted for use at the account manager level to determine how important your account is to the account manager.
Opportunity
Low value and high attractiveness
Characteristics and potential actions by the vendor
Customer strategies
Preferred
High value and high attractiveness
Characteristics and potential actions by the vendor
Customer strategies
Exploitable
High value and low attractiveness
Characteristics and potential actions by the vendor
Customer strategies
Negligible
Low value and low attractiveness
Characteristics and potential actions by the vendor
Customer strategies
In summary, vendor actions are understandable and predictable. Learning about how they think and act is invaluable. As some food for thought, consider this snippet from an article aimed at vendors:
“The [customer positioning] grid or matrix is, in itself, a valuable snapshot of the portfolio of customers. However, it is what we do with this information that governs how effective the tool is. It can be used in many ways:
After classifying your vendors (COST or MVP model) and identifying your positioning for the top vendors via the OPEN Model Customer Positioning Tool, the next step is to assess the relationship landscape. For key vendors (strategic, high operational, and high tactical under the COST model and principal and valued under the MVP model), look closer at the relationships that currently exist:
This information will provide a more holistic view of the dynamics at work (or just beneath the surface) beyond the contract and operational relationships. It will also help you understand any relationship leverage that may be in play…now or in the future…from each party’s perspective.
10 - 30 Minutes per vendor
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As you roll out your new, enhanced scorecards, the same principles apply. Only a couple of modifications need to be made to your processes.
For the vendor scorecards, the VMI will still be driving the process, and internal personnel will still be completing the scorecards. An email or short orientation meeting for those involved will ease the transition from the old format to the new format. Consider creating a FAQ (frequently asked questions) for the new template, format, and content; you’ll be able to leverage it via the email or meeting to answer questions such as: What changed? Why did it change? Why are we doing this? In addition, making a change to the format and content may generate a need for new or additional internal personnel to be part of the scorecarding process. A scorecarding kick-off meeting or orientation meeting will ensure that the new participants buy into the process and acclimate to the process quickly.
For the vendor feedback, the look and feel is completely new. The feedback questions that were part of the BAM agenda have been replaced by a more in-depth approach that mirrors the vendor scorecards. Consider conducting a kick-off meeting with each participating vendor to ensure they understand the importance of the feedback form and the process for completing it. Remember to update your process to remind the vendors to submit the feedback forms three to five business days prior to the BAM (and update your BAM agenda). You will want time to review the feedback and identify any questions or items that need to be clarified. Lastly, set aside some extra time to review the feedback form in the first BAM after you shift to the formal format.
Underperforming vendors are similar to underperforming employees. There can be many reasons for the lackluster performance, and broaching the subject of a PIP may put the vendor on the defensive. Consider working with the human resources department (or whatever it is called in your organization) to learn some of the subtle nuances and best practices from the employee PIP realm that can be used in the vendor PIP realm.
When developing the PIP, make sure you:
Not all performance issues require a PIP; some can be addressed one-on-one with the vendor’s account manager, project manager, or other personnel. The key is to identify meaningful problems and use a PIP to resolve them when other measures have failed or when more formality is required.
A PIP is a communication tool, not a punishment tool. When used properly, PIPs can improve relationships, help avoid lawsuits, and prevent performance issues from having a significant impact on your organization.
After assessing the relationship landscape in step 3.2 and configuring the Relationship Assessment and Improvement Plan Tool in step 2.5, the next step is to leverage that information: 1) establish a relationship baseline for each critical vendor; and 2) develop and implement a plan for each to maintain or improve those relationships.
The Relationship Assessment and Improvement Plan Tool provides insights into the actual status of your relationships. It allows you to quantify and qualify those relationships rather than relying on intuition or instinct. It also pinpoints areas that are strong and areas that need improvement. Identify your top seven relationship priorities and build your improvement/maintenance plan around those to start. (This number can be expanded if some of your priorities are low effort or if you have several people who can assist with the implementation of the plan.) Decide which relationship indicators need a formal plan, which ones require only an informal plan, and which ones involve a hybrid approach. Remember to factor in the maintenance aspect of the relationship – if something is going well, it can still be a top priority to ensure that the relationship component remains strong.
Similar to a PIP, your RIP can be very formal with action items and deadlines. Unlike a PIP, the RIP is typically not shared with the vendor. (It can be awkward to say, “Here are the things we’re going to do to improve our relationship, vendor.”)
The level of formality for your plan will vary. Customize your plan for each vendor. Relationships are not formulaic, although they can share traits. Keep in mind what works with one person or one vendor may not work for another. It’s okay to revisit the plan if it is not working and make adjustments.
What is market intelligence?
Market intelligence is a broad umbrella that covers a lot of topics, and the breadth and depth of those topics depend on whether you sit on the vendor or customer side of the equation. Even on the customer side, the scope and meaning of market intelligence are defined by the role served by those gathering market intelligence. As a result, the first step for the VMI is to set the boundaries and expectations for its role in the process. There can be some overlap between IT, procurement/sourcing, and the VMI, for example. Coordinating with other functional areas is a good idea to avoid stepping on each other’s toes or expending duplicate resources unnecessarily.
For purposes of this blueprint, market intelligence is defined as gathering, analyzing, interpreting, and synthesizing data and information about your critical vendors (high operational, high tactical, and strategic under the COST model or valued and principal under the MVP model), their competitors, and the industry. Market intelligence can be broken into two basic categories: individual vendors and the industry as a whole. For vendors, it generally encompasses data and information about products and services available, each vendor’s capabilities, reputation, costs, pricing, advantages, disadvantages, finances, location, risks, quality ratings, standard service level agreements (SLAs) and other metrics, supply chain risk, total cost of ownership, background information, and other points of interest. For the industry, it can include the market drivers, pressures, and competitive forces; each vendor’s position in the industry; whether the industry is growing, stable, or declining; whether the industry is competitive or led by one or two dominant players; and the potential for disruption, trends, volatility, and risk for the industry. This represents some of the components of market intelligence; it is not intended to be an exhaustive list.
Market intelligence is an essential component of a VMI as it matures and strives to be strategic and to provide significant value to the organization.
What are the benefits of gathering market intelligence?
Depending on the scope of your research, there are many potential uses, goals, and benefits that flow from gathering market intelligence:
What are some potential sources of information for market intelligence?
For general information, there are many places to obtain market intelligence. Here are some common resources:
Keep in mind the source of the information may be skewed in favor of the vendor. For example, vendor marketing materials may paint a rosier picture of the vendor than reality. Using multiple sources to validate the data and information is a leading practice (and common sense).
For specific information, many VMIs use a third-party service. Third-party services can dedicate more resources to research since that is their core function. However, the information obtained from any third party should be used as guidance and not as an absolute. No third-party service has access to every deal, and market conditions can change often and quickly.
Some additional thoughts on market intelligence
Much of the guidance provided on reports in the blueprint Jump Start Your Vendor Management Initiative holds true for the 60-Second Report and the Vendor Calendar.
These reports should be kept confidential. Consider using a “confidential” stamp, header, watermark, or other indicator to highlight that the materials are sensitive and should not be disclosed outside of your organization without approval.
Using the configured VMI personnel assessment tool (Elevate – Tools and Templates Compendium tab 2.7.1 or 2.7.2), evaluate each VMI employee’s skills, competencies, and knowledge (S/C/K) against the established minimum level required/desired field for each. Use this tool for full-time and part-time team members to obtain a complete inventory of the VMI’s S/C/K.
After completing the assessment, you will be able to identify areas where personnel exceed, meet, or fail to meet the minimum level required/desired using the included dashboards. This information can be used to create a development plan for areas of deficiency or areas where improvement is desired for career growth.
As an alternative, you can assess VMI personnel using their job descriptions. Tab 2.7.3 of the Tools and Templates Compendium is set up to perform this type of analysis and create a plan for improvement when needed. Unlike Tabs 2.7.1 and 2.7.2, however, the assessment does not provide a dashboard for all employee evaluations. Tab 2.7.3 is intended to focus on the different roles and responsibilities for each employee versus the VMI as a whole.
Lastly, you can use Tab 2.7.4 to evaluate potential VMI personnel during the interview process. Load the roles and responsibilities into the template, and evaluate all the candidates on the same criteria. A dashboard at the bottom of the template quantifies the number of instances each candidate exceeds, meets, and fails to meet the criteria. Used together, the evaluation matrix and dashboard will make it easier to identify each candidate’s strengths and weaknesses (and ultimately select the best new VMI team member).
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To be an effective member of the VMI requires proficiency in many areas. Some basic skills like computer skills, writing, and time management are straightforward. Others are more nebulous. The focus of this step is on a few of the often-overlooked skills lurking in the shadows:
For the VMI to be viewed as a strategic and integral part of the organization, these skills (and others) are essential. Although this blueprint cannot cover all of them, some leading practices, tips, and techniques for each of the skills listed above will be shared over the next several pages. |
Communication is the foundational element for the other professional skills covered in this Step 3.8. By focusing on seven key areas, you can improve your relationships, influence, emotional intelligence quotient, diplomacy, and impact when interacting with others. The concepts for the seven focal points presented here are the proverbial tip of the iceberg. Continue learning about these areas, and recognize that mastering each will require time and practice.
2. Speaking
3. Body Language.
4. Personality.
5. Style.
6. Learning
7. Actions and inactions.
Diplomacy can be defined many ways, but this one seems to fit best for the purposes of vendor management: The ability to assert your ideas or opinions, knowing what to say and how to say it without damaging the relationship by causing offense.1 At work, diplomacy can be about getting internal or external parties to work together, influencing another party, and conveying a message tactfully. As a vendor manager, diplomacy is a necessary skill for working with your team, your organization, and vendors.
To be diplomatic, you must be in tune with others and understand many things about them such as their feelings, opinions, ideas, beliefs, values, positions, preferences, and styles. To achieve this, consider the following guidance:2
Whenever things get tense, take a deep breath, take a break, or stop the communication (based on the situation and what is appropriate). Being diplomatic can be taxing, and it is better to step back than to continue down a wrong path due to stress, emotion, being caught off guard, etc.
Relationship building and networking cannot be overvalued. VMI personnel interact with many areas and people throughout the organization, and good relationships are essential. Building and maintaining relationships requires hard work and focusing on the right items. Although there isn’t a scientific formula or a mathematical equation to follow, key elements are present in all durable relationships.
Focus on building relationships at all levels within your organization. People at every level may have data or information you need, and your relationship with them may be the deciding factor in whether you get the information or not. At other times, you will have data and information to give, and the relationship may determine how receptive others are to your message. Some relationship fundamentals are provided below and continue on the next page.1,2
Most people don’t get excited about meetings, but they are an important tool in the toolbox. Unfortunately, many meetings are unnecessary and unproductive. As a result, meeting invites often elicit an audible groan from invitees. Eliminating meetings completely is not a practical solution, which leaves one other option: improving them.
You may not be in charge of every meeting, but when you are, you can improve their productivity and effectiveness by making a few modifications to your approach. Listed below are ten ideas for getting the most out of your meetings:*
5. Use video when anyone is attending virtually. This helps prevent anonymity and increases engagement.
6. Start and end meetings on time. Running over impacts other meetings and commitments; it also makes you look ineffective and increases stress levels for attendees.
7. If longer meetings are necessary, build in a short break or time for people to stand up and stretch. Don’t say, “If you need a break or to stand up during the meeting, feel free.” Make it a planned activity.
8. Keep others engaged by facilitating and drawing specific people into the conversation; however, don’t ask people to contribute on topics that they know nothing about or ask generally if anyone has any comments.
9. Leverage technology to help with the meeting; have someone monitor the chat for questions and concerns. However, the chat should not be for side conversations, memes, and other distractions.
10. End the meeting with a short recap, and make sure everyone knows what was decided/accomplished, what next steps are, and which action items belong to which people.
Emotional intelligence (otherwise known as emotional intelligence quotient or EQ) is the ability to understand, use, and manage your own emotions in positive ways to relieve stress, communicate effectively, empathize with others, overcome challenges and defuse conflict.1 This is an important set of skills for working with vendors and internal personnel. Increasing your EQ will help you build better relationships and be seen as a valuable teammate…at all levels within your organization.
Improving this skill dovetails with other skills discussed in this step 3.8, such as communication and diplomacy. Being well versed in the concepts of EQ won’t be enough. To improve requires a willingness to be open – open to feedback from others and open to new ideas. It also requires practice and patience. Change won’t happen overnight, but with some hard work and perseverance, your EQ can improve.
There are many resources that can help you on your journey, and here are some tips to improve your EQ:2
Tips to improve your EQ (continued from previous page):
Things to avoid:1
Skills such as influence and persuasion are important (even necessary) for vendor managers. (Don’t confuse this with the dark arts version – manipulation.) A good working definition is provided by the Center for Creative Leadership: Influence is the ability to affect the behavior of others in a particular direction, leveraging key tactics that involve, connect, and inspire them.* Influence and persuasion are not about strongarming or blackmailing someone to get your way. Influence and persuasion are about presenting issues, facts, examples, and other items in a way that moves people to align with your position. Sometimes you will be attempting to change a person’s mind, and other times you will be moving them from a neutral stance to agreeing to support your position.
Building upon the basic communication skills discussed at the start of this step, there are some ways to improve your ability to influence and persuade others. Here are some suggestions to get you started:*
3. Build and maintain trust – trust has two main components: competency and character. In item 2 on the previous page, competency trust was discussed from the perspective of knowledge and expertise. For character trust, you need to be viewed as being above reproach. You are honest and ethical; you follow through and honor your commitments. Once both types of trust are in place, eyes and ears will be open and more receptive to your messages. Bottom line: You can’t influence or persuade people if they don’t trust you.
4. Grow and leverage networks – the workplace is a dynamic atmosphere, and it requires almost constant networking to ensure adequate contacts throughout the organization are maintained. Leveraging your network is an artform, and it must be used wisely. You don’t want to wear out your welcome by asking for assistance too often.
As you prepare your plan to influence or persuade someone, ask yourself the following questions:*
To function in their roles, VMI personnel must be well versed in the concepts and terminology associated with vendor management. To be strategic and to develop relationships with other departments, divisions, agencies, and functional groups, VMI personnel must also be familiar with the concepts and terminology for functions outside the VMI. Although a deep dive is beyond the scope of this blueprint, understanding basic concepts within each of the topics below is critical:
It isn’t necessary to be an expert in these subjects, but VMI personnel must be able to talk with their peers intelligently. For example, a vendor manager needs to have a general background in contract terms and conditions to be able to discuss issues with legal, finance, procurement, and project management groups. A well-rounded and well-versed VMI team member can rise to the level of trusted advisor and internal strategic partner rather than wallowing in the operational or transactional world.
Finance and accounting terms and concepts are commonplace in every organization. They are the main language of business – they are the way for-profit businesses keep score. Regardless of whether your organization is a for-profit, non-profit, governmental, or other entity, finance and accounting run through the veins of your organization as well. In addition to the customer side of the equation, there is the vendor side of the equation: Every vendor you deal with will be impacted financially by working with you.
Having a good grasp of finance and accounting terms and concepts will improve your ability to negotiate, talk to finance and accounting personnel (internal and external), conduct ongoing due diligence on your critical vendors, review contracts, and evaluate vendor options, to name just a few of the benefits.
The concepts listed on the following pages are some of the common terms applicable to finance and accounting. It is not intended to be an exhaustive list. Continue to learn about these concepts and identify others that allow you to grow professionally.
Finance and accounting terms and concepts
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Whether your organization has a formal project management office (PMO) or not, project management practices are being used by those tasked with making sure software and software as a service implementations go smoothly, technology refreshes are rolled out without a hitch, and other major activities are successful. Listed below are some common competencies/skills used by project managers to make sure the job gets done right.
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The concepts listed below are common project management terms and concepts.1, 2 This list is not intended to be exhaustive. Look internally at your project management processes and operations to identify the concepts applicable in your environment and any that are missing from this list. | |
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Contracts and contract lifecycle management (CLM) are two separate but related topics. It is possible to have contracts without a formal CLM process, but you can’t have CLM without contracts. This portion of step 3.9 provides some general background on each topic and points you to blueprints that cover each subject in more detail.
IT contracts tend to be more complicated than other types of contracts due to intellectual property (IP) rights being associated with most IT contracts. As a result, it is necessary to have a basic understanding of IP and common IT contract provisions.
There are four main areas of IP: copyrights, patents, trademarks, and trade secrets. Each has its own nuances, and people who don’t work with IP often mistake one for another or use the terms interchangeably. They are not interchangeable, and each affords a different type of protection when available (e.g. something may not be capable of being patented, but it can be copyrighted).
For contract terms and conditions, vendor managers are best served by understanding both the business side and the legal side of the provisions. In addition, a good contract checklist will act as a memory jogger whether you are reviewing a contract or discussing one with legal or a vendor. For more information on contract provisions, checklists, and playbooks, download the Info-Tech blueprints identified to the left.
Download the Info-Tech blueprint Understand Common IT Contract Provisions to Negotiate More Effectively
Download the Info-Tech blueprint Improve Your Statements of Work to Hold Your Vendors Accountable
CLM is a process that helps you manage your agreements from cradle to grave. A robust CLM process eases the challenges of managing hundreds or even thousands of contracts that affect the day-to-day business and could expose your organization to various types of vendor-related risk.
Managing a few contracts through the contracting process is easy, but as the number of contracts grows, managing each step of the process for each contract becomes increasingly difficult and time consuming. That’s where CLM and CLM tools can help. Here is a high-level overview of the CLM process:
For more information on CLM, download the Info-Tech blueprint identified to the left.
Download the Info-Tech Blueprint Design and Build an Effective Contract Lifecycle Management Process
Almost every organization has a procurement or sourcing department. Procurement/sourcing is often the gatekeeper of the processes used to buy equipment and services, lease equipment, license software, and acquire other items. There are many different types of procurement/sourcing departments and several points of maturity within each type. As a result, the general terms listed on the next page may or may not be applicable within your organization. (Or your organization may not have a procurement/sourcing department at all!)
Identifying your organization’s procurement/sourcing structure is the best place to start. From there, you can determine which terms are applicable in your environment and dive deeper on the appropriate concepts as needed.
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Whether you consider conflict management a skill, knowledge, or something in between, there is no denying that vendor managers are often engaged to resolve conflicts and disputes. At times, the VMI will be a “disinterested third party,” sitting somewhere between the vendor and an internal department, line of business, agency, or other functional designation. The VMI also may be one of the parties involved in the dispute or conflict. As a result, a little knowledge and a push in the right direction will help you learn more about how to handle situations where two parties don’t agree.
To begin with, there are four levels of “formal” dispute resolution. You may be intimately aware of all of them or only have cursory knowledge of how they work and the purpose they serve:
Their use often can be controlled or limited either contractually or by your organization’s preferences. They may be exclusive or used in combination with one another (e.g. negotiation first, and if things aren’t resolved, arbitration). Look at your contracts and legal department for guidance. It’s important to understand when and how these tools are used and what is expected (if anything) from the VMI.
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Another factor in the conflict management and informal dispute resolution process is the people component. Perhaps the most famous or well-known model on this topic is the Thomas-Kilmann conflict resolution model. It attempts to bring clarity to the five different personality types you may encounter when resolving differences. As the graphic indicates, it is not purely a black-and-white endeavor; it is comprised of various shades of grey. The framework presented by Mr. Thomas and Mr. Kilmann provides insights into how people behave and how to engage them based on personality characteristics and attributes. The model sorts people into one of five categories:
Although it is not an absolute science since people are unpredictable at times, the Thomas-Kilmann model provides great insights into human behavior and ways to work with the personality types listed. |
Although the topic is vastly greater than being presented here, the last consideration is a sound process to follow when the conflict or dispute will be handled informally (at least to start). The simple process presented below works with vendors, but it can be adapted to work with internal disputes as well. The following process assumes that the VMI is attempting to facilitate a dispute between an internal party and a vendor.
Step 1. Validate the person and the issue being brought to you; don’t discount the person, their belief, or their issue. Show genuine interest and concern.
Step 2. Gather and verify data; not all issues brought forward can be pursued or pursued as presented. For example, “The vendor is always late with its reports” may or may not be 100% accurate as presented.
Step 3. Convert data gathered into useful and relatable information. To continue the prior example, you may find that the vendor was late with the reports on specified dates, and this can be converted into “the vendor was late with its reports 50% of the time during the last three months.”
Step 4. Escalate findings internally to the appropriate stakeholders and executives as necessary so they are not blindsided if a vendor complains or goes around you and the process. In addition, they may want to get involved if it is a big issue, or they may tell you to get rid of it if it is a small issue.
Step 5. Engage the vendor once you have your facts and present the issues without judgment. Ask the vendor to do its own fact gathering.
Step 6. Schedule a meeting to review of the situation and hear the vendor’s version of the facts…they may align, or they may not.
Step 7. Resolve any differences between your facts/information and the vendor’s. There may be extenuating circumstances, oversights, different data, or other items that come to light.
Step 8. Attempt to resolve the problem and prevent further occurrences through root cause analysis and collaborative problem-solving techniques.
Develop your own process and make sure it stays neutral. The process should not put the vendor (or any party) on the defensive. The process is to help the parties reach resolution…not to assign blame.
Working with the account or sales team from your critical vendors can be challenging. A basic understanding of account team operations and customer/vendor dynamics will go a long way to improving your interactions (and even vendor performance) over time.
Sales basics
Improving sales and account team dynamics with your organization
Improving sales and account team dynamics with your organization (continued)
For more information on this topic, download the Info-Tech blueprint Evaluate Your Vendor Account Team to Optimize Vendor Relations.
Branding isn’t just for companies. It is for departments (or whatever you call them at your place of employment) and individuals working in those departments. With a little work and even less money, you can create a meaningful brand for the VMI. While you are at it, you may want to encourage the VMI’s team members to focus a little attention on their personal brands since the VMI and its personnel are intertwined. First, let's define “brand.”
Ask 50 people, “How do you define ‘brand’?” and you are likely to get 50 different answers. For the purposes of this blueprint, the following definition provides some guiderails by describing what a brand is and isn’t: “A brand is not a logo. A brand is not an identity. A brand is not a product. A brand is a person’s gut feeling about a product, service, or organization.”1 Let’s expand the definition of “a brand is…” to include departments and individuals since that’s the focus of this step, and it doesn’t violate the spirit of the original definition. A further expansion could include the goodwill associated with the product, service, organization, department, or individual.
Dedicating time and other resources to proactively creating and nurturing the VMI’s brand has many advantages:
As you embark on creating a brand for the VMI and raising awareness, here are a few considerations to keep in mind:
As previously mentioned, brands are for individuals as well. In fact, everybody has a brand associated with them…for better or worse...whether they have consciously created and molded it or not. Focusing on the individual brand at this point offers the VMI and its team members the opportunity to enhance the brand for both. After all, the VMI is a reflection of its personnel.
Here are some things VMI team members can do to enhance their brand:
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As you deploy your surveys, timing must be considered. For annual surveys, avoid busy seasons such as mid to late December (especially if your organization’s fiscal year is a calendar year). Give people time to recover from any November holidays, and survey them before they become distracted by December holidays (if possible). You may want to push the annual survey until January or February when things have settled back into a normal routine. Your needs for timing and obtaining the results must be balanced against the time constraints and other issues facing the potential respondents.
For recency surveys, timing can work to your advantage or disadvantage. Send the survey almost immediately after providing assistance. If you wait more than a week or two, memories will begin to fade, and the results will trend toward the middle of the road.
Regardless of whether it is an annual survey or a recency survey, distributing the surveys to a big enough sample size will be tough. Combine that with low response rates and the results may be skewed. Take what you can get and look for trends over time. Some people may be tough critics; if possible, send the survey to the same people (and incorporate new ones) to see if the tough graders’ responses are remaining true over time. Another way to mitigate some of the tough critics is to review their answers to the open-ended questions. For example, a tough grader may respond with a “4 – helpful” when you were expecting a “5 – very helpful;” the narrative portion of the survey may be consistent with that answer, or it may provide what you were looking for: “The VMI was great to work with on this project.” When confined to a scale, some respondents won’t give the top value/assessment no matter what, but they will sing your praises in a question that requires a narrative response. Taken together, you may get a slightly different picture – one that often favors you.
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After you have received a few responses to your surveys (recency and annual), review the results against your expectations and follow up with some of the respondents. Were the questions clear? Were the answer choices appropriate? Ultimately, you have to decide if the survey provided the meaningful feedback you were looking for. If not, revise the questions and answers choices as needed. (Keep in mind, you are not looking for “feelgood fluff.” You are looking for feedback that will reinforce what you are doing well and show areas for improvement.) Once you have the results, it’s time to share them with the executives and stakeholders. When creating a report, consider the following guidance:
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Calculating ROI begins with establishing baselines: what is the current situation? Once those are established, you can begin tracking the impact made by the VMI by looking at the differences between the baseline and the end result. For example, if the VMI is tracking money saved, it is critical to know the baseline amounts (e.g. the initial quote from the vendor, the budgeted amount). If time is being measured, it is important to understand how much time was previously spent on items (e.g. vendor meetings to address concerns, RFPs).
The blueprint Capture and Market the ROI of Your VMO will lead you through the process, but there are a couple of key things to remember: 1) some results will be quick and easy – the low-hanging fruit, things that have been ignored or not done well, eliminating waste, and streamlining inefficiencies; and 2) other things may take time to come to fruition. Be patient and make sure you work with finance or others to bring credibility to your calculations.
When reporting the ROI, remember to include the results of the survey from step 3.11. They are not always quantifiable, but they help executives and stakeholders see the complete picture, and the stories or examples make the ROI “personal” to the organization.
Reporting can be a challenge. VMIs often underestimate their value and don’t like self-promotion. While you don’t want to feel like you operate in justification mode, many eyes will be on the VMI. The ROI report helps validate and promote the VMI, and it helps build brand awareness for the VMI.
As indicated in step 2.10, take a “crawl, walk, run” approach to your vendor recognition program. Start off small and grow the program over time. Based on the scope of the program, decide how you’ll announce and promote it. Work with marketing, IT, and others to ensure a consistent message, to leverage technology (e.g. your website), and to maximize awareness.
For a formal program, you may want to hold a kickoff meeting to introduce the program internally and externally. The external kickoff can be handled in a variety of ways depending on available resources and the extent of the program. For example, a video can be produced and shared with eligible vendors, an email from the VMI or an executive can be used, or the program can be rolled out through BAMs if only BAM participants are eligible for the program. If you are taking an informal approach to the vendor recognition program, you may not need an external kickoff at all.
For a formal program, collect information periodically throughout the year rather than waiting until the end of the year; however, some data may not be available or relevant until the end of the measurement period. For subjective criteria, the issue of recency may be an issue, and memories will fade over time. (Be careful the subjective portion doesn’t turn into a popularity contest.)
If the vendor recognition program is not meeting your goals adequately, don’t be afraid to modify it or even scrap it. At some point, you may have to do a partial or total reboot of the program. Creating and maintaining a “lessons learned” document will make a reboot easier and better if it is necessary. Remember: While a vendor recognition program has many potential benefits, your main goals must be achieved or the program adds little or no value.
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| 1.1 Review and update existing Plan materials | 2.1 Vendor classification models 2.2 Customer positioning model 2.3 Two-way scorecards 2.4 Performance improvement plan (PIP) 2.5 Relationship improvement plan (RIP) 2.6 Vendor-at-a-glance reports 2.7 VMI personnel competency evaluation tool 2.8 Internal feedback tool 2.9 VMI ROI calculation 2.10 Vendor recognition program | 3.1 Classify vendors and identify customer position 3.2 Assess the relationship landscape 3.3 Leverage two-way scorecards 3.4 Implement PIPs and RIPs 3.5 Gather market intelligence 3.6 Generate vendor-at-a-glance reports 3.7 Evaluate VMI personnel 3.8 Improve professional skills 3.9 Expand professional knowledge 3.10 Create brand awareness 3.11 Survey internal clients 3.12 Calculate VMI ROI 3.13 Implement vendor recognition program | 4.1 Investigate potential alliances 4.2 Continue increasing the VMI’s strategic value 4.3 Review and update |
This phase will walk you through the following activities:
This phase helps the VMI stay aligned with the overall organization, stay current, and improve its strategic value as it evolves. The main outcomes from this phase are ways to advance the VMI’s strategic impact.
This phase involves the following participants:
The emphasis of this final phase is on the VMI’s continued evolution.
Chances are you’ve seen a marketing or business alliance at work in your personal life. If you’ve visited a Target store or a Barnes and Noble store, you’ve more than likely walked past the Starbucks counter. The relationship is about more than the landlord-tenant agreement, and the same business concept can exist in non-retail settings. Although they may not be as common in the customer-IT vendor space, alliances can work here as well.
Definition
For vendor management purposes, an alliance is a symbiotic relationship between two parties where both benefit beyond the traditional transactional (i.e. buyer-seller) relationship.
Characteristics
Benefits
Risks
Keys to success
The purpose of this step is not to make you an expert on alliances or to encourage you to rush out of your office, cubicle, bedroom, or other workspace looking for opportunities. The purpose is to familiarize you with the concepts, to encourage you to keep your eyes open, and to think about relationships from different angles. How will you make the most of your vendors’ expertise, resources, market, and other things they bring to the table?
Although they are not synonymous concepts, increasing the VMI’s maturity and increasing the VMI’s strategic value can go hand in hand. Evolving the VMI to be strategic allows the organization to receive the greatest benefit for its investment. This isn’t to say that all work the VMI does will be strategic. It will always live in two places – the transactional world and the strategic world – even when it is fully mature and operating strategically. Just like any job, there are transactional tasks and activities that must be done, and some of them are foundational elements for being strategic (e.g. conducting research, preparing reports, and classifying vendors). The VMI must evolve and become strategic for many reasons: staying in the transactional world limits the VMI’s contributions, results, influence and impact; team members will have less job satisfaction and enjoyment and lower salaries; ultimately, the justification for the VMI could disappear.
To enhance the VMI’s (and, as applicable, its personnel’s) strategic value, continue:
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Indicators of a transactional VMI: |
Indicators of a strategic VMI: |
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The vendor management lifecycle is continuous and more chaotic than linear, but the chaos mostly stays within the boundaries of the “plan, build, run, and review” framework outlined in this blueprint and the blueprint Jump Start Your Vendor Management Initiative. Two of the goals of managing the lifecycle are: 1) to adapt to a changing world; and 2) to improve the VMI and its impact over time. To do this, keep following the guidance in this phase, but don’t forget about the direction provided in phase 4 of the blueprint Jump Start Your Vendor Management Initiative:
Continue reviewing and updating the VMI’s risk footprint. Add risk categories and scope as needed (measurement, monitoring, and reporting). Review Info-Tech’s vendor management-based series of risk blueprints for further information (Identify and Manage Reputational Risk Impacts on Your Organization and others).
It is easy for business owners to lose sight of things. There is a saying among entrepreneurs about remembering to work on the business rather than working exclusively in the business. For many entrepreneurs, it is easy to get lost in the day-to-day grind and to forget to look at the bigger picture. A VMI is like a business in that regard – it is easy to focus on the transactional work and lose sight of maturing or evolving the VMI. Don’t let this happen!
Leverage the tools and templates from this blueprint and adapt them to your environment as needed. Unlike the blueprint Jump Start Your Vendor Management Initiative, some of the concepts presented here may take more time, resources, and evolution before you are ready to deploy them. Continue using the three-year roadmap and 90-day plans from the Jump Start Your Vendor Management Initiative blueprint, and add components from this blueprint when the time is right. The two blueprints are designed to work in concert as you move forward on your VMI journey.
Lastly, focus on getting a little better each day, week, month, or year: better processes, better policies and procedures, better relationships with vendors, better relationships with internal clients, better planning, better anticipation, better research, better skills, competencies, and knowledge for team members, better communication, better value, and better impact. A little “better” goes a long way, and over time it becomes a lot better.
Contact your account representative for more information.
workshops@infotech.com
1-888-670-8889
Jump Start Your Vendor Management Initiative
IT (and the organization as a whole) are more reliant on vendors than ever before, and vendor management has become increasingly necessary to manage the relationships and manage the risks. Implementing a vendor management initiative is no longer a luxury...it is a necessity.
Capture and Market the ROI of Your VMO
Calculating the impact or value of a vendor management office (VMO) can be difficult without the right framework and tools. Let Info-Tech’s tools and templates help you account for the contributions made by your VMO.
Evaluate Your Vendor Account Team to Optimize Vendor Relations
Understanding your vendor team’s background, experience, and strategic approach to your account is key to the management of the relationship, the success of the vendor agreement, and, depending on the vendor, the success of your business.
Identify and Manage Financial Risk Impacts on Your Organization
Vendors’ failure to perform, including security and compliance violations, can have significant financial consequences. Good vendor management practices help organizations understand the costs of those actions.
Amaresan, Swetha. “The 9 Most Important Survey Design Tips & Best Practices.” HubSpot. Accessed 13 July 2022.
“Best Practices for Every Step of Survey Creation.” Survey Monkey. Accessed 13 July 2022.
Brevig, Armand. ”Here Is a Quicker Way of Getting Better Supply Market Insights.” Procurement Cube, 30 July 2020. Accessed 19 May 2022.
Cain, Elna. “9 Simple Ways on How to Improve Your Writing Skills.” Elna Cain, 20 Nov. 2018. Accessed 5 June 2020.
Colwell, Tony. “How to Select Strategic Suppliers Part 1: Beware the Supplier's Perspective.” Accuity Consultants, 7 Feb 2012. Accessed 19 May 2022.
“50 Tips for Improving Your Emotional Intelligence.” RocheMartin, 12 Jan. 2022. Accessed 25 July 2022.
“4 Ways to Strengthen Your Ability to Influence Others.” Center for Creative Leadership, 24 Nov. 2020. Accessed 20 July 2022.
Ferreira, Nicole Martins. “10 Personal Branding Tips That’ll Elevate Your Business In 2022.” Oberlo, 21 Mar. 2022. Accessed 24 May 2022.
Gartlan, Dan. “4 Essential Brand Components.” Stevens & Tate, 25 Nov. 2019. Accessed 24 May 2022.
Geller & Company. “World-Class Procurement — Increasing Profitability and Quality.” Spend Matters, 2003. Accessed 4 March 2022.
Gumaste, Pavan. “50 Project Management Terms You Should Know.” Whiz Labs, 2018. Accessed 22 July 2022.
Hertzberg, Karen. “How to Improve Writing Skills in 15 Easy Steps.” Grammarly, 15 June 2017. Accessed 5 June 2020.
“Improving Emotional Intelligence (EQ).” HelpGuide, 2022. Accessed 25 July 2022.
“ISG Index 4Q 2021.” Information Services Group, Inc., 2022. Web.
Lehoczky, Etelka. “How To Improve Your Writing Skills At Work.” Forbes, 9 Mar. 2016. Accessed 5 June 2020.
Liu, Joseph. “5 Ways To Build Your Personal Brand At Work.” Forbes, 30 Apr. 2018. Accessed 24 May 2022.
Lloyd, Tracy. “Defining What a Brand Is: Why Is It So Hard?” Emotive Brand, 18 June 2019. Accessed 28 July 2022.
Nielson, Megan. “The Basic Tenants of Diplomatic Communication.” Communiqué PR, 22 October 2020. Accessed 23 May 2022
“Positioning Yourself in the Market.” New Zealand Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment, 2021. Accessed 19 May 2022.
Rogelberg, Steven G. “The Surprising Science Behind Successful Remote Meetings.” sloanreview.mit.edu. 21 May 2020. Accessed 19 July 2022.
“Rule No 5: All Customers/Suppliers Have a Different Value to You.” newdawnpartners.com. Accessed 19 May 2022.
Shute, Benjamin. “Supplier Relationship Management: Is Bigger Always Better?” Comprara, 24 May 2015. Accessed 19 May 2022.
Steele, Paul T. and Brian H. Court. Profitable Purchasing Strategies: A Manager's Guide for Improving Organizational Competitiveness Through the Skills of Purchasing. McGraw-Hill, 1996.
“Take the Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument (TKI).” Kilmann Diagnostics, 2018. Accessed 20 Aug. 2020.
Tallia, Alfred F. MD, MPH, et al. ”Seven Characteristics of Successful Work Relationships.” Fam Pract Manag. 2006 Jan;13(1):47-50.
“The Art of Tact and Diplomacy.” skillsyouneed.com. Accessed 23 May 2022.
“13 Key Traits of Strong Professional Relationships.” success.com. Accessed 4 Feb. 2022.
Wilson, Fred. “Top 40 Project Management Terms and Concepts of 2022.” nTask, 25 Feb. 2019. Accessed 24 July 2022.
Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:
This blueprint will help you build a business case for selecting the right MMS platform, define key requirements, and conduct a thorough analysis and scan of the current state of the ever-evolving MMS market space.
Modern marketing management suites (MMS) are imperative given today's complex, multitiered, and often non-standardized marketing processes. Relying on isolated methods such as lead generation or email marketing techniques for executing key cross-channel and multichannel marketing initiatives is not enough to handle the complexity of contemporary marketing management activities.
Organizations need to invest in highly customizable and functionally extensive MMS platforms to provide value alongside the marketing value chain and a 360-degree view of the consumer's marketing journey. IT needs to be rigorously involved with the sourcing and implementation of the new MMS tool, and the necessary business units also need to own the requirements and be involved from the initial stages of software selection.
To succeed with MMS implementation, consider drafting a detailed roadmap that outlines milestone activities for configuration, security, points of integration, and data migration capabilities and provides for ongoing application maintenance and support.
Yaz Palanichamy
Senior Research Analyst, Customer Experience Strategy
Info-Tech Research Group
IT must collaborate with marketing professionals and other key stakeholder groups to define a unified vision and holistic outlook for a right-sized MMS platform.
| 1. Understand Core MMS Features |
2. Build the Business Case & Streamline Requirements |
3. Discover the MMS Market Space & Prepare for Implementation |
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Phase Steps |
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Phase Outcomes |
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| Phase 1 | Phase 2 | Phase 3 |
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Call #1: Understand what a marketing management suite is. Discuss core capabilities and key trends. |
Call #2: Build the business case Call #3: Define your core Call #4: Build and sustain procurement vehicle best practices. |
Call #5: Evaluate the MMS vendor landscape and short-list viable options.
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A Guided Implementation (GI) is a series of calls with an Info-Tech analyst to help implement our best practices in your organization.
The MMS procurement process should be broken into segments:
“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.”
Our Definition: Marketing management suite (MMS) platforms are core enterprise applications that provide a unified set of marketing processes for a given organization and, typically, the capability to coordinate key cross-channel marketing initiatives.
Key product capabilities for sophisticated MMS platforms include but are not limited to:
Using a robust and comprehensive MMS platform equips marketers with the appropriate tools needed to make more informed decisions around campaign execution, resulting in better targeting, acquisition, and customer retention initiatives. Moreover, such tools can help bolster effective revenue generation and ensure more viable growth initiatives for future marketing growth enablement strategies.
Feature sets are rapidly evolving over time as MMS offerings continue to proliferate in this market space. Ensure that you focus on core components such as customer conversion rates and new lead captures through maintaining well- integrated multichannel campaigns.
A right-sized MMS software selection and procurement decision should involve comprehensive requirements and needs analysis by not just Marketing but also other organizational units such as IT, in conjunction with input suppled from the internal vendor procurement team.
Phase 1 |
Phase 2 |
Phase 3 |
|---|---|---|
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1.1 Define MMS Platforms 1.2 Classify Table Stakes & Differentiating Capabilities 1.3 Explore Trends |
2.1 Build the Business Case 2.2 Streamline Requirements Elicitation 2.3 Develop an Inclusive RFP Approach |
3.1 Discover Key Players in the Vendor Landscape 3.2 Engage the Shortlist & Select Finalist 3.3 Prepare for Implementation |
This phase will walk you through the following activities:
This phase involves the following participants:
Our Definition: Marketing management suite (MMS) platforms are core enterprise applications that provide a unified set of marketing processes for a given organization and, typically, the capability to coordinate key cross-channel marketing initiatives.
Key product capabilities for sophisticated MMS platforms include but are not limited to:
Using a robust and comprehensive MMS platform equips marketers with the appropriate tools needed to make more informed decisions around campaign execution, resulting in better targeting, acquisition, and customer retention initiatives. Moreover, such tools can help bolster effective revenue generation and ensure more viable growth initiatives for future marketing growth enablement strategies.
Feature sets are rapidly evolving over time as MMS offerings continue to proliferate in this market space. Ensure that you focus on core components such as customer conversion rates and new lead captures through maintaining well- integrated multichannel campaigns.
Initial traction for marketing management strategies began with the need to holistically understand the effects of advertising efforts and how the media mix could be best optimized.
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1902 |
1920s-1930s |
1942 |
1952-1964 |
1970s-1990s |
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Recognizing the increasing need for focused and professional marketing efforts, the University of Pennsylvania offers the first marketing course, dubbed "The Marketing of Products." |
As broadcast media began to peak, marketers needed to manage a greater number of complex and interspersed marketing channels. |
The introduction of television ads in 1942 offered new opportunities for brands to reach consumers across a growing media landscape. To generate the highest ROI, marketers sought to understand the consumer and focus on more tailored messaging and product personalization. Thus, modern marketing practices were born. |
Following the introduction of broadcast media, marketers had to develop strategies beyond traditional spray-and-pray methods. The first modern marketing measurement concept, "marketing mix," was conceptualized in 1952 and popularized in 1964 by Neil Borden. |
This period marked the digital revolution and the new era of marketing. With the advent of new communications technology and the modern internet, marketing management strategies reached new heights of sophistication. During the early 1990s, search engines emerged to help users navigate the web, leading to early forms of search engine optimization and advertising. |
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6% |
As a continuously growing discipline, marketing management roles are predicted to grow faster than average, at a rate of 6% over the next decade. Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2021 |
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17% |
While many marketing management vendors offer A/B testing, only 17% of marketers are actively using A/B testing on landing pages to increase conversion rates. Source: Oracle, 2022 |
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70% |
It is imperative that technology and SaaS companies begin to use marketing automation as a core component of their martech strategy to remain competitive. About 70% of technology and SaaS companies are employing integrated martech tools. Source: American Marketing Association, 2021 |
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Email Marketing |
Lead Nurturing |
Reporting, Analytics, and Marketing KPIs |
Marketing Campaign Management |
Integrational Catalog |
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The use of email alongside marketing efforts to promote a business' products and services. Email marketing can be a powerful tool to maintain connections with your audience and ensure sustained brand promotion. |
The process of developing and nurturing relationships with key customer contacts at every major touchpoint in their customer journey. MMS platforms can use automated lead-nurturing functions that are triggered by customer behavior. |
The use of well-defined metrics to help curate, gather, and analyze marketing data to help track performance and improve the marketing department's future marketing decisions and strategies. |
Tools needed for the planning, execution, tracking, and analysis of direct marketing campaigns. Such tools are needed to help gauge your buyers' sentiments toward your company's product offerings and services. |
MMS platforms should generally have a comprehensive open API/integration catalog. Most MMS platforms should have dedicated integration points to interface with various tools across the marketing landscape (e.g. social media, email, SEO, CRM, CMS tools, etc.). |
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Digital Asset Management (DAM) |
A DAM can help manage digital media asset files (e.g. photos, audio files, video). |
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Customer Data Management |
Customer data management modules help your organization track essential customer information to maximize your marketing results. |
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Text-Based Marketing |
Text-based marketing strategy is ideal for any organization primarily focused on coordinating structured and efficient marketing campaigns. |
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Customer |
Customer journey orchestration enables users to orchestrate customer conversations and journeys across the entire marketing value chain. |
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AI-Driven Workflows |
AI-powered workflows can help eliminate complexities and allow marketers to automate and optimize tasks across the marketing spectrum. |
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Dynamic Segmentation |
Dynamic segmentation to target audience cohorts based on recent actions and stated preferences. |
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Advanced Email Marketing |
These include capabilities such as A/B testing, spam filter testing, and detailed performance reporting. |
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Data-Driven |
Adapt innovative techniques such as conversational marketing to help collect, analyze, and synthesize crucial audience information to improve the customer marketing experience and pre-screen prospects in a more conscientious manner. |
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Next Best Action Marketing |
Next best action marketing (NBAM) is a customer-centric paradigm/marketing technique designed to capture specific information about customers and their individual preferences. Predicting customers' future actions by understanding their intent during their purchasing decisions stage will help improve conversion rates. |
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AI-Driven Customer |
The use of inclusive and innovative AI-based forecast modeling techniques can help more accurately analyze customer data to create more targeted segments. As such, marketing messages will be more accurately tailored to the customer that is reading them. |
Are you curious about the measures needed to boost engagement among your client base and other primary target audience groups? Conversational marketing intelligence metrics can help collect and disseminate key descriptive data points across a broader range of audience information.
Certain social media channels (e.g. LinkedIn and Facebook) like to take advantage of click-to-Messenger-style applications to help drive meaningful conversations with customers and learn more about their buying preferences. In addition, AI-driven chatbot applications can help the organization glean important information about the customer's persona by asking probing questions about their marketing purchase behaviors and preferences.
One of the newest phenomena in data-driven marketing technology and digital advertising techniques is the metaverse, where users can represent themselves and their brand via virtual avatars to further gamify their marketing strategies. Moreover, brands can create immersive experiences and engage with influencers and established communities and collect a wealth of information about their audience that can help drive customer retention and loyalty.
Metaverse marketing extends the potential for commercial brand development and representation: a deep dive into Gucci's metaverse practice
INDUSTRY: Luxury Goods Apparel
SOURCE: Vogue Business
Beginning with a small, family-owned leather shop known as House of Gucci in Florence, Italy, businessman and fashion designer Guccio Gucci sold saddles, leather bags, and other accessories to horsemen during the 1920s. Over the years, Gucci's offerings have grown to include various other personal luxury goods.
As consumer preferences have evolved over time, particularly with the younger generation, Gucci's professional marketing teams looked to invest in virtual technology environments to help build and sustain better brand awareness among younger consumer audiences.
In response to the increasing presence of metaverse-savvy gamers on the internet, Gucci began investing in developing its online metaverse presence to bolster its commercial marketing brand there.
A recent collaboration with Roblox, an online gaming platform that offers virtual experiences, provided Gucci the means to showcase its fashion items using the Gucci Garden – a virtual art installation project for Generation Z consumers, powered by Roblox's VR technology. The Gucci Garden virtual system featured a French-styled garden environment where players could try on and buy Gucci virtual fashion items to dress up their blank avatars.
Gucci's disruptive, innovative metaverse marketing campaign project with Roblox is proof of its commitment to tapping new marketing growth channels to showcase the brand to engage new and prospective consumers (e.g. Roblox's player base) across more unique sandboxed/simulation environments.
The freedom and flexibility in the metaverse environments allows brands such as Gucci to execute a more flexible digital marketing approach and enables them to take advantage of innovative metaverse-driven technologies in the market to further drive their data-driven digital marketing campaigns.
To improve conversion propensity, next best action techniques can use predictive modeling methods to help build a dynamic overview of the customer journey. With information sourced from actionable marketing intelligence data, MMS platforms can use NBAM techniques to identify customer needs based on their buying behavior, social media interactions, and other insights to determine what unique set of actions should be taken for each customer.
Rules-based recommender systems can help assign probabilities of purchasing behaviors based on the patterns in touchpoints of a customer's journey and interaction with your brand. For instance, a large grocery chain company such as Walmart or Whole Foods will use ML-based recommender systems to decide what coupons they should offer to their customers based on their purchasing history.
The inclusion of AI in data analytics helps make customer targeting more accurate
and meaningful. Organizations can analyze customer data more thoroughly and generate in-depth contextual and descriptive information about the targeted segments. In addition, they can use this information to automate the personalization of marketing campaigns for a specific target audience group.
To greatly benefit from AI-powered customer segmentation, organizations must deploy specialized custom AI solutions to help organize qualitative comments into quantitative data. This approach requires companies to use custom AI models and tools that will analyze customer sentiments and experiences based on data extracted from various touchpoints (e.g. CRM systems, emails, chatbot logs).
Phase 1 | Phase 2 | Phase 3 |
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1.1 Define MMS Platforms 1.2 Classify Table Stakes & Differentiating Capabilities 1.3 Explore Trends | 2.1 Build the Business Case 2.2 Streamline Requirements Elicitation 2.3 Develop an Inclusive RFP Approach | 3.1 Discover Key Players in the Vendor Landscape 3.2 Engage the Shortlist & Select Finalist 3.3 Prepare for Implementation |
This phase will walk you through the following activities:
This phase involves the following participants:
Expert analyst guidance over 5 weeks on average to select software and negotiate with the vendor.
Save money, align stakeholders, speed up the process and make better decisions.
Use a repeatable, formal methodology to improve your application selection process.
Better, faster results, guaranteed, included in your membership.
CLICK HERE to book your Selection Engagement
Understanding business needs through requirements gathering is the key to defining everything you need from your software. However, it is an area where people often make critical mistakes.
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Poorly scoped requirements |
Best practices |
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Info-Tech Insight
Poor requirements are the number one reason projects fail. Review Info-Tech's Improve Requirements Gathering blueprint to learn how to improve your requirements analysis and get results that truly satisfy stakeholder needs.
Develop an inclusive and thorough approach to the RFP process
Review Info-Tech's process and understand how you can prevent your organization from leaking negotiation leverage while preventing vendors from taking control of your RFP.
You may be faced with multiple products, services, master service agreements, licensing models, service agreements, and more.
Use Info-Tech's Contract Review Service to gain insights on your agreements:
Validate that a contract meets IT's and the business' needs by looking beyond the legal terminology. Use a practical set of questions, rules, and guidance to improve your value for dollar spent.
CLICK to BOOK The Contract Review Service
CLICK to DOWNLOAD Master Contract Review and Negotiation for Software Agreements
Phase 1 | Phase 2 | Phase 3 |
|---|---|---|
1.1 Define MMS Platforms 1.2 Classify Table Stakes & Differentiating Capabilities 1.3 Explore Trends | 2.1 Build the Business Case 2.2 Streamline Requirements Elicitation 2.3 Develop an Inclusive RFP Approach | 3.1 Discover Key Players in the Vendor Landscape 3.2 Engage the Shortlist & Select Finalist 3.3 Prepare for Implementation |
This phase will walk you through the following activities:
This phase involves the following participants:
The following slides provide a top-level overview of the popular players you will encounter in your MMS shortlisting process.
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The Data Quadrant is a thorough 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. |
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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. |
CLICK HERE to ACCESS |
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Comprehensive software reviews
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We collect and analyze the most detailed reviews on enterprise software from real users to give you an unprecedented view into the product and vendor before you buy. |
Technology coverage is a priority for Info-Tech, and SoftwareReviews provides the most comprehensive unbiased data on today's technology. Combined with the insight of our expert analysts, our members receive unparalleled support in their buying journey.

"Adobe Experience Cloud (AEC), formerly Adobe Marketing Cloud (AMC), provides a host of innovative multichannel analytics, social, advertising, media optimization, and content management products (just to name a few). The Adobe Marketing Cloud package allows users with valid subscriptions to download the entire collection and use it directly on their computer with open access to online updates. Organizations that have a deeply ingrained Adobe footprint and have already reaped the benefits of Adobe's existing portfolio of cloud services products (e.g. Adobe Creative Cloud) will find the AEC suite a functionally robust and scalable fit for their marketing management and marketing automation needs.
However, it is important to note that AEC's pricing model is expensive when compared to other competitors in the space (e.g. Sugar Market) and, therefore, is not as affordable for smaller or mid-sized organizations. Moreover, there is the expectation of a learning curve with the AEC platform. Newly onboarded users will need to spend some time learning how to navigate and work comfortably with AEC's marketing automaton modules. "
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Yaz Palanichamy
Senior Research Analyst, Info-Tech Research Group
Adobe Experience Cloud Platform pricing is opaque.
Request a demo.*
*Info-Tech recommends reaching out to the vendor's internal sales management team for explicit details on individual pricing plans for the Adobe Marketing Cloud suite.
| 2021 |
Adobe Experience Platform Launch is integrated into the Adobe Experience Platform as a suite of data collection technologies (Experience League, Adobe). |
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| November 2020 |
Adobe announces that it will spend $1.5 billion to acquire Workfront, a provider of marketing collaboration software (TechTarget, 2020). |
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September 2018 |
Adobe acquires marketing automation software company Marketo (CNBC, 2018). |
| June 2018 |
Adobe buys e-commerce services provider Magento Commerce from private equity firm Permira for $1.68 billion (TechCrunch, 2018). |
| 2011 |
Adobe acquires DemDex, Inc. with the intention of adding DemDex's audience-optimization software to the Adobe Online Marketing Suite (Adobe News, 2011). |
| 2009 |
Adobe acquires online marketing and web analytics company Omniture for $1.8 billion and integrates its products into the Adobe Marketing Cloud (Zippia, 2022). |
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Adobe platform launches in December 1982. |
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Strengths:
Areas to Improve:
| 2021 |
Microsoft Dynamics 365 suite adds customer journey orchestration as a viable key feature (Tech Target, 2021) |
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| 2019 |
Microsoft begins adding to its Dynamics 365 suite in April 2019 with new functionalities such as virtual agents, fraud detection, new mixed reality (Microsoft Dynamics 365 Blog, 2019). |
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2017 |
Adobe and Microsoft expand key partnership between Adobe Experience Manager and Dynamics 365 integration (TechCrunch, 2017). |
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2016 |
Microsoft Dynamics CRM paid seats begin growing steadily at more than 2.5x year-over-year (TechCrunch, 2016). |
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2016 |
On-premises application, called Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement, contains the Dynamics 365 Marketing Management platform (Learn Microsoft, 2023). |
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Microsoft Dynamics 365 product suite is released on November 1, 2016. |
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"Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Marketing remains a viable option for organizations that require a range of innovative MMS tools that can provide a wealth of functional capabilities (e.g. AI-powered analytics to create targeted segments, A/B testing, personalizing engagement for each customer). Moreover, Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Marketing offers trial options to sandbox their platform for free for 30 days to help users familiarize themselves with the software before buying into the product suite.
However, ensure that you have the time to effectively train users on implementing the MS Dynamics 365 platform. The platform does not score high on customizability in SoftwareReviews reports. Developers have only a limited ability to modify the core UI, so organizations need to be fully equipped with the knowledge needed to successfully navigate MS-based applications to take full advantage of the platform. For organizations deep in the Microsoft stack, D365 Marketing is a compelling option."
Yaz Palanichamy
Senior Research Analyst, Info-Tech Research Group
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Dynamics 365 |
Dynamics 365 |
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* Pricing correct as of October 2022. Listed in USD and absent discounts. See pricing on vendor's website for latest information.
Strengths:
Areas to Improve:
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2022 |
HubSpot Marketing Hub releases Campaigns 2.0 module for its Marketing Hub platform (HubSpot, 2022). |
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2018 |
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2014 |
HubSpot celebrates its first initial public offering on the NYSE market (HubSpot Company News, 2014). |
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2013 |
HubSpot opens its first international office location in Dublin, Ireland |
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2010 |
Brian Halligan and Dharmesh Shah write "Inbound Marketing," a seminal book that focuses on inbound marketing principles (HubSpot, n.d.). |
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HubSpot opens for business in Cambridge, MA, USA, in 2005. |
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"HubSpot's Marketing Hub software ranks consistently high in scores across SoftwareReviews reports and remains a strong choice for organizations that want to run successful inbound marketing campaigns that make customers interested and engaged with their business. HubSpot Marketing Hub employs comprehensive feature sets, including the option to streamline ad tracking and management, perform various audience segmentation techniques, and build personalized and automated marketing campaigns.
However, SoftwareReviews reports indicate end users are concerned that HubSpot Marketing Hub's platform may be slightly overpriced in recent years and not cost effective for smaller and mid-sized companies that are working with a limited budget. Moreover, when it comes to mobile user accessibility reports, HubSpot's Marketing Hub does not directly offer data usage reports in relation to how mobile users navigate various web pages on the customer's website."
Yaz Palanichamy
Senior Research Analyst, Info-Tech Research Group
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HubSpot Marketing Hub (Starter Package) |
HubSpot Marketing Hub (Professional Package) |
HubSpot Marketing Hub (Enterprise Package) |
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*Pricing correct as of October 2022. Listed in USD and absent discounts.
See pricing on vendor's website for latest information.
Strengths:
Areas to Improve:
2022 | Maropost acquires Retail Express, leading retail POS software in Australia for $55M (PRWire, 2022). |
2018 |
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2015 | US-based communications organization Success selects Maropost Marketing Cloud for marketing automation use cases (Apps Run The World, 2015). |
2017 | Maropost is on track to become one of Toronto's fastest-growing companies, generating $30M in annual revenue (MarTech Series, 2017). |
2015 | Maropost is ranked as a "High Performer" in the Email Marketing category in a G2 Crowd Grid Report (VentureBeat, 2015). |
Maropost is founded in 2011 as a customer-centric ESP platform. | |
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Maropost Marketing Cloud – Essential |
Maropost |
Maropost |
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*Pricing correct as of October 2022. Listed in USD and absent discounts.
See pricing on vendor's website for latest information.
Strengths:
Areas to Improve:
2021 | New advanced intelligence capabilities within Oracle Eloqua Marketing Automation help deliver more targeted and personalized messages (Oracle, Marketing Automation documentation). |
2015 |
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2014 | Oracle announces the launch of the Oracle Marketing Cloud (TechCrunch, 2014). |
2005 | Oracle acquires PeopleSoft, a company that produces human resource management systems, in 2005 for $10.3B (The Economic Times, 2016). |
1982 | Oracle becomes the first company to sell relational database management software (RDBMS). In 1982 it has revenue of $2.5M (Encyclopedia.com). |
Relational Software, Inc (RSI) – later renamed Oracle Corporation – is founded in 1977. | |
"Oracle Marketing Cloud offers a comprehensive interwoven and integrated marketing management solution that can help end users launch cross-channel marketing programs and unify all prospect and customer marketing signals within one singular view. Oracle Marketing Cloud ranks consistently high across our SoftwareReviews reports and sustains top scores in overall customer experience rankings at a factor of 9.0. The emotional sentiment of users interacting with Oracle Marketing Cloud is also highly favorable, with Oracle's Emotional Footprint score at +93.
Users should be aware that some of the reporting mechanisms and report-generation capabilities may not be as mature as those of some of its competitors in the MMS space (e.g. Salesforce, Adobe). Data exportability also presents a challenge in Oracle Marketing Cloud and requires a lot of internal tweaking between end users of the system to function properly. Finally, pricing sensitivity may be a concern for small and mid-sized organizations who may find Oracle's higher-tiered pricing plans to be out of reach. "
Yaz Palanichamy
Senior Research Analyst, Info-Tech Research Group
| Oracle Marketing Cloud pricing is opaque. Request a demo.* |
*Info-Tech recommends reaching out to the vendor's internal sales management team for explicit details on individual pricing plans for the Adobe Marketing Cloud suite.
Strengths:
Areas to Improve:
2022 | Salesforce announces sustainability as a core company value (Forbes, 2022). |
2012 |
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2009 | Salesforce launches Service Cloud, bringing customer service and support automation features to the market (TechCrunch, 2009). |
2003 |
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Salesforce is founded in 1999. | |
"Salesforce Marketing Cloud is a long-term juggernaut of the marketing management software space and is the subject of many Info-Tech member inquiries. It retains strong composite and customer experience (CX) scores in our SoftwareReviews reports. Some standout features of the platform include marketing analytics, advanced campaign management functionalities, email marketing automation, and customer journey management capabilities. In recent years Salesforce has made great strides in improving the overall user experience by investing in new product functionalities such as the Einstein What-If Analyzer, which helps test how your next email campaign will impact overall customer engagement, triggers personalized campaign messages based on an individual user's behavior, and uses powerful real-time segmentation and sophisticated AI to deliver contextually relevant experiences that inspire customers to act.
On the downside, we commonly see Salesforce's solutions as costlier than competitors' offerings, and its commercial/sales teams tend to be overly aggressive in marketing its solutions without a distinct link to overarching business requirements. "
Yaz Palanichamy
Senior Research Analyst, Info-Tech Research Group
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Marketing Cloud Basics |
Marketing Cloud Pro |
Marketing Cloud Corporate |
Marketing Cloud Enterprise |
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"Request a Quote" |
*Pricing correct as of October 2022. Listed in USD and absent discounts. See pricing on vendor's website for latest information.
Strengths:
Areas to Improve:

2022 | SAP announces the second cycle of the 2022 SAP Customer Engagement Initiative. (SAP Community Blog, 2022). |
2020 | SAP acquires Austrian cloud marketing company Emarsys (TechCrunch, 2020). |
2015 | SAP Digital for Customer Engagement launches in May 2015 (SAP News, 2015). |
2009 | SAP begins branching out into three markets of the future (mobile technology, database technology, and cloud). SAP acquires some of its competitors (e.g. Ariba, SuccessFactors, Business Objects) to quickly establish itself as a key player in those areas (SAP, n.d.). |
1999 | SAP responds to the internet and new economy by launching its mysap.com strategy (SAP, n.d.). |
SAP is founded In 1972. | |
"Over the years, SAP has positioned itself as one of the usual suspects across the enterprise applications market. While SAP has a broad range of capabilities within the CRM and customer experience space, it consistently underperforms in many of our user-driven SoftwareReviews reports for MMS and adjacent areas, ranking lower in MMS product feature capabilities such as email marketing automation and advanced campaign management than other mainstream MMS vendors, including Salesforce Marketing Cloud and Adobe Experience Cloud. The SAP Customer Engagement Marketing platform seems decidedly a secondary focus for SAP, behind its more compelling presence across the enterprise resource planning space.
If you are approaching an MMS selection from a greenfield lens and with no legacy vendor baggage for SAP elsewhere, experience suggests that your needs will be better served by a vendor that places greater primacy on the MMS aspect of their portfolio."
Yaz Palanichamy
Senior Research Analyst, Info-Tech Research Group
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SAP Customer Engagement Marketing pricing is opaque: |
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*Info-Tech recommends reaching out to the vendor's internal sales management team for explicit details on individual pricing plans for the Adobe Marketing Cloud suite.
Strengths:
Areas to Improve:
Strengths:
Areas to Improve:
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2021 |
Zoho announces CRM-Campaigns sync (Zoho Campaigns Community Learning, 2021). |
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2020 |
Zoho reaches more than 50M customers in January ( Zippia, n.d.). |
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2017 |
Zoho launches Zoho One, a comprehensive suite of 40+ applications (Zoho Blog, 2017). |
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2012 |
Zoho releases Zoho Campaigns (Business Wire, 2012). |
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2007 |
Zoho expands into the collaboration space with the release of Zoho Docs and Zoho Meetings (Zoho, n.d.). |
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2005 |
Zoho CRM is released (Zoho, n.d.). |
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Zoho platform is founded in 1996. |
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"Zoho maintains a long-running repertoire of end-to-end software solutions for business development purposes. In addition to its flagship CRM product, the company also offers Zoho Campaigns, which is an email marketing software platform that enables contextually driven marketing techniques via dynamic personalization, email interactivity, A/B testing, etc. For organizations that already maintain a deep imprint of Zoho solutions, Zoho Campaigns will be a natural extension to their immediate software environment.
Zoho Campaigns is a great ecosystem play in environments that have a material Zoho footprint. In the absence of an existing Zoho environment, it's prudent to consider other affordable products as well."
Yaz Palanichamy
Senior Research Analyst, Info-Tech Research Group
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See pricing on vendor's website for latest information.
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3. Govern & Course Correct |
Download Info-Tech's Governance and Management of Enterprise Software Implementation
Establish and execute an end-to-end, agile framework to succeed with the implementation of a major enterprise application.
Teams must have some type of communication strategy. This can be broken into:
Distributed teams create complexity as communication can break down. This can be mitigated by:
Members should trust other members are contributing to the project and completing their required tasks on time. Trust can be developed and maintained by:
This selection guide allows organizations to execute a structured methodology for picking an MMS platform that aligns with their needs. This includes:
This formal MMS selection initiative will drive business-IT alignment, identify pivotal sales and marketing automation priorities, and thereby allow for the rollout of a streamlined MMS platform that is highly likely to satisfy all stakeholder needs.
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Many organizations struggle with taking a systematic approach to selection that pairs functional requirements with specific marketing workflows, and as a result they choose a marketing management suite (MMS) that is not well aligned to their needs, wasting resources and causing end-user frustration.
Customer relationship management (CRM) application portfolios are often messy,
with multiple integration points, distributed data, and limited ongoing end-user training. A properly optimized CRM ecosystem will reduce costs and increase productivity.
Customer Relationship Management Platform Selection Guide
Speed up the process to build your business case and select your CRM solution. Despite the importance of CRM selection and implementation, many organizations struggle to define an approach to picking the right vendor and rolling out the solution in an effective and cost-efficient manner.
"16 Biggest Tech Acquisitions in History." The Economic Times, 28 July 2016. Web.
"Adobe Acquires Demdex – Brings Audience Optimization to $109 Billion Global Online Ad Market." Adobe News, 18 Jan 2011. Accessed Nov 2022.
"Adobe Company History Timeline." Zippia, 9 Sept 2022. Accessed Nov 2022.
"Adobe to acquire Magento for $1.68B." TechCrunch, 21 May 2018. Accessed Dec 2022.
Anderson, Meghan Keaney. "HubSpot Launches European Headquarters." HubSpot Company News, 3 Mar 2013.
Arenas-Gaitán, Jorge, et al. "Complexity of Understanding Consumer Behavior from the Marketing Perspective." Journal of Complexity, vol. 2019, 8 Jan 2019. Accessed Sept 2022.
Bureau of Labor Statistics. "Advertising, Promotions, and Marketing Managers." Occupational Outlook Handbook. U.S. Department of Labor, 8 Sept 2022. Accessed 1 Nov 2022.
"Campaigns." Marketing Hub, HubSpot, n.d. Web.
Conklin, Bob. "Adobe report reveals best marketing practices for B2B growth in 2023 and beyond." Adobe Experience Cloud Blog, 23 Sept 2022. Web.
"Consumer Behavior Stats 2021: The Post-Pandemic Shift in Online Shopping Habit" Nosto.com, 7 April 2022. Accessed Oct 2022.
"Data Collection Overview." Experience League, Adobe.com, n.d. Accessed Dec 2022.
Duduskar, Avinash. "Interview with Tony Chen, CEO at Channel Factory." MarTech Series, 16 June 2017. Accessed Nov 2022.
"Enhanced Release of SAP Digital for Customer Engagement Helps Anyone Go Beyond CRM." SAP News, 8 Dec. 2015. Press release.
Fang, Mingyu. "A Deep Dive into Gucci's Metaverse Practice." Medium.com, 27 Feb 2022. Accessed Oct 2022.
Flanagan, Ellie. "HubSpot Launches Marketing Hub Starter to Give Growing Businesses the Tools They Need to Start Marketing Right." HubSpot Company News, 17 July 2018. Web.
Fleishman, Hannah. "HubStop Announces Pricing of Initial Public Offering." HubSpot Company News, 8 Oct. 204. Web.
Fluckinger, Don. "Adobe to acquire Workfront for $1.5 billion." TechTarget, 10 Nov 2020. Accessed Nov 2022.
Fluckinger, Don. "Microsoft Dynamics 365 adds customer journey orchestration." TechTarget, 2 March 2021. Accessed Nov 2022.
Green Marketing: Explore the Strategy of Green Marketing." Marketing Schools, 19 Nov 2020. Accessed Oct 2022.
Ha, Anthony. "Oracle Announces Its Cross-Platform Marketing Cloud." TechCrunch, 30 April 2014. Web.
Heyd, Kathrin. "Partners Welcome – SAP Customer Engagement Initiative 2022-2 is open for your registration(s)!" SAP Community Blog, 21 June 2022. Accessed Nov 2022.
HubSpot. "Our Story." HubSpot, n.d. Web.
Jackson, Felicia. "Salesforce Tackles Net Zero Credibility As It Adds Sustainability As A Fifth Core Value." Forbes, 16 Feb. 2022. Web.
Kolakowski, Nick. "Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff Talks Social Future." Dice, 19 Sept. 2012. Web.
Lardinois, Frederic. "Microsoft's Q4 earnings beat Street with $22.6B in revenue, $0.69 EPS." TechCrunch, 19 July 2016. Web.
Levine, Barry. "G2 Crowd report finds the two email marketing tools with the highest user satisfaction." Venture Beat, 30 July 2015. Accessed Nov 2022.
Looking Back, Moving Forward: The Evolution of Maropost for Marketing." Maropost Blog, 21 May 2019. Accessed Oct 2022.
Maher, Sarah. "What's new with HubSpot? Inbound 2022 Feature Releases." Six & Flow, 9 July 2022. Accessed Oct 2022.
Marketing Automation Provider, Salesfusion, Continues to Help Marketers Achieve Their Goals With Enhanced User Interface and Powerful Email Designer Updates." Yahoo Finance, 10 Dec 2013. Accessed Oct 2022.
"Maropost Acquires Retail Express for $55 Million+ as it Continues to Dominate the Global Commerce Space." Marapost Newsroom, PRWire.com, 19 Jan 2022. Accessed Nov 2022.
McDowell, Maghan. "Inside Gucci and Roblox's new virtual world." Vogue Business, 17 May 2021. Web.
Miller, Ron. "Adobe and Microsoft expand partnership with Adobe Experience Manager and Dynamics 265 Integration." TechCrunch, 3 Nov 2017. Accessed Nov 2022.
Miller, Ron. "Adobe to acquire Magento for $1.68B" TechCrunch, 21 May 2018. Accessed Nov 2022.
Miller, Ron. "SAP continues to build out customer experience business with Emarys acquisition." TechCrunch, 1 Oct. 2020. Web.
Miller, Ron. "SugarCRM moves into marketing automation with Salesfusion acquisition." TechCrunch, 16 May 2019.
Novet, Jordan. "Adobe confirms it's buying Marketo for $4.75 billion." CNBC, 20 Sept 2018. Accessed Dec 2022.
"Oracle Corp." Encyclopedia.com, n.d. Web.
Phillips, James. "April 2019 Release launches with new AI, mixed reality, and 350+ feature updates." Microsoft Dynamics 365 Blog. Microsoft, 2 April 2019. Web.
S., Aravindhan. "Announcing an important update to Zoho CRM-Zoho Campaigns integration." Zoho Campaigns Community Learning, Zoho, 1 Dec. 2021. Web.
Salesforce. "The History of Salesforce." Salesforce, 19 March 2020. Web.
"Salesfusion Integrates With NetSuite CRM to Simplify Sales and Marketing Alignment" GlobeNewswire, 6 May 2016. Accessed Oct 2022. Press release.
"Salesfusion Integrates With NetSuite CRM to Simplify Sales and Marketing Alignment." Marketwired, 6 May 2016. Web.
"Salesfusion is Now Sugar Market: The Customer FAQ." SugarCRM Blog, 31 July 2019. Web.
"Salesfusion's Marketing Automation Platform Drives Awareness and ROI for Education Technology Provider" GlobeNewswire, 25 June 2015. Accessed Nov 2022. Press release.
SAP. "SAP History." SAP, n.d. Web.
"State of Marketing." 5th Edition, Salesforce, 15 Jan 2019. Accessed Oct 2022.
"Success selects Maropost Marketing Cloud for Marketing Automation." Apps Run The World, 10 Jan 2015. Accessed Nov 2022.
"SugarCRM Acquires SaaS Marketing Automation Innovator Salesfusion." SugarCRM, 16 May 2019. Press release.
Sundaram, Vijay. "Introducing Zoho One." Zoho Blog, 25 July 2017. Web.
"The State of MarTech: Is you MarTech stack working for you?" American Marketing Association, 29 Nov 2021. Accessed Oct 2022.
"Top Marketing Automation Statistics for 2022." Oracle, 15 Jan 2022. Accessed Oct 2022.
Trefis Team. "Oracle Energizes Its Marketing Cloud With New Features." Forbes, 7 April 2015. Accessed Oct 2022.
Vivek, Kumar, et al. "Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement (on-premises) Help, version 9.x." Learn Dynamics 365, Microsoft, 9 Jan 2023. Web.
"What's new with HubSpot? Inbound 2022 feature releases" Six and Flow, 9 July 2022. Accessed Nov 2022.
Widman, Jeff. "Salesforce.com Launches The Service Cloud,, A Customer Service SaaS Application." TechCrunch, 15 Jan. 2009. Web.
"Zoho History." Zippia, n.d. Web.
"Zoho Launches Zoho Campaigns." Business Wire, 14 Aug. 2012. Press release.
Zoho. "About Us." Zoho, n.d. Web.
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Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:
Define when a cloud instance is an asset, and what it means for the asset to be managed.
Develop an approach to auditing and optimizing cloud assets.
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.
Organizations wishing to mature their IT financial management (ITFM) maturity often face the following obstacles:
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.
A mature ITFM practice leads to many benefits.
Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:
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.
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.
Use this template to document your final ITFM maturity outputs, including the current and target states and your identified priorities.
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.
|
Bilal Alberto Saab
Research Director, IT Financial Management Info-Tech Research Group |
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:
Business-driven conversations around financials (spending, cost, revenue) are a rarity in IT due to several factors, including:
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:
Influence your organization’s strategic direction by maturing your ITFM practice.
“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
“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
In a technology-driven world, advances come at a price. With greater spending required, more complex and difficult conversations arise.
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).
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:
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.

Source: Info-Tech Research Group, IT Management & Governance Diagnostic, 2023.
Note: See Appendix A for maturity level definitions and descriptions.
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.
Each step of this activity is accompanied by supporting deliverables to help you accomplish your goals.
Build your improvement plan and implement your initiatives to move the dial and climb the maturity ladder.
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 |
|||
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
Download the IT Financial Management Maturity Assessment Tool
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).
| 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). |
Download the IT Financial Management Maturity Assessment Tool
Refer to the example and guidelines below on how to document assessment takers (table range: columns B to E and rows 18 to 25).
| 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). |
Download the IT Financial Management Maturity Assessment Tool
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
Download the IT Financial Management Maturity Assessment Tool
Refer to the example and guidelines below on how to complete the survey.
| 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). |
Download the IT Financial Management Maturity Assessment Tool
Refer to the example and guidelines below on how to review your results.
| 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). |
Download the IT Financial Management Maturity Assessment Tool
Refer to the example and guidelines below on how to review your results per maturity focus area and maturity lever, then prioritize accordingly.
| 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. |
Download the IT Financial Management Maturity Assessment Tool
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
Download the IT Financial Management Maturity Assessment Tool
Refer to the example below on charts depicting different views of the maturity assessment results across the three focus areas and nine levers.
Download the IT Financial Management Maturity Assessment Tool
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.
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.
Download the IT Financial Management Maturity Assessment Report Template
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!
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Dave Kish
Practice Lead, ITFM Practice Info-Tech Research Group |
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Jennifer Perrier
Principal Research Director, ITFM Practice Info-Tech Research Group |
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Angie Reynolds
Principal Research Director, ITFM Practice Info-Tech Research Group |
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Monica Braun
Research Director, ITFM Practice Info-Tech Research Group |
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Rex Ding
Research Specialist, ITFM Practice Info-Tech Research Group |
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Aman Kumari
Research Specialist, ITFM Practice Info-Tech Research Group |
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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. |
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Carol Carr
Technical Counselor, Executive Services Info-Tech Research Group |
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Scott Fairholm
Executive Counselor, Executive Services Info-Tech Research Group |
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Gokul Rajan
Executive Counselor, Executive Services Info-Tech Research Group |
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Allison Kinnaird
Practice Lead, Infrastructure & Operations Info-Tech Research Group |
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Isabelle Hertanto
Practice Lead, Security & Privacy Info-Tech Research Group |
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Achieve IT Spending Transparency
Mature your ITFM practice by activating the means to make informed business decisions. |
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Develop an IT cost optimization strategy based on your specific circumstances and timeline. |
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.
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. |
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.
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| Trusted Coordinator Level 3 | Ability to provide basic business insights. | A dedicated team is fulfilling essential ITFM tasks, activities, and functions.
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| 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.
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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:
| 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.
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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:
| 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.
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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.
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| Strategic Partner Level 5 | Ability to:
| 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.
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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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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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.).
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| 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.
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| 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.
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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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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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.
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| 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.
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Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:
Create your minimum viable business architecture.
If there are a handful of capabilities that your business needs to focus on right now, what are they?
Identify business opportunities.
Enrich your capability model.
This is a story that should make you perk up.
I know of a department that was eager to launch their new product. The strain was severe. The board was breathing down their necks. Rivals were catching up (or so they thought).
"Let's get this thing live, prove the market wants it, then we'll circle back and handle all the security and stability backlog items." For the product owner, at the time, that seemed the right thing to do.
They were hacked 48 hours after going live.
Customer information was stolen. The brand's reputation suffered. The decision led to a months-long legal nightmare. And they still had to completely rebuild the system. Making stability and security bolt-on items is never a good idea.
See, I understand. When the product owner is pressing for user experience enhancements and you're running out of time for launch, it's easy to overlook those "non-functional requirements." Yet, we should avoid blaming the product owner. The PO is under pressure from many stakeholders, and a delayed launch may also come with significant costs.
Load balancing isn't visible to customers, after all. Penetration testing doesn't excite them. Failure mechanisms don't matter to them. This statement is true until a malfunction impacts a client. Then it suddenly becomes the most important thing in the world.
However, I know that ignoring non-functional requirements (NFRs) can lead to failed businesses (or business lines). This elevates these issues beyond mere technical inconveniences. NFRs are designed with the client in mind.
Look at it this way. When your system crashes during periods of high traffic, how does the user experience change? How satisfied are customers when their personal information is stolen? When it takes 30 seconds for your website to load, how does that conversion rate look?
Let me expose you to some consultant figures. The average cost of IT outages is $5,600 per minute, according to a 2014 Gartner study. That figure can rise to $300,000 per hour for larger businesses. The reality is that in your department, you will rarely reach these numbers. When we look at current (2020-2025) and expected (2026) trends, the typical operational loss numbers in international commercial banking or insurance are closer to 100K for high-impact incidents that are handled within 2–3 hours.
Obviously, your numbers will vary. And if you don't know what your costs are, now would be a good time to discover that. This does not imply that you should simply accept the risks associated with such situations. You must fix or mitigate such opportunities for hackers to get in. Do so at the appropriate cost for your business.
Data breaches are a unique phenomenon. According to IBM's Cost of a Data Breach Report 2025, a data breach typically costs $4.44 million, and detecting and containing it takes an average of 241 days. Some preview data from the 2025 report include that 97% of organizations that reported on the study indicated that they lacked access controls for their AI systems. That means that many companies don't even have the basics in order. And AI-related breaches are just going to accelerate. AI security defenses will help lower the cost of such breaches.
Despite the decreasing cost of these breaches, I anticipate an increase in their frequency in the upcoming years.
This means that non-functional requirements in terms of security and resilience should take a more prominent place in the prioritizations. Your client depends on your systems being safe, resilient, and performant.
And yet, this is where some leaders make mistakes. I have the impression they believe that client-focused design means more functionality and elegant interfaces. They prioritize user experience enhancements over system reliability.
I want to share a key fact that distinguishes successful businesses: customers desire more than just a good product. It must always function for them. And that means following certain procedures. They are not there to hamper you; they are there to retain customers.
88% of online shoppers are less likely to visit a website again after a negative experience, according to research from Forrester. Amazon found that they lose 1% of sales for every 100 ms of latency. That 100 milliseconds adds up to millions of lost profits when billions of dollars are at stake.
You run the risk of more than just technical difficulties when you deprioritize safety. Customer trust, revenue stability, competitive advantage, adherence to the law, costs, and team morale are all at stake.
Allow me to illustrate what I see happening during development cycles.
The team tests the happy flow. The user successfully logs in. The user navigates with ease. The user makes the purchase without any problems. The user logs off without incident.
"Excellent! Publish it!"
However, what occurs if 1000 users attempt to log in at once? What occurs if an attempt is made to insert malicious code into your contact form? During a transaction, what happens if your database connection fails?
These are not extreme situations. These are real-life occurrences.
Fifty percent of data center managers and operators reported having an impactful outage in the previous three years, according to the Uptime Institute's 2025 Global Data Center Survey. Note that this is at the infra level. The biggest contributor is power outages. What role does power play in ensuring a smooth flow? Power will not always flow as you want it, so plan for lack of power and for spikes.
With regard to software failures, the spread of possible causes widens. AI is a big contributor. AI is typically brought in to accelerate development and assist in coding. But it tends to introduce subtle bugs and vulnerabilities that a seasoned developer has to review and solve.
Another upcoming article will discuss how faster release cycles often lead to a rush in testing. This should not be the case; by spending some time automating your (non-)regression test bank, you will gain speed. But you have to invest time in building the test suite.
Can your system handle success? This question should keep every executive awake at night.
I've witnessed businesses invest millions in advertising campaigns to drive traffic to systems that fail due to their success. Consider describing to your board how your greatest marketing victory became your worst operational mishap.
Managing traffic spikes is only one aspect of load balancing. It is about ensuring that your business can handle opportunities without being overwhelmed.
Let's now address the most pressing issue: security.
The majority of leaders consider security to be like insurance, something you hope you never need. The fact that security is more than just protection, however, will alter the way you approach every project. It's approval to develop.
According to the Ponemon Institute's 2025 Cost of Insider Threats Global Report, the average annualized cost of insider threats, defined as employee negligence, criminal insiders, and credential thieves, has risen to $17.4 million per incident, up from $15.4 million in 2022. The number of discovered and analyzed incidents increased from 3,269 in 2018 to 7,868 in 2025 research studies.
Cybersecurity Ventures predicts that cybercrime will cost the global economy $10.5 trillion annually by 2025.
The most fascinating thing, though, is that companies that invest in proactive security see measurable outcomes. Organizations that allocate over 10% of their IT budget to cybersecurity have a 2.5-fold higher chance of experiencing no security incidents than those that allocate less than 1%, per Deloitte's Future of Cyber Survey.
By hardening your systems against common attack vectors, you can scale quickly without worrying about the future. You can handle sensitive data with confidence, enter new markets without fear, establish partnerships that require trust, and focus on innovation instead of crisis management.
Allow me to explain this in a way that will satisfy your CFO.
Retention is equal to reliability. Customers return when a system functions reliably (given you sell items they want). The Harvard Business Review claims that a 5% increase in customer retention rates boosts profits by 25% to 95%. It is five to twenty-five times less expensive to retain customers than to acquire new ones.
Scalability is equal to security. Secure systems can handle larger client volumes, more sensitive data, and higher-value transactions. 69% of board members and C-suite executives think that privacy and cyber risks could affect their company's ability to grow, according to PwC.
Profit is equal to performance. You lose conversions for every second of load time. Google discovered that the likelihood of a bounce rises by 32% as page load time increases from 1 to 3 seconds. It increases by 90% from 1 second to 5 seconds. Walmart discovered that every second improvement in page load time led to a 2% increase in conversions.
Reputation is equal to resilience. Guess which company benefits when your system works while your competitors' systems fail? Failures reduce trust. 71% of consumers will actively advocate against companies they don't trust, and 67% of consumers will stop purchasing from them, according to Edelman's 2023 Trust Barometer. While the 2025 report does not present comparative numbers, distrust impacting consumer behavior is likely to be even more prevalent.
Reframe this discussion with your executives and team
The numbers support this point. Businesses that invest in operational resilience see three times higher profit margins and 2.5 times higher revenue growth than their counterparts, according to McKinsey's 2023 State of Organizations report. In 2025 we see a focus on AI, but the point remains.
These metrics will grab the attention when you're presenting them.
Although the average cost of downtime varies by industry, it is always high.
The impact of a security breach on customer lifetime value is equally uncomfortable. Following a data breach, 78% of consumers will cease interacting with a brand online, and 36% will never do so again, according to Ping Identity's 2023 Consumer Identity Breach Report.
Every second that the system is unavailable results in a rapidly mounting loss of money. That's about $3,170 per minute of full downtime for a business that makes $100 million a year. We're talking about $31,700 per minute for billion-dollar businesses. Again, your experience may differ, but it's important to note that this cost is often unseen yet undeniable. If you want to calculate this more granularly, then I have a calculation method for you that is easy to implement.
There is a discernible trend in the cost of rebuilding versus building correctly the first time. Resolving a problem in production can cost four to five times as much as fixing it during design, and it can cost up to 100 times as much as fixing it during the requirements and design phase, according to IBM's Systems Sciences Institute.
This is what you should do right away.
Please begin by reviewing your current primary systems. When they're under stress, what happens? What occurs if they are attacked? What occurs if they don't work? 40% of businesses that suffer a significant system failure never reopen, although only 23% of organizations have tested their disaster recovery plans in the previous year, according to Gartner. Companies we work with test their systems at least once per year. If the results are unsatisfactory, we conduct a retest to ensure they meet our standards.
Next, please determine the actual cost of addressing issues at a later stage. Add in the costs of customer attrition, security breaches, downtime, and reconstruction. To lend credibility to your calculations, try to work out exact numbers for your company. Industry standards (like in this article) will give you indicators, but you need to know your figures.
Third, recast your non-functional needs as business needs. Consider focusing on strategies for managing success rather than solely discussing load balancing. Instead of discussing security testing, focus on revenue protection.
Fourth, consider safety when defining "done." Until a feature is dependable, secure, and scalable, it isn't considered complete. Projects that incorporate non-functional requirements from the outset have a threefold higher chance of success, per the Standish Group's 2023 Chaos Report.
Fifth, use system dependability as a differentiator in the marketplace. You're up when your rivals are down. You're safe when they're compromised.
I understand that resilience isn't sexy. I am aware that UI enhancements are more exciting than infrastructure resilience.
And yet, I know that businesses that prioritize safety will survive and lead after seeing others thrive and fail based on this one choice. Customers trust them. They are capable of scaling without breaking. Because they are confident that their systems can manage whatever comes next, they are the ones who get a good night's sleep.
Resilient organizations are twice as likely to surpass customer satisfaction goals and are 2.5 times more likely to achieve revenue growth of 10% or more.
Resilience represents the most significant competitive advantage. You have a choice. Just keep in mind that your clients are depending on you to do the job correctly.
Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:
Select the top automation candidates to score some quick wins.
Map and optimize process flows for each task you wish to automate.
Build a process around managing IT automation to drive value over the long term.
Build a long-term roadmap to enhance your organization's automation capabilities.
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.
Identify top candidates for automation.
Plan to achieve quick wins with automation for early value.
1.1 Identify MRW pain points.
1.2 Drill down pain points into tasks.
1.3 Estimate the MRW involved in each task.
1.4 Rank the tasks based on value and ease.
1.5 Select top candidates and define metrics.
1.6 Draft project charters.
MRW pain points
MRW tasks
Estimate of MRW involved in each task
Ranking of tasks for suitability for automation
Top candidates for automation & success metrics
Project charter(s)
Map and optimize the process flow of the top candidate(s).
Requirements for automation of the top task(s).
2.1 Map process flows.
2.2 Review and optimize process flows.
2.3 Clarify logic and finalize future-state process flows.
Current-state process flows
Optimized process flows
Future-state process flows with complete logic
Develop a lightweight process for rolling out automation and for managing the automation program.
Ability to measure and to demonstrate success of each task automation, and of the program as a whole.
3.1 Kick off your test plan for each automation.
3.2 Define process for automation rollout.
3.3 Define process to manage your automation program.
3.4 Define metrics to measure success of your automation program.
Test plan considerations
Automation rollout process
Automation program management process
Automation program metrics
Build a roadmap to enhance automation capabilities.
A clear timeline of initiatives that will drive improvement in the automation program to reduce MRW.
4.1 Build a roadmap for next steps.
IT automation roadmap
Automation can be very, very good, or very, very bad.
Do it right, and you can make your life a whole lot easier.
Do it wrong, and you can suffer some serious pain.
All too often, automation is deployed willy-nilly, without regard to the overall systems or business processes in which it lives.
IT professionals should follow a disciplined and consistent approach to automation to ensure that they maximize its value for their organization.
Derek Shank,
Research Analyst, Infrastructure & Operations
Info-Tech Research Group
Follow our methodology to focus IT automation on reducing toil.
Queues create waste and are extremely damaging. Like a tire fire, once you get started, they’re almost impossible to stamp out!
(Source: Edwards, citing Donald G. Reinersten: The Principles of Product Development Flow: Second Generation Lean Product Development )
Every additional layer of complexity multiplies points of failure. Beyond a certain level of complexity, troubleshooting can become a nightmare.
Today, Operations is responsible for the outcomes of a full stack of a very complex, software-defined, API-enabled system running on infrastructure they may or may not own.
– Edwards
The systems built under each new technology paradigm never fully replace the systems built under the old paradigms. It’s not uncommon for an enterprise to have an accumulation of systems built over 10-15 years and have no budget, risk appetite, or even a viable path to replace them all. With each shift, who bares [SIC] the brunt of the responsibility for making sure the old and the new hang together? Operations, of course. With each new advance, Operations juggles more complexity and more layers of legacy technologies than ever before.
– Edwards
Personnel resources in most IT organizations overlap heavily between “build” and “run.”
Some CIOs see a Sys Admin and want to replace them with a Roomba. I see a Sys Admin and want to build them an Iron Man suit.
– Deepak Giridharagopal, CTO, Puppet
When we automate, we can make sure we do something the same way every time and produce a consistent result.
We can design an automated execution that will ship logs that provide the context of the action for a detailed audit trail.
Because the C-suite relies on upwards communication — often filtered and sanitized by the time it reaches them — executives don’t see the bottlenecks and broken processes that are stalling progress.
– Andi Mann
To get the full ROI on your automation, you need to treat it like an employee. When you hire an employee, you invest in that person. You spend time and resources training and nurturing new employees so they can reach their full potential. The investment in a new employee is no different than your investment in automation.– Edwards
| Example of How to Estimate Dollar Value Impact of Automation | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Metric | Timeline | Target | Value |
| Hours of manual repetitive work | 12 months | 20% reduction | $48,000/yr.(1) |
| Hours of project capacity | 18 months | 30% increase | $108,000/yr.(2) |
| Downtime caused by errors | 6 months | 50% reduction | $62,500/yr.(3) |
1 15 FTEs x 80k/yr.; 20% of time on MRW, reduced by 20%
2 15 FTEs x 80k/yr.; 30% project capacity, increased by 30%
3 25k/hr. of downtime.; 5 hours per year of downtime caused by errors
Industry Financial Services
Source Interview
An IT infrastructure manager had established DR failover procedures, but these required a lot of manual work to execute. His team lacked the expertise to build automation for the failover.
The manager hired consultants to build scripts that would execute portions of the failover and pause at certain points to report on outcomes and ask the human operator whether to proceed with the next step.
The infrastructure team reduced their achievable RTOs as follows:
Tier 1: 2.5h → 0.5h
Tier 2: 4h → 1.5h
Tier 3: 8h → 2.5h
And now, anyone on the team could execute the entire failover!
“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.”
| 1. Select Candidates | 2. Map Process Flows | 3. Build Process | 4. Build Roadmap | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Best-Practice Toolkit |
1.1 Identify MRW pain points 1.2 Drill down pain points into tasks 1.3 Estimate the MRW involved in each task 1.4 Rank the tasks based on value and ease 1.5 Select top candidates and define metrics 1.6 Draft project charters |
2.1 Map process flows 2.2 Review and optimize process flows 2.3 Clarify logic and finalize future-state process flows |
3.1 Kick off your test plan for each automation 3.2 Define process for automation rollout 3.3 Define process to manage your automation program 3.4 Define metrics to measure success of your automation program |
4.1 Build automation roadmap |
| Guided Implementations |
Introduce methodology. Review automation candidates. Review success metrics. |
Review process flows. Review end-to-end process flows. |
Review testing considerations. Review automation SDLC. Review automation program metrics. |
Review automation roadmap. |
| Onsite Workshop | Module 1: Identify Automation Candidates |
Module 2: Map and Optimize Processes |
Module 3: Build a Process for Managing Automation |
Module 4: Build Automation Roadmap |
| Phase 1 Results: Automation candidates and success metrics |
Phase 2 Results: End-to-end process flows for automation |
Phase 3 Results: Automation SDLC process, and automation program management process |
Phase 4 Results: Automation roadmap |
Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:
Identify your customers’ expectations for security and privacy, value rank your customers to right-size your efforts, and learn how to impress them with your information security program.
Decide whether to obtain SOC 2 or ISO 27001 certification, and build a business case for certification.
Develop your certification scope, prepare for the audit, and learn how to maintain your certification over time.
Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:
Create a streamlined documentation process that also considers the elements of people and technology.
Track your planned budget against actual expenditures to catch areas of over- and underspending in a timely manner.
Leverage control mechanisms to manage variances in your budget.
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.
The first step of managing your IT budget is to make sure there is a properly documented budget that everyone agrees upon.
A properly documented budget facilitates management and communication of the budget.
1.1 Review budget for the year.
1.2 Document each budget in the tool.
1.3 Review CAPEX vs. OPEX.
1.4 Customize accounts to match your organization.
Budget broken out into monthly increments and by each account.
Budget documented in tool.
Tool customized to reflect organization's specific accounts and terminology.
A proper documentation process forms the backbone for effective budget management.
A streamlined documentation process with accurate inputs that also considers the elements of people and technology.
2.1 Draw out process flow of current documentation.
2.2 Identify bottlenecks.
2.3 Discuss and develop roadmap to solving bottlenecks.
Process flow of current documentation process with identified bottlenecks.
Plan to mitigate bottlenecks.
Track your planned budget against actual expenditures to catch areas of over- and underspending in a timely manner. Then, leverage control mechanisms to manage variances in your budget.
Tracking and controlling for variances will help the IT department stay on track towards its budget goals. It will also help with communicating IT’s value to the business.
3.1 Walk through the “Overview Bar.”
3.2 Document actual expenses incurred in fiscal to date.
3.3 Review the risk of over- and underspending.
3.4 Use the reforecast column to control for over- and underspend.
Assess the “Overview Bar.”
Document actual expenditures and committed expenses up to the current date.
Develop a strategy and roadmap for how you will mitigate any current under- or overspends.
Reforecast expenditures for each account for each month for the remainder of the fiscal year.
The IT ecosystem consists of at least 9 main areas. And every day, new challenges come to the forefront.
Remote work calls for leveraging your Office 365 license to use Microsoft Teams – but IT is unsure about best practices for governance and permissions. Moreover, IT has few resources to help train end users with Teams best practices.
Microsoft Teams is not a standalone app. Successful utilization of Teams occurs when conceived in the broader context of how it integrates with Office 365. Understanding how information flows between Teams, SharePoint Online, and OneDrive for Business, for instance, will aid governance with permissions, information storage, and file sharing.
Use Info-Tech’s Microsoft Teams Cookbook to successfully implement and use Teams. This cookbook includes recipes for:
Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:
Understand best practices for governance of the Teams creation process and Teams rollout.
Get end users on board with this series of how-tos and common use cases for Teams.
[infographic]
Executive Brief
Section 1: Teams for IT
Section 2: Teams for End Users
Remote work calls for leveraging your Office 365 license to utilize Teams – but IT is unsure about best practices for governance and permissions.
Without a framework or plan for governing the rollout of Teams, IT risks overlooking secure use of Teams, the phenomenon of “teams sprawl,” and not realizing how Teams integrates with Office 365 more broadly.
Teams needs to be rolled out quickly, but IT has few resources to help train end users with Teams best practices.
With teams, channels, chats, meetings, and live events to choose from, end users may get frustrated with lack of guidance on how to use Teams’ many capabilities.
Use Info-Tech’s Microsoft Teams Cookbook to successfully implement and utilize Teams. This cookbook includes recipes for:
Successful utilization of Teams occurs when conceived in the broader context of how it integrates with Office 365. Understanding how information flows between Teams, SharePoint Online, and OneDrive for Business, for instance, will aid governance with permissions, information storage, and file sharing.
No initial governance for team creation can lead to “teams sprawl.” While Teams was built to allow end users’ creativity to flow in creating teams and channels, this can create problems with a cluttered interface and keeping track of information. To prevent end-user dissatisfaction here, IT’s initial Teams rollout should offer a basic structure for end users to work with first, limiting early teams sprawl.
Knowing how Teams integrates with other Office 365 apps will help with rolling out sensitivity labels to protect important information being accidentally shared in Teams. Of course, technology only does so much – proper processes to train and hold people accountable for their actions with data sharing must be implemented, too.
Don’t waste your time deploying yet another collaboration tool that won’t get used.
Your legacy telephony infrastructure is dragging you down – modern communications and collaboration technology will dramatically improve productivity.
One small step to cloud, one big leap to Office 365. The key is to look before you leap.
| Section 1
Teams for IT |
Section 2
Teams for end users |
From determining prerequisites to engaging end users.
IT needs to be prepared to manage other dependent services when rolling out Teams. See the figure below for how Teams integrates with these other Office 365 applications.
Please note: To appeal to the majority of Info-Tech’s members, this blueprint refers to Teams in the context of Office 365 Enterprise licenses.
You will already have at least one global administrator from setting up Office 365.
Global administrators have almost unlimited access to settings and most of the data within the software, so Microsoft recommends having only two to four IT and business owners responsible for data and security.
Configure multifactor authentication for your dedicated Office 365 global administrator accounts and set up two-step verification.
Once you have organized your global administrators, you can designate your other administrators with “just-enough” access for managing Teams. There are four administrator roles:
| Teams Service Administrator | Manage the Teams service; manage and create Microsoft 365 groups. |
| Teams Communications Administrator | Manage calling and meetings features with Teams. |
| Teams Communications Support Engineer | Troubleshoot communications issues within Teams using the advanced troubleshooting toolset. |
| Teams Communications Support Specialist | Troubleshoot communications issues using Call Analytics. |
There are three prerequisites before Teams can be rolled out:
Microsoft then recommends the following checklist to optimize your Teams utilization:
For online support and walkthroughs, utilize Advisor for Teams. This assistant can be found in the Teams admin center.
You can create and manage Teams through the Teams PowerShell module and the Teams admin center. Only the global administrator and Teams service administrator have full administrative capabilities in this center.
Governance over team creation intends to prevent “teams sprawl” – the phenomenon whereby end users create team upon team without guidance. This creates a disorganized interface, with issues over finding the correct team and sharing the right information.
Prevent teams sprawl by painting the first picture for end users:
For smaller organizations that are project-driven, organize teams by projects. For larger organizations with established, siloed departments, organize by department; projects within departments can become channels.
Teams does not integrate with SharePoint Server.
Governance of Teams is important because of how tightly it integrates with other Office 365 apps, including SharePoint Online.
A poor rollout of Teams will have ramifications in SharePoint. A good rollout will optimize these apps for the organization.
Teams and SharePoint integrate in the following ways:
End users should be encouraged to integrate their teams and channels with existing SharePoint folders and, where no folder exists, to create one in SharePoint first before then attaching a team to it.
Within the Teams admin center, the global or Teams service administrator can manage Teams policies.
Typical Teams policies requiring governance include:
Chosen policies can be either applied globally or assigned to specific users.
If organizations need to share sensitive information within the bounds of a certain group, private channels help protect this data. However, inviting users into that channel will enable them to see all shared history.
Within the security and compliance center, the global or Teams service administrator can set external and guest access.
External access (federation) – turned on by default.
Guest access – turned off by default.
If guest access is enabled, it is subject to Azure AD and Office 365 licensing and service limits. Guests will have no access to the following, which cannot be changed:
Within the security and compliance center, you can allow users to add sensitivity labels to their teams that can prevent external and guest access.
To reduce the number of unused teams and channels, or delete information permanently, the global or Teams service administrator can implement an Office 365 group expiration and archiving policy through the Teams admin center.
If a team has an expiration policy applied to it, the team owner will receive a notification for team renewal 30 days, 15 days, and 1 day before the expiry date. They can renew their team at any point within this time.
Alternatively, teams and their channels (including private) can be archived. This will mean that all activity for the team ceases. However, you can still add, remove, and update roles of the members.
Retention policies can be created and managed in the Microsoft 365 Compliance Center or the security and compliance center PowerShell cmdlets. This can be applied globally or to specific users.
By default, information shared through Teams is retained forever.
However, setting up retention policies ensures data is retained for a specified time regardless of what happens to that data within Teams (e.g. user deletes).
To prevent external or guest users accessing and deleting sensitive data, Teams is able to block this content when shared by internal users. Ensure this is configured appropriately in your organization:
Please note the following limitations of Teams’ retention and data loss prevention:
Teams has built-in functionality to call any team member within the organization through VoIP.
However, Teams does not automatically connect to the PSTN, meaning that calling or receiving calls from external users is not immediately possible.
Bridging VoIP calls with the PSTN through Teams is available as an add-on that can be attached to an E3 license or as part of an E5 license.
There are two options to enable this capability:
Skype for Business is being retired; Microsoft offers a range of transitions to Teams.
Combine the best transition mode with Info-Tech’s adoption best practices to successfully onboard and socialize Teams.
Skype for Business Online will be retired on July 31, 2021. Choose from the options below to see which transition mode is right for your organization.
Skype for Business On-Premises will be retired in 2024. To upgrade to Teams, first configure hybrid connectivity to Skype for Business Online.
The more that’s left behind in Slack, the easier the transition. As a prerequisite, pull together the following information:
Your Slack service plan will determine what you can and can’t migrate. By default, public channels content can be exported. However, private channels may not be exportable, and a third-party app is needed to migrate Direct Messages.
Once you have set up your teams and channels in Teams, you can programmatically copy files from Slack into the target Teams channel.
Once you have a list of apps and their configurations used in Slack’s workspaces, you can search in Teams’ app store to see if they’re available for Teams.
Slack user identities may not map onto a Microsoft account. This will cause migration issues, such as problems with exporting text content posted by that user.
| Follow the migration steps to the right.
Importantly, determine which Slack workspaces and channels should become teams and channels within Teams. Usage statistics from Slack can help pinpoint which workspaces and channels are redundant. This will help IT paint an ordered first picture for new Teams end users. |
|
Avoid data-handling violations. Determine what privacy and compliance regulations (if any) apply to the handling, storage, and processing of data during this migration.
Change management is a challenging aspect of implementing a new collaboration tool. Creating a communication and adoption plan is crucial to achieving universal buy-in for Teams.
To start, define SMART objectives and create a goals cascade.
| Specific | Measurable | Actionable | Realistic | Time Bound |
| Make sure the objective is clear and detailed. | Objectives are `measurable` if there are specific metrics assigned to measure success. Metrics should be objective. | Objectives become actionable when specific initiatives designed to achieve the objective are identified. | Objectives must be achievable given your current resources or known available resources. | An objective without a timeline can be put off indefinitely. Furthermore, measuring success is challenging without a timeline. |
| Who, what, where, why? | How will you measure the extent to which the goal is met? | What is the action-oriented verb? | Is this within my capabilities? | By when: deadline, frequency? |
Sample list of stakeholder-specific benefits from improving collaboration
| Stakeholder | Driver | Benefits |
| Senior Leadership | Resource optimization | Increased transparency into IT operational costs. Better ability to forecast hardware, resourcing costs. |
| All employees | Increasing productivity | Apps deployed faster. Issues fixed faster. Easier access to files. Able to work more easily offsite. |
| LBU-HR, legal, finance | Mitigating risk | Better able to verify compliance with external regulations. Better understanding of IT risks. |
| Service desk | Resource optimization | Able to resolve issues faster. Fewer issues stemming from updates. |
| Tier 2 | Increasing productivity | Less time spent on routine maintenance. |
Use these activities to define what pain points stakeholders face and how Teams can directly mitigate those pain points.
(Source: Rationalize Your Collaboration Tools (coming soon), Activities: 3.1C – 3.1D)Deploy Teams over a series of phases. As such, if you are already using Skype for Business, choose one of the coexistence phases to start.

(Source: Rationalize Your Collaboration Tools (coming soon), Tools:GANTT Chart and Marketing Materials, Activities: 3.2A – 3.2B)
Be in control of setting and maintaining expectations. Aligning expectations with reality and the needs of employees will lower onboarding resistance.
Microsoft has a range of training support that can be utilized. From instructor-led training to “Coffee in the Cloud” sessions, leverage all the support you can.
Your organization requires you to retain data and documents for a certain period of time; however, after this period, your organization wishes to delete or archive the data instead of maintaining it indefinitely. Within the timeframe of the retention policy, the admin may be asked to retrieve information that has been requested through a legal channel.
| Content type | eDiscoverable | Notes |
| Teams chat messages | Yes | Chat messages from chats where guest users are the only participants in a 1:1 or 1:N chat are not e-discoverable. |
| Audio recordings | No | |
| Private channel messages | Yes | |
| Emojis, GIFs, stickers | Yes | |
| Code snippets | No | |
| Chat links | Yes | |
| Reactions (likes, hearts, etc) | No | |
| Edited messages | Yes | If the user is on hold, previous versions of edited messages are preserved. |
| Inline images | Yes | |
| Tables | Yes | |
| Subject | Yes | |
| Quotes | Yes | Quoted content is searchable. However, search results don’t indicate that the content was quoted. |
| Name of channel | No |
E-discovery does not capture audio messages and read receipts in MS Teams.
Since files shared in private channels are stored separately from the rest of a team, follow Microsoft’s directions for how to include private channels in e-discovery. (Source: “Conduct an eDiscovery investigation of content in Microsoft Teams,” Microsoft, 2020.)
A team in your organization needs to work in an ongoing way with someone external to the company. This user needs access to the relevant team’s work environment, but they should not be privy to the goings-on in the other parts of the organization.
This external person needs to be able to:
In order to avoid teams sprawl, organizations may want IT to periodically delete or archive unused teams within the Teams client in order to improve the user interface.
Alternately, if you are using a project-based approach to organizing Teams, you may wish to formalize a process to archive a team once the project is complete.
Remind end users that they can hide teams or channels they do not wish to see in their Teams interface. Knowing a team can be hidden may impact a team owner’s decision to delete it.
| Section 1
Teams for IT |
Section 2
Teams for end users |
From Teams how-tos to common use cases for end users.
For any Microsoft Teams newcomer, the differences between teams, channels, and chat can be confusing.
Use Microsoft’s figure (left) to see how these three mediums differ in their role and function.
| Team A workspace for a group of collaborative individuals. |
Public Channel A focused area where all members of a team can meet, communicate, and share ideas and content. |
Private Channel Like a public channel but restricted to a subset of team members, defined by channel owner. |
Group Chat Two or more users collected into a common conversation thread. |
|
| Limits and Administrative Control | ||||
| Who can create? | Default setting: All users in an organization can create a team
Maximum 500,000 teams per tenant |
Any member of a team can create a public channel within the team
Maximum 200 public channels per team |
Any member of a team can create a private channel and define its members
Maximum 30 private channels per team |
Anyone |
| Who can add members? | Team owner(s); max 5,000 members per team | N/A | Channel owner(s) can add up to 250 members | Anyone can bring new members into the chat (and decide if they can see the previous history) up to 100 members |
| Who can delete? | Team owner/admin can delete | Any team member | Channel owner(s) | Anyone can leave a chat but cannot delete chat, but they are never effectively deleted |
| Social Context | ||||
| Who can see it? | Public teams are indexed and searchable
Private teams are not indexed and are visible only to joined members |
All members of the team can see all public channels. Channels may be hidden from view for the purposes of cleaning up the UI. | Individuals will only see private channels for which they have membership | Only participants in the group chat can see the group chat |
| Who can see the content? | Team members can see any content that is not otherwise part of a private channel | All team members | All members of the private channel | Only members of the group chat |
When does a Group Chat become a Channel?
When does a Channel become a Team?
| Team A workspace for a group of collaborative individuals. |
Public Channel A focused area where all members of a team can meet, communicate, and share ideas and content. |
Private Channel Like a public channel but restricted to a subset of team members, defined by channel owner. |
Group Chat Two or more users collected into a common conversation thread. |
|
| Data and Applications | ||||
| Where does the content live? | SharePoint: Every team resides in its own SharePoint site | SharePoint: Each team (public and private) has its own folder off the root of the SharePoint site’s repository | SharePoint: Each team (public and private) has its own folder off the root of the SharePoint site’s repository | OneDrive: Files that are shared in a chat are stored in the OneDrive folder of the original poster and shared to the other members |
| How does the data persist or be retained? | If a team expires/is deleted, its corresponding SharePoint site and those artifacts are also deleted | Available for 21 days after deletion. Any member of the team can delete a public channel. | The team owner and private channel owner can delete/restore a private channel | Chats are never effectively deleted. They can be hidden to clean up the user interface. |
| Video | N/A | Yes, select “Meet now” in channel below text entry box | Yes, select “Meet now” in channel below text entry box | Yes |
| Phone calls | N/A | Yes, select “Meet now” in channel below text entry box | Yes, select “Meet now” in channel below text entry box | Yes |
| Shared computer audio/screen | N/A | Yes, select “Meet now” in channel below text entry box | Yes, select “Meet now” in channel below text entry box | Yes |
| File-sharing | Within channels | Yes. Frequently used/collaborated files can be turned into discrete tab. | Yes. Frequently used/collaborated files can be turned into discrete tab. | Yes |
| Wikis | Within channels | Yes | Yes | No |
| Whiteboarding | No | No | No | No |
When does a Team become a Channel?
When does a Channel become a Group Chat?
Team owner: The person who creates the team. It is possible for the team owner to then invite other members of the team to become co-owners to distribute administrative responsibilities.
Team members: People who have accepted their invitation to be a part of the team.
NB: Your organization can control who has permission to set up a team. If you can’t set a up a team, contact your IT department.
tab on the left-hand side of the app'. Step 2: 'At the bottom of the app, click '. Step 3: 'Under the banner , click '.">
Decide from these two options:
NB: You cannot create a team from an existing group if:

Decide if you want you new team from scratch to be private or public. If you set up a private team, any internal or external user you invite into the team will have access to all team history and files shared.
'.">

Decide from these two options:
NB: You cannot create a team from an existing group if:

Configure your new team settings, including privacy, apps, tabs, and members.
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Add team members |
Remove team members |
||
![]() |
To add a team member, on the right-hand side of the team name, click “More options.” Then, from the drop-down menu, click “Add member.” |
![]() |
Only team owners can remove a team member. To do so, on the right-hand side of the team name, click “More options.” Then, from the drop-down menu, click “Manage team.” |
If you’re a team owner, you can then type a name or an email address to add another member to the team. If you’re a team member, typing a name or an email address will send a request to the team owner to consider adding the member. |
![]() Under the “Members” tab, you’ll see a list of the members in the team. Click the “X” at the far right of the member’s name to remove them. Team owners can only be removed if they change their role to team member first. |
||
![]() |
On the right-hand side of the team name, click “More options.” Then, from the drop-down menu, click “Add channel.” |
Name your channel, give a description, and set your channel’s privacy. |
![]() |
To manage subsequent permissions, on the right-hand side of the channel name, click “More options.” Then, from the drop-down menu, click “Manage channel.” |
Adding and removing members from channels:Only members in a team can see that team’s channels. Setting channel privacy as “standard” means that the channel can be accessed by anyone in a team. Unless privacy settings for a channel are set as “private” (from which the channel creator can choose who can be in that channel), there is no current way to remove members from channels. It will be up to the end user to decide which channels they want to hide. |
![]() |
Need to find the SharePoint URL? ', 'Click to access the folder's SharePoint URL.'"> |
Hide/unhide teams |
Hide/unhide channels |
||
![]() |
To hide a team, on the right-hand side of the team name, click “More options.” Then, from the drop-down menu, click “Hide.” Hidden teams are moved to the “hidden teams” menu at the bottom of your team list. |
![]() |
To hide a channel, on the right-hand side of the channel name, click “More options.” Then, from the drop-down menu, click “Hide.” Hidden channels are moved to the “hidden channels” menu at the bottom of your channel list in that team. |
![]() |
To unhide a team, click on the “hidden teams” menu. On the right-hand side of the team name, click “More options.” Then, from the drop-down menu, click “Show.” |
![]() |
To unhide a channel, click on the “hidden channels” menu at the bottom of the team. This will produce a drop-down menu of all hidden channels in that team. Hover over the channel you want to unhide and click “Show.” |
Find/join teams |
Leave teams |
||||
![]() |
Click the “Teams” tab on the left-hand side of the app. | ![]() At the bottom of the app, click “Join or create a team.” Teams will then suggest a range of teams that you might be looking for. You can join public teams immediately. You will have to request approval to join a private team. |
![]() |
To leave a team, on the right-hand side of the team name, click “More options.” Then, from the drop-down menu, click “Leave the team.” |
|
| NB: If the owner of a private team has switched off discoverability, you will have to contact that owner to join that team. | ![]() |
If you can’t immediately see the team, you have two options: either search for the team or enter that team’s code under the banner “Join a team with a code.” | Can I find a channel?
No. To join a channel, you need to first join the team that channel belongs to. Can I leave a channel?No. The most you can do is hide the channel. By default, if you join a team you will have access to all the channels within that team (unless a channel is private, in which case you’ll have to request access to that channel). |
||

Hide a chat |
Unhide a chat |
|
![]() |
To unhide a chat, search for the hidden person or name of the group chat in the search bar. Click “More options.” Then click “Unhide.” | ![]() |
Leave a chat |
||
| You can only leave group chats. To do so, click “More options.” Then click “Leave.” | ![]() |
|
Teams Meetings: Real-time communication and collaboration between a group, limited to 250 people.
Teams Live Events: designed for presentations and webinars to a large audience of up to 10,000 people, in which attendees watch rather than interact.
Office 365 and Microsoft 365 Licenses |
||||||
| I want to: | F1 | F3 | E1 | E3 | E5 | Audio conferencing add-on |
| Join a Teams meeting | No license required. Any email address can participate in a Teams meeting. | |||||
| Attend a Teams meeting with a dial-in phone number | No license required. Any phone number can dial into a Teams meeting. (Meeting organizers need to have an Audio Conferencing add-on license to send an invite that includes dial-in conferencing.) | |||||
| Attend a Teams live event | No license required. Any phone number can dial into a Teams live event. | |||||
| Create a Teams meeting for up to 250 attendees | One of these licensing plans | |||||
| Create a Teams meeting for up to 250 attendees with a dial-in phone number | One of these licensing plans + Audio Conferencing (Meeting organizers need to have an Audio Conferencing add-on license to send an invite that includes dial-in conferencing.) | |||||
| Create a Teams live event for up to 10,000 attendees | One of these licensing plans | |||||
| Dial out from a Teams meeting to add someone at their Call me at number | One of these licensing plans + Audio Conferencing (Meeting dial out to a Call me at number requires organizers to have an E5 or Audio Conference add-in license. A dial plan may also be needed.) | |||||
Depending on the use case, end users will have to determine whether they need to hold a meeting or a live event.
Use Microsoft’s table (left) to see what license your organization needs to perform meetings and live events.
(Source: “Admin quick start – Meetings and live events in Microsoft Teams,” Microsoft, 2020.)| Ad Hoc Call Direct audio/video call |
Scheduled Meeting | Live Event | |
| Limits and Administrative Control | |||
| Who can create? | Anyone | Anyone | Anyone, unless altered by admin (permission to create MS Stream events also required if external production tools are used). |
| Who can add members? | Anyone in the session. | The meeting organizer can add new attendees to the meeting. | The event creator (the “organizer”) sets attendee permissions and assigns event group roles (“producer” and “presenter”). |
| Can external stakeholders attend? | Yes, through email invite. However, collaboration tools are restricted. | Yes, through email invite. However, collaboration tools are restricted. | Public events: yes, through shared invite link. Org-wide event: yes, if guest/external access granted. |
| Who can delete? | Anyone can leave the session. There is no artifact to delete. | The meeting organizer | Any attendee can leave the session. The organizer can cancel the event. |
| Maximum attendees | 100 | 250 | 10,000 attendees and 10 active presenters/producers (250 presenters and producers can be present at the event). |
| Social Context | |||
| How does the request come in? | Unscheduled. Notification of an incoming audio or video call. |
Scheduled. Meeting invite, populated in the calendar, at a scheduled time. |
Meeting only auto-populated in event group’s calendars. Organizer must circulate event invite link to attendees – for instance, by pasting link into an Outlook meeting invite. |
| Available Functionality | |||
| Screen-sharing | Yes | Yes | Producers and Presenters (through Teams, no third-party app). |
| Whiteboard | No | Yes | Yes |
| OneNote (for minutes) | Yes (from a member’s OneDrive) | Yes, part of the meeting construct. | No. A Meeting Notes tab is available instead. |
| Dedicated chat space | Yes. Derived from a group chat. | Meeting has its own chat room. | The organizer can set up a moderated Q&A (not chat) when creating the event. Only Presenters and Producers can chat. |
| Recording | Yes | Yes | Yes. Event can last up to 4 hours. |
When should an Ad Hoc Call become a Scheduled Meeting?
When should a Scheduled Meeting become an Ad Hoc Call?
When should a Live Event be created?


When you host a meeting online with Microsoft Teams, there will always be a chatroom associated with the meeting. While this is a great place for meeting participants to interact, there is one particular downside.
Problem: The never-ending chat. Often the activity in these chatrooms can persist long after the meeting. The chatroom itself becomes, unofficially, a channel. When end users can’t keep up with the deluge of communication, the tools have failed them.
Solution: Adding an existing channel to the meeting. This ensures that discussion activity is already hosted in the appropriate venue for the group, during and after the meeting. Furthermore, it provides non-attendees with a means to catch up on the discussion they have missed.
In section two of this cookbook, we will often refer to this tactic.
Don’t have a channel for the chat session of your online meeting? Perhaps you should!
If your meeting is with a group of individuals that will be collaborating frequently, they may need a workspace that persists beyond the meeting.
Guests can still attend the meeting, but they can’t chat!
If there are attendees in your meeting that do not have access to the channel you select to host the chat, they will not see the chat discussion nor have any ability to use this function.
This may be appropriate in some cases – for example, a vendor providing a briefing as part of a regular team meeting.
However, if there are attendees outside the channel membership that need to see the meeting chat, consider another channel or simply default to not assigning one.
Show device settings. For settings concerning audio, video, and whether viewing is private.
Show meeting notes. Use to take notes throughout the meeting. The notes will stay attached to this event.
Show meeting details. Find meeting information for: a dial-in number, conference ID, and link to join.
Enter full screen.
Show background effects. Choose from a range of video backgrounds to hide/blur your location.
Turn on the captions (preview). Turn on live speech-to-text captions.
Keypad. For dialing a number within the meeting (when enabled as an add-on with E3 or as part of E5).
Start recording. Recorded and saved using Microsoft Stream.
End meeting.
Turn off incoming video. To save network bandwidth, you can decline receiving attendee’s video.
Click “More options” to access the meetings settings.
Screen share. In the tool tray, select “Share” to share your screen. Select particular applications if you only want to share certain information; otherwise, you can share your whole desktop.
System audio share. To share your device’s audio while screen sharing, checkbox the “Include system audio” option upon clicking “Share.”
If you didn’t click that option at the start but now want to share audio during screen share, click the “Include systems audio” option in the tool tray along the top of the screen.
Give/take control of screen share. To give control, click “Give control” in the tool tray along the top of the screen when sharing content. Choose from the drop-down who you would like to give control to. In the same spot, click “Take back control” when required.
To request control, click “Request control” in the same space when viewing someone sharing their content. Click “Release control” once finished.
NB: Anonymous, federated, or guest users are currently not supported to start, view, or ink a whiteboard in a Teams meeting.
No. However, the final whiteboard will be available to all meeting attendees after the meeting, under “Board Gallery” in the Microsoft Whiteboard app. Attendees can then continue to work on the whiteboard after the meeting has ended.
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As the organizer, you can invite other people to the event who will be the “producers” or “presenters.” Producers: Control the live event stream, including being able to start and stop the event, share their own and others’ video, share desktop or window, and select layout. Presenters: Present audio, video, or a screen. |
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Select who your audience will be for your live event from three options: specified people and groups, the organization, or the public with no sign-in required. Edit the setting for whether you want recording to be available for attendees. Then click “Schedule” to finish. |
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When you join the live event as a producer/presenter, nothing will be immediately broadcast. You’ll be in a pre-live state. Decide what content to share and in what order. Along the bottom of the screen, you can share your video and audio, share your screen, and mute incoming attendees. Once your content is ready to share along the bottom of the screen, add it to the screen on the left, in order of viewing. This is your queue – your “Pre-live” state. Then, click “Send now.” This content will now move to the right-hand screen, ready for broadcasting. Once you’re ready to broadcast, click “Start.” Your state will change from “Pre-live” to “Live.” Along the top right of the app will be a tools bar. |
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Scenario: Most of your organization’s communication and collaboration occurs within its pre-existing departmental divisions.
Conventional communication channels:
Solution: Determine the best way to organize your organization’s departments in Teams based on its size and your requirements to keep information private between departments.
Option A:
Option B:
Option C:
Scenario: Your organization has struck a committee composed of members from different departments. The rest of the organization should not have access to the work done in the committee.
Purpose: To analyze a particular organizational challenge and produce a plan or report; to confidentially develop or carry out a series of processes that affect the whole organization.
Jobs: Committee members must be able to:
Solution:
Ingredients:
Construction:
Scenario: The organization holds a yearly innovation day event in which employees form small groups and work on a defined, short-term problem or project.
Purpose: To develop innovative solutions and ideas.
Jobs:
Solution:
Ingredients:
Construction:
Scenario: Employees within the organization wish to organize social events around shared interests: board game clubs, book clubs, TV show discussion groups, trivia nights, etc.
Purpose: To encourage cohesion among coworkers and boost morale.
Jobs:
Solution:
Ingredients:
Construction:
Scenario: Within a department/workplace team, employees are assigned to projects with defined end times, after which they will be assigned to a new project.
Purpose: To complete project-based work that fulfills business needs.
Jobs:
Solution:
If your working group already has its own team within Teams:
If your workplace team does not already have its own team in Teams:
Hide the channel after the project concludes to de-clutter your Teams user interface.
Scenario: The organization must interview a slate of candidates to fill an open position.
Purpose:
Jobs:
Solution:
Ingredients:
Construction:
NB: The external candidate does not need the Teams application. Through the meeting invite, the external candidate will join via a web browser.
Scenario: Every quarter, the organization holds its regular board meeting.
Purpose: To discuss agenda items and determine the company’s future direction.
Jobs:
During meeting:Solution:
Ingredients:
Construction:
NB: The external guests do not need the Teams application. Through the meeting invite, the guests will join via a web browser.
Scenario: A team meets for a weekly recurring meeting. The meeting is facilitated by the team lead (or manager) who addresses through agenda items and invites participation from the attendees.
Purpose: The purpose of the meeting is to:
Jobs: The facilitator must:
Solution:
Ingredients:
Construction:
NB: Create the meeting in the Teams calendar, not Outlook, or you will not be able to add the Teams channel. As meeting organizer, put your name in the meeting invite notes, as the channel will show as the organizer in the Outlook invite.
Scenario: Each morning, at 9am, members of the team meet online.
Purpose: After some pleasantries, the team discusses what tasks they each plan to complete in the day.
Jobs: The team leader (or scrum master) must:
Solution:
Ingredients:
Meeting Place Construction:
Scrum Board Construction:
Scenario: An audio-only conversation that could be a regularly scheduled event but is more often conducted on an ad-hoc basis.
Purpose: To quickly share information, achieve consensus, or clarify misunderstandings.
Jobs:
Solution:
Ingredients:
Construction:
NB: Microsoft Teams can be configured to provide an organization’s telephony for external calls, but this requires an E5 license. Additional audio-conferencing licenses are required to call in to a Teams meeting over a phone.
Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:
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.
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.
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.
Choose the right mobile platform.
Shortlist your mobile delivery solution and desired features and services.
A chosen mobile platform that meets user and enterprise needs.
Candidate mobile delivery solutions that meet your delivery needs and capacity of your teams.
1.1 Select your platform approach.
1.2 Shortlist your mobile delivery solution.
1.3 Build your feature and service lists.
Desired mobile platform approach.
Shortlisted mobile delivery solutions.
Desired list of vendor features and services.
Design the mobile application minimal viable product (MVP).
Create your mobile roadmap.
An achievable and valuable mobile application that is scalable for future growth.
Clear intent of business outcome delivery and completing mobile delivery activities.
2.1 Define your MVP release.
2.2 Build your roadmap.
MVP design.
Mobile delivery roadmap.
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.
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.
3.1 Generate user personas with empathy maps.
3.2 Build your mobile application canvas.
3.3 Build your mobile backlog.
User personas.
Mobile objectives and metrics.
Mobile opportunity backlog.
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.
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.
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.
List of mobile features to enable the desired mobile experience.
System current assessment.
Mobile application quality definition.
Verification to proceed with mobile delivery.
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.
Andrew Kum-Seun
Senior Research Analyst,
Application Delivery and Application Management
Info-Tech Research Group
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.
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
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
Source: Broadridge, 2022
To learn more, visit Info-Tech's Define Your Digital Business Strategy blueprint.
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Role |
Opportunities With Mobile Applications |
Expected Value |
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|---|---|---|---|
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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. |
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Roaming Worker |
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. |
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Roaming Worker |
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. |
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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 want sophisticated mobile applications like what they see their peers and competitors use.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
First, deliver the experience end users want and expect by designing the application against digital application principles.
Business Value |
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Continuous modernization |
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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.
To learn more, visit Info-Tech's Make the Case for Product Delivery blueprint.
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WORKFLOW |
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| 1. Capture Your User Personas and Journey |
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End User Needs |
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Technical Requirements |
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Performance |
Integration |
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Vendor Support |
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Services |
Stack Mgmt. |
Quality & Risk |
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For a mobile application to be meaningful, the functions, aesthetics and content must be:
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.
Source: Marky Roden, Xomino, 2018
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.
"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.
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:
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 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 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 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.
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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. |
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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. |
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? | |
|---|---|
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Web |
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Hybrid / Cross-Platform |
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Native |
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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 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.
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:
To learn more, visit Info-Tech's Modernize Your SDLC blueprint.
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:
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.
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.
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.
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.
| 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 |
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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.
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.
Communicate the justification of your approach to mobile applications with Info-Tech's Mobile Application Delivery Communication Template:
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1. Set the Mobile Context |
2. Define Your Mobile Approach |
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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 |
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Phase Outcomes |
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"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."
| Phase 1 | Phase 2 | ||
|---|---|---|---|
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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. |
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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. |
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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.
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) |
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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. |
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Deliverables |
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Choose Your Mobile Platform and Tools
1.1.1 Generate user personas with empathy maps
1.1.2 Build your mobile application canvas
1.1.3 Build your mobile backlog
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.
For a mobile application to be a meaningful experience, the functions, aesthetics and content must be:
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.
Source: Marky Roden, Xomino, 2018
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.
An application's UI and function both contribute to UX, but they do so in different ways.
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.
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 Relevance & Modern UI Design Content Layout |
|---|---|
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Critical Areas of Mobile UX That Are Often Ignored |
Web Infrastructure Human Behavior Coding Language Cross-Platform Compatibility Application Quality Adoption & Retention Application Support |
Personas are detailed descriptions of the targeted audience of your mobile application. It represents a type of user in a particular scenario. Effective personas:
They are important because they help:
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:
To learn more, visit Info-Tech's Use Experience Design to Drive Empathy with the Business blueprint.
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When refining your mobile problem statement, attempt to answer the following four questions:
There are many ways of writing problem statements, a clear approach follows the format:
Adapted from: "Design Problem Statements – What and How to Frame Them"
When thinking about a vision statement, think about:
There are different statement templates available to help form your vision statements. Some include:
(Numbers 2-4 from: How to define a product vision)
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.
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:
See our Build a Value Measurement Framework blueprint for more information about business value definition.
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:
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
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.
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.
USE THE PROGRAM DIAGNOSTIC TO:
INTEGRATE DIAGNOSTIC RESULTS TO:
|
Mobile Application Initiative Name |
Owner: |
NAME |
|---|---|---|
|
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.
Download the Mobile Application Delivery Communication Template
Input | Output |
|---|---|
|
|
| Materials | Participants |
|
|
Mobile Application Initiative Name | Owner: | NAME |
|---|---|---|
Problem Statement | Vision | |
[Problem Statement] | [Vision] | |
Business Goals & Metrics | Capabilities, Processes & Application Systems | |
[Business Goal 1, Metric] | [Business Capability] | |
Personas/Customers/Users | Stakeholders | |
[User 1] | [Stakeholder 1] | |
Your backlog gives you a holistic understanding of the demand for mobile applications across your organization.
|
Opportunities |
|
|---|---|
|
External Sources |
Internal Sources |
|
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|
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. |
|
Input | Output |
|---|---|
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| Materials | Participants |
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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
(Source Perforce, 2018)
See our Deliver on Your Digital Product Vision for more information on backlog practices.
1.2.1 Discuss your mobile needs
1.2.2 Conduct a technical assessment
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.
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.
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. |
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.
Input | Output |
|---|---|
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|
| Materials | Participants |
|
|
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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 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Legend:
Bold – Touchpoint
* – Activities or Touchpoints That Can Benefit with Mobile
Download the Mobile Application Delivery Communication Template
Workflow | Trigger | Step 1 | Step 2 | Step 3 | Step 4 | Desired Outcome | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Journey Map | Activities & Touch-points | < | < | < | < | < | < |
Must-Haves | < | < | < | < | < | < | |
Nice-to-Haves | < | < | < | < | < | < | |
Hidden Needs | < | < | < | < | < | < | |
Emotional Journey | < | < | < | < | < | < |
If you need more than four steps in the workflow, duplicate this slide.
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:
See our Enhance Your Solution Architecture for more information.
Download the Mobile Application Delivery Communication Template
Input | Output |
|---|---|
|
|
| Materials | Participants |
|
|
| 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) |
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) |
1.3.1 Define mobile application quality
1.3.2 Verify your decision to deliver mobile applications
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.
See our Build a Software Quality Assurance Program for more information.
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.
Mobile attacks can come from various vectors:
|
Attack Surface: Mobile Device |
Attack Surface: Network |
Attack Surface: Data Center |
|---|---|---|
|
Browser: System: Phone: Apps: |
|
Web Server: Database: |
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 |
|
|
|
|
Roaming Worker (Engineer) |
|
|
|
Fine tune your enterprise mobile applications using optimization techniques to improve performance across the full mobile stack.
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).
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.
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:
See our Build Effective Enterprise Integration on the Back of Business Process for more information.
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
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.
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
| 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:
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. |
Download the Mobile Application Delivery Communication Template
Input | Output |
|---|---|
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| Materials | Participants |
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| Quality Attribute | Developer | Operations & Support Team | End Users |
|---|---|---|---|
Usability |
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Security |
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| Availability |
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Input | Output |
|---|---|
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| Materials | Participants |
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| 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) |
2.1.1 Select your platform approach
"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:
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:
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:
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.
| Web | Hybrid | Cross-Platform | Native | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Pros | Cons | Pros | Cons | Pros | Cons | Pros | Cons |
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|
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|
|
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.
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.
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.
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. |
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.
See our Enhance Your Solution Architecture for more information.
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.
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:
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:
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.
Drive your mobile platform selection against user-centric needs (e.g. device access, aesthetics) and enterprise-centric needs (e.g. security, system performance).
Web
Hybrid / Cross-Platform
Native
Download the Mobile Application Delivery Communication Template
Input | Output |
|---|---|
|
|
| Materials | Participants |
|
|
| 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) |
| 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) |
| 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) |
| 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) |
| 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 |
2.2.1 Shortlist your mobile delivery solution
2.2.2 Build your feature and service lists
| 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
|
Cons
|
Pros
|
Cons
|
|
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
|
Cons
|
Pros
|
Cons
|
|
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. |
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 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.
React Native, NativeScript, Xamarin Forms, .NET MAUI, Flutter, Kotlin Multiplatform Mobile, jQuery Mobile, Telerik, Temenos Quantum
Cordova Project, Sencha Touch, Electron, Ionic, Capacitor, Monaca, Voltbuilder
Web Development Frameworks (React, Angular, Vue, Express, Django, Rails, Spring, Ember, Backbone, Bulma, Bootstrap, Tailwind CSS, Blade)
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.
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.
The various services needed to support mobile delivery and enable continuous delivery, such as:
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.
Source: "HCL Volt MX", HCL.
Download the Mobile Application Delivery Communication Template
Input | Output |
|---|---|
|
|
| Materials | Participants |
|
|
| 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) |
| 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 |
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.
To learn more, visit Info-Tech's Modernize Your SDLC blueprint.
|
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 |
Overcome the Common Challenges Faced with Building Mobile Applications
|
Common Challenges with Digital Applications |
Suggested Solutions |
|---|---|
|
|
Source: DronaHQ, 2021
| 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 |
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.
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 |
|---|---|
|
|
| Materials | Participants |
|
|
| 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.
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.
2.3.1 Define your MVP release
2.3.2 Build your roadmap
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.
Input | Output |
|---|---|
|
|
| Materials | Participants |
|
|
MVP Name | Owner: | NAME |
|---|---|---|
| MVP Theme/Goals | ||
[Theme / Goal] | ||
Use Cases | Value | Costs |
[Use Case 1] | [Business Value 1] | [Cost Item 1] |
Impacted Personas | Impacted Workflows | Stakeholders |
[Persona 1] | [Workflow 1] | [Stakeholder 1] |
To learn more, visit Info-Tech's Deliver on Your Digital Product Vision blueprint.
Explains the overarching goal of work being done to a specific audience.
Categorizes the different groups delivering the work on the product.
Explains the artifacts, or items of work, that will be delivered.
Explains when the work will be delivered within your timeline.
To learn more, visit Info-Tech's Deliver on Your Digital Product Vision blueprint.
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?
Adapted From: "Tips for Agile product roadmaps & product roadmap examples," Scrum.org, 2017
Input | Output |
|---|---|
|
|
| Materials | Participants |
|
|
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 |
|
Sign off on cost and benefit projections |
|
Executives and decision makers |
|
Revisions, edits, and approval |
|
IT teams |
|
Clarity of vision and direction and readiness for delivery |
|
Business workers |
|
Verification on proposed changes and feedback |
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:
See our Build a Value Measurement Framework blueprint for more information about business value definition.
| 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. |
| 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
Performance Optimization
API Development
|
|
Contact your account representative for more information
workshops@infotech.com
1-888-670-8889
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.
"5 Pillars of API Management". Broadcom, 2021. Web.
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.
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"Why Mobile Apps Fail: Failure to Launch". Perfecto Mobile, 26 Jan 2014. Web.
Source: MaLavolta, Ivono, 2012.
Source: Sahay, Apurvanand et al., 2020
Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:
Assess current maturity, establish a team, and choose a pilot business unit. Identify business processes, dependencies, and alternatives.
Define an objective impact scoring scale, estimate the impact of downtime, and set recovery targets.
Build a workflow of the current steps for business recovery. Identify gaps and risks to recovery. Brainstorm and prioritize solutions to address gaps and mitigate risks.
Present pilot project results and next steps. Create BCMS teams. Update and maintain BCMS documentation.
Use these tools and templates to assist in the creation of your BCP.
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.
Define BCP scope, objectives, and stakeholders.
Prioritize BCP efforts and level-set scope with key stakeholders.
1.1 Assess current BCP maturity.
1.2 Identify key business processes to include in scope.
1.3 Flowchart key business processes to identify business processes, dependencies, and alternatives.
BCP Maturity Scorecard: measure progress and identify gaps.
Business process flowcharts: review, optimize, and allow for knowledge transfer of processes.
Identify workarounds for common disruptions to day-to-day continuity.
Define RTOs and RPOs based on your BIA.
Set recovery targets based business impact, and illustrate the importance of BCP efforts via the impact of downtime.
2.1 Define an objective scoring scale to indicate different levels of impact.
2.2 Estimate the impact of downtime.
2.3 Determine acceptable RTO/RPO targets for business processes based on business impact.
BCP Business Impact Analysis: objective scoring scale to assess cost, goodwill, compliance, and safety impacts.
Apply the scoring scale to estimate the impact of downtime on business processes.
Acceptable RTOs/RPOs to dictate recovery strategy.
Create a recovery workflow.
Build an actionable, high-level, recovery workflow that can be adapted to a variety of different scenarios.
3.1 Conduct a tabletop exercise to determine current recovery procedures.
3.2 Identify and prioritize projects to close gaps and mitigate recovery risks.
3.3 Evaluate options for command centers and alternate business locations (i.e. BC site).
Recovery flow diagram – current and future state
Identify gaps and recovery risks.
Create a project roadmap to close gaps.
Evaluate requirements for alternate business sites.
Extend the results of the pilot BCP and implement governance.
Outline the actions required for the rest of your BCMS, and the required effort to complete those actions, based on the results of the pilot.
4.1 Summarize the accomplishments and required next steps to create an overall BCP.
4.2 Identify required BCM roles.
4.3 Create a plan to update and maintain your overall BCP.
Pilot BCP Executive Presentation
Business Continuity Team Roles & Responsibilities
3. Maintenance plan and BCP templates to complete the relevant documentation (BC Policy, BCP Action Items, Recovery Workflow, etc.)
None of us needs to look very far to find a reason to have an effective business continuity plan.
From pandemics to natural disasters to supply chain disruptions to IT outages, there’s no shortage of events that can disrupt your complex and interconnected business processes. How in the world can anyone build a plan to address all these threats?
Don’t try to boil the ocean. Use these tactics to streamline your BCP project and stay on track:
No one can predict every possible disruption, but by following the guidance in this blueprint, you can build a flexible continuity plan that allows you to withstand the threats your organization may face.
Research Director,
IT Infrastructure & Operations Practice
Info-Tech Research Group
Senior Research Analyst,
IT Infrastructure & Operations Practice
Info-Tech Research Group
IT leaders, because of their cross-functional view and experience with incident management and DR, are often asked to lead BCP efforts.
As an IT leader you have the skill set and organizational knowledge to lead a BCP project, but you must enable business leaders to own their department’s BCP practices and outputs. They know their processes and, therefore, their requirements to resume business operations better than anyone else.
A business continuity plan (BCP) consists of separate but related sub-plans, as illustrated below. This blueprint enables you to:
A plan to restore IT application and infrastructure services following a disruption.
Info-Tech’s disaster recovery planning blueprint provides a methodology for creating the IT DRP. Leverage this blueprint to validate and provide inputs for your IT DRP.
A set of plans to resume business processes for each business unit. This includes:
A plan to manage a wide range of crises, from health and safety incidents to business disruptions to reputational damage.
Info-Tech’s Implement Crisis Management Best Practices blueprint provides a framework for planning a response to any crisis, from health and safety incidents to reputational damage.
Back when transactions were recorded on paper and then keyed into the mainframe system later, it was easier to revert to deskside processes. There is very little in the way of paper-based processes anymore, and as a result, it is increasingly difficult to resume business processes without IT.
Think about your own organization. What IT system(s) are absolutely critical to business operations? While you might be able to continue doing business without IT, this requires regular preparation and training. It’s likely a completely offline process and won’t be a viable workaround for long even if staff know how to do the work. If your data center and core systems are down, technology-enabled workarounds (such as collaboration via mobile technologies or cloud-based solutions) could help you weather the outage, and may be more flexible and adaptable for day-to-day work.
The bottom line:
Technology is a critical dependency for business processes. Consider the role IT systems play as process dependencies and as workarounds as part of continuity planning.
BCP for Business Unit A:
Scope → Pilot BIA → Response Plan → Gap Analysis
→ Lessons Learned:
= Ongoing governance, testing, maintenance, improvement, awareness, and training.
By comparison, a traditional BCP approach takes much longer to mitigate risk:
Organizational Risk Assessment and Business Impact Analysis → Solution Design to Achieve Recovery Objectives → Create and Validate Response Plans
A charitable foundation for a major state university engaged Info-Tech to support the creation of their business continuity plan.
With support from Info-Tech analysts and the tools in this blueprint, they worked with their business unit stakeholders to identify recovery objectives, confirm recovery capabilities and business process workarounds, and address gaps in their continuity plans.
The outcome wasn’t a pandemic plan – it was a continuity plan that was applicable to pandemics. And it worked. Business processes were prioritized, gaps in work-from-home and business process workarounds had been identified and addressed, business leaders owned their plan and understood their role in it, and IT had clear requirements that they were able and ready to support.
“The work you did here with us was beyond valuable! I wish I could actually explain how ready we really were for this…while not necessarily for a pandemic, we were ready to spring into action, set things up, the priorities were established, and most importantly some of the changes we’ve made over the past few years helped beyond words! The fact that the groups had talked about this previously almost made what we had to do easy.“ -- VP IT Infrastructure
| Phases | Phase 1: Identify BCP Maturity and Document Process Dependencies | Phase 2: Conduct a BIA to Determine Acceptable RTOs and RPOs | Phase 3: Document the Recovery Workflow and Projects to Close Gaps | Phase 4: Extend the Results of the Pilot BCP and Implement Governance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Steps | 1.1 Assess current BCP maturity | 2.1 Define an objective impact scoring scale | 3.1 Determine current recovery procedures | 4.1 Consolidate BCP pilot insights to support an overall BCP project plan |
| 1.2 Establish the pilot BCP team | 2.2 Estimate the impact of downtime | 3.2 Identify and prioritize projects to close gaps | 4.2 Outline a business continuity management (BCM) program | |
| 1.3 Identify business processes, dependencies, and alternatives | 2.3 Determine acceptable RTO/RPO targets | 3.3 Evaluate BC site and command center options | 4.3 Test and maintain your BCP | |
| Tools and Templates | ||||
Each step of this blueprint is accompanied by supporting deliverables to help you accomplish your goals:
BCP Business Impact Analysis Tool: Conduct and document a business impact analysis using this document.
BCP Recovery Workflows Example: Model your own recovery workflows on this example.
BCP Project Roadmap: Use this tool to prioritize projects that can improve BCP capabilities and mitigate gaps and risks.
BCP Relocation Checklists: Plan for and manage a site relocation – whether to an alternate site or work from home.
Summarize your organization's continuity capabilities and objectives in a 15-page, easy-to-consume template.
This document consolidates data from the supporting documentation and tools to the right.
Download Info-Tech’s BCP Summary Document
Focus less on risk, and more on recovery
Avoid focusing on risk and probability analysis to drive your continuity strategy. You never know what might disrupt your business, so develop a flexible plan to enable business resumption regardless of the event.
Small teams = good pilots
Choose a small team for your BCP pilot. Small teams are better at trialing new techniques and finding new ways to think about problems.
Calculate downtime impact
Develop and apply a scoring scale to develop a more-objective assessment of downtime impact for the organization. This will help you prioritize recovery.
It’s not no, but rather not now…
You can’t address all the organization’s continuity challenges at once. Prioritize high value, low effort initiatives and create a long-term roadmap for the rest.
Show Value Now
Get to value quickly. Start with one business unit with continuity challenges, and a small, focused project team who can rapidly learn the methodology, identify continuity gaps, and define solutions that can also be leveraged by other departments right away.
Lightweight Testing Exercises
Outline recovery capabilities using lightweight, low risk tabletop planning exercises. Our research shows tabletop exercises increase confidence in recovery capabilities almost as much as live exercises, which carry much higher costs and risks.
Info-Tech members told us they save an average of $44,522 and 23 days by working with an Info-Tech analyst on BCP (source: client response data from Info-Tech's Measured Value Survey).
Why do members report value from analyst engagement?
"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.”
Diagnostic and consistent frameworks are used throughout all four options.
A Guided Implementation (GI) is series of calls with an Info-Tech analyst to help implement our best practices in your organization.
A typical GI is between eight to twelve calls over the course of four to six months.
Call 1: Scope requirements, objectives, and stakeholders. Identify a pilot BCP project.
Calls 2 - 4: Assess current BCP maturity. Create business process workflows, dependencies, alternates, and workarounds.
Calls 5 – 7: Create an impact scoring scale and conduct a BIA. Identify acceptable RTO and RPO.
Calls 8 – 9: Create a recovery workflow based on tabletop planning.
Call 10: Summarize the pilot results and plan next steps. Define roles and responsibilities. Make the case for a wider BCP program.
Contact your account representative for more information.
workshops@infotech.com | 1-888-670-8889
| Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Identify BCP Maturity, Key Processes, and Dependencies | Conduct a BIA to Determine Acceptable RTOs and RPOs | Document the Current Recovery Workflow and Projects to Close Gaps | Identify Remaining BCP Documentation and Next Steps | Next Steps and Wrap-Up (offsite) | |
| Activities |
1.1 Assess current BCP maturity. 1.2 Identify key business processes to include in scope. 1.3 Create a flowchart for key business processes to identify business processes, dependencies, and alternatives. |
2.1 Define an objective scoring scale to indicate different levels of impact. 2.2 Estimate the impact of a business disruption on cost, goodwill, compliance, and health & safety. 2.3 Determine acceptable RTOs/RPOs for selected business processes based on business impact. |
3.1 Review tabletop planning – what is it, how is it done? 3.2 Walk through a business disruption scenario to determine your current recovery timeline, RTO/RPO gaps, and risks to your ability to resume business operations. 3.3 Identify and prioritize projects to close RTO/RPO gaps and mitigate recovery risks. |
4.1 Assign business continuity management (BCM) roles to govern BCP development and maintenance, as well as roles required to execute recovery. 4.2 Identify remaining documentation required for the pilot business unit and how to leverage the results to repeat the methodology for remaining business units. 4.3 Workshop review and wrap-up. |
5.1 Finalize deliverables for the workshop. 5.2 Set up review time for workshop outputs and to discuss next steps. |
| Deliverables |
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1.1 Assess Current BCP Maturity
1.2 Establish the pilot BCP team
1.3 Identify business processes, dependencies, and alternatives
Define the scope for the BCP project: assess the current state of the plan, create a pilot project team and pilot project charter, and map the business processes that will be the focus of the pilot.
This step will walk you through the following activities:
This step involves the following participants:
You'll use the following tools & templates:
Establish current BCP maturity using Info-Tech’s ISO 22301-aligned BCP Maturity Scorecard.
This blueprint primarily addresses the first four sections in the scorecard, which align with the creation of the core components of your business continuity plan.
Info-Tech’s maturity scorecard is aligned with ISO 22301, the international standard that describes the key elements of a functioning business continuity management system or program – the overarching set of documents, practices, and controls that support the ongoing creation and maintenance of your BCP. A fully functional BCMS goes beyond business continuity planning to include crisis management, BCP testing, and documentation management.
Audit tools tend to treat every bullet point in ISO 22301 as a separate requirement – which means there’s almost 400 lines to assess. Info-Tech’s BCP Maturity Scorecard has synthesized key requirements, minimizing repetition to create a high-level self-assessment aligned with the standard.
A high score is a good indicator of likely success with an audit.
Download Info-Tech's BCP Maturity Scorecard
"The fact that this aligns with ISO is huge." - Dr. Bernard Jones MBCI, CBCP
This step will walk you through the following activities:
This step involves the following participants:
In this step, you’ll use these tools and templates:
Assign roles and responsibilities for the BCP pilot project. Set milestones and timelines for the pilot.
Though IT is a critical dependency for most processes, IT shouldn’t own the business continuity plan. IT should be an internal BCP process consultant, and each business unit must own their plan.
IT should be an internal BCP consultant.
Why shouldn’t IT own the plan?
Info-Tech Insight
A goal of the pilot is to seed success for further planning exercises. This is as much about demonstrating the value of continuity planning to the business unit, and enabling them to own it, as it is about implementing the methodology successfully.
Outline roles and responsibilities on the pilot team using a “RACI” exercise. Remember, only one party can be ultimately accountable for the work being completed.
| Board | Executive Team | BCP Executive Sponsor | BCP Team Leader | BCP Coordinator | Pilot Bus. Unit Manager | Expert Bus. Unit Staff | IT Manager | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Communicate BCP project status | I | I | I | A | R | C | C | I |
| Assign resources to pilot BCP project | A | R | C | R | C | R | ||
| Conduct continuity planning activities | I | A/R | R | R | R | R | ||
| Create pilot BCP deliverables | I | A | R | R | C | C | C | |
| Manage BCP documentation | I | A | C | R | I | C | C | |
| Integrate results into BCMS | I | I | A | R | R | I | C | C |
| Create overall BCP project plan | I | I | A | R | C | C |
R: Responsible for doing the work.
A: Accountable to ensure the activity/work happens.
C: Consulted prior to decision or action.
I: Informed of the decision/action once it’s made.
"Large teams excel at solving problems, but it is small teams that are more likely to come up with new problems for their more sizable counterparts to solve." – Wang & Evans, 2019
Small teams tend to be better at trialing new techniques and finding new ways to think about problems, both of which are needed for a BCP pilot project.
Many organizations begin their BCP project with a target business unit in mind. It’s still worth establishing whether this business unit meets the criteria below.
Good candidates for a pilot project:
These short descriptions establish the functions, expectations, and responsibilities of each role at a more granular level.
The Board and executives have an outsized influence on the speed at which the project can be completed. Ensure that communication with these stakeholders is clear and concise. Avoid involving them directly in activities and deliverable creation, unless it’s required by their role (e.g. as a business unit manager).
| Project Role | Description |
|---|---|
| Board & Executive Team |
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| Executive Sponsor |
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| Pilot Business Unit Manager |
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| BCP Coordinator |
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| Expert Business Unit Staff |
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| IT Manager |
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| Other Business Unit Managers |
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A skilled and committed coordinator is critical to building an effective and durable BCP.
Structure the role of the BCP Coordinator
The BCP Coordinator works with the pilot business unit as well as remaining business units to provide continuity and resolve discrepancies as they come up between business units.
Specifically, this role includes:
"We found it necessary to have the same person work with each business unit to pass along lessons learned and resolve contingency planning conflicts for common dependencies." – Michelle Swessel, PM and IT Bus. Analyst, Wisconsin Compensation Rating Bureau (WCRB)
This step will walk you through the following activities:
This step involves the following participants:
You'll use the following tools & templates:
Documented workflows, process dependencies, and workarounds when dependencies are unavailable.
Process review often results in discovering informal processes, previously unknown workarounds or breakdowns, shadow IT, or process improvement opportunities.
Note: A more in-depth analysis will be conducted later to refine priorities. The goal here is a high-level order of priority for the next steps in the planning methodology (identify business processes and dependencies).
Download Info-Tech’s Business Process Workflows Example
Policies and procedures manuals, if they exist, are often out of date or incomplete. Use these as a starting point, but don’t stop there. Identify the go-to staff members who are well versed in how a process works.
2.1 Define an objective impact scoring scale
2.2 Estimate the impact of downtime
2.3 Determine acceptable RTO/RPO targets
Assess the impact of business process downtime using objective, customized impact scoring scales. Sort business processes by criticality and by assigning criticality tiers, recovery time, and recovery point objectives.
This step will walk you through the following activities:
This step involves the following participants:
In this step, you’ll use these tools and templates:
Define an impact scoring scale relevant to your business, which allows you to more-objectively assess the impact of business process downtime.
The activities in Phase 2 will help you set appropriate, acceptable recovery objectives based on the business impact of process downtime.
For example:
Create Impact Scoring Scales→Assess the impact of process downtime→Review overall impact of process downtime→Set Criticality Tiers→Set Recovery Time and Recovery Point Objectives
Work with the Business Unit Manager and Executive Sponsor to identify the maximum impact in each category to the entire business. Use a worst-case scenario to estimate the maximum for each scale. In the future, you can use this scoring scale to estimate the impact of downtime for other business units.
Cost estimates are like hand grenades and horseshoes: you don’t need to be exact. It’s much easier to get input and validation from other stakeholders when you have estimates. Even weak estimates are far better than a blank sheet.
Use just the impact scales that are relevant to your organization.
This step involves the following participants:
In this step, you’ll use these tools and templates:
Develop an objective view of the impact of downtime for key business processes.
Example: Highest total Goodwill, Compliance, and Safety impact score is 18.
| Tier | Score Range | % of high score |
|---|---|---|
| Tier 1 - Gold | 9-18 | 50-100% |
| Tier 2 - Silver | 5 to 9 | 25-50% |
| Tier 3 - Bronze | 0 to 5 | 0-25% |
This step involves the following participants:
In this step, you’ll use these tools and templates:
Right-size recovery objectives based on business impact.
The impact of downtime for most business processes tends to look something like the increasing impact curve in the image to the right.
In the moments after a disruption, impact tends to be minimal. Imagine, for example, that your organization was suddenly unable to pay its suppliers (don’t worry about the reason for the disruption, for the moment). Chances are, this disruption wouldn’t affect many payees if it lasted just a few minutes, or even a few hours. But if the disruption were to continue for days, or weeks, the impact of downtime would start to spiral out of control.
In general, we want to target recovery somewhere between the point where impact begins, and the point where impact is intolerable. We want to balance the impact of downtime with the investment required to make processes more resilient.
Account for hard copy files as well as electronic data. If that information is lost, is there a backup? BCP can be the driver to remove the last resistance to paperless processes, allowing IT to apply appropriate data protection.
Set recovery time objectives and recovery point objectives in the “Debate Space”
RTOs and RPOs are business-defined, impact-aligned objectives that you may not be able to achieve today. It may require significant investments of time and capital to enable the organization to meet RTO and RPO.
Set a range for RTO for each Tier.
| Tier | RTO |
|---|---|
| Tier 1 | 4 hrs- 24 hrs |
| Tier 2 | 24 hrs - 72 hrs |
| Tier 3 | 72 hrs - 120 hrs |
3.1 Determine current recovery procedures
3.2 Identify and prioritize projects to close gaps
3.3 Evaluate business continuity site and command center options
Outline business recovery processes. Highlight gaps and risks that could hinder business recovery. Brainstorm ideas to address gaps and risks. Review alternate site and business relocation options.
This step will walk you through the following activities:
This step involves the following participants:
In this step, you’ll use these tools and templates:
Establish steps required for business recovery and current recovery timelines.
Identify risks & gaps that could delay or obstruct an effective recovery.
Step 2 - 2 hours
Establish command center.
Step 2: Risks
Step 2: Gaps
A good scenario is one that helps the group focus on the goal of tabletop planning – to discuss and document the steps required to recover business processes. We suggest choosing a scenario for your first exercise that:
An example: a gas leak at company HQ that requires the area to be cordoned off and power to be shut down. The business must resume processes from another location without access to materials, equipment, or IT services at the primary location.
A plan that satisfies the gas leak scenario should meet the needs of other scenarios that affect your normal workspace. Then use BCP testing to validate that the plan meets a wider range of incidents.
Notification
How will you be notified of a disaster event? How will this be escalated to leadership? How will the team responsible for making decisions coordinate (if they can’t meet on-site)? What emergency response plans are in place to protect health and safety? What additional steps are involved if there’s a risk to health and safety?
Assessment
Who’s in charge of the initial assessment? Who may need to be involved in the assessment? Who will coordinate if multiple teams are required to investigate and assess the situation? Who needs to review the results of the assessment, and how will the results of the assessment be communicated (e.g. phone bridge, written memo)? What happens if your primary mode of communication is unavailable (e.g. phone service is down)?
Declaration
Who is responsible today for declaring a disaster and activating business continuity plans? What are the organization’s criteria for activating continuity plans, and how will BCP activation be communicated? Establish a crisis management team to guide the organization through a wide range of crises by Implementing Crisis Management Best Practices.
Do the following:
Tabletop planning is most effective when you keep it simple.
Create one recovery workflow for all scenarios.
Traditional planning calls for separate plans for different “what-if” scenarios. This is challenging not just because it’s a lot more documentation – and maintenance – but because it’s impossible to predict every possible incident. Use the template, aligned to recovery of process dependencies, to create one recovery workflow for each business unit that can be used in and tested against different scenarios.
Download Info-Tech’s BCP Recovery Workflow Example
"We use flowcharts for our declaration procedures. Flowcharts are more effective when you have to explain status and next steps to upper management." – Assistant Director-IT Operations, Healthcare Industry
"Very few business interruptions are actually major disasters. It’s usually a power outage or hardware failure, so I ensure my plans address ‘minor’ incidents as well as major disasters."- BCP Consultant
Add the following data to your copy of the BCP Business Impact Analysis Tool.
Operating at a minimum acceptable functional level may not be feasible for more than a few days or weeks. Develop plans for immediate continuity first, then develop further plans for long-term continuity processes as required. Recognize that for longer term outages, you will evolve your plans in the crisis to meet the needs of the situation.
Work from and update the soft copy of your recovery workflow.
Info-Tech Insight
Remember that health and safety risks must be dealt with first in a crisis. The business unit recovery workflow will focus on restoring business operations after employees are no longer at risk (e.g. the risk has been resolved or employees have been safely relocated). See Implement Crisis Management Best Practices for ideas on how to respond to and assess a wide range of crises.
For some organizations, it’s not practical or possible to invest in the redundancy that would be necessary to recover in a timely manner from certain major events.
Leverage existing risk management practices to identify key high impact events that could present major business continuity challenges that could cause catastrophic disruptions to facility, IT, staffing, suppliers, or equipment. If you don’t have a risk register, review the scenarios on the next slide and brainstorm risks with the working group.
Work through tabletop planning to identify how you might work through an event like this, at a high level. In step 3.2, you can estimate the effort, cost, and benefit for different ideas that can help mitigate the damage to the business to help decision makers choose between investment in mitigation or accepting the risk.
Document any scenarios that you identify as outside the scope of your continuity plans in the “Scope” section of your BCP Summary document.
For example:
A single location manufacturing company is creating a BCP.
The factory is large and contains expensive equipment; it’s not possible to build a second factory for redundancy. If the factory is destroyed, operations can’t be resumed until the factory is rebuilt. In this case, the BCP outlines how to conduct an orderly business shutdown while the factory is rebuilt.
Contingency planning to resume factory operations after less destructive events, as well as a BCP for corporate services, is still practical and necessary.
| Scenario Type | Considerations |
|---|---|
| Local hazard (gas leak, chemical leak, criminal incident, etc.) |
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| Equipment/building damage (fire, roof collapse, etc.) |
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| Regional natural disasters |
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| Supplier failure (IT provider outage, disaster at supplier, etc.) |
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| Staff (lottery win, work stoppage, pandemic/quarantine) |
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This step will walk you through the following activities:
This step involves the following participants:
In this step, you’ll use these tools and templates:
Identify and prioritize projects and action items that can improve business continuity capabilities.
Try to avoid debates about feasibility at this point. The goal is to get ideas on the board.
When you’re brainstorming solutions to problems, don’t stop with the first idea, even if the solution seems obvious. The first idea isn’t always the best or only solution – other ideas can expand on it and improve it.
Step 4: No formal process to declare a disaster and invoke business continuity.
Step 7: Alternate site could be affected by the same regional event as the main office.
Step 12: Need to confirm supplier service-level agreements (SLAs).
With COVID-19, most organizations have experience with mass work-from-home.
Review the following case studies. Do they reflect your experience during the COVID-19 pandemic?
Consider where your own work-from-home plans fell short.
People
→
Site & Facilities
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External Services & Suppliers
→
Technology & Physical Assets
→
This step will walk you through the following activities:
This step involves the following participants:
In this step, you’ll use these tools and templates:
Identify requirements for an alternate business site.
"There are horror stories about organizations that assumed things about their alternate site that they later found out they weren’t true in practice." – Dr. Bernard Jones, MBCI CBCP
If you choose a shared location as a BCP site, a regional disaster may put you in competition with other tenants for space.
For many organizations, a dedicated command center (TVs on the wall, maps and charts in filing cabinets) isn’t necessary. A conference bridge and collaboration tools allowing everyone to work remotely can be an acceptable offsite command center as long as digital options can meet your command center requirements.
Leverage the methodology and tools in this blueprint to define your return to normal (repatriation) procedures:
For more on supporting a business move back to the office from the IT perspective, see Responsibly Resume IT Operations in the Office
4.1 Consolidate BCP pilot insights to support an overall BCP project plan
4.2 Outline a business continuity management (BCM) program
4.3 Test and maintain your BCP
Summarize and consolidate your initial insights and documentation. Create a project plan for overall BCP. Identify teams, responsibilities, and accountabilities, and assign documentation ownership. Integrate BCP findings in DR and crisis management practices. Set guidelines for testing, plan maintenance, training, and awareness.
Participants
This step will walk you through the following activities:
This step involves the following participants:
In this step, you’ll use these tools and templates:
Present results from the pilot BCP, and outline how you’ll use the pilot process with other business units to create an overall continuity program.
Structure the overall BCP program.
The BCP Summary document is the capstone to business unit continuity planning exercises. It consolidates your findings in a short overview of your business continuity requirements, capabilities, and maintenance procedures.
Info-Tech recommends embedding hyperlinks within the Summary to the rest of your BCP documentation to allow the reader to drill down further as needed. Leverage the following documents:
The same methodology described in this blueprint can be repeated for each business unit. Also, many of the artifacts from the BCP pilot can be reused or built upon to give the remaining business units a head start. For example:
You may need to create some artifacts that are site specific. For example, relocation plans or emergency plans may not be reusable from one site to another. Use your judgement to reuse as much of the templates as you can – similar templates simplify audit, oversight, and plan management.
Adjust the pilot charter to answer the following questions:
As with the pilot, choose a business unit, or business units, where BCP will have the greatest impact and where further BCP activities will have the greatest likelihood of success. Prioritize business units that are critical to many areas of the business to get key results sooner.
Work with one business unit at a time if:
Work with several business units at the same time if:
This step will walk you through the following activities:
This step involves the following participants:
In this step, you’ll use these tools and templates:
Document BCP teams, roles, and responsibilities.
Document contact information, alternates, and succession rules.
A BCM program should:
Develop a Business Continuity Management Program
Phase 4 of this blueprint will focus on the following elements of a business continuity management program:
Schedule a call with an Info-Tech Analyst for help building out these core elements, and for advice on developing the rest of your BCM program.
BC management teams (including the secondary teams such as the emergency response team) have two primary roles:
Crisis leaders require strong crisis management skills:
Collectively, the team must include a broad range of expertise as well as strong planning skills:
Note: For specific BC team roles and responsibilities, including key resources such as Legal, HR, and IT SMEs required to prepare for and execute crisis management plans, see Implement Crisis Management Best Practices.
BCM Team: Govern business continuity, DR, and crisis management planning. Support the organization’s response to a crisis, including the decision to declare a disaster or emergency.
Emergency Response Teams: Assist staff and BC teams during a crisis, with a focus first on health and safety. There’s usually one team per location. Develop and maintain emergency response plans.
Emergency Response Teams: Assist staff and BC teams during a crisis, with a focus first on health and safety. There’s usually one team per location. Develop and maintain emergency response plans.
IT Disaster Recovery Team: Manage the recovery of IT services and data following an incident. Develop and maintain the IT DRP.
Business Unit BCP Teams: Coordinate business process recovery at the business unit level. Develop and maintain business unit BCPs.
“Planning Mode”
Executive Team → BC Management Team ↓
“Crisis Mode”
Executive Team ↔Crisis Management Team↓ ↔ Emergency Response Teams (ERT)
For more details on specific roles to include on these teams, as well as more information on crisis management, review Info-Tech’s blueprint, Implement Crisis Management Best Practices.
Track teams, roles, and contacts in this template. It is pre-populated with roles and responsibilities for business continuity, crisis management, IT disaster recovery, emergency response, and vendors and suppliers critical to business operations.
Track contact information in this template only if you don’t have a more streamlined way of tracking it elsewhere.
Download Info-Tech’s Business Continuity Teams and Roles Tool
Suppliers and vendors might include:
Supplier RTOs and RPOs should align with the acceptable RTOs and RPOs defined in the BIA. Where they do not, explore options for improvement.
Confirm the following:
Your BCP isn’t any one document. It’s multiple documents that work together.
Continue to work through any additional required documentation. Build a repository where master copies of each document will reside and can be updated as required. Assign ownership of document management to someone with an understanding of the process (e.g. the BCP Coordinator).
| Governance | Recovery | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| BCMS Policy | BCP Summary | Core BCP Recovery Workflows | |
| Business Process Workflows | Action Items & Project Roadmap | BCP Recovery Checklists | |
| BIA | Teams, Roles, Contact Information | BCP Business Process Workarounds and Recovery Checklists | |
| BCP Maturity Scorecard | BCP Project Charter | Additional Recovery Workflows | |
| Business Unit Prioritization Tool | BCP Presentation | ||
Recovery documentation has a different audience, purpose, and lifecycle than governance documentation, and keeping the documents separate can help with content management. Disciplined document management keeps the plan current and accessible.
Use the following BCP outputs to inform your DRP:
| PCP Outputs | DRP Activities | |
|---|---|---|
| Business processes defined | Identify critical applications | |
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Dependencies identified:
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Identify IT dependencies:
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Recovery objectives defined:
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Identify recovery objectives:
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Projects identified to close gaps:
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Identify projects to close gaps:
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Info-Tech Insight
Don’t think of inconsistencies between your DRP and BCP as a problem. Discrepancies between the plans are part of the discovery process, and they’re an opportunity to have a conversation that can improve alignment between IT service capabilities and business needs. You should expect that there will be discrepancies – managing discrepancies is part of the ongoing process to refine and improve both plans.
BC/DR Planning Workflow
1. Collect BCP outputs that impact IT DRP (e.g. technology RTOs/RPOs).
2. As BCPs are done, BCP Coordinator reviews outputs with IT DRP Management Team.
3. Use the RTOs/RPOs from the BCPs as a starting point to determine IT recovery plans.
4. Identify investments required to meet business-defined RTOs/RPOs, and validate with the business.
5. Create a DR technology roadmap to meet validated RTOs/RPOs.
6. Review and update business unit BCPs to reflect updated RTOs/RPOs.
Shadow IT can be a symptom of larger service support issues. There should be a process for requesting and tracking non-standard services from IT with appropriate technical, security, and management oversight.
Assign the BCP Coordinator the task of creating a master list of BC projects, and then work with the BC management team to review and reprioritize this list, as described below:
Improving business continuity capabilities is a marathon, not a sprint. Change for the better is still change and introduces risk – massive changes introduce massive risk. Incremental changes help minimize disruption. Use Info-Tech research to deliver organizational change.
"Developing a BCP can be like solving a Rubik’s Cube. It’s a complex, interdepartmental concern with multiple and sometimes conflicting objectives. When you have one side in place, another gets pushed out of alignment." – Ray Mach, BCP Expert
This step will walk you through the following activities:
This step involves the following participants:
In this step, you’ll use these tools and templates:
Create a plan to maintain the BCP.
Mastery comes through practice and iteration. Iterating on and testing your plan will help you keep up to date with business changes, identify plan improvements, and help your organization’s employees develop a mindset of continuity readiness. Maintenance drives continued success; don’t let your plan become stagnant, messy, and unusable.
Your BCM program should structure BCP reviews and updates by answering the following:
At a minimum, review goals should include:
Who leads reviews and updates documents?
The BCP Coordinator is likely heavily involved in facilitating reviews and updating documentation, at least at first. Look for opportunities to hand off document ownership to the business units over time.
How do we track reviews, tests, and updates?
Keep track of your good work by keeping a log of document changes. If you don’t have one, you can use the last tab on the BCP-DRP Maintenance Checklist.
When do we review the plan?
This tool helps you set a schedule for plan update activities, identify document and exercise owners, and log updates for audit and governance purposes.
Info-Tech Insight
Everyone gets busy. If there’s a meeting you can schedule months in advance, schedule it months in advance! Then send reminders closer to the date. As soon as you’re done the pilot BCP, set aside time in everyone’s calendar for your first review session, whether that’s three months, six months, or a year from now.
Use this template to:
If you require more detail to support your recovery procedures, you can use this template to:
Download Info-Tech’s BCP Process Workarounds & Recovery Checklists Template
Use this template to:
Download Info-Tech’s BCP Notification, Assessment, and Disaster Declaration Plan template
Use this template to:
These HR research resources live on the website of Info-Tech’s sister company, McLean & Company. Contact your Account Manager to gain access to these resources.
This blueprint outlined:
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
Dr. Bernard A. Jones, MBCI, CBCP
Professor and Continuity Consultant Berkeley College
Dr. Jones is a professor at Berkeley College within the School of Professional Studies teaching courses in Homeland Security and Emergency Management. He is a member of the National Board of Directors for the Association of Continuity Professionals (ACP) as well as the Information & Publications Committee Chair for the Garden State Chapter of the ACP. Dr. Jones earned a doctorate degree in Civil Security Leadership, Management & Policy from New Jersey City University where his research focus was on organizational resilience.
Kris L. Roberson
Disaster Recovery Analyst Veterans United Home Loans
Kris Roberson is the Disaster Recovery Analyst for Veterans United Home Loans, the #1 VA mortgage lender in the US. Kris oversees the development and maintenance of the Veterans United Home Loans DR program and leads the business continuity program. She is responsible for determining the broader strategies for DR testing and continuity planning, as well as the implementation of disaster recovery and business continuity technologies, vendors, and services. Kris holds a Masters of Strategic Leadership with a focus on organizational change management and a Bachelors in Music. She is a member of Infragard, the National Association of Professional Women, and Sigma Alpha Iota, and holds a Project+ certification.
Trevor Butler
General Manager of Information Technology City of Lethbridge
As the General Manager of Information Technology with the City of Lethbridge, Trevor is accountable for providing strategic management and advancement of the city’s information technology and communications systems consistent with the goals and priorities of the corporation while ensuring that corporate risks are appropriately managed. He has 15+ years of progressive IT leadership experience, including 10+ years with public sector organizations. He holds a B.Mgt. and PMP certification along with masters certificates in both Project Management and Business Analysis.
Robert Miller
Information Services Director Witt/Kieffer
Bob Miller is the Information Services Director at Witt/Kieffer. His department provides end-user support for all company-owned devices and software for Oak Brook, the regional offices, home offices, and traveling employees. The department purchases, implements, manages, and monitors the infrastructure, which includes web hosting, networks, wireless solutions, cell phones, servers, and file storage. Bob is also responsible for the firm’s security planning, capacity planning, and business continuity and disaster preparedness planning to ensure that the firm has functional technology to conduct business and continue business growth.
Create a Right-Sized Disaster Recovery Plan
Close the gap between your DR capabilities and service continuity requirements.
Create Visual SOP Documents that Drive Process Optimization, Not Just Peace of Mind
Go beyond satisfying auditors to drive process improvement, consistent IT operations, and effective knowledge transfer.
Select the Optimal Disaster Recovery Deployment Model
Determine which deployment models, including hybrid solutions, best meet your DR requirements.
“Business Continuity Planning.” IT Examination HandBook. The Federal Financial Institution Examination Council (FFIEC), February 2015. Web.
“Business Continuity Plans and Emergency Contact Information.” FINRA, 12 February 2015. Web.
“COBIT 5: A Business Framework for the Governance and Management of Enterprise IT.” ISACA, n.d. Web.
Disaster Resource GUIDE. Emergency Lifeline Corporation, n.d. Web.
“DR Rules & Regulations.” Disaster Recovery Journal, March 2017. Web.
“Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA).” Homeland Security, 2014. Web.
FEMA. “Planning & Templates.” FEMA, n.d. Web.
“FINRA-SEC-CFTC Joint Advisory (Regulatory Notice 13-25).” FINRA, August 2013. Web.
Gosling, Mel and Andrew Hiles. “Business Continuity Statistics: Where Myth Meets Fact.” Continuity Central, 24 April 2009. Web.
Hanwacker, Linda. “COOP Templates for Success Workbook.” The LSH Group, 2016. Web.
Potter, Patrick. “BCM Regulatory Alphabet Soup – Part Two.” RSA Link, 28 August 2012. Web.
The Good Practice Guidelines. Business Continuity Institute, 2013. Web.
Wang, Dashun and James A. Evans. “When Small Teams are Better than Big Ones.” Harvard Business Review, 21 February 2019. Web.
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Conduct a stage-gate assessment after every step below.
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Architecture is a competency, not a function. Project teams, including even business managers outside of IT, can assimilate “architectural thinking.”
Increase business value through the dissemination of architectural thinking throughout the organization. Maturing your EAM practices beyond a certain point does not help.
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Improve benefits from your enterprise architecture efforts through the dissemination of architecture thinking throughout your organization.
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Read our concise Executive Brief to find out why you building a chatbot proof of concept is a good idea, review our methodology, and understand the four ways we can support you to successfully complete this project. Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:
Build the right metrics to measure the success of your chatbot POC
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Now take your chatbot proof of concept to production
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IT leaders often realize that there are barriers impacting their employees but don’t know how to address them. This report provides insights on the barriers and actions that can help improve the lives of Black professionals in technology.
Diversity in tech is not a new topic, and it's not a secret that technology organizations struggle to attract and retain Black employees. Ever since the early '90s, large tech organizations have been dealing with public critique of their lack of diversity. This topic is close to our hearts, but unfortunately while improvements have been made, progress is quite slow.
In recent years, current events have once again brought diversity to the forefront for many organizations. In addition, the pandemic along with talent trends such as "the great resignation" and "quiet quitting" and preparations for a recession have not only impacted diversity at large but also Black professionals in technology. Our previous research has focused on the wider topic of Recruiting and Retaining People of Color in Tech, but we've found that the experiences of persons of color are not all the same.
This study focuses on the unique experience of Black professionals in technology. Over 600 people were surveyed using an online tool; interviews provided additional insights. We're excited to share our findings with you.
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Allison Straker |
Ugbad Farah |
In October 2021, we launched a survey to understand what the Black experience is like for people in technology. We wanted and received a variety of responses which would help us to understand how Black technology professionals experienced their working world. We received responses from 633 professionals, providing us with the data for this report.
For more information on our survey demographics please see the appendix at this end of this report.
26% of our respondents either identified as Black or felt the world sees them as Black.
Professionals from various countries responded to the survey:
Organizations do better and are more innovative when they have more diversity, a key ingredient in an organization's secret sauce.
Organizations also benefit from engaged employees, yet we've seen that organizations struggle with both. Just having a certain number of diverse individuals is not enough. When it comes to reaping the benefits of diversity, organizations can flourish when employees feel safe bringing their whole selves to work.
| 45% | Innovation Revenue by Companies With Above-Average Diversity Scores |
| 26% |
Innovation Revenue by Companies With Below-Average Diversity Scores |
Companies with higher employee engagement experience 19.2% higher earnings.
However, those with lower employee engagement experience 32.7% lower earnings.
(DecisionWise, 2020)
If your workforce doesn't reflect the community it serves, your business may be missing out on the chance to find great employees and break into new and growing markets, both locally and globally.
Diversity makes good business sense.
(Business Development Canada, 2023)
Why is this about Black professionals and not other diverse groups?
While there are a variety of diversity dimensions, it's important to understand what makes up a "multicultural workforce." There is more to diversity than gender, race, and ethnicity. Organizations need to understand that there is diversity within these groups and Black professionals have their own unique experience when it comes to entering and navigating tech that needs to be addressed.
(Brookfield Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, 2019)
The solutions that apply to Black professionals are not only beneficial for Black employees but for all. While all demographics are unique, the solutions in this report can support many.
Less Black professionals responded as "satisfied" in their IT careers. The question is: How do we mend the Gap?
Percentage of IT Professionals Who Reported Being Very Satisfied in Their Current Role
Our research suggests that the differences in satisfaction among ethnic groups are related to differences in value systems. We asked respondents to rank what's important, and we explored why.
Non-Black professionals rated autonomy and their manager working relationships as most important.
For Black professionals, while those were important, #1 was promotion and growth opportunities, ranked #7 by all other professionals. This is a significant discrepancy.
Recognition of my work/accomplishments also was viewed significantly differently, with Black professionals ranking it low on the list at #7 and all other professionals considering it very important at #3.
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All Other Professionals |
Black Professionals |
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In Maslow's hierarchy, it is necessary for people to achieve items lower on the hierarchy before they can successfully pursue the higher tiers.
Too many Black professionals in tech are busy trying to achieve some of the lower parts of the hierarchy; it is stopping them from achieving elements higher up that can lead to job satisfaction.
This can stop them from gaining esteem, importance, and ultimately, self-actualization. The barriers that impact safety and social belonging happen on a day-to-day basis, and so the day-to-day lives of Black professionals in tech can look very different from their counterparts.
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| There are various barriers that increase the likelihood for Black professionals to focus on the lower end of the needs hierarchy: |
These are among some of the solutions that, when layered, can support Black professionals in tech in moving up the needs hierarchy. Focusing on these actions can support Black professionals in achieving much needed job satisfaction. |
The barriers that Black professionals encounter aren't limited to the same barriers as their colleagues, and too often this means that they aren't in a position to grow their careers in a way that leads to job satisfaction.
There is a 11% gap between the satisfaction of Black professionals and their peers.
Early Steps:
Take time to understand the Black experience.
As leaders, it's important to be aware that employee goals vary depending on the barriers they're battling with.
Intermediate:
If Black employees don't have strong relationships, networks, and mentorships it becomes increasingly difficult to navigate the path to upward mobility.
As a leader, you can look for opportunities to bridge the gap on these types of conversations.
Advanced:
Black professionals in tech are not advancing like their counterparts.
Creating clear career paths will not only benefit Black employees but also support your entire organization.
Key metrics:
Common barriers
Black professionals, like their colleagues, encounter barriers as they try to advance their careers. The barriers both groups encounter include microaggressions, racism, ageism, accessibility issues, sexual orientation, bias due to religion, lack of a career-supported network, gender bias, family status bias, and discrimination due to language/accents.
Microaggressions and racism are at the top of these barriers, but Black professionals also deal with other barriers that their colleagues may experience, such as gender-based bias, accessibility issues, religion, and more.
One of these barriers alone can be difficult to deal with but when they are compounded it can be very difficult to navigate through the working environment in tech.
A statement, action, or incident regarded as an instance of indirect, subtle, or unintentional discrimination against members of a marginalized group such as a racial or ethnic minority.
(Oxford Languages, 2023)
These things may seem innocent enough but the messaging that is received and the lasting impression is often far from it.
Our research shows that racism and discrimination contribute to poor mental health among Black professionals.
"The experience of having to question whether something happened to you because of your race or constantly being on edge because your environment is hostile can often leave people feeling invisible, silenced, angry, and resentful."
Dr. Joy Bradford,
clinical Psychologist, qtd. In Pfizer
Both groups had some success finding jobs in "no time" – however, there was a difference. Thirty-four percent of "all others" found their jobs quickly, while the numbers were less for Black professionals, at 26%. There was also a difference at the opposite end of the spectrum. For 29% of Black professionals, it took seven months or longer to find their IT job, while that number is only 19% for their peers.
.
This points to the need for improvements in recruitment and career advancement.
29% of Black respondents said that it took them 7 months or longer to find their technology job.
Compared to 19% of all other professionals that selected the same response.
Our research shows that compared to all other ethnicities; Black participants were 55% more likely to report that they had no career advancement/promotion in their career. There is a bigger percentage of Black professionals who have never received a promotion; there's also a large number of Black professionals who have been working a significant amount time in the same role without a promotion.
Black participants were 55% more likely to report that they had had no career advancement/promotion in their career.
When employees feel disillusioned with things like career advancement and microaggressions, they often become disengaged. When you continuously have to steel yourself against microaggressions, racism, and other barriers, it prevents you from bringing your whole self to the office. The barriers can lead to what's been coined as "emotional tax." An emotional tax is the experience of feeling different from colleagues because of your inherent diversity and the associated negative effects on health, wellbeing, and the ability to thrive at work.
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Earnings of companies with higher employee engagement |
19.2% |
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Earnings of companies with lower employee engagement |
-32.7% |
(DecisionWise, 2020)
"I've conditioned myself for the corporate world, I don't bring my authentic self to work."
Anonymous Interview Subject
Lack of engagement also costs the organization in terms of turnover, something many organizations today are struggling with how to address. Organizations want to increase the ability of the workforce to remain in the organization. For Black employees, this gets harder when they're not engaged and they're the only one. When the emotional tax gets to be too much, this can lead to turnover. Turnover not only costs companies billions in profits, it also negatively impacts leadership diversity. It's difficult to imagine career growth when you don't see anyone that looks like you at the top. It is a challenge to see your future when there aren't others that you can relate to at top levels in the organization, leading to one of our interview subjects to muse, "How long can I last?"
"Being Black in tech can be hard on your mental health. Your mind is constantly wondering, 'how long can I last?' "
Anonymous Interview Subject
For many Black professionals, "code-switching," or altering the way one speaks and acts depending on context, becomes the norm to make others more comfortable. Many feel that being authentic and succeeding in the workplace are mutually exclusive.
We asked respondents "What's in place to build an inclusive culture at your company?" Most respondents (51% and 45%) reported that there were employee resource groups at their organizations.
There are various actions that organizations can take to help address barriers.
It's important to ensure these are not put in as band-aid solutions but that they are carefully thought out and layered.
Our findings demonstrate that remote work, career development, and DEI programs along with mentorship and diverse leadership are strong enablers of professional satisfaction. An unfortunate consequence, if professionals are not nurtured, is that we risk losing much needed talent to self-employment or to other organizations.
Respondents were asked to distribute points across potential solutions that could lead to job satisfaction. The ratings showed that there were common solutions that could be leveraged across all groups.
Respondents were asked what solutions were valuable for their career development.
All groups were mostly aligned on the order of the solutions that would lead to career satisfaction; however, Black professionals rated the importance of employee resource groups as higher than their colleagues did.
Mentorship and sponsorship are seen as key for all employees, as is of course training.
However, employee resource groups (ERGs) were rated significantly higher for Black professionals and discussions around diversity were higher for their colleagues. This may be because other groups feel a need to learn more about diversity, whereas Black professionals live this experience on a day-to day basis, so it's not as critical for them.
Mentorship and sponsorship help to close the job satisfaction gap for Black IT professionals. The percentage of satisfied Black employees almost doubles when they have a mentor or sponsorship, moving the satisfaction rate to closer to all other colleagues.
As leaders, you likely benefit from a few different advisors, and your staff should be able to benefit in the same way.
They can have their own personal board of advisors, both inside and outside of your organization, helping them to navigate the working world in IT.
To support your staff, provide guidance and coaching to internal mentors so that they can best support employees, and ensure that your organizational culture supports relationship building and trust.
Performance-driven guidance geared to support the employee with on-the-job performance. This could be a short-term relationship.
A relationship where the mentor provides guidance, information, and expertise to support the long-term career development of the mentee.
The act of advocating on the behalf of another for a position, promotion, development opportunity, etc. over a longer period.
For more information on setting up a mentorship program, see Optimize the Mentoring Program to Build a High Performing Learning Organization.
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"With some degree of mentorship or sponsorship, it means that your ability to thrive or to have a positive experience in organizations increases substantially. Mentorship and sponsorship are very often the lynchpin of someone being successful and sticking with an organization. Sponsorship is an endorsement to other high-level stakeholders who very often are the gatekeepers of opportunity. Sponsors help to shepherd you through the gate." |
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Carlos Thomas |
Employee resource groups enable employees to connect in their workplace based on shared characteristics or life experiences.
ERGs generally focus on providing support, enhancing career development, and contributing to personal development in the work environment. Some ERGs provide advice to the organization on how they can support their diverse employees.
As leaders, you should support and encourage the formation of ERGs in your organization.
What each ERG does will vary according to the needs of employees in your organization. Your role is to enable the ERGs as they are created and maintained.
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"Employee resource groups, when leveraged in an authentically intentional way, can be the some of the most impactful stakeholders in the development and implementation of the organizational diversity, equity, and inclusion strategy. ERGs are essential to the development of policies, programs, and initiatives that address the needs of equity-seeking groups and are key to driving organizational culture and employee wellbeing, in addition to hiring and recruitment. ERGs must be set up for success by having adequate resources to do the work, which includes adequate budgets, executive sponsorship, training, support, and capacity to do the work. According to a Great Place To Work survey (2021), 50% of ERGs identified the need for adequate resources as a challenge for carrying out the work.:" |
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CINNAMON CLARK |
Representation at leadership levels is especially stagnant.
Black Americans comprise 13.6% of the US population
(2022 data from the US Census Bureau)
And yet only 5.9% of the country's CEOs are Black, with only 6 (1%) at the top of Fortune 500 companies.
(2021 data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and Fortune.com)
I've never worked for a company that has Black executives. It's difficult to envision long-term growth with an organization when you don't see yourself represented in leadership.
– Anonymous Interview Subject
Our research shows that Black professionals are more satisfied in their role when they see leaders that look like them.
Satisfaction of other professionals is not as impacted by diversity in leadership as for Black professionals. Satisfaction doubles in organizations that have a diverse leadership team.
To reap the benefits from diversity, we need to ensure diversity is not just in entry or mid-level positions and provide employees an opportunity to see diversity in their company's leadership.
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"As a Black professional leader, it's not lost on me that I have a responsibility. I have to demonstrate authenticity, professionalism, and exemplary behavior that others can mimic. And I must also showcase that there are possibilities for those coming up in their career. I feel very grateful that I can bestow onto others my knowledge, my experience, my journey, and the tips that I've used to help bring me to be where I am. |
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C. Fara Francis |
While all groups have embraced the work-from-home movement, many Black professionals find it reduces the impact of racial incidents in the workplace.
I have to guard and protect myself from experiencing and witnessing racism every day. I am currently working remotely, and I can say for certain my mood and demeanor have improved. Not having to decide if I should address a racist comment or action has made my day easier.
Source: Slate, 2022
Survey respondents were asked about the positive and negative changes they saw in their interactions and experiences with remote work. Black employees and their colleagues replied similarly, with mostly positive experiences.
While both groups enjoyed better chances for career advancement, the difference was significantly higher for Black professionals.
The biggest reasons for both groups in choosing self-employment were for better pay, career growth, and work/life balance.
While the desire for better pay was the highest reason for both groups, for engaged employees salary is a lower priority than other concerns (Adecco Group's Global Workforce of the Future report). Consider salary in conjunction with career growth, work/life balance, and the variety in the work that your employees have.
If we don't consider our Black employees, not only do we risk them leaving the organization, but they may decide to just work for themselves.
38% of all respondents believe their organizations are very committed to DEI
49% believe they are somewhat committed
9% feel they are not committed
4% are unsure
Make sure supports are in place to help your employees grow in their careers:
Leadership
IT Leadership Career Planning Research Center
Diversity and Inclusion Tactics
IT Diversity & Inclusion Tactics
Employee Development Planning
Implement an IT Employee Development Plan
While organization's efforts are acknowledged, Black professionals aren't as optimistic about the commitment as their peers. Make sure that your programs are reaching the various groups you want to impact, to increase the likelihood of satisfaction in their roles.
SATISFACTION INCREASES IN BOTH BLACK AND NON-BLACK PROFESSIONALS
When they believe in their company's commitment to diversity, equity. and inclusion.
Of those who believe in their organization's commitment, 61% of Black professionals and 67% of non-Black professionals are very satisfied in their roles.
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BELIEVE THEIR ORGANIZATION IS NOT COMMITTED TO DEI |
BELIEVE THEIR ORGANIZATION IS VERY COMMITTED TO DEI |
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NON-BLACK PROFESSIONALS |
8% |
41% |
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BLACK PROFESSIONALS |
13% |
30% |
It's important to understand the current landscape:
We recognize that resolving this is not easy. Although senior executives are recognizing that a diverse set of experiences, perspectives, and backgrounds is crucial to fostering innovation and competing on the global stage, organizations often don't take the extra step to actively look for racialized talent, and many people still believe that race doesn't play an important part in an individual's ability to access opportunities.
Look at a variety of solutions that you can implement within your organization; layering solutions is the key to driving business diversity. Always keep in mind that diversity is not a monolith, that the experiences of each demographic varies.
Diversity in tech survey
As part of the research process for the State of Black Tech Report, Info-Tech Research Group conducted an open online survey among its membership and wider community of professionals. The survey was fielded from October 2021 to April 2022, collecting 633 responses.
Education was fairly consistent across both groups, with a few exceptions: more Black professionals had secondary school (9% vs. 4%) and more Black professionals had Doctorate degrees (4% vs. 2%).
We had more non-Black respondents with 20+ years of experience (31% vs. 19%) and more Black respondents with less than 1 year of experience (8% vs. 5%) – the rest of the years of experience were consistent across the two groups.
It is important to recognize that people are often seen by "the world" as belonging to a different race or set of races than what they personally identify as. Both aspects impact a professional's experience in the workplace.
Barton, LeRon. “I’m Black. Remote Work Has Been Great for My Mental Health.” Slate, 15 July 2022.
“Black or African American alone, percent.” U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts: United States. Accessed 14 February 2023.
Boyle, Matthew. “More Workers Ready to Quit Over ‘Window Dressing’ Racism Efforts.” Bloomberg.com, 9 June 2022.
Boyle, Matthew. “Remote Work Has Vastly Improved the Black Worker Experience.” Bloomberg.com, 5 October 2021.
Cooper, Frank, and Ranjay Gulati. “What Do Black Executives Really Want?” Harvard Business Review, 18 November 2021.
“Emotional Tax.” Catalyst. Accessed 1 April 2022.
“Employed Persons by Detailed Occupation, Sex, Race, and Hispanic or Latino Ethnicity” U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Accessed February 14, 2023.
“Equality in Tech Report - Welcome.” Dice, 9 March 2022. Accessed 23 March 2022.
Erb, Marcus. "Leaders Are Missing the Promise and Problems of Employee Resource Groups." Great Place To Work, 30 June 2021.
Gawlak, Emily, et al. “Key Findings - Being Black In Corporate America.” Coqual, Center for Talent Innovation (CTI), 2019.
“Global Workforce of the Future Research.” Adecco, 2022. Accessed 4 February 2023.
Gruman, Galen. “The State of Ethnic Minorities in U.S. Tech: 2020.” Computerworld, 21 September 2020. Accessed 31 May 2022.
Hancock, Bryan, et al. “Black Workers in the US Private Sector.” McKinsey, 21 February 2021. Accessed 1 April 2022.
“Hierarchy Of Needs Applied To Employee Engagement.” Proactive Insights, 12 February 2020.
Hobbs, Cecyl. “Shaping the Future of Leadership for Black Tech Talent.” Russell Reynolds Associates, 27 January 2022. Accessed 3 August 2022.
Hubbard, Lucas. “Race, Not Job, Predicts Economic Outcomes for Black Households.” Duke Today, 16 September 2021. Accessed 30 May 2022.
Knight, Marcus. “How the Tech Industry Can Be More Inclusive to the Black Community.” Crunchbase, 23 February 2022.
“Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs in Employee Engagement (Pre and Post Covid 19).” Vantage Circle HR Blog, 30 May 2022.
McDonald, Autumn. “The Racism of the ‘Hard-to-Find’ Qualified Black Candidate Trope (SSIR).” Stanford Social Innovation Review, 1 June 2021. Accessed 13 December 2021.
McGlauflin, Paige. “The Fortune 500 Features 6 Black CEOs—and the First Black Founder Ever.” Fortune, 23 May 2022. Accessed 14 February 2023.
“Microaggression." Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford Languages, 2023.
Reed, Jordan. "Understanding Racial Microaggression and Its Effect on Mental Health." Pfizer, 26 August 2020.
Shemla, Meir “Why Workplace Diversity Is So Important, And Why It’s So Hard To Achieve.” Forbes, 22 August 2018. Accessed 4 February 2023.
“The State of Black Women in Corporate America.” Lean In and McKinsey & Company, 2020. Accessed 14 January 2022.
Van Bommel, Tara. “The Power of Empathy in Times of Crisis and Beyond (Report).” Catalyst, 2021. Accessed 1 April 2022.
Vu, Viet, Creig Lamb, and Asher Zafar. “Who Are Canada’s Tech Workers?” Brookfield Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, January 2019. Accessed on Canadian Electronic Library, 2021. Web.
Warner, Justin. “The ROI of Employee Engagement: Show Me the Money!” DecisionWise, 1 January 2020. Web.
White, Sarah K. “5 Revealing Statistics about Career Challenges Black IT Pros Face.” CIO (blog), 9 February 2023. Accessed 5 July 2022.
Williams, Joan C. “Stop Asking Women of Color to Do Unpaid Diversity Work.” Bloomberg.com, 14 April 2022.
Williams, Joan C., Rachel Korn, and Asma Ghani. “A New Report Outlines Some of the Barriers Facing Asian Women in Tech.” Fast Company, 13 April 2022.
Wilson, Valerie, Ethan Miller, and Melat Kassa. “Racial representation in professional occupations.” Economic Policy Institute, 8 June 2021.
“Workplace Diversity: Why It’s Good for Business.” Business Development Canada (BDC.ca), 6 Feb. 2023. Accessed 4 February 2023.
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Use this storyboard to lay the foundation of people and resources management practices in your small enterprise IT department.
Use these concise exercises to analyze your department’s talent current and future needs and create a skill sourcing strategy to fill the gaps.
Work through an activity to discover key knowledge held by an employee and create a plan to transfer that knowledge to a successor.
Assess employees’ development needs and draft a development plan that fits with key organizational priorities.
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.
Set project direction and analyze workforce needs.
Planful needs analysis ensures future workforce supports organizational goals.
1.1 Set workforce planning goals and success metrics.
1.2 Identify key roles and competency gaps.
1.3 Conduct a risk analysis to identify future needs.
1.4 Determine readiness of internal successors.
Work with the leadership team to:
Extract key business priorities.
Set your goals.
Assess workforce needs.
Conduct a skill sourcing analysis, and determine competencies to develop internally.
A careful analysis ensures skills are being sourced in the most efficient way, and internal development is highly aligned with organizational objectives.
2.1 Determine your skill sourcing route.
2.2 Determine priority competencies for development.
Create a workforce plan.
2.Determine guidelines for employee development.
Discover knowledge to be transferred, and build a transfer plan.
Ensure key knowledge is not lost in the event of a departure.
3.1 Discover knowledge to be transferred.
3.2 Identify the optimal knowledge transfer methods.
3.3 Create a knowledge transfer plan.
Discover tacit and explicit knowledge.
Create a knowledge transfer roadmap.
Create a development plan for all staff.
A well-structured development plan helps engage and retain employees while driving organizational objectives.
4.1 Identify target competencies & draft development goals
4.2 Select development activities and schedule check-ins.
4.3 Build manager coaching skills.
Assess employees.
Prioritize development objectives.
Plan development activities.
Build management skills.
Research Navigation
Managing the people in your department is essential, whether you have three employees or 300. Depending on your available time, resources, and current workforce management maturity, you may choose to focus on the overall essentials, or dive deep into particular areas of talent management. Use the questions below to help guide you to the right Info-Tech resources that best align with your current needs.
| Question | If you answered "no" | If you answered "yes" |
|---|---|---|
|
Does your IT department have fewer than 15 employees, and is your organization's revenue less than $25 million (USD)? |
Review Info-Tech's archive of research for mid-sized and large enterprise clients. |
Follow the guidance in this blueprint. |
|
Does your organization require a more rigorous and customizable approach to workforce management? |
Follow the guidance in this blueprint. |
Review Info-Tech's archive of research for mid-sized and large enterprise clients. |
It can be tempting to think of workforce planning as a bureaucratic exercise reserved for the largest and most formal of organizations. But workforce planning is never more important than in small enterprises, where every individual accounts for a significant portion of your overall productivity.
Without workforce planning, organizations find themselves in reactive mode, hiring new staff as the need arises. They often pay a premium for having to fill a position quickly or suffer productivity losses when a critical role goes unexpectedly vacant.
A workforce plan helps you anticipate these challenges, come up with solutions to mitigate them, and allocate resources for the most impact, which means a greater return on your workforce investment in the long run.
This blueprint will help you accomplish this quickly and efficiently. It will also provide you with the essential development and knowledge transfer tools to put your plan into action.
Jane Kouptsova
Senior Research Analyst, CIO Advisory
Info-Tech Research Group
52% of small business owners agree that labor quality is their most important problem.1
Almost half of all small businesses face difficulty due to staff turnover.
76% of executives expect the talent market to get even more challenging.2
76% of executives expect workforce planning to become a top strategic priority for their organization.2
But…
30% of small businesses do not have a formal HR function.3
Small business leaders are often left at a disadvantage for hiring and retaining the best talent, and they face even more difficulty due to a lack of support from HR.
Small enterprises must solve the strategic workforce planning problem, but they cannot invest the same time or resources that large enterprises have at their disposal.
A modular, lightweight approach to workforce planning and talent management, tailored to small enterprises
Clear activities that guide your team to decisive action
Founded on your IT strategy, ensuring you have not just good people, but the right people
Concise yet comprehensive, covering the entire workforce lifecycle from competency planning to development to succession planning and reskilling
Every resource counts. When one hire represents 10% of your workforce, it is essential to get it right.
1CNBC & SurveyMonkey. 2ADP. 3Clutch.
Strategic workforce planning (SWP) is a systematic process designed to identify and address gaps in today's workforce, including pinpointing the human capital needs of the future.
Linking workforce planning with strategic planning ensures that you have the right people in the right positions, in the right places, at the right time, with the knowledge, skills, and attributes to deliver on strategic business goals.
SWP helps you understand the makeup of your current workforce and how well prepared it is or isn't (as the case may be) to meet future IT requirements. By identifying capability gaps early, CIOs can prepare to train or develop current staff and minimize the need for severance payouts and hiring costs, while providing clear career paths to retain high performers.
|
52% |
of small business owners agree that labor quality is their most important problem.1 |
|---|---|
|
30% |
30% of small businesses have no formal HR function.2 |
|
76% |
of senior leaders expect workforce planning to become the top strategic challenge for their organization.3 |
1CNBC & SurveyMonkey. 2Clutch. 3ADP.
You know that staffing mistakes can cost your department dearly. But did you know the costs are greater for small enterprises?
The price of losing an individual goes beyond the cost of hiring a replacement, which can range from 0.5 to 2 times that employee's salary (Gallup, 2019). Additional costs include loss of productivity, business knowledge, and team morale.
This is a major challenge for large organizations, but the threat is even greater for small enterprises, where a single individual accounts for a large proportion of IT's productivity. Losing one of a team of 10 means 10% of your total output. If that individual was solely responsible for a critical function, your department now faces a significant gap in its capabilities. And the effect on morale is much greater when everyone is on the same close-knit team.
And the threat continues when the staffing error causes you not to lose a valuable employee, but to hire the wrong one instead. When a single individual makes up a large percentage of your workforce, as happens on small teams, the effects of talent management errors are magnified.

One bad hire on a team of 100 is a problem. One bad hire on a team of 10 is a disaster.
People and Resource management is essential for any organization. But depending on your needs, you may want to start at different stages of the process. Use this slide as a quick reference for how the activities in this blueprint fit together, how they relate to other workforce management resources, and the best starting point for you.
Your IT strategy is an essential input to your workforce plan. It defines your destination, while your workforce is the vessel that carries you there. Ensure you have at least an informal strategy for your department before making major workforce changes, or review Info-Tech's guidance on IT strategy.
This blueprint covers the parts of workforce management that occur to some extent in every organization:
You may additionally want to seek guidance on contract and vendor management, if you outsource some part of your workload outside your core IT staff.
Consider these example metrics for tracking people and resource management success
| Project Outcome | Metric | Baseline | Target |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reduced training costs | Average cost of training (including facilitation, materials, facilities, equipment, etc.) per IT employee | ||
| Reduced number of overtime hours worked | Average hours billed at overtime rate per IT employee | ||
| Reduced length of hiring period | Average number of days between job ad posting and new hire start date | ||
| Reduced number of project cancellations due to lack of capacity | Total of number of projects cancelled per year | ||
| Increased number of projects completed per year (project throughput) | Total number of project completions per year | ||
| Greater net recruitment rate | Number of new recruits/Number of terminations and departures | ||
| Reduced turnover and replacement costs | Total costs associated with replacing an employee, including position coverage cost, training costs, and productivity loss | ||
| Reduced voluntary turnover rate | Number of voluntary departures/Total number of employees | ||
| Reduced productivity loss following a departure or termination | Team or role performance metrics (varies by role) vs. one year ago |
“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.”
| Phase 1 | Phase 2 | Phase 3 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Call #1: Scope requirements, objectives, and your specific challenges. |
Call #2: Assess current workforce needs. |
Call #4: Determine skill sourcing route. |
Call #6: Identify knowledge to be transferred. |
Call #8: Draft development goals and select activities. |
|
Call #3: Explore internal successor readiness. |
Call #5:Set priority development competencies. |
Call #7: Create a knowledge transfer plan. |
Call #9: Build managers' coaching & feedback skills. |
|
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 4 to 6 calls over the course of 3 to 4 months.
Contact your account representative for more information.
workshops@infotech.com 1-888-670-8889
Day 1 |
Day 2 |
Day 3 |
Day 4 |
Day 5 |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1.Lay Your Foundations | 2. Create Your Workforce Plan | 3. Plan Knowledge Transfer | 3. Plan Employee Development | Next Steps and Wrap-Up (offsite) | |
| Activities |
1.1 Set workforce planning goals and success metrics 1.2 Identify key roles and competency gaps 1.3 Conduct a risk analysis to identify future needs 1.4 Determine readiness of internal successors |
1.5 Determine your skill sourcing route 1.6 Determine priority competencies for development |
3.1 Discover knowledge to be transferred 3.2 Identify the optimal knowledge transfer methods 3.3 Create a knowledge transfer plan |
4.1 Identify target competencies & draft development goals 4.2 Select development activities and schedule check-ins 4.3 Build manager coaching skills |
|
|
Outcomes |
Work with the leadership team to:
|
Work with the leadership team to:
|
Work with staff and managers to:
|
Work with staff and managers to:
|
Info-Tech analysts complete:
|
Contact your account representative for more information.
workshops@infotech.com 1-888-670-8889
Each onsite day is structured with group working sessions from 9-11 a.m. and 1:30-3:30 p.m. and includes Open Analyst Timeslots, where our facilitators are available to expand on scheduled activities, capture and compile workshop results, or review additional components from our comprehensive approach.
|
Workforce Planning |
Knowledge Transfer |
Development Planning |
|---|---|---|
|
Identify needs, goals, metrics, and skill gaps. Select a skill sourcing strategy. |
Discover critical knowledge. Select knowledge transfer methods. |
Identify priority competencies. Assess employees. Draft development goals. Provide coaching & feedback. |
The Small Enterprise Guide to People and Resource Management
Strategic workforce planning (SWP) is a systematic process designed to identify and address gaps in your workforce today and plan for the human capital needs of the future.
Your workforce plan is an extension of your IT strategy, ensuring that you have the right people in the right positions, in the right places, at the right time, with the knowledge, skills, and attributes to deliver on strategic business goals.
SWP helps you understand the makeup of your current workforce and how well prepared it is or isn't (as the case may be) to meet future IT requirements. By identifying capability gaps early, CIOs can prepare to train or develop current staff and minimize the need for severance payouts and hiring costs, while providing clear career paths to retain high performers.
The smaller the business, the more impact each individual's performance has on the overall success of the organization. When a given role is occupied by a single individual, the organization's performance in that function is determined wholly by one employee. Creating a workforce plan for a small team may seem excessive, but it ensures your organization is not unexpectedly hit with a critical competency gap.
Small organizations are 2.2 times more likely to have effective workforce planning processes.1 Be mindful of the opportunities and risks for organizations of your size as you execute the project. How you build your workforce plan will not change drastically based on the size of your organization; however, the scope of your initiative, the size of your team, and the tactics you employ may vary.
|
Small Organization |
Medium Organization |
Large Organization |
|
|---|---|---|---|
|
Project Opportunities |
|
|
|
|
Project Risks |
|
|
|
1 McLean & Company Trends Report 2014
|
Input |
Output |
|---|---|
|
|
|
Materials |
Participants |
|
|
Record this information in the Workforce Planning Workbook for Small Enterprises.
Download the Workforce Planning Workbook for Small Enterprises
| Input | Output |
|---|---|
|
|
| Materials | Participants |
|
|
A risk analysis takes into account two factors: an employee's risk for departure and the impact of departure:
If you are not sure where an employee stands with respect to leaving the organization, consider having a development conversation with them. In the meantime, consider them at medium risk for departure.
Preparation: Your estimation of whether key employees are at risk of leaving the organization will depend on what you know of them objectively (skills, age), as well as what you learn from development conversations. Ensure you collect all relevant information prior to conducting this activity. You may need to speak with employees' direct managers beforehand or include them in the discussion.
Record this information in the Workforce Planning Workbook for Small Enterprises.
Don't be afraid to rank most or all your staff as "high impact of departure." In a small enterprise, every player counts, and you must plan accordingly.
| Input | Output |
|---|---|
|
|
| Materials | Participants |
|
|
The characteristics of need steer hiring managers to a preferred choice, while the marketplace analysis will tell you the feasibility of each option.
|
Sourcing Options |
Preferred Options |
Final Choice |
||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|
|
|
| State of the Marketplace |
State of the Marketplace |
|||
|
Urgency: How soon do we need this skill? What is the required time-to-value? Criticality: How critical, i.e. core to business goals, are the services or systems that this skill will support? Novelty: Is this skill brand new to our workforce? Availability: How often, and at what hours, will the skill be needed? Durability: For how long will this skill be needed? Just once, or indefinitely for regular operations? |
Scarcity: How popular or desirable is this skill? Do we have a large enough talent pool to draw from? What competition are we facing for top talent? Cost: How much will it cost to hire vs. contract vs. outsource vs. train this skill? Preparedness: Do we have internal resources available to cultivate this skill in house? |
Record this information in the Workforce Planning Workbook for Small Enterprises.
Consider developing a pool of successors instead of pinning your hopes on just one person. A single pool of successors can be developed for either one key role that has specialized requirements or even multiple key roles that have generic requirements.
Input | Output |
|---|---|
|
|
Materials | Participants |
|
|
A readiness assessment helps to define not just development needs, but also any risks around the organization's ability to fill a key role.
Input | Output |
|---|---|
|
|
Materials | Participants |
|
|
Alternative work arrangements not only support employees who want to keep working, but more importantly, they allow the business to retain employees that are needed in key roles who are departure risks due to retirement.
Viewing retirement as a gradual process can help you slow down skill loss in your organization and ensure you have sufficient time to train successors. Retiring workers are becoming increasingly open to alternative work arrangements. Among employed workers aged 50-75, more than half planned to continue working part-time after retirement.
Source: Statistics Canada.
Source: McLean & Company, N=44
| 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. |
| Alternative Work Arrangement | Description | Ideal Use | Caveats |
|---|---|---|---|
| Part-year jobs or job sharing | Working 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 off | Additional 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 roles | Concentration 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. |
Workforce Planning | Knowledge Transfer | Development Planning |
|---|---|---|
Identify needs, goals, metrics, and skill gaps. Select a skill sourcing strategy. | Discover critical knowledge. Select knowledge transfer methods. | Identify priority competencies. Assess employees. Draft development goals. Provide coaching & feedback. |
The Small Enterprise Guide to People and Resource Management
|
Define what knowledge needs to be transferred |
Each knowledge source has unique information which needs to be transferred. Chances are you don't know what you don't know. The first step is therefore to interview knowledge sources to find out. |
|---|---|
|
Identify the knowledge receiver |
Depending on who the information is going to, the knowledge transfer tactic you employ will differ. Before deciding on the knowledge receiver and tactic, consider three key factors:
|
|
Identify which knowledge transfer tactics you will use for each knowledge asset |
Not all tactics are good in every situation. Always keep the "knowledge type" (information, process, skills, and expertise), knowledge sources' engagement level, and the knowledge receiver in mind as you select tactics. |
There are two basic types of knowledge: "explicit" and "tacit." Ensure you capture both to get a well-rounded overview of the role.
| Explicit | Tacit | ||
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
||
|
Types of explicit knowledge |
Types of tacit knowledge |
||
| Information | Process | Skills | Expertise |
|
Specialized technical knowledge. Unique design capabilities/methods/models. Legacy systems, details, passwords. Special formulas/algorithms/ techniques/contacts. |
|
|
|
|
e.g. Knowing the lyrics to a song, building a bike, knowing the alphabet, watching a YouTube video on karate. |
e.g. Playing the piano, riding a bike, reading or speaking a language, earning a black belt in karate. |
||
Multiple methods should be used to transfer as much of a person's knowledge as possible, and mentoring should always be one of them. Select your method according to the following criteria:
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.
Ensure you consult the employees, and their direct manager, on the way they are best prepared to teach and learn. Some examples of preferences include:
Consider costs beyond the monetary. 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.
Record your plan in the IT Knowledge Transfer Plan Template.
Download the IT Knowledge Identification Interview Guide Template
Download the Knowledge Transfer Plan Template
Wherever possible, ask employees about their personal learning styles. It's likely that a collaborative compromise will have to be struck for knowledge transfer to work well.
Input | Output |
|---|---|
|
|
Materials | Participants |
|
|
| Knowledge Type | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tactic | Explicit | Tacit | ||
| Information | Process | Skills | Expertise | |
| Interviews | Very Strong | Strong | Strong | Strong |
| Process Mapping | Medium | Very Strong | Very Weak | Very Weak |
| Use Cases | Medium | Very Strong | Very Weak | Very Weak |
| Job Shadow | Very Weak | Medium | Very Strong | Very Strong |
| Peer Assist | Strong | Medium | Very Strong | Very Strong |
| Action Review | Medium | Medium | Strong | Strong |
| Mentoring | Weak | Weak | Strong | Very Strong |
| Transition Workshop | Strong | Strong | Strong | Weak |
| Storytelling | Weak | Weak | Strong | Very Strong |
| Job Share | Weak | Weak | Very Strong | Very Strong |
| Communities of Practice | Strong | Weak | Very Strong | Very Strong |
This table shows the relative strengths and weaknesses of each knowledge transfer tactic compared against four different knowledge types.
Not all techniques are effective for all types of knowledge; it is important to use a healthy mixture of techniques to optimize effectiveness.
| Level of Engagement | ||
|---|---|---|
| Tactic | Disengaged/ Indifferent | Almost Engaged - Engaged |
| Interviews | Yes | Yes |
| Process Mapping | Yes | Yes |
| Use Cases | Yes | Yes |
| Job Shadow | No | Yes |
| Peer Assist | Yes | Yes |
| Action Review | Yes | Yes |
| Mentoring | No | Yes |
| Transition Workshop | Yes | Yes |
| Storytelling | No | Yes |
| Job Share | Maybe | Yes |
| Communities of Practice | Maybe | Yes |
When considering which tactics to employ, it's important to consider the knowledge holder's level of engagement. Employees who you would identify as being disengaged may not make good candidates for job shadowing, mentoring, or other tactics where they are required to do additional work or are asked to influence others.
Knowledge transfer can be controversial for all employees as it can cause feelings of job insecurity. It's essential that motivations for knowledge transfer are communicated effectively.
Pay particular attention to your communication style with disengaged and indifferent employees, communicate frequently, and tie communication back to what's in it for them.
Putting disengaged employees in a position where they are mentoring others can be a risk, as their negativity could influence others not to participate, or it could negate the work you're doing to create a positive knowledge sharing culture.
|
Effort by Stakeholder |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Tactic |
Business Analyst |
IT Manager |
Knowledge Holder |
Knowledge Receiver |
|
Interviews These tactics require the least amount of effort, especially for organizations that are already using these tactics for a traditional requirements gathering process. |
Medium |
N/A |
Low |
Low |
|
Process Mapping |
Medium |
N/A |
Low |
Low |
|
Use Cases |
Medium |
N/A |
Low |
Low |
|
Job Shadow |
Medium |
Medium |
Medium |
Medium |
|
Peer Assist |
Medium |
Medium |
Medium |
Medium |
|
Action Review These tactics generally require more involvement from IT management and the BA in tandem for preparation. They will also require ongoing effort for all stakeholders. It's important to gain stakeholder buy-in as it is key for success. |
Low |
Medium |
Medium |
Low |
|
Mentoring |
Medium |
High |
High |
Medium |
|
Transition Workshop |
Medium |
Low |
Medium |
Low |
|
Storytelling |
Medium |
Medium |
Low |
Low |
|
Job Share |
Medium |
High |
Medium |
Medium |
|
Communities of Practice |
High |
Medium |
Medium |
Medium |
Workforce Planning | Knowledge Transfer | Development Planning |
|---|---|---|
Identify needs, goals, metrics, and skill gaps. Select a skill sourcing strategy. | Discover critical knowledge. Select knowledge transfer methods. | Identify priority competencies. Assess employees. Draft development goals. Provide coaching & feedback. |
The Small Enterprise Guide to People and Resource Management
Your performance management framework is rooted in organizational goals and defines what it means to do any given role well.
Your organization's priority competencies are the knowledge, skills and attributes that enable an employee to do the job well.
Each individual's development goals are then aimed at building these priority competencies.
|
Mission Statement |
To be the world's leading manufacturer and distributor of widgets. |
|---|---|
|
Business Goal |
To increase annual revenue by 10%. |
|
IT Department Objective |
To ensure reliable communications infrastructure and efficient support for our sales and development teams. |
|
Individual Role Objective |
To decrease time to resolution of support requests by 10% while maintaining quality. |
Without a performance management framework, your employees cannot align their development with the organization's goals. For detailed guidance, see Info-Tech's blueprint Setting Meaningful Employee Performance Measures.
The term "competency" refers to the collection of knowledge, skills, and attributes an employee requires to do a job well.
Often organizations have competency frameworks that consist of core, leadership, and functional competencies.
Core competencies apply to every role in the organization. Typically, they are tied to organizational values and business mission and/or vision.
Functional competencies are at the department, work group, or job role levels. They are a direct reflection of the function or type of work carried out.
Leadership competencies generally apply only to people managers in the organization. Typically, they are tied to strategic goals in the short to medium term
| Generic | Functional |
|---|---|
|
|
S |
Specific: Be specific about what you want to accomplish. Think about who needs to be involved, what you're trying to accomplish, and when the goal should be met. |
|---|---|
M |
Measurable: Set metrics that will help to determine whether the goal has been reached. |
A |
Achievable: Ensure that you have both the organizational resources and employee capability to accomplish the goal. |
R |
Relevant: Goals must align with broader business, department, and development goals in order to be meaningful. |
T |
Time-bound: Provide a target date to ensure the goal is achievable and provide motivation. |
"Learn Excel this summer."
Not specific enough, not measurable enough, nor time bound.
"Consult with our Excel expert and take the lead on creating an Excel tool in August."
Pre-work: Employees should come to the career conversation having done some self-reflection. Use Info-Tech's IT Employee Career Development Workbook to help employees identify their career goals.
Lack of career development is the top reason employees leave organizations. Development activities need to work for both the organization and the employee's own development, and clearly link to advancing employees' careers either at the organization or beyond.
Download the IT Employee Career Development Workbook
Download the Individual Competency Development Plan
Input | Output |
|---|---|
|
|
Materials | Participants |
|
70% |
On providing challenging on-the-job opportunities |
|---|---|
20% |
On establishing opportunities for people to develop learning relationships with others, such as coaching and mentoring |
10% |
On formal learning and training programs |
|
Internal Initiative |
What Is It? |
When to Use It |
|---|---|---|
|
Special Project |
Assignment outside of the scope of the day-to-day job (e.g. work with another team on a short-term initiative). |
As an opportunity to increase exposure and to expand skills beyond those required for the current job. |
|
Stretch Assignment |
The same projects that would normally be assigned, but in a shorter time frame or with a more challenging component. |
Employee is consistently meeting targets and you need to see what they're capable of. |
|
Training Others |
Training new or more junior employees on their position or a specific process. |
Employee wants to expand their role and responsibility and is proficient and positive. |
|
Team Lead On an Assignment |
Team lead for part of a project or new initiative. |
To prepare an employee for future leadership roles by increasing responsibility and developing basic managerial skills. |
|
Job Rotation |
A planned placement of employees across various roles in a department or organization for a set period of time. |
Employee is successfully meeting and/or exceeding job expectations in their current role. |
The next time you assign a project to an employee, you should also ask the employee to think about a development goal for the project. Try to link it back to their existing goals or have them document a new goal in their development plan.
For example: A team of employees always divides their work in the same way. Their goal for their next project could be to change up the division of responsibility so they can learn each other's roles.
"I'd like you to develop your ability to explain technical terms to a non-technical audience. I'd like you to sit down with the new employee who starts tomorrow and explain how to use all our software, getting them up and running."
Employees often don't realize that they are being developed. They either think they are being recognized for good work or they are resentful of the additional workload.
You need to tell your employees that the activity you are asking them to do is intended to further their development.
However, be careful not to sell mundane tasks as development opportunities – this is offensive and detrimental to engagement.
Ensure that the employee makes progress in developing prioritized competencies by defining accountabilities:
|
Tracking Progress |
Checking In |
Development Meetings |
Coaching & Feedback |
|---|---|---|---|
Employee accountability:
Manager accountability:
|
Employee accountability:
Manager accountability:
|
Employee accountability:
Manager accountability:
|
Employee accountability:
Manager accountability:
|
Pre-work: Employees should research potential development activities and come prepared with a range of suggestions.
Pre-work: Managers should investigate options for employee development, such as internal training/practice opportunities for the employee's selected competencies and availability of training budget.
Download the Learning Methods Catalog
Adopt a blended learning approach using a variety of techniques to effectively develop competencies. This will reinforce learning and accommodate different learning styles. See Info-Tech's Learning Methods Catalog for a description of popular experiential, relational, and formal learning methods.
Input | Output |
|---|---|
|
|
Materials | Participants |
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A conversation in which a manager asks questions to guide employees to solve problems themselves.
Coaching is:
Information conveyed from the manager to the employee about their performance.
Feedback is:
Don't forget to develop your managers! Ensure coaching, feedback, and management skills are part of your management team's development plan.
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Understand the foundations of coaching to provide effective development coaching: |
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| Knowledge | Mindset | Relationship |
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Using a model allows every manager, even those with little experience, to apply coaching best practices effectively.
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Actively Listen |
Ask |
Action Plan |
Adapt |
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Engage with employees and their message, rather than just hearing their message. Key active listening behaviors:
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Ask thoughtful, powerful questions to learn more information and guide employees to uncover opportunities and/or solutions. Key asking behaviors:
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Hold employees and managers accountable for progress and results. During check-ins, review each development goal to ensure employees are meeting their targets. Key action planning behaviors:
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Adapt to individual employees and situations. Key adapting behaviors:
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The purpose of asking questions is to guide the conversation and learn something you didn't already know. Choose the questions you ask based on the flow of the conversation and on what information you would like to uncover. Approach the answers you get with an open mind.
Avoid the trap of "hidden agenda" questions, whose real purpose is to offer your own advice.
Development is a two-way street. This means that while employees are responsible for putting in the work, managers must enable their development with support and guidance. The latter is a skill, which managers must consciously cultivate.
Anderson, Kelsie. "Is Your IT Department Prepared for the 4 Biggest Challenges of 2017?" 14 June 2017.
Atkinson, Carol, and Peter Sandiford. "An Exploration of Older Worker Flexible Working Arrangements in Smaller Firms." Human Resource Management Journal, vol. 26, no. 1, 2016, pp. 12–28. Wiley Online Library.
BasuMallick, Chiradeep. "Top 8 Best Practices for Employee Cross-Training." Spiceworks, 15 June 2020.
Birol, Andy. "4 Ways You Can Succeed With a Staff That 'Wears Multiple Hats.'" The Business Journals, 26 Nov. 2013.
Bleich, Corey. "6 Major Benefits To Cross-Training Employees." EdgePoint Learning, 5 Dec. 2018.
Cancialosi, Chris. "Cross-Training: Your Best Defense Against Indispensable Employees." Forbes, 15 Sept. 2014.
Cappelli, Peter, and Anna Tavis. "HR Goes Agile." Harvard Business Review, Mar. 2018.
Chung, Kai Li, and Norma D'Annunzio-Green. "Talent Management Practices of SMEs in the Hospitality Sector: An Entrepreneurial Owner-Manager Perspective." Worldwide Hospitality and Tourism Themes, vol. 10, no. 4, Jan. 2018.
Clarkson, Mary. Developing IT Staff: A Practical Approach. Springer Science & Business Media, 2012.
"CNBC and SurveyMonkey Release Latest Small Business Survey Results." Momentive, 2019. Press Release. Accessed 6 Aug. 2020.
Cselényi, Noémi. "Why Is It Important for Small Business Owners to Focus on Talent Management?" Jumpstart:HR | HR Outsourcing and Consulting for Small Businesses and Startups, 25 Mar. 2013.
dsparks. "Top 10 IT Concerns for Small Businesses." Stratosphere Networks IT Support Blog - Chicago IT Support Technical Support, 16 May 2017.
Duff, Jimi. "Why Small to Mid-Sized Businesses Need a System for Talent Management | Talent Management Blog | Saba Software." Saba, 17 Dec. 2018.
Employment and Social Development Canada. "Age-Friendly Workplaces: Promoting Older Worker Participation." Government of Canada, 3 Oct. 2016.
Exploring Workforce Planning. Accenture, 23 May 2017.
"Five Major IT Challenges Facing Small and Medium-Sized Businesses." Advanced Network Systems. Accessed 25 June 2020.
Harris, Evan. "IT Problems That Small Businesses Face." InhouseIT, 17 Aug. 2016.
Heathfield, Susan. "What Every Manager Needs to Know About Succession Planning." Liveabout, 8 June 2020.
---. "Why Talent Management Is an Important Business Strategy." Liveabout, 29 Dec. 2019.
Herbert, Chris. "The Top 5 Challenges Facing IT Departments in Mid-Sized Companies." ExpertIP, 25 June 2012.
How Smaller Organizations Can Use Talent Management to Accelerate Growth. Avilar. Accessed 25 June 2020.
Krishnan, TN, and Hugh Scullion. "Talent Management and Dynamic View of Talent in Small and Medium Enterprises." Human Resource Management Review, vol. 27, no. 3, Sept. 2017, pp. 431–41.
Mann Jackson, Nancy. "Strategic Workforce Planning for Midsized Businesses." ADP, 6 Feb. 2017.
McCandless, Karen. "A Beginner's Guide to Strategic Talent Management (2020)." The Blueprint, 26 Feb. 2020.
McFeely, Shane, and Ben Wigert. "This Fixable Problem Costs U.S. Businesses $1 Trillion." Gallup.com, 13 Mar. 2019.
Mihelič, Katarina Katja. Global Talent Management Best Practices for SMEs. Jan. 2020.
Mohsin, Maryam. 10 Small Business Statistics You Need to Know in 2020 [May 2020]. 4 May 2020.
Ramadan, Wael H., and B. Eng. The Influence of Talent Management on Sustainable Competitive Advantage of Small and Medium Sized Establishments. 2012, p. 15.
Ready, Douglas A., et al. "Building a Game-Changing Talent Strategy." Harvard Business Review, no. January–February 2014, Jan. 2014.
Reh, John. "Cross-Training Employees Strengthens Engagement and Performance." Liveabout, May 2019.
Rennie, Michael, et al. McKinsey on Organization: Agility and Organization Design. McKinsey, May 2016.
Roddy, Seamus. "The State of Small Business Employee Benefits in 2019." Clutch, 18 Apr. 2019.
SHRM. "Developing Employee Career Paths and Ladders." SHRM, 28 Feb. 2020.
Strandberg, Coro. Sustainability Talent Management: The New Business Imperative. Strandberg Consulting, Apr. 2015.
Talent Management for Small & Medium-Size Businesses. Success Factors. Accessed 25 June 2020.
"Top 10 IT Challenges Facing Small Business in 2019." Your IT Department, 8 Jan. 2019.
"Why You Need Workforce Planning." Workforce.com, 24 Oct. 2022.
Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:
Organize your first 100 days as CIO into activities completed within two-week periods, aided by the guidance of an executive advisor.
Communicate your strategy with a presentation deck that you will complete in collaboration with Info-Tech advisors.
See an example of a completed presentation deck, from the new CIO of Gotham City.
Check out The Business Leadership podcast in Info-Tech's special series, The First 100 Days.
“The original concept of ‘the first 100 days’ was popularized by Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who passed a battery of new legislation after taking office as US president during the Great Depression. Now commonly extended to the business world, the first 100 days of any executive role is a critically important period for both the executive and the organization.
But not every new leader should follow FDR’s example of an action-first approach. Instead, finding the right balance of listening and taking action is the key to success during this transitional period. The type of the organization and the mode that it’s in serves as the fulcrum that determines where the point of perfect balance lies. An executive facing a turnaround situation will want to focus on more action more quickly. One facing a sustaining success situation or a realignment situation will want to spend more time listening before taking action.” (Brian Jackson, Research Director, CIO, Info-Tech Research Group)
Studies show that two years after a new executive transition, as many as half are regarded as failures or disappointments (McKinsey). First impressions are hard to overcome, and a CIO’s first 100 days are heavily weighted in terms of how others will assess their overall success. The best way to approach this period is determined by both the size and the mode of an organization.
Organize a call with your executive advisor every two weeks during your first 100 days. Info-Tech recommends completing our diagnostics during this period. If you’re not able to do so, instead complete the alternative activities marked with (a).
| Call 1 | Call 2 | Call 3 | Call 4 | Call 5 | Call 6 | Call 7 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Activities |
Before you start: Day -10 to Day 1
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Day 0 to 15
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Day 16 to 30
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Day 31 to 45
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Day 46 to 60
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Day 61 to 75
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Day 76 to 90
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| Deliverables | Presentation Deck Section A: Foundational Preparation | Presentation Deck slides 9, 11-13, 19-20, 29 | Presentation Deck slides 16, 17, 21 | Presentation Deck slides 30, 34 | Presentation Deck slides 24, 25, 2 | Presentation Deck slides 27, 42 |
Interviewing your predecessor can help identify the organization’s mode and type.
Before reaching out to your predecessor, get a sense of whether they were viewed as successful or not. Ask your manager. If the predecessor remains within the organization in a different role, understand your relationship with them and how you'll be working together.
During the interview, make notes about follow-up questions you'll ask others at the organization.
Identify the organization’s corporate structure type based on your initial conversations with company leadership. The type of structure will dictate how much control you'll have as a functional head and help you understand which stakeholders you'll need to collaborate with.
Functional |
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Projectized |
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Matrix |
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This organization is a ___________________ type.
(Source: Simplilearn)Presentation Deck, slide 6
Based on your interview process and discussions with company leadership, and using Michael Watkins’ STARS assessment, determine which mode your organization is in: startup, turnaround, accelerated growth, realignment, or sustaining success.
Knowing the mode of your organization will determine how you approach your 100-day plan. Depending on the mode, you'll rebalance your activities around the three categories of assess, listen, and deliver.
This organization is a ___________________ type.
(Source: Watkins, 2013.)
Presentation Deck, slide 6
| STARS | Startup | Turnaround | Accelerated Growth | Realignment | Sustaining Success |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Definition | Assembling capabilities to start a project. | Project is widely seen as being in serious trouble. | Managing a rapidly expanding business. | A previously successful organization is now facing problems. | A vital organization is going to the next level. |
| Challenges | Must build strategy, structures, and systems from scratch. Must recruit and make do with limited resources. | Stakeholders are demoralized; slash and burn required. | Requires structure and systems to scale; hiring and onboarding. | Employees need to be convinced change is needed; restructure at the top required. | Risk of living in shadow of a successful former leader. |
| Advantages | No rigid preconceptions. High-energy environment and easy to pivot. | A little change goes a long way when people recognize the need. | Motivated employee base willing to stretch. | Organization has clear strengths; people desire success. | Likely a strong team; foundation for success likely in place. |
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When Satya Nadella was promoted to the CEO role at Microsoft in 2014, he received a Glassdoor approval rating of 85% and was given an "A" grade by industry analysts after his first 100 days. What did he do right?
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![]() Satya Nadella, CEO, Microsoft Corp. (Image source: Microsoft) |
As a new CIO, you'll have to introduce yourself to many people in the organization. To save time on communicating who you are as a person outside of the office, create a brief one-pager that includes a photo of you, where you were born and raised, and what your hobbies are. This helps make a connection more quickly so your conversations can focus on the business at hand rather than personal topics.
For your presentation deck, remove the personal details and just keep it professional. The personal aspects can be used as a one-pager for other communications. (Source: Personal interview with Denis Gaudreault, Country Lead, Intel.)
Presentation Deck, slide 5
Prepare a 20-second pitch about yourself that goes beyond your name and title. Touch on your experience that's relevant to your new role or the industry you're in. Be straightforward about your own perceived strengths and weaknesses so that people know what to expect from you. Focus on the value you believe you'll offer the group and use humor and humility where you're comfortable. For example:
“Hi everyone, my name is John Miller. I have 15 years of experience marketing conferences like this one to vendors, colleges, and HR departments. What I’m good at, and the reason I'm here, is getting the right people, businesses, and great ideas in a room together. I'm not good on details; that's why I work with Tim. I promise that I'll get people excited about the conference, and the gifts and talents of everyone else in this room will take over from there. I'm looking forward to working with all of you.”
Write down the names, or at least the key people, in each segment of this diagram. This will serve as a quick reference when you're planning communications with others and will help you remember everyone as you're meeting lots of new people in your early days on the job.
Presentation Deck, slide 29
Competitor identification and analysis are critical steps for any new leader to assess the relative strengths and weaknesses of their organization and develop a sense of strategic opportunity and environmental awareness.
Today’s CIO is accountable for driving innovation through technology. A competitive analysis will provide the foundation for understanding the current industry structure, rivalry within it, and possible competitive advantages for the organization.
Surveying your competitive landscape prior to the first day will allow you to come to the table prepared with insights on how to support the organization and ensure that you are not vulnerable to any competitive blind spots that may exist in the evaluations conducted by the organization already.
You will not be able to gain a nuanced understanding of the internal strengths and weaknesses until you are in the role, so focus on the external opportunities and how competitors are using technology to their advantage.
For a more in-depth approach to identifying and understanding relevant industry trends and turning them into insights, leverage the following Info-Tech blueprints:
Presentation Deck, slide 9
INPUT: External research
OUTPUT: Competitor array
| Competitor | Strengths | Weaknesses | Key Differentiators | IT Enablers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Competitor 1 | ||||
| Competitor 2 | ||||
| Competitor 3 |
INPUT: CEO-CEO Alignment Program (recommended)
OUTPUT: Desired and target state of IT maturity, Innovation goals, Top priorities
Materials: Presentation Deck, slides 11-13
Participants: CEO, CIO
Introduce the concept of the CEO-CIO Alignment Program using slide 10 of your presentation deck and the brief email text below.
Talk to your advisory contact at Info-Tech about launching the program. More information is available on Info-Tech’s website.
Once the report is complete, import the results into your presentation:
Include any immediate recommendations you have.
Hello CEO NAME,
I’m excited to get started in my role as CIO, and to hit the ground running, I’d like to make sure that the IT department is aligned with the business leadership. We will accomplish this using Info-Tech Research Group’s CEO-CIO Alignment Program. It’s a simple survey of 20 questions to be completed by the CEO and the CIO.
This survey will help me understand your perception and vision as I get my footing as CIO. I’ll be able to identify and build core IT processes that will automate IT-business alignment going forward and create an effective IT strategy that helps eliminate impediments to business growth.
Research shows that IT departments that are effectively aligned to business goals achieve more success, and I’m determined to make our IT department as successful as possible. I look forward to further detailing the benefits of this program to you and answering any questions you may have the next time we speak.
Regards,
CIO NAME
Info-Tech's CEO-CIO Alignment Program is set up to build IT-business alignment in any organization. It helps the CIO understand CEO perspectives and priorities. The exercise leads to useful IT performance indicators, clarifies IT’s mandate and which new technologies it should invest in, and maps business goals to IT priorities.
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| Master the Basics
Cut through the jargon. Take a comprehensive look at the CEO perspective. |
Target Alignment
Identify how IT can support top business priorities. Address CEO-CIO differences. |
Start on the Right Path
Get on track with the CIO vision. Use correct indicators and metrics to evaluate IT from day one. |
Additional materials are available on Info-Tech’s website.
Step 1: Where are we today?Determine where the CEO sees the current overall maturity level of the IT organization. Step 2: Where do we want to be as an organization?Determine where the CEO wants the IT organization to be in order to effectively support the strategic direction of the business. |
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Presentation Deck, slide 11
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Apple CEO Tim Cook, an internal hire, had big shoes to fill after taking over from the late Steve Jobs. Cook's ability to control how the company is perceived is a big credit to his success. How does he do it? His favorite five words are “The way I see it..." These words allow him to take a line of questioning and reframe it into another perspective that he wants to get across. Similarly, he'll often say, "Let me tell you the way I look at it” or "To put it in perspective" or "To put it in context." In your first two weeks on the job, try using these phrases in your conversations with peers and direct reports. It demonstrates that you value their point of view but are independently coming to conclusions about the situation at hand. |
![]() Tim Cook, CEO, Apple Inc. (Image source: Apple) |
Run the diagnostic program or use the alternative activities to complete your presentation
INPUT: IT Management & Governance Diagnostic (recommended)
OUTPUT: Process to improve first, Processes important to the business
Materials: Presentation Deck, slides 19-20
Participants: CIO, IT staff
Introduce the IT Management & Governance Diagnostic survey that will help you form your IT strategy.
Explain that you want to understand current IT capabilities and you feel a formal approach is best. You’ll also be using this approach as an important metric to track your department’s success. Tell them that Info-Tech Research Group will be conducting the survey and it’s important to you that they take action on the email when it’s sent to them.
Example email:
Hello TEAM,
I appreciate meeting each of you, and so far I’m excited about the talents and energy on the team. Now I need to understand the processes and capabilities of our department in a deeper way. I’d like to map our process landscape against an industry-wide standard, then dive deeper into those processes to understand if our team is aligned. This will help us be accountable to the business and plan the year ahead. Advisory firm Info-Tech Research Group will be reaching out to you with a simple survey that shouldn’t take too long to complete. It’s important to me that you pay attention to that message and complete the survey as soon as possible.
Regards,
CIO NAME
Info-Tech recommends that you hold group conversations with your team to uncover their opinions of the current organizational culture. This not only helps build transparency between you and your team but also gives you another means of observing behavior and reactions as you listen to team members’ characterizations of the current culture.
(Source: Hope College Blog Network)
Note: It is inherently difficult for people to verbalize what constitutes a culture – your strategy for extracting this information will require you to ask indirect questions to solicit the highest value information.
See Info-Tech’s Cultural Archetype Calculator.
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CVF represents the synthesis of academic study of 39 indicators of effectiveness for organizations. Using a statistical analysis, two polarities that are highly predictive of differences in organizational effectiveness were isolated:
By plotting these dimensions on a matrix of competing values, four main cultural archetypes are identified with their own value drivers and theories of effectiveness. |
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Presentation Deck, slide 16
Autonomous evolution: Encourage teams to learn from each other. Empower hybrid teams to collaborate and reward teams that perform well.
Planned and managed change: Create steering committee and project-oriented taskforces to work in parallel. Appoint employees that have cultural traits you'd like to replicate to hold responsibility for these bodies.
Cultural destruction: When a toxic culture needs to be eliminated, get rid of its carriers. Putting new managers or directors in place with the right cultural traits can be a swift and effective way to realign.
Each option boils down to creating the right set of incentives and deterrents. What behaviors will you reward and which ones will you penalize? What do those consequences look like? Sometimes, but not always, some structural changes to the team will be necessary. If you feel these changes should be made, it's important to do it sooner rather than later. (Source: “Enlarging Your Sphere of Influence in Your Organization,” MindTools Corporate, 2014.)
As you're thinking about shaping a desired culture, it's helpful to have an easy way to remember the top qualities you want to espouse. Try creating an acronym that makes it easy for staff to remember. For example: RISE could remind your staff to be Responsive, Innovative, Sustainable, and Engaging (RISE). Draw upon your business direction from your manager to help produce desired qualities (Source: Jennifer Schaeffer).
Presentation Deck, slide 17
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After Gary Davenport was hired on as VP of IT at MTS Allstream, his first weekend on the job was spent at an all-executive offsite meeting. There, he learned from the CEO that the IT department had a budget reduction target of 25%, like other departments in the company. “That takes your breath away,” Davenport says. He decided to meet the CEO monthly to communicate his plans to reduce spending while trying to satisfy business stakeholders. His top priorities were:
During Davenport’s 7.5-year tenure, the IT department became one of the top performers at MTS Allstream. |
![]() Gary Davenport’s first weekend on the job at MTS Allstream included learning about a 25% reduction target. (Image source: Ryerson University) |
Listen to 'The First 100 Days' podcast – David Penny & Andrew Wertkin
Talk to your Info-Tech executive advisor about launching the survey shortly after informing your team to expect it. You'll just have to provide the names and email addresses of the staff you want to be involved. Once the survey is complete, you'll harvest materials from it for your presentation deck. See slides 19 and 20 of your deck and follow the instructions on what to include.
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| Explore IT Processes
Dive deeper into performance. Highlight problem areas. |
Align IT Team
Build consensus by identifying opposing views. |
Ownership & Accountability
Identify process owners and hold team members accountable. |
Additional materials available on Info-Tech’s website.
INPUT: Interviews with IT leadership team, Capabilities graphic on next slide
OUTPUT: High-level understanding of current IT capabilities
Run this activity if you're not able to conduct the IT Management & Governance Diagnostic.
Schedule meetings with your IT leadership team. (In smaller organizations, interviewing everyone may be acceptable.) Provide them a list of the core capabilities that IT delivers upon and ask them to rate them on an effectiveness scale of 1-5, with a short rationale for their score.
Presentation Deck, slide 21
Strategy & Governance |
IT Governance | Strategy | Performance Measurement | Policies | Quality Management | Innovation | ||
People & Resources |
Stakeholder Management | Resource Management | Financial Management | Vendor Selection & Contract Management | Vendor Portfolio Management | Workforce Strategy | Strategic Comm. | Organizational Change Enablement |
Service Management & Operations |
Operations Management | Service Portfolio Management | Release Management | Service Desk | Incident & Problem Management | Change Management | Demand Management | |
Infrastructure |
Asset Management | Infrastructure Portfolio Management | Availability & Capacity Management | Infrastructure Management | Configuration Management | |||
Information Security & Risk |
Security Strategy | Risk Management | Compliance, Audit & Review | Security Detection | Response & Recovery | Security Prevention | ||
Applications |
Application Lifecycle Management | Systems Integration | Application Development | User Testing | Quality Assurance | Application Maintenance | ||
PPM & Projects |
Portfolio Management | Requirements Gathering | Project Management | |||||
Data & BI |
Data Architecture | BI & Reporting | Data Quality & Governance | Database Operations | Enterprise Content Management | |||
Enterprise Architecture |
Enterprise Architecture | Solution Architecture |
Complete this while waiting on the IT M&G survey results. Based on your completed CEO-CIO Alignment Report, identify the initiatives you can tackle immediately.
| If you are here... | And want to be here... | Drive toward... | Innovate around... |
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|---|---|---|---|---|
| Business Partner | Innovator | Leading business transformation |
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| Trusted Operator | Business Partner | Optimizing business process and supporting business transformation |
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| Firefighter | Trusted Operator | Optimize IT processes and services |
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| Unstable | Firefighter | Reduce use disruption and adequately support the business |
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Run the diagnostic program or use the alternative activities to complete your presentation
INPUT: CIO Business Vision survey (recommended)
OUTPUT: True measure of business satisfaction with IT
Materials: Presentation Deck, slide 30
Participants: CIO, IT staff
Meet the business leaders at your organization face-to-face if possible. If you can't meet in person, try a video conference to establish some rapport. At the end of your introduction and after listening to what your colleague has to say, introduce the CIO Business Vision Diagnostic.
Explain that you want to understand how to meet their business needs and you feel a formal approach is best. You'll also be using this approach as an important metric to track your department's success. Tell them that Info-Tech Research Group will be conducting the survey and it’s important to you that they take the survey when the email is sent to them.
Example email:
Hello PEER NAMES,
I'm arranging for Info-Tech Research Group to invite you to take a survey that will be important to me. The CIO Business Vision survey will help me understand how to meet your business needs. It will only take about 15 minutes of your time, and the top-line results will be shared with the organization. We will use the results to plan initiatives for the future that will improve your satisfaction with IT.
Regards,
CIO NAME
There are two strategies for gaining feedback on your initial assessments of the organization from the IT team:
Who you involve in this process will be impacted by the size of your organization. For larger organizations, involve everyone down to the manager level. In smaller organizations, you may want to involve everyone on the IT team to get an accurate lay of the land.
You need your team’s hearts and minds or you risk a short tenure. Overemphasizing business commitment by neglecting to address your IT team until after you meet your business stakeholders will result in a disenfranchised group. Show your team their importance.
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Susan Bowen was promoted to be the president of Cogeco Peer 1, an infrastructure services firm, when it was still a part of Cogeco Communications. Part of her mandate was to help spin out the business to a new owner, which occurred when it was acquired by Digital Colony. The firm was renamed Aptum and Bowen was put in place as CEO, which was not a certainty despite her position as president at Cogeco Peer 1. She credits her ability to put the right talent in the right place as part of the reason she succeeded. After becoming president, she sought a strong commitment from her directors. She gave them a choice about whether they'd deliver on a new set of expectations – or not. She also asks her leadership on a regular basis if they are using their talent in the right way. While it's tempting for directors to want to hold on to their best employees, those people might be able to enable many more people if they can be put in another place. Bowen fully rounded out her leadership team after Aptum was formed. She created a chief operating officer and a chief infrastructure officer. This helped put in place more clarity around roles at the firm and put an emphasis on client-facing services. |
![]() Susan Bowen, CEO, Aptum (Image source: Aptum) |
Be sure to effectively communicate the context of this survey to your business stakeholders before you launch it. Plan to talk about your plans to introduce it in your first meetings with stakeholders. When ready, let your executive advisor know you want to launch the tool and provide the names and email addresses of the stakeholders you want involved. After you have the results, harvest the materials required for your presentation deck. See slide 30 and follow the instructions on what to include.
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| Key Stakeholders
Clarify the needs of the business. |
Credibility
Create transparency. |
Improve
Measure IT’s progress. |
Focus
Find what’s important. |
Additional materials are available on Info-Tech’s website.
Only conduct this activity if you’re not able to run the CIO Business Vision diagnostic.
Use the Organizational Catalog as a personal cheat sheet to document the key details around each of your stakeholders, including your CEO when possible.
The catalog will be an invaluable tool to keep the competing needs of your different stakeholders in line, while ensuring you are retaining the information to build the political capital needed to excel in the C-suite.
Note: It is important to keep this document private. While you may want to communicate components of this information, ensure your catalog remains under lock and (encryption) key.
While profiling your stakeholders is important, do not be afraid to profile yourself as well. Visualizing how your interests overlap with those of your stakeholders can provide critical information on how to manage your communications so that those on the receiving end are hearing exactly what they need.
Presentation Deck, slide 34
Introduce the IT Staffing Assessment that will help you get the most out of your team
INPUT: Email template
OUTPUT: Ready to launch diagnostic
Materials: Email template, List of staff, Sample of diagnostic
Participants: CIO, IT staff
Explain that you want to understand how the IT staff is currently spending its time by function and by activity. You want to take a formal approach to this task and also assess the team’s feelings about its effectiveness across different processes. The results of the assessment will serve as the foundation that helps you improve your team’s effectiveness within the organization.
Example email:
Hello PEER NAMES,
The feedback I've heard from the team since joining the company has been incredibly useful in beginning to formulate my IT strategy. Now I want to get a clear picture of how everyone is spending their time, especially across different IT functions and activities. This will be an opportunity for you to share feedback on what we're doing well, what we need to do more of, and what we're missing. Expect to receive an email invitation to take this survey from Info-Tech Research Group. It's important to me that you complete the survey as soon as you're can. Attached you’ll find an example of the report this will generate. Thank you again for providing your time and feedback.
Regards,
CIO NAME
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Wayne Berger was hired to be the International Workplace Group (IWG) CEO for Canada and Latin America in 2014. Wayne approached his early days with the office space leasing firm as a tour of sorts, visiting nearly every one of the 48 office locations across Canada to host town hall meetings. He heard from staff at every location that they felt understaffed. But instead of simply hiring more staff, Berger actually reduced the workforce by 33%. He created a more flexible approach to staffing:
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![]() Wayne Berger, CEO, IWG Plc (Image source: IWG) |
Info-Tech’s IT Staffing Assessment provides benchmarking of key metrics against 4,000 other organizations. Dashboard-style reports provide key metrics at a glance, including a time breakdown by IT function and by activity compared against business priorities. Run this survey at about the 45-day mark of your first 90 days. Its insights will be used to inform your long-term IT strategy.
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| Right-Size IT Headcount
Find the right level for stakeholder satisfaction. |
Allocate Staff Correctly
Identify staff misalignments with priorities. |
Maximize Teams
Identify how to drive staff. |
Additional materials are available on Info-Tech’s website.
Complete this exercise while waiting on the IT Staffing Assessment results. Based on your completed IT Management & Governance report, identify the initiatives you can tackle immediately. You can conduct this as a team exercise by following these steps:
This is an alternative activity to running an IT Staffing Assessment, which contains a start/stop/continue assessment. This activity can be facilitated with a flip chart or a whiteboard. Create three pages or three columns and label them Start, Stop, and Continue.
Hand out sticky notes to each team member and then allow time for individual brainstorming. Instruct them to write down their contributions for each category on the sticky notes. After a few minutes, have everyone stick their notes in the appropriate category on the board. Discuss as a group and see what themes emerge. Record the results that you want to share in your presentation deck (GroupMap).
Gather your team and explain the meaning of these categories:
Start: Activities you're not currently doing but should start doing very soon.
Stop: Activities you're currently doing but aren’t working and should cease.
Continue: Things you're currently doing and are working well.
Presentation Deck, slide 24
INPUT: Interviews with IT leadership team
OUTPUT: High-level understanding of in-flight commitments and investments
Run this only as an alternative to the IT Management & Governance Diagnostic.
Presentation Deck, slide 25
Run this only as an alternative to the IT Staffing Assessment diagnostic.
Schedule meetings with IT leadership to understand what commitments have been made to the business in terms of new products, projects, or enhancements.
Determine the following about IT’s current investment mix:
Document your key investments and commitments, as well as any points of misalignment between objectives and current commitments, as action items to address in your long-term plans. If they are small-effort fixes, consider them during your quick-win identification.
Presentation Deck, slide 25
As part of learning the IT team, you should also create a comprehensive list of vendors under contract. Collaborate with the finance department to get a clear view of how much of the IT budget is spent on specific vendors. Try to match vendors to the IT processes they serve from the IT M&G framework.
You should also organize your vendors based on their budget allocation. Go beyond just listing how much money you’re spending with each vendor and categorize them into either “transactional” relationships or “strategic relationships.” Use the grid below to organize them. Ideally, you’ll want most relationships to be high spend and strategic (Source: Gary Davenport).
Further reading: Manage Your Vendors Before They Manage You
Presentation Deck, slide 26
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Jennifer Schaeffer joined Athabasca University as CIO in November 2017. She was entering a turnaround situation as the all-online university lacked an IT strategy and had built up significant technical debt. Armed with the mandate of a third-party consultant that was supported by the president, Schaeffer used a people-first approach to construct her strategy. She met with all her staff, listening to them carefully regardless of role, and consulted with the administrative council and faculty members. She reflected that feedback in her plan or explained to staff why it wasn’t relevant for the strategy. She implemented a “strategic calendaring” approach for the organization, making sure that her team members were participating in meetings where their work was assessed and valued. Drawing on Spotify as an inspiration, she designed her teams in a way that everyone was connected to the customer experience. Given her short timeline to execute, she put off a deep skills analysis of her team for a later time, as well as creating a full architectural map of her technology stack. The outcome is that 2.5 years later, the IT department is unified in using the same tooling and optimization standards. It’s more flexible and ready to incorporate government changes, such as offering more accessibility options. |
![]() Jennifer Schaeffer took on the CIO role at Athabasca University in 2017 and was asked to create a five-year strategic plan in just six weeks. (Image source: Athabasca University) |
A clear statement for your values, vision, and mission will help crystallize your IT strategy and communicate what you're trying to accomplish to the entire organization.
Mission: This statement describes the needs that IT was created to meet and answers the basic question of why IT exists.
Vision: Write a statement that captures your values. Remember that the vision statement sets out what the IT organization wants to be known for now and into the future.
Values: IT core values represent the standard axioms by which the IT department operates. Similar to the core values of the organization as a whole, IT’s core values are the set of beliefs or philosophies that guide its strategic actions.
Further reading: IT Vision and Mission Statements Template
Presentation Deck, slide 42
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John Chen, known in the industry as a successful turnaround executive, was appointed BlackBerry CEO in 2014 following the unsuccessful launch of the BlackBerry 10 mobile operating system and a new tablet. He spent his first three months travelling, talking to customers and suppliers, and understanding the company's situation. He assessed that it had a problem generating cash and had made some strategic errors, but there were many assets that could benefit from more investment. He was blunt about the state of BlackBerry, making cutting observations of the past mistakes of leadership. He also settled a key question about whether BlackBerry would focus on consumer or enterprise customers. He pointed to a base of 80,000 enterprise customers that accounted for 80% of revenue and chose to focus on that. His new mission for BlackBerry: to transform it from being a "mobile technology company" that pushes handset sales to "a mobile solutions company" that serves the mobile computing needs of its customers. |
![]() John Chen, CEO of BlackBerry, presents at BlackBerry Security Summit 2018 in New York City (Image source: Brian Jackson) |
Based on your completed CIO Business Vision survey, use the IT Satisfaction Scorecard to determine some initiatives. Focus on areas that are ranked as high importance to the business but low satisfaction. While all of the initiatives may be achievable given enough time, use the matrix below to identify the quick wins that you can focus on immediately. It’s important to not fail in your quick-win initiative.
Presentation Deck, slide 27
The last few slides of your presentation deck represent a roundup of all the assessments you’ve done and communicate your plan for the months ahead.
Slide 38. Based on the information on the previous slide and now knowing which IT capabilities need improvement and which business priorities are important to support, estimate where you'd like to see IT staff spend their time in the near future. Will you be looking to shift staff from one area to another? Will you be looking to hire staff?
Slide 39. Take your IT M&G initiatives from slide 19 and list them here. If you've already achieved a quick win, list it and mark it as completed to show what you've accomplished. Briefly outline the objectives, how you plan to achieve the result, and what measurement will indicate success.
Slide 40. Reflect your CIO Business Vision initiatives from slide 31 here.
Slide 41. Use this roadmap template to list your initiatives by roughly when they’ll be worked on and completed. Plan for when you’ll update your diagnostics.
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Alan Fong, Chief Technology Officer, Dealer-FX |
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Andrew Wertkin, Chief Strategy Officer, BlueCat Networks
David Penny, Chief Technology Officer, BlueCat Networks |
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Susan Bowen, CEO, Aptum |
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Erin Bury, CEO, Willful |
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Denis Gaudreault, Country Manager, Intel Canada and Latin America |
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Wayne Berger, CEO, IWG Plc |
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Eric Wright, CEO, LexisNexis Canada |
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Gary Davenport, past president of CIO Association” of Canada, former VP of IT, Enterprise Solutions Division, MTS AllStream |
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Jennifer Schaeffer, VP of IT and CIO, Athabasca University |
Beaudan, Eric. “Do you have what it takes to be an executive?” The Globe and Mail, 9 July 2018. Web.
Bersohn, Diana. “Go Live on Day One: The Path to Success for a New CIO.” PDF document. Accenture, 2015. Web.
Bradt, George. “Executive Onboarding When Promoted From Within To Follow A Successful Leader.” Forbes, 15 Nov. 2018. Web.
“CIO Stats: Length of CIO Tenure Varies By Industry.” CIO Journal, The Wall Street Journal. 15 Feb. 2017. Web.
“Enlarging Your Sphere of Influence in Your Organization: Your Learning and Development Guide to Getting People on Side.” MindTools Corporate, 2014.
“Executive Summary.” The CIO's First 100 Days: A Toolkit. PDF document. Gartner, 2012. Web.
Forbes, Jeff. “Are You Ready for the C-Suite?” KBRS, n.d. Web.
Gallo, Carmine. “Tim Cook Uses These 5 Words to Take Control of Any Conversation.” Inc., 9 Aug. 2019. Web.
Giles, Sunnie. “The Most Important Leadership Competencies, According to Leaders Around the World.” Harvard Business Review, 15 March 2016. Web.
Godin, Seth. “Ode: How to tell a great story.” Seth's Blog. 27 April 2006. Web.
Green, Charles W. “The horizontal dimension of race: Social culture.” Hope College Blog Network, 19 Oct. 2014. Web.
Hakobyan, Hayk. “On Louis Gerstner And IBM.” Hayk Hakobyan, n.d. Web.
Hargrove, Robert. Your First 100 Days in a New Executive Job, edited by Susan Youngquist. Kindle Edition. Masterful Coaching Press, 2011.
Heathfield, Susan M. “Why ‘Blink’ Matters: The Power of Your First Impressions." The Balance Careers, 25 June 2019. Web.
Hillis, Rowan, and Mark O'Donnell. “How to get off to a flying start in your new job.” Odgers Berndtson, 29 Nov. 2018. Web.
Karaevli, Ayse, and Edward J. Zajac. “When Is an Outsider CEO a Good Choice?” MIT Sloan Management Review, 19 June 2012. Web.
Keizer, Gregg. “Microsoft CEO Nadella Aces First-100-Day Test.” Computerworld, 15 May 2014. Web.
Keller, Scott, and Mary Meaney. “Successfully transitioning to new leadership roles.” McKinsey & Company, May 2018. Web.
Kress, R. “Director vs. Manager: What You Need to Know to Advance to the Next Step.” Ivy Exec, 2016. Web.
Levine, Seth. “What does it mean to be an ‘executive’.” VC Adventure, 1 Feb. 2018. Web.
Lichtenwalner, Benjamin. “CIO First 90 Days.” PDF document. Modern Servant Leader, 2008. Web.
Nawaz, Sabina. “The Biggest Mistakes New Executives Make.” Harvard Business Review, 15 May 2017. Web.
Pruitt, Sarah. “Fast Facts on the 'First 100 Days.‘” History.com, 22 Aug. 2018. Web.
Rao, M.S. “An Action Plan for New CEOs During the First 100 Days.” Training, 4 Oct. 2014. Web.
Reddy, Kendra. “It turns out being a VP isn't for everyone.” Financial Post, 17 July 2012. Web.
Silcoff, Sean. “Exclusive: John Chen’s simple plan to save BlackBerry.” The Globe & Mail, 24 Feb. 2014. Web.
“Start Stop Continue Retrospective.” GroupMap, n.d. Web.
Surrette, Mark. “Lack of Rapport: Why Smart Leaders Fail.” KBRS, n.d. Web.
“Understanding Types of Organization – PMP Study.” Simplilearn, 4 Sept. 2019. Web.
Wahler, Cindy. “Six Behavioral Traits That Define Executive Presence.” Forbes, 2 July 2015. Web.
Watkins, Michael D. The First 90 Days, Updated and Expanded. Harvard Business Review Press, 2013.
Watkins, Michael D. “7 Ways to Set Up a New Hire for Success.” Harvard Business Review, 10 May 2019. Web.
“What does it mean to be a business executive?” Daniels College of Business, University of Denver, 12 Aug. 2014. Web.
Yeung, Ken. “Turnaround: Marissa Mayer’s first 300 days as Yahoo’s CEO.” The Next Web, 19 May 2013. Web.
Engage our corporate security consultancy firm to discover any weaknesses within your company’s security management. Tymans Group has extensive expertise in helping small and medium businesses set up clear security protocols to safeguard their data and IT infrastructure. Read on to discover how our consulting firm can help improve corporate security within your company.
These days, corporate security includes much more than just regulating access to your physical location, be it an office or a store. Corporate security increasingly deals in information and data security, as well as general corporate governance and responsibility. Proper security protocols not only protect your business from harm, but also play an important factor in your overall success. As such, corporate security is all about setting up practical and effective strategies to protect your company from harm, regardless of whether the threat comes from within or outside. As such, hiring a security consulting firm to improve corporate security and security management within your company is not an unnecessary luxury, but a must.
Embed security thinking through aligning your security strategy to business goals and values
As a consultancy firm, Tymans Group can help your business to identify possible threats and help set up strategies to avoid them. However, as not all threats can be avoided, our corporate security consultancy firm also helps you set up protocols to mitigate and manage them, as well as help you develop effective incident management protocols. All solutions are practical, people-oriented and based on our extensive experience and thus have proven effectiveness.
Engage the services of our consulting company to improve corporate security within your small or medium business. Contact us to set up an appointment on-site or book a one-hour talk with expert Gert Taeymans to discuss any security issues you may be facing. We are happy to offer you a custom solution.
Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:
This phase will provide an overview of the incident lifecycle and an activity on how to classify the various types of incidents in your environment.
This phase will help you develop a categorization scheme for incident handling that ensures success and keeps it simple. It will also help you identify the most important runbooks necessary to create first.
This phase will help you identify how to use a knowledgebase to resolve incidents quicker. Identify what needs to be answered during a post-incident review and identify the criteria needed to invoke problem management.
Workshops offer an easy way to accelerate your project. If you are unable to do the project yourself, and a Guided Implementation isn't enough, we offer low-cost delivery of our project workshops. We take you through every phase of your project and ensure that you have a roadmap in place to complete your project successfully.
Assess the current state of the incident management lifecycle within the organization.
Understand the incident lifecycle and how to classify them in your environment.
Identify the roles and responsibilities of the incident response team.
Document the incident workflows to identify areas of opportunities.
1.1 Outline your incident lifecycle challenges.
1.2 Identify and classify incidents.
1.3 Identify roles and responsibilities for incident handling.
1.4 Design normal and critical incident workflows for target state.
List of incident challenges for each phase of the incident lifecycle
Incident classification scheme mapped to resolution team
RACI chart
Incident Workflow Library
Design or improve upon current incident and ticket categorization schemes, priority, and impact.
List of the most important runbooks necessary to create first and a usable template to go forward with
2.1 Improve incident categorization scheme.
2.2 Prioritize and define SLAs.
2.3 Understand the purpose of runbooks and prioritize development.
2.4 Develop a runbook template.
Revised ticket categorization scheme
Prioritization matrix based on impact and urgency
IT Incident Runbook Prioritization Tool
Top priority incident runbook
Respond, recover, and close incidents with root-cause analysis, knowledgebase, and incident runbooks.
This module will help you to identify how to use a knowledgebase to resolve quicker.
Identify what needs to be answered during a post-incident review.
Identify criteria to invoke problem management.
3.1 Build a targeted knowledgebase.
3.2 Build a post-incident review process.
3.3 Identify metrics to track success.
3.4 Build an incident matching process.
Working knowledgebase template
Root-cause analysis template and post-incident review checklist
List of metrics
Develop criteria for problem management
Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:
Identify major business capabilities, business processes running inside and across them, and datasets produced or used by these business processes and activities performed thereupon.
Identify data pipeline vertical zones: data creation, accumulation, augmentation, and consumption, as well as horizontal lanes: fast, medium, and slow speed.
Select the right data design patterns for the data pipeline components, as well as an applicable data model industry standard (if available).
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.
Identify major business capabilities, business processes running inside and across them, and datasets produced or used by these business processes and activities performed thereupon.
Indicates the ownership of datasets and the high-level data flows across the organization.
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).
Understanding typical pitfalls (and their causes) of major data management initiatives.
Business capabilities map
Business processes map
Enterprise Business Process Model (EBPM)
Identify data pipeline vertical zones: data creation, accumulation, augmentation, and consumption, as well as horizontal lanes: fast, medium, and slow speed.
Design the high-level data progression pipeline.
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.
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
Select the right data design patterns for the data pipeline components, as well as an applicable data model industry standard (if available).
Use of appropriate data design pattern for each zone with calibration on the data progression speed.
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).
Understanding of various data design patterns.
Data Design Patterns mapping to the data pipeline.
Selection of an applicable data model from available industry standards.
Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:
Use Info-Tech’s licensing best practices to avoid shelfware with VMware licensing and remain compliant in case of an audit.
Use Info-Tech’s licensing best practices to avoid shelfware with VMware licensing and remain compliant in case of an audit.
Manage your renewals and transition to the cloud subscription model.
EXECUTIVE BRIEF
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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. |
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Scott Bickley |
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Your Challenge |
Common Obstacles |
Info-Tech’s Approach |
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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:
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:
Overcoming these and other obstacles are key to long-term satisfaction with your VMware infrastructure. |
Info-Tech has a two-phase approach:
A tactical roadmap approach to VMware ELA and the cloud will ensure long-term success and savings. |
VMware customers almost always have incomplete price information from which to effectively negotiate a “best in class” ELA.
ELAs and EPPs are generally the only way to get a deep discount from VMware.
Competition is a key driver of price
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1. Manage Your VMware Agreements |
2. Transition to the VMware Cloud |
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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 |
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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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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Each step of this blueprint is accompanied by supporting deliverables to help you accomplish your goals:
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VMware ELA Analysis Tool |
VMware ELA RFQ Template Tool |
VPP Transaction Purchase Tool |
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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. |
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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.
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Why VMware |
What to Know |
The Future |
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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.
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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
Impact
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.” |
| Phase 1 | Phase 2 | Phase 3 |
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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:
Call #5: Select licensing option. Document forecasted costs and benefits. |
Call #6: Review final contract:
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 | 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:
This phase will take you thorough:
vSphere Main Editions Overview
Review vSphere Edition Features
Download the vSphere Edition 7 Features List
VMware agreement types
Review purchase options to align with your requirements.
| Transactional | VPP | EPP | ELA |
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Transactional |
Entry-level volume license purchasing program |
Mid-level purchasing program |
Highest-level purchasing program |
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Deal size of initial purchase typically is:
Minimum deal size of top-up purchase:
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Minimum deal size of initial purchase:
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How the program works
Benefits
VPP Point & Discount Table
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Level |
Point Range |
Discount |
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| 1 |
250-599 |
4% |
| 2 |
600-999 |
6% |
| 3 |
1,000-1,749 |
9% |
| 4 |
1,750+ |
12% |
1-3 hours
Instructions:
| Input | Output |
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| Materials | Participants |
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Download the VPP Transactional Purchase Tool
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.
How the program works
Benefits
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+ |
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.
The advantages of an ELA are:
General disadvantages are:
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ELA Type |
Description |
Pros and Cons |
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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 |
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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 |
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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 |
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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 |
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:
Build in time to obtain, review, and negotiate these documents (easily weeks to months).
Use Rights
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Product details that go beyond the sales pitch |
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Different support levels (e.g. basic, enterprise, per incident) |
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Details to ensure the product being purchased matches the business needs |
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SnS renewals pricing is based on the (1) year SnS list price |
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Governing agreements, VPP program details |
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2-4 hours
Instructions:
| Input | Output |
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| Materials | Participants |
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Download the VMware ELA Analysis Tool
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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. |
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Typically, the out year is one year; maximum is two years. |
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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. |
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Carefully incorporate the desired installed-base licenses that were acquired pre-ELA into the agreement, but ensure unwanted licenses are removed. |
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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. |
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1-3 hours
Use this tool for as a template for an RFQ with VMware ELA contracts.
| Input | Output |
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| Materials | Participants |
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Download the VMware ELA RFQ Template
Shift to Subscription
VMware has a license cost calculator and additional licensing documents that can be used to help determine what spend should be.
Phase 1 | Phase 2 |
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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:
This phase will take you thorough:
VMware Cloud Assist
Combine SaaS and on-premises capabilities for automation, operations, log analytics, network visibility, security, and compliance into one license.
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.
Use Info-Tech Research Group’s customized RFQ template to discover true discount levels and model various purchase options for VMware ELA proposals.
Processes Optimized
Prepare for Negotiations More Effectively
Price Benchmarking & Negotiation
You need to achieve an objective assessment of vendor pricing in your IT contracts, but you have limited knowledge about:
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.
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.
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Wiens, Rob. “VMware Enterprise Licensing – What You Need To Know. House of Brick, 14 April 2017. Accessed 7 May 2018
Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:
A business-led, top-management-supported initiative partnered with IT has the greatest chance of success.
Workshops offer an easy way to accelerate your project. If you are unable to do the project yourself, and a Guided Implementation isn't enough, we offer low-cost delivery of our project workshops. We take you through every phase of your project and ensure that you have a roadmap in place to complete your project successfully.
To build understanding and alignment between business and IT on what an ERP is and the goals for the project
Clear understanding of how the ERP supports the organizational goals
What business processes the ERP will be supporting
An initial understanding of the effort involved
1.1 Introduction to ERP
1.2 Background
1.3 Expectations and goals
1.4 Align business strategy
1.5 ERP vision and guiding principles
1.6 ERP strategy model
1.7 ERP operating model
ERP strategy model
ERP Operating model
Generate an understanding of the business processes, challenges, and application portfolio currently supporting the organization.
An understanding of the application portfolio supporting the business
Detailed understanding of the business operating processes and pain points
2.1 Build application portfolio
2.2 Map the level 1 ERP processes including identifying stakeholders, pain points, and key success indicators
2.3 Discuss process and technology maturity for each level 1 process
Application portfolio
Mega-processes with level 1 process lists
A project of this size has multiple stakeholders and may have competing priorities. This section maps those stakeholders and identifies their possible conflicting priorities.
A prioritized list of ERP mega-processes based on process rigor and strategic importance
An understanding of stakeholders and competing priorities
Initial compilation of the risks the organization will face with the project to begin early mitigation
3.1 ERP process prioritization
3.2 Stakeholder mapping
3.3 Competing priorities review
3.4 Initial risk register compilation
Prioritized ERP operating model
Stakeholder map.
Competing priorities list.
Initial risk register.
Select a future state and build the initial roadmap to set expectations and accountabilities.
Identification of the future state
Initial roadmap with expectations on accountability and timelines
4.1 Discuss future state options
4.2 Build initial roadmap
4.3 Review of final deliverable
Future state options
Initiative roadmap
Draft final deliverable
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Analyst Perspective |
Phase 3: Plan Your Project |
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Executive Summary |
Step 3.1: Stakeholders, risk, and value |
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Phase 1: Build Alignment and Scope |
Step 3.2: Project set up |
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Step 1.1: Aligning Business and IT |
Phase 4: Next Steps |
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Step 1.2: Scope and Priorities |
Step 4.1: Build your roadmap |
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Phase 2: Define Your ERP |
Step 4.2: Wrap up and present |
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Step 2.1: ERP business model |
Summary of Accomplishment |
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Step 2.2: ERP processes and supporting applications |
Research Contributors |
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Step 2.3: Process pains, opportunities, and maturity |
Related Info-Tech Research |
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Bibliography |
Enterprise resource planning (ERP) is a core tool that the business leverages to accomplish its goals. An ERP that is doing its job well is invisible to the business. The challenges come when the tool is no longer invisible. It has become a source of friction in the functioning of the business
ERP systems are expensive, their benefits are difficult to quantify, and they often suffer from poor user satisfaction. Post-implementation, technology evolves, organizational goals change, and the health of the system is not monitored. This is complicated in today’s digital landscape with multiple integration points, siloed data, and competing priorities.
Too often organizations jump into selecting replacement systems without understanding the needs of the organization. Alignment between business and IT is just one part of the overall strategy. Identifying key pain points and opportunities, assessed in the light of organizational strategy, will provide a strong foundation to the transformation of the ERP system.
Robert Fayle
Research Director, Enterprise Applications
Info-Tech Research Group
Organizations often do not know where to start with an ERP project. They focus on tactically selecting and implementing the technology but ignore the strategic foundation that sets the ERP system up for success. ERP projects are routinely reported as going over budget, over schedule, and they fail to realize any benefits.
ERP projects impact the entire organization – they are not limited to just financial and operating metrics. The disruption is felt during both implementation and in the production environment.
Missteps early on can cost time, financial resources, and careers. Roughly 55% of ERP projects reported being over budget, and two-thirds of organizations implementing ERP realized less than half of their anticipated benefits.
Obtain organizational buy-in and secure top management support. Set clear expectations, guiding principles, and critical success factors.
Build an ERP operating model/business model that identifies process boundaries, scope, and prioritizes requirements. Assess stakeholder involvement, change impact, risks, and opportunities.
Understand the alternatives your organization can choose for the future state of ERP. Develop an actionable roadmap and meaningful KPIs that directly align with your strategic goals.
Accountability for ERP success is shared between IT and the business. There is no single owner of an ERP. A unified approach to building your strategy promotes an integrated roadmap so all stakeholders have clear direction on the future state.
Enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems facilitate the flow of information across business units. It allows for the seamless integration of systems and creates a holistic view of the enterprise to support decision making.
In many organizations, the ERP system is considered the lifeblood of the enterprise. Problems with this key operational system will have a dramatic impact on the ability of the enterprise to survive and grow.
A measured and strategic approach to change will help mitigate many of the risks associated with ERP projects, which will avoid the chances of these changes becoming the dreaded “career killers.”
Enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems facilitate the flow of information across business units. They allow for the seamless integration of systems and create a holistic view of the enterprise to support decision making.
In many organizations, the ERP system is considered the lifeblood of the enterprise. Problems with this key operational system will have a dramatic impact on the ability of the enterprise to survive and grow.
An ERP system:
50-70%
Statistical analysis of ERP projects indicates rates of failure vary from 50 to 70%. Taking the low end of those analyst reports, one in two ERP projects is considered a failure. (Source: Saxena and Mcdonagh)
85%
Companies that apply the principles of behavioral economics outperform their peers by 85% in sales growth and more than 25% in gross margin. (Source: Gallup)
40%
Nearly 40% of companies said functionality was the key driver for the adoption of a new ERP. (Source: Gheorghiu)
| Drivers of Dissatisfaction | |||
Business
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Data
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People and teams
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Technology
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Finance, IT, Sales, and other users of the ERP system can only optimize ERP with the full support of each other. The cooperation of the departments is crucial when trying to improve ERP technology capabilities and customer interaction.
While technology is the key enabler of building strong customer experiences, there are many other drivers of dissatisfaction. IT must stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the business to develop a technology framework for ERP.
| 1. Build alignment and scope | 2. Define your ERP | 3. Plan your project | 4. Next Steps | |
| Phase Steps |
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| Phase Outcomes | Discuss organizational goals and how to advance those using the ERP system. Establish the scope of the project and ensure that business and IT are aligned on project priorities. | Build the ERP business model then move on to the top level (mega) processes and an initial list of the sub-processes. Generate a list of applications that support the identified processes. Conclude with a complete view of the mega-processes and their sub-processes. | Map out your stakeholders to evaluate their impact on the project, build an initial risk register and discuss group alignment. Conclude the phase by setting the initial core project team and their accountabilities to the project. | Review the different options to solve the identified pain points then build out a roadmap of how to get to that solution. Build a communication plan as part of organizational change management, which includes the stakeholder presentation. |
Each step of this blueprint is accompanied by supporting deliverables to help you accomplish your goals:
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ERP Strategy ReportComplete an assessment of processes, prioritization, and pain points, and create an initiative roadmap.
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ERP Business ModelAlign your business and technology goals and objectives in the current environment. |
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ERP Operating ModelIdentify and prioritize your ERP top-level processes. |
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ERP Process PrioritizationAssess ERP processes against the axes of rigor and strategic importance. |
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ERP Strategy RoadmapA data-driven roadmap of how to address the ERP pain points and opportunities. |
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Aerospace organization assesses ERP future state from opportunities, needs, and pain points
Several issues plagued the aerospace and defense organization. Many of the processes were ad hoc and did not use the system in place, often relying on Excel. The organization had a very large pain point stemming from its lack of business process standardization and oversight. The biggest gap, however, was from the under-utilization of the ERP software.
By assessing the usage of the system by employees and identifying key workarounds, the gaps quickly became apparent. After assessing the organization’s current state and generating recommendations from the gaps, it realized the steps needed to achieve its desired future state. The analysis of the pain points generated various needs and opportunities that allowed the organization to present and discuss its key findings with executive leadership to set milestones for the project.
The overall assessment led the organization to the conclusion that in order to achieve its desired future state and maximize ROI from its ERP, the organization must address the internal issues prior to implementing the upgraded software.
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." |
A Guided Implementation (GI) is a series of calls with an Info-Tech analyst to help implement our best practices in your organization.
A typical GI is between eight to twelve calls over the course of four to six months.
Contact your account representative for more information.
workshops@infotech.com1-888-670-8889
| Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | |
| Activities |
Introduction to ERP1.1 Introduction to ERP 1.2 Background 1.3 Expectations and goals 1.4 Align business strategy 1.5 ERP vision and guiding principles 1.6 ERP strategy model 1.7 ERP operating model |
Build the ERP operating model2.1 Build application portfolio 2.2 Map the level 1 ERP processes including identifying stakeholders, pain points, and key success indicators 2.3 Discuss process and technology maturity for each level 1 process |
Project set up3.1 ERP process prioritization 3.2 Stakeholder mapping 3.3 Competing priorities review 3.4 Initial risk register compilation 3.5 Workshop retrospective |
Roadmap and presentation review4.1 Discuss future state options 4.2 Build initial roadmap 4.3 Review of final deliverable |
Next Steps and wrap-up (offsite)5.1 Complete in-progress deliverables from previous four days 5.2 Set up review time for workshop deliverables and to discuss next steps |
| Deliverables |
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Phase 1
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Phase 2
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Phase 3
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Phase 4
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Build a common language to ensure clear understanding of the organizational needs. Define a vision and guiding principles to aid in decision making and enumerate how the ERP supports achievement of the organizational goals. Define the initial scope of the ERP project. This includes the discussion of what is not in scope.
When faced with a challenge, prepare for the WHY.
Most organizations can answer “What?”
Some organizations can answer “How?”
Very few organizations have an answer for “Why?”
Each stage of the project will be difficult and present its own unique challenges and failure points. Re-evaluate if you lose sight of WHY at any stage in the project.
Business and IT have a shared understanding of how the ERP supports the organizational goals.
Every group has their own understanding of the ERP system, and they may use the same words to describe different things. For example, is there a difference between procurement of office supplies and procurement of parts to assemble an item for sale? And if they are different, do your terms differ (e.g., procurement versus purchasing)?
| Term(s) | Definition |
| HRMS, HRIS, HCM | Human Resource Management System, Human Resource Information System, Human Capital Management. These represent four capabilities of HR: core HR, talent management, workforce management, and strategic HR. |
| Finance | Finance includes the core functionalities of GL, AR, and AP. It also covers such items as treasury, financial planning and analysis (FP&A), tax management, expenses, and asset management. |
| Supply Chain | The processes and networks required to produce and distribute a product or service. This encompasses both the organization and the suppliers. |
| Procurement | Procurement is about getting the right products from the right suppliers in a timely fashion. Related to procurement is vendor contract management. |
| Distribution | The process of getting the things we create to our customers. |
| CRM | Customer Relationship Management, the software used to maintain records of our sales and non-sales contact with our customers. |
| Sales | The process of identifying customers, providing quotes, and converting those quotes to sales orders to be invoiced. |
| Customer Service | This is the process of supporting customers with challenges and non-sales questions related to the delivery of our products/services. |
| Field Service | The group that provides maintenance services to our customers. |
Record this information in the ERP Strategy Report Template.
Download the ERP Strategy Report Template
Example/working slide for your glossary. Consider this a living document and keep it up to date.
| Term(s) | Definition |
| HRMS, HRIS, HCM | Human Resource Management System, Human Resource Information System, Human Capital Management. These represent four capabilities of HR: core HR, talent management, workforce management, and strategic HR. |
| Finance | Finance includes the core functionalities of GL, AR, and AP. It also covers such items as treasury, financial planning and analysis (FP&A), tax management, expenses, and asset management. |
| Supply Chain | The processes and networks required to produce and distribute a product or service. This encompasses both the organization and the suppliers. |
| Procurement | Procurement is about getting the right products from the right suppliers in a timely fashion. Related to procurement is vendor contract management. |
| Distribution | The process of getting the things we create to our customers. |
| CRM | Customer Relationship Management, the software used to maintain records of our sales and non-sales contact with our customers. |
| Sales | The process of identifying customers, providing quotes, and converting those quotes to sales orders to be invoiced. |
| Customer Service | This is the process of supporting customers with challenges and non-sales questions related to the delivery of our products/services. |
| Field Service | The group that provides maintenance services to our customers. |
Guiding principles are high-level rules of engagement that help to align stakeholders from the outset. Determine guiding principles to shape the scope and ensure stakeholders have the same vision.
Guiding principles should be constructed as full sentences. These statements should be able to guide decisions.
EXAMPLES
1 hour
Record this information in the ERP Strategy Report Template.
Download the ERP Strategy Report Template
We, [Organization], will select and implement an integrated software suite that enhances the growth and profitability of the organization through streamlined global business processes, real time data-driven decisions, increased employee productivity, and IT investment protection.
| Corporate Strategy | Unified Strategy | ERP Strategy |
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ERP projects are more successful when the management team understands the strategic importance and the criticality of alignment. Time needs to be spent upfront aligning business strategies with ERP capabilities. Effective alignment between IT and the business should happen daily. Alignment doesn’t just to occur at the executive level alone, but at each level of the organization.
1-2 hours
Download the ERP Strategy Report Template
| Corporate Strategy | ERP Benefits |
| End customer visibility (consumer experience) |
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| Social responsibility |
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| New business development |
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| Employee experience |
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A project scope statement and a prioritized list of projects that may compete for organizational resources.
Establishing the parameters of the project in a scope statement helps define expectations and provides a baseline for resource allocation and planning. Future decisions about the strategic direction of ERP will be based on the scope statement.
Well-executed requirements gathering will help you avoid expanding project parameters, drawing on your resources, and contributing to cost overruns and project delays. Avoid scope creep by gathering high-level requirements that lead to the selection of category-level application solutions (e.g. HRIS, CRM, PLM etc.) rather than granular requirements that would lead to vendor application selection (e.g. SAP, Microsoft, Oracle, etc.).
Out-of-scope items should also be defined to alleviate ambiguity, reduce assumptions, and further clarify expectations for stakeholders. Out-of-scope items can be placed in a backlog for later consideration.
| In Scope | Out of Scope |
| Strategy | High-level ERP requirements, strategic direction |
| Software selection | Vendor application selection, Granular system requirements |
1 hour
Record this information in the ERP Strategy Report Template.
Download the ERP Strategy Report Template
The following systems are considered in scope for this project:
The following systems are out of scope for this project:
The following systems are in scope, in that they must integrate into the new system. They will not change.
Organizations typically have multiple projects on the table or in flight. Each of those projects requires resources and attention from business and/or the IT organization.
Don’t let poor prioritization hurt your ERP implementation.
BNP Paribas Fortis had multiple projects that were poorly prioritized resulting in the time to bring products to market to double over a three-year period. (Source: Neito-Rodriguez, 2016)
| Project | Timeline | Priority notes | Implications |
| Warehouse management system upgrade project | Early 2022 implementation | High | Taking IT staff and warehouse team, testing by finance |
| Microsoft 365 | October 2021-March 2022 | High | IT Staff, org impacted by change management |
| Electronic Records Management | April 2022 – Feb 2023 | High | Legislative requirement, org impact due to record keeping |
| Web site upgrade | Early fiscal 2023 |
1 hour
Record this information in the ERP Strategy Report Template.
Download the ERP Strategy Report Template
List all your known projects both current and proposed. Discuss the prioritization of those projects, whether they are more or less important than your ERP project.
| Project | Timeline | Priority notes | Implications |
| Warehouse management system upgrade project | Early 2022 implementation | High | Taking IT staff and warehouse team, testing by finance |
| Microsoft 365 | October 2021-March 2022 | High | IT Staff, org impacted by change management |
| Electronic Records Management | April 2022 – Feb 2023 | High | Legislative requirement, org impact due to record keeping |
| Web site upgrade | Early fiscal 2023 | Medium | |
| Point of Sale replacement | Oct 2021– Mar 2022 | Medium | |
| ERP utilization and training on unused systems | Friday, Sept 17 | Medium | Could impact multiple staff |
| Managed Security Service RFP | This calendar year | Medium | |
| Mental Health Dashboard | In research phase | Low |
Phase 1
| Phase 2
| Phase 3
| Phase 4
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External Considerations
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Organizational Drivers
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Technology Considerations
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Functional Requirements
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1 hour
Record this information in the ERP Strategy Report Template.
Download the ERP Strategy Report Template
| Environmental Factors | Technology Drivers | Business Needs |
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Functional Gaps
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Technical Gaps
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Process Gaps
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Barriers to Success
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Business Benefits
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IT Benefits
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Organizational Benefits
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Enablers of Success
|
1 hour
Record this information in the ERP Strategy Report Template.
Download the ERP Strategy Report Template
| Organizational Goals | Enablers | Barriers |
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In business architecture, the primary view of an organization is known as a business capability map.
A business capability defines what a business does to enable value creation rather than how.
Business capabilities:
A business capability map provides details that help the business architecture practitioner direct attention to a specific area of the business for further assessment.
If you do not have a documented process model, you can use the APQC Framework to help define your inventory of business processes.
APQC’s Process Classification Framework is a taxonomy of cross-functional business processes intended to allow the objective comparison of organizational performance within and among organizations.
APQC’s Process Classification Framework
2-4 hours
Record this information in the ERP Strategy Report Template.
Download the ERP Strategy Report Template
| Core Finance | Core HR | Workforce Management | Talent Management | Warehouse Management | Enterprise Asset Management | ||||||
| Process | Technology | Process | Technology | Process | Technology | Process | Technology | Process | Technology | Process | Technology |
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| Planning & Budgeting | Strategic HR | Procurement | Customer Relationship Management | Facilities Management | Project Management | ||||||
| Process | Technology | Process | Technology | Process | Technology | Process | Technology | Process | Technology | Process | Technology |
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1-2 hours
Record this information in the ERP Strategy Report Template.
Download the ERP Strategy Report Template
Inventory your applications and assess usage, satisfaction, and disposition
| Application Name | Satisfaction | Processes Supported | Future Disposition |
| PeopleSoft Financials | Medium and declining | ERP – shares one support person with HR | Update or Replace |
| Time Entry (custom) | Low | Time and Attendance | Replace |
| PeopleSoft HR | Medium | Core HR | Update or Replace |
| ServiceNow | High ITSM CSM: Med-Low |
ITSM and CSM CSM – complexity and process changes |
Update |
| Data Warehouse | High IT Business: Med-Low |
BI portal – Tibco SaaS datamart | Keep |
| Regulatory Compliance | Medium | Regulatory software – users need training | Keep |
| ACL Analytics | Low | Audit | Replace |
| Elite | Medium | Supply chain for wholesale | Update (in progress) |
| Visual Importer | Med-High | Customs and taxes | Keep |
| Custom Reporting application | Med-High | Reporting solution for wholesale (custom for old system, patched for Elite) | Replace |
For each mega-process:
Congratulations, you have made it to the “big lift” portion of the blueprint. For each of the processes that were identified in exercise 2.2.1, you will fill out the following six details:
It will take one to three hours per mega-process to complete the six different sections.
Note:
For each mega-process identified you will create a separate slide in the ERP Strategy Report. Default slides have been provided. Add or delete as necessary.
*A “stage gate” approach should be used: the next level begins after consensus is achieved for the previous level.
1 hour per mega-process
Record this information in the ERP Strategy Report Template.
Download the ERP Strategy Report Template
30+ minutes per mega-process
Record this information in the ERP Strategy Report Template.
Download the ERP Strategy Report Template
30 minutes per mega-process
Record this information in the ERP Strategy Report Template.
Download the ERP Strategy Report Template
1 hour
Record this information in the ERP Strategy Report Template.
Download the ERP Strategy Report Template
1 hour
Record this information in the ERP Strategy Report Template.
Download the ERP Strategy Report Template.
Establishing an order of importance can impact vendor selection and implementation roadmap; high priority areas are critical for ERP success.
Phase 1
| Phase 2
| Phase 3
| Phase 4
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Identify which stakeholders to include and what their level of involvement should be during requirements elicitation based on relevant topic expertise.
| Sponsor | End User | IT | Business | |
| Description | An internal stakeholder who has final sign-off on the ERP project. | Front-line users of the ERP technology. | Back-end support staff who are tasked with project planning, execution, and eventual system maintenance. | Additional stakeholders that will be impacted by any ERP technology changes. |
| Examples |
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| Value | Executive buy-in and support is essential to the success of the project. Often, the sponsor controls funding and resource allocation. | End users determine the success of the system through user adoption. If the end user does not adopt the system, the system is deemed useless and benefits realization is poor. | IT is likely to be responsible for more in-depth requirements gathering. IT possesses critical knowledge around system compatibility, integration, and data. | Involving business stakeholders in the requirements gathering will ensure alignment between HR and organizational objectives. |
Large-scale ERP projects require the involvement of many stakeholders from all corners and levels of the organization, including project sponsors, IT, end users, and business stakeholders. Consider the influence and interest of stakeholders in contributing to the requirements elicitation process and involve them accordingly.
1 hour
Record this information in the ERP Strategy Report Template.
Download the ERP Strategy Report Template
Understanding the technical and strategic risks of a project can help you establish contingencies to reduce the likelihood of risk occurrence and devise mitigation strategies to help offset their impact if contingencies are insufficient.
| Risk | Impact | Likelihood | Mitigation Effort |
| Inadequate budget for additional staffing resources. | 2 | 1 | Use internal transfers and role-sharing rather than external hiring. |
| Push-back on an ERP solution. | 2 | 2 | Use formal communication plans, an ERP steering committee, and change management to overcome organizational readiness. |
| Overworked resources. | 1 | 1 | Create a detailed project plan that outlines resources and timelines in advance. |
Rating Scale: |
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| Impact: | 1- High Risk | 2- Moderate Risk | 3- Minimal Risk |
| Likelihood: | 1- High/Needs Focus | 2- Can Be Mitigated | 3- Remote Likelihood |
The biggest sources of risk in an ERP strategy are lack of planning, poorly defined requirements, and lack of governance.
Apply the following mitigation tips to avoid pitfalls and delays.
1-2 hours
Record this information in the ERP Strategy Report Template.
Download the ERP Strategy Report Template
| Risk | Impact | Likelihood | Mitigation Effort |
| Inadequate budget for additional staffing resources. | 2 | 1 | Use internal transfers and role-sharing rather than external hiring. |
| Push-back on an ERP solution. | 2 | 2 | Use formal communication plans, an ERP steering committee, and change management to overcome organizational readiness. |
| Overworked resources. | 1 | 1 | Create a detailed project plan that outlines resources and timelines in advance. |
| Project approval | 1 | 1 | Build a strong business case for project approval and allow adequate time for the approval process |
| Software does not work as advertised resulting in custom functionality with associated costs to create/ maintain | 1 | 2 | Work with staff to change processes to match the software instead of customizing the system thorough needs analysis prior to RFP creation |
| Under estimation of staffing levels required, i.e. staff utilized at 25% for project when they are still 100% on their day job | 1 | 2 | Build a proper business case around staffing (be somewhat pessimistic) |
| EHS system does not integrate with new HRMS/ERP system | 2 | 2 | |
| Selection of an ERP/HRMS that does not integrate with existing systems | 2 | 3 | Be very clear in RFP on existing systems that MUST be integrated to |
Rating Scale: |
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| Impact: | 1- High Risk | 2- Moderate Risk | 3- Minimal Risk |
| Likelihood: | 1- High/Needs Focus | 2- Can Be Mitigated | 3- Remote Likelihood |
By answering the seven questions the key stakeholders are indicating their commitment. While this doesn’t guarantee that the top two critical success factors have been met, it does create the conversation to guide the organization into alignment on whether to proceed.
30 minutes
There are no wrong answers. It should be okay to disagree with any of these statements. The goal of the exercise is to generate conversation that leads to support of the project and collaboration on the part of the participants.
Record this information in the ERP Strategy Report Template.
Download the ERP Strategy Report Template
| Question # | Question | Strongly disagree | Somewhat disagree | Neither agree nor disagree | Somewhat agree | Strongly agree |
| 1. | I have everything I need to succeed. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| 2. | The right people are involved in the project. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| 3. | I understand the process of ERP selection. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| 4. | My role in the project is clear to me. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| 5. | I am clear about the vision for this project. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| 6. | I am nervous about this project. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| 7. | There is leadership support for the project. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
Consider the core team functions when composing the project team. It is essential to ensure that all relevant perspectives (business, IT, etc.) are evaluated to create a well-aligned and holistic ERP strategy.
There may be an inclination towards a large project team when trying to include all relevant stakeholders. Carefully limiting the size of the project team will enable effective decision making while still including functional business units like HR and Finance, as well as IT.
1 hour
Record this information in the ERP Strategy Report Template.
Download the ERP Strategy Report Template
Of particular importance for this table is the commitment column. It is important that the organization understands the level of involvement for all roles. Failure to properly account for the necessary involvement is a major risk factor.
| Role | Candidate | Responsibility | Commitment |
| Project champion | John Smith |
|
20 hours/week |
| Steering committee |
|
10 hours/week | |
| Project manager |
|
40 hours/week | |
| Project team |
|
40 hours/week | |
| Subject matter experts by area |
|
5 hours/week |
Build a list of the core ERP strategy team members and then structure a RACI chart with the relevant categories and roles for the overall project.
1 hour
Record this information in the ERP Strategy Report Template.
Download the ERP Strategy Report Template
| Project champion | Project advisor | Project steering committee | Project manager | Project team | Subject matter experts | |
| Determine project scope & vision | I | C | A | R | C | C |
| Document business goals | I | I | A | R | I | C |
| Inventory ERP processes | I | I | A | C | R | R |
| Map current state | I | I | A | R | I | R |
| Assess gaps and opportunities | I | C | A | R | I | I |
| Explore alternatives | R | R | A | I | I | R |
| Build a roadmap | R | A | R | I | I | R |
| Create a communication plan | R | A | R | I | I | R |
| Present findings | R | A | R | I | I | R |
Phase 1
| Phase 2
| Phase 3
| Phase 4
|
There are several different paths you can take to achieve your ideal future state. Make sure to pick the one that suits your needs as defined by your current state.
| CURRENT STATE | STRATEGY |
| Your existing application satisfies both functionality and integration requirements. The processes surrounding it likely need attention, but the system should be considered for retention. | MAINTAIN CURRENT SYSTEM |
| Your existing application is, for the most part, functionally rich, but may need some tweaking. Spend time and effort building and enhancing additional functionalities or consolidating and integrating interfaces. | AUGMENT CURRENT SYSTEM |
| Your ERP application portfolio consists of multiple apps serving the same functions. Consolidating applications with duplicate functionality is more cost efficient and makes integration and data sharing simpler. | OPTIMIZE: CONSOLIDATE AND INTEGRATE SYSTEMS |
| Your existing system offers poor functionality and poor integration. It would likely be more cost and time efficient to replace the application and its surrounding processes altogether. | TRANSFORM: REPLACE CURRENT SYSTEM |
Keep the system, change the process.
Your existing application satisfies both functionality and integration requirements. The processes surrounding it likely need attention, but the system should be considered for retention.
Maintaining your current system entails adjusting current processes and/or adding new ones, and involves minimal cost, time, and effort.
| INDICATORS | POTENTIAL SOLUTIONS |
| People Pain Points | |
|
|
| Process Pain Points | |
|
|
Add to the system.
Your existing application is for the most part functionally rich but may need some tweaking. Spend time and effort enhancing your current system.
You will be able to add functions by leveraging existing system features. Augmentation requires limited investment and less time and effort than a full system replacement.
| INDICATORS | POTENTIAL SOLUTIONS |
| Technology Pain Points | |
|
|
| Data Pain Points | |
|
|
Get rid of one system, combine two, or connect many.
Your ERP application portfolio consists of multiple apps serving the same functions.
Consolidating your systems eliminates the need to manage multiple pieces of software that provide duplicate functionality. Reducing the number of ERP applications makes integration and data sharing simpler.
| INDICATORS | POTENTIAL SOLUTIONS |
| Technology Pain Points | |
|
|
| Data Pain Points | |
|
|
Start from scratch.
You’re transitioning from an end-of-life legacy system. Your existing system offers poor functionality and poor integration. It would likely be more cost and time efficient to replace the application and its surrounding processes all together.
| INDICATORS | POTENTIAL SOLUTIONS |
| Technology Pain Points | |
|
|
| Data Pain Points | |
|
|
| Process Pains | |
|
|
1-2 hours
Record this information in the ERP Strategy Report Template.
Note:
Your roadmap should be treated as a living document that is updated and shared with the stakeholders on a regular schedule.
Download the ERP Strategy Report Template
| Initiative | Owner | Start Date | Completion Date |
| Create final workshop deliverable | Info-Tech | 16 September, 2021 | |
| Review final deliverable | Workshop sponsor | ||
| Present to executive team | Oct 2021 | ||
| Build business case | CFO, CIO, Directors | 3 weeks to build 3-4 weeks process time |
|
| Build an RFI for initial costings | 1-2 weeks | ||
| Stage 1 approval for requirements gathering | Executive committee | Milestone | |
| Determine and acquire BA support for next step | 1 week | ||
| Requirements gathering – level 2 processes | Project team | 5-6 weeks effort | |
| Build RFP (based on informal approval) | CFO, CIO, Directors | 4th calendar quarter 2022 | Possible completion January 2023 2-4 weeks |
1 hour
Record this information in the ERP Strategy Report Template.
Download the ERP Strategy Report Template
A communication plan is necessary because not everyone will react positively to change. Therefore, you must be prepared to explain the rationale behind any initiatives that are being rolled out.
“The most important thing in project management is communication, communication, communication. You have to be able to put a message into business terms rather than technical terms.” (Lance Foust, I.S. Manager, Plymouth Tube Company)
| Project Goals | Communication Goals | Required Resources | Communication Channels |
| Why is your organization embarking on an ERP project? | What do you want employees to know about the project? | What resources are going to be utilized throughout the ERP strategy? | How will your project team communicate project updates to the employees? |
| Streamline processes and achieve operational efficiency. | We will focus on mapping and gathering requirements for (X) mega-processes. | We will be hiring process owners for each mega-process. | You will be kept up to date about the project progress via email and intranet. Please feel free to contact the project owner if you have any questions. |
1 hour
Record this information in the ERP Strategy Report Template.
Download the ERP Strategy Report Template
Use the communication planning template to track communication methods needed to convey information regarding ERP initiatives.
This is designed to help your organization make ERP initiatives visible and create stakeholder awareness.
| Audience | Purpose | Delivery/ Format | Communicator | Delivery Date | Status/Notes |
| Front-line employees | Highlight successes | Bi-weekly email | CEO | Mondays | |
| Entire organization | Highlight successes Plans for next iteration |
Monthly townhall | Senior leadership | Last Thursday of every month | Recognize top contributors from different parts of the business. Consider giving out prizes such as coffee mugs |
| Iteration demos | Show completed functionality to key stakeholders | Iteration completion web conference | Delivery lead | Every other Wednesday | Record and share the demonstrations to all employees |
After completing the activities and exercises within this blueprint, the final step of the process is to present the deliverable to senior management and stakeholders.
“When delivering the strategy and next steps, break the project down into consumable pieces. Make sure you deliver quick wins to retain enthusiasm and engagement.
By making it look like a different project you keep momentum and avoid making it seem unattainable.” (Scott Clark, Innovation Credit Union)
“To successfully sell the value of ERP, determine what the high-level business problem is and explain how ERP can be the resolution. Explicitly state which business areas ERP is going to touch. The business often has a very narrow view of ERP and perceives it as just a financial system. The key part of the strategy is that the organization sees the broader view of ERP.” (Scott Clark, Innovation Credit Union)
1 hour
Download the ERP Strategy Report Template
ERP technology is critical to facilitating an organization’s flow of information across business units. It allows for seamless integration of systems and creates a holistic view of the enterprise to support decision making. ERP implementation should not be a one-and-done exercise. There needs to be an ongoing optimization to enable business processes and optimal organizational results.
Build an ERP Strategy and Roadmap allows organizations to proactively implement continuous assessment and optimization of their enterprise resource planning system, including:
This formal ERP optimization initiative will drive business-IT alignment, identify IT automation priorities, and dig deep into continuous process improvement.
Contact your account representative for more information.
workshops@infotech.com 1-888-670-8889
| Name | Title | Organization |
| Anonymous | Anonymous | Software industry |
| Anonymous | Anonymous | Pharmaceutical industry |
| Boris Znebel | VP of Sales | Second Foundation |
| Brian Kudeba | Director, Administrative Systems | Fidelis Care |
| David Lawrence | Director, ERP | Allegheny Technologies Inc. |
| Ken Zima | CIO | Aquarion Water Company |
| Lance Foust | I.S. Manager | Plymouth Tube Company |
| Pooja Bagga | Head of ERP Strategy & Change | Transport for London |
| Rob Schneider | Project Director, ERP | Strathcona County |
| Scott Clark | Innovation Credit Union | |
| Tarek Raafat | Manager, Application Solutions | IDRC |
| Tom Walker | VP, Information Technology | StarTech.com |
Gheorghiu, Gabriel. "The ERP Buyer’s Profile for Growing Companies." Selecthub. 2018. Accessed 21 Feb. 2021.
"Maximizing the Emotional Economy: Behavioral Economics." Gallup. n.d. Accessed 21 Feb. 2021.
Neito-Rodriguez, Antonio. Project Management | How to Prioritize Your Company's Projects. 13 Dec. 2016. Accessed 29 Nov 2021. Web.
"A&D organization resolves organizational.“ Case Study. Panorama Consulting Group. 2021. PDF. 09 Nov. 2021. Web.
"Process Frameworks." APQC. n.d. Accessed 21 Feb. 2021.
Saxena, Deepak and Joe Mcdonagh. "Evaluating ERP Implementations: The Case for a Lifecycle-based Interpretive Approach." The Electronic Journal of Information Systems Evaluation, 29-37. 22 Feb. 2019. Accessed 21 Feb. 2021.
Hybrid work is here, but there is no consensus among industry leaders on how to do it right. IT faces the dual challenge of supporting its own employees while enabling the success of the broader organization. In the absence of a single best practice to adopt, how can IT departments make the right decisions when it comes to the new world of hybrid?
Read this concise report to learn:
Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:
Read this report to learn how IT departments are using the latest trends in hybrid work for greater IT effectiveness. Understand what work models are best for IT, how IT can support a remote organization, and how hybrid work changes team dynamics.
The pandemic has catapulted hybrid work to the forefront of strategic decisions an organization needs to make. According to our State of Hybrid Work in IT survey conducted in July of 2022, nearly all organizations across all industries are continuing some form of hybrid or remote work long-term (n=518). Flexible work location options are the single greatest concern for employees seeking a new job. IT departments are tasked with not only solving hybrid work questions for their own personnel but also supporting a hybrid-first organization, which means significant changes to technology and operations.
Faced with decisions that alter the very foundation of how an organization functions, IT leaders are looking for best practices and coming up empty. The world of work has changed quickly and unexpectedly. If you feel you are “winging it” in the new normal, you are not alone.
95% of organizations are continuing some form of hybrid or remote work.
n=518
47% of respondents look at hybrid work options when evaluating a new employer, vs. 46% who look at salary.
n=518
Your organization, your employees, your goals – your hybrid work
The days of a “typical” workplace have passed. When it comes to the new world of hybrid work, there is no best-of-breed example to follow.
Among the flood of contradictory decisions made by industry leaders, your IT organization must forge its own path, informed by the needs of your employees and your organizational goals.
All IT work models can support the broader organization. However, IT is more effective in a hybrid work mode.
Stay informed on where your industry is headed, but learn from, rather than follow, industry leaders.
All industries reported primarily using partial, balanced & full hybrid work models.
All industries reported some fully remote work, ranging from 2-10% of organizations surveyed.
Construction and healthcare & life sciences did not require any fully in-office work. Other industries, between 1-12% required fully in-office work.
The uncomfortable truth about hybrid work is that there are many viable models, and the “best of breed” depends on who you ask. In the post-pandemic workspace, for every work location model there is an industry leader that has made it functional. And yet this doesn’t mean that every model will be viable for your organization.
In the absence of a single best practice, rely on an individualized cost-benefit assessment rooted in objective feasibility criteria. Every work model – whether it continues your status quo or overhauls the working environment – introduces risk. Only in the context of your particular organization does that risk become quantifiable.
Don’t make the mistake of emulating the tech giants, unless they are your direct competition. Instead, look to organizations that have walked your path in terms of scope, organizational goals, industry, and organizational structure.
|
External |
Internal |
|---|---|
|
Political Economic Social Technological Legal Environmental |
Operations Culture Resources Risk Benefit Employee Preferences |
Comparative
Your competitors
Info-Tech Insight
Remember, your competitors are not just those who compete for the same customers but also those who compete for your employees.
IT has two roles: to effectively support the broader organization and to function effectively within the department. It therefore has two main stakeholder relationships: the organization it supports and the employees it houses. Hybrid work impacts both. Don't make the mistake of overweighting one relationship at the expense of the other. IT will only function effectively when it addresses both.
|
IT and the organization
|
Diagnostic tool: Business Vision |
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IT and its employees
|
Diagnostic tool: |
|
|
|
Small <100 |
Medium 101-5,000 |
Large >5,000 |
|
Employees |
100% of industries, organizational sizes, and position levels reported some form of hybrid or remote work.
| 5% | 21% | 30% | 39% | 5% |
|
No Remote |
Partial Hybrid |
Balanced Hybrid |
Full Hybrid |
Full Remote Work |
| 28% | 27% | 22% | 26% | 13% | 4% |
|
None |
Internet/home phone |
Just internet |
Home office setup |
Home utilities |
Other |
n=518
Home office setup: One-time lump-sum payment
Home utilities: Gas, electricity, lights, etc.
Other: Office supplies, portion of home rent/mortgage payments, etc.
Section 1
The promise of hybrid work for IT department effectiveness and the costs of making it happen
In this section:
IT’s effectiveness, meaning its ability to enable organizational goal attainment, is its ultimate success metric. In the post-pandemic world, this indicator is intimately tied to IT’s work location model, as well as IT’s ability to support the work location model used by the broader organization.
In 2022, 90% of organizations have embraced some form of hybrid work (n=516). And only a small contingent of IT departments have more than 90% of roles still working completely in office, with no remote work offered (n=515).
This outcome was not unexpected, given the unprecedented success of remote work during the pandemic. However, the implications of this work model were far less certain. Would productivity remain once the threat of layoffs had passed? Would hybrid work be viable in the long term, once the novelty wore off? Would teams be able to function collaboratively without meeting face to face? Would hybrid allow a great culture
to continue?
All signs point to yes. For most IT departments, the benefits of hybrid work outweigh its costs. IT is significantly more effective when some degree of remote or hybrid work is present.
Remote Work Effectiveness Paradox
When IT itself works fully onsite, lower effectiveness is reported (6.2). When IT is tasked with supporting fully, 100% remote organizations (as opposed to being fully remote only within IT), lower effectiveness is reported then as well (5.9). A fully remote organization means 100% virtual communication, so the expectations placed on IT increase, as do the stakes of any errors. Of note, hybrid work models yield consistent effectiveness scores when implemented at both the IT and organizational levels.
Despite the challenges initially posed by hybrid and remote organizations, IT has thrived through the pandemic and into this newly common workplace.
Most organizations have experienced an unchanged or increased level of service requests and incidents. However, for the majority of organizations, service desk support has maintained (58%) or improved (35%). Only 7% of IT organizations report decreased service desk support.
Is your service desk able to offer the same level of support compared to the pre-pandemic/pre-hybrid work model?
How has the volume of your service requests/incidents changed?
Has hybrid work impacted your customer satisfaction scores?
It is interesting to note that service request volumes have evolved similarly across industries, mirroring the remarkable consistency with which hybrid work has been adopted across disparate fields, from construction to government.
Of note are two industries where the volume of service requests mostly increased: government and media, information, telecom & technology.
With the global expansion of digital products and services through the pandemic, it’s no surprise to see volumes increase for media, information, telecom & technology. With government, the shift from on premises to rapid and large-scale hybrid or remote work for administrative and knowledge worker roles likely meant additional support from IT to equip employees and end users with the necessary tools to carry out work offsite.
How has the volume of your service requests/incidents changed?
Hybrid and remote work have been associated with greater productivity and organizational benefits since before the pandemic. During emergency remote work, doubts arose about whether productivity would be maintained under such extreme circumstances and were quickly dispelled. The promise of remote productivity held up.
Now, cautiously entering a “new normal,” the question has emerged again. Will long-term hybrid work bring the same benefits?
The expectations have held up, with hybrid work benefits ranging from reduced facilities costs to greater employee performance.
Organizational hybrid work may place additional strain on IT,
but it is clear IT can handle the challenge. And when it does,
the organizational benefits are tremendous.
88% of respondents reported increased or consistent Infrastructure & Operations customer satisfaction scores.
What benefits has the organization achieved as a result of moving to a hybrid work model?
Of the organizations surveyed, the vast majority reported significant changes to both the process and the technology side of IT operations. Four key processes affected by the move to hybrid were:
Within Infrastructure & Operations, the area with the greatest degree
of change was network architecture (reported by 44% of respondents), followed closely by service desk (41%) and recovery workspaces and mitigations (40%).
63% of respondents reported changes to conference room technology to support hybrid meetings.
IT Infrastructure & Operations changes, upgrades, and modernization
What process(es) had the highest degree of change in response to supporting hybrid work?
Forty-five percent of respondents reported significant changes to deployment as a result of hybrid work, with an additional 42% reporting minor changes. Only 13% of respondents stated that their deployment processes remained unchanged following the shift to hybrid work.
With the ever-increasing globalization of business, deployment modernization practices such as the shift to zero touch are no longer optional or a bonus. They are a critical part of business operation that bring efficiency benefits beyond just supporting hybrid work.
The deployment changes brought on by hybrid span across industries. Even in manufacturing, with the greatest proportion of respondents reporting “no change” to deployment practices (33%), most organizations experienced some degree of change.
Has a hybrid work model led you to make any changes to your deployment, such as zero touch, to get equipment to end users?
Over half of respondents reported significantly decreased reliance on printed copies as a result of hybrid. While these changes were on the horizon for many organizations even before the pandemic, the necessity of keeping business operations running during lockdowns meant that critical resources could be invested in these processes. As a result, digitization has leapt forward.
This represents an opportunity for businesses to re-evaluate their relationships with printing vendors. Resources spent on printing can be reduced or reallocated, representing additional savings as a result of moving to hybrid. Additionally, many respondents report a willingness – and ability – from vendors to partner with organizations in driving innovation and enabling digitization.
With respect to changes pertaining to hard copies/printers as a result of your hybrid work model:
The majority (63%) of respondents reported making significant changes to conference room technology as a result of hybrid work. A significant proportion (30%) report that such changes were not needed, but this includes organizations who had already set up remote communication.
An important group is the remaining 8% of respondents, who cite budgetary restrictions as a key barrier in making the necessary technology upgrades. Ensure the business case for communication technology appropriately reflects the impact of these upgrades, and reduce the impact of legacy technology where possible:
Have you made changes/upgrades
to the conference room technology to support hybrid meetings?
(E.g. Some participants joining remotely, some participants present in a conference room)
|
Metrics
|
Resources Create a Work-From-Anywhere IT Strategy Stabilize Infrastructure & Operations During Work-From-Anywhere Sustain Work-From-Home in the New Normal |
For a comprehensive list of resources, visit
Info-Tech’s Hybrid Workplace Research Center
Section 2
Cultivate the dream team in a newly hybrid world
In this section:
Since before the pandemic, the intangibles of having a job that works with your lifestyle have been steadily growing in importance. Considerations like flexible work options, work-life balance, and culture are more important to employees now than they were two years ago, and employers must adapt.
Salary alone is no longer enough to recruit the best talent, nor is it the key to keeping employees engaged and productive. Hybrid work options are the single biggest concern for IT professionals seeking new employment, just edging out salary. This means employers must not offer just some work flexibility but truly embrace a hybrid environment.
What are you considering when looking at a potential employer?
Declining economic conditions suggest that a talent market shift may be imminent. Moving toward a recession may mean less competition for top talent, but this doesn't mean hybrid will be left behind as a recruitment tactic.
Just over half of IT organizations surveyed are considering expanding hybrid work or moving to fully remote work even in a recession. Hybrid work is a critical enabler of organizational success when resources are scarce, due to the productivity benefits and cost savings it has demonstrated. Organizations that recognize this and adequately invest in hybrid tools now will have equipped themselves with an invaluable tool for weathering a recession storm, should one come.
What impact could a potential recession in the coming year have on your decisions around your work location?
The potential for a recession has a greater impact on the workforce decisions of small organizations. They likely face greater financial pressures than medium and large-sized organizations, pressures that could necessitate halting recruitment efforts or holding firm on current salaries and health benefits.
A reliance on intangible benefits, like the continuation of hybrid work, may help offset some of negative effects of such freezes, including the risk of lower employee engagement and productivity. Survey respondents indicated that hybrid work options (47%) were slightly more important to them than salary/compensation (46%) and significantly more important than benefits (29%), which could work in favor of small organizations in keeping the critical employees needed to survive an economic downturn.
|
Small |
Medium | Large |
| 90% | 82% | 66% |
Currently considering some form of hiring/salary freeze or cutbacks, if a recession occurs
NOTES
n=520
Small: <101 employees
Medium: 101-5000 employees
Large: >5,000 employees
One advantage of hybrid over remote work is the ability to maintain an in-office presence, which provides a failsafe should technology or other barriers stand in the way of effective distance communication. To take full advantage of this, teams should coordinate tasks with location, so that employees get the most out of the unique benefits of working in office and remotely.
Activities to prioritize for in-office work:
Activities to prioritize for remote work:
As a leader, what are your greatest concerns with hybrid work?
When it comes to leading a hybrid team, there is no ignoring the impact of distance on communication and team cohesion. Among leaders’ top concerns are employee wellbeing and the ability to pick up on signs of demotivation among team members.
The top two tactics used by managers to mitigate these concerns center on increasing communication:
Tactics most used by highly effective IT departments
The most effective hybrid team management tools focus on overcoming the greatest obstacle introduced by remote work: barriers to communication and connection.
The most effective IT organizations use a variety of tactics. For managers looking to improve hybrid team effectiveness, the critical factor is less the tactic used and more the ability to adapt their approach to their team’s needs and incorporate team feedback. As such, IT effectiveness is linked to the total number of tactics used by managers.
IT department effectiveness
Not all hybrid work models are created equal. IT leaders working with hybrid teams have many decisions to make, from how many days will be spent in and out of office to how much control employees get over which days they work remotely.
Employee and manager preferences are largely aligned regarding the number of days spent working remotely or onsite: Two to three days in office is the most selected option for both groups, although overall manager preferences lean slightly toward more time spent in office.
Comparison of leader and employee preference for days in-office
Do employees have a choice in the days they work in office/offsite?
For most organizations, employees get a choice of which days they spend working remotely. This autonomy can range from complete freedom to a choice between several pre-approved days depending on team scheduling needs.
Organizations’ success in establishing hybrid team autonomy varies greatly post pandemic. Responses are roughly equally split between staff feeling more, less, or the same level of autonomy as before the pandemic. Evaluated in the context of most organizations continuing a hybrid approach, this leads to the conclusion that not all hybrid implementations are being conducted equally effectively when it comes to employee empowerment.
As an employee, how much control do you have over the decisions related to where, when, and how you work currently?
A strong case can be made for fostering autonomy and empowerment on hybrid teams. Employees who report lower levels of control than before the pandemic also report lower engagement indicators, such as trust in senior leadership, motivation, and intention to stay with the organization. On the other hand, employees experiencing increased levels of control report gains in these areas.
The only exception to these gains is the sense of team connectedness, which employees experiencing more control report as lower than before the pandemic. A greater sense of connectedness among employees reporting decreased control may be related to more mandatory in-office time or a sense of connection over shared team-level disengagement.
These findings reinforce the need for hybrid teams to invest in team building and communication practices and confirm that significant benefits are to be had when a sense of autonomy can be successfully instilled.
Employees who experience less control than before the pandemic report lowered engagement indicators ... except sense of connectedness
Employees who experience more control than before the pandemic report increased engagement indicators ... except sense of connectedness
|
The Power of Intentionality When the pandemic hit, technology was not in question. Flexible work options had been available and widely used, and the technology to support them was in place. The leadership team turned their focus to ensuring their culture survived and thrived. They developed a laser-focused approach for engaging their employees by giving their leaders tools to hold conversations. The dialogue was ongoing to allow the organization to adapt to the fast pace of changing conditions. Every tactic, plan, and communication started with the question, “What outcome are we striving for?” With a clear outcome, tools were created and leaders supported to drive the desired outcome. |
“We knew we had the technology in place. Our concern was around maintaining our strong culture and ensuring continued engagement and connection with our employees.” – Lisa Gibson, Chief of Staff, Microsoft Canada |
Metrics
| Resources Webinar: Effectively Manage Remote Teams Build a Better Manager: Manage Your People |
For a comprehensive list of resources, visit
Info-Tech’s Hybrid Workplace Research Center
|
BE INTENTIONAL
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INVOLVE EMPLOYEES
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ALLOW CHOICE
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BE TRANSPARENT
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Info-Tech Insight
Hybrid and remote teams require more attention, connection, and leadership from managers. The shift from doing the day-to-day to effectively leading is critical for the success of nontraditional work models. As hybrid and remote work become engrained in society, organizations must ensure that the concept of the “working manager” is as obsolete as the rotary telephone.
“8 Unexpected Benefits of Online Learning for Development.” Center for Creative Leadership (CCL), 14 Oct. 2020. Accessed 5 Nov. 2021.
“2021 Global Workplace Report.” NTT, 2021. Accessed 6 July 2022.
“Advantages of Online Learning for Leadership Development: What Our Research Says.” CCL, 8 Dec. 2020. 5 Nov. 2021.
“Annual Work Trend Index Report – Great Expectations: Making Hybrid Work Work.” Microsoft WorkLab, 2022. Accessed 6 July 2022.
Aten, Jason. “Google’s Employees Return to the Office Today. This Former Exec Says Hybrid Work Won’t Last.” Inc.Com, 4 April 2022. Web.
Bariso, Justin. “Google Spent 2 Years Researching What Makes a Great Remote Team. It Came Up With These 3 Things.” Inc.Com, 8 April 2019. Web.
Berger, Chloe. “What Is ‘Hybrid Guilt’? Going to Office Part-Time May Be Worst Option.” Fortune, 22 Aug. 2022. Web.
Brodkin, Jon. “After Remote-Work Ultimatum, Musk Reveals Plan to Cut 10% of Tesla Jobs.” Ars Technica, 3 June 2022. Web.
Brown, Brené, host. “Brené with Scott Sonenshein on Why We’ll Never Be the Same Again (and Why It’s Time to Talk About It).” Dare to Lead with Brené Brown, 11 April 2022. Brené Brown, https://brenebrown.com/podcast/why-well-never-be-the-same-again-and-why-its-time-to-talk-about-it/.
Burgess, Mark. “Most Asset Managers Operating Under Hybrid Work Model: Survey.” Advisor’s Edge, 13 Sept. 2022. Web.
Caminiti, Susan. “Workers Want Hybrid but Say It’s Exhausting Them. Here’s How Companies Can Fix That.” CNBC, 8 Feb. 2022. Web.
Capossela, Chris. “The next Chapter of Our Hybrid Workplace: Update on Our Washington State Work Sites.” The Official Microsoft Blog, 14 Feb. 2022. Web.
Carrigan, John. “Meta Embraces ‘Work From Anywhere’ Ahead of Return to Office.” Human Resources Director, 25 March 2022. Web.
Chaturvedi, H., and Ajoy Kumar Dey. The New Normal: Reinventing Professional Life and Familial Bonding in the Post COVID 19 Era. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2021.
Commonwealth of Massachusetts. “Alternative Work Options.” Mass.Gov, n.d. Accessed 17 Sept. 2022.
Commonwealth of Massachusetts. “Hybrid Work for Commonwealth Employees.” Mass.Gov, n.d. Accessed 17 Sept. 2022.
“COVID-19 and the Future of Business.” IBM, 21 Sept. 2020. Web.
Daniel, Will. “The Layoffs at Tesla Show That White-Collar Workers Are Screwed, Hedge Funder Famous from ‘The Big Short’ Predicts.” Fortune, 29 June 2022. Web.
D’Auria, Gemma, and Aaron De Smet. “Leadership in a Crisis: Responding to Coronavirus.” McKinsey, 16 March 2020. Web.
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Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:
E-commerce channels have proliferated, and traditional brick-and-mortar commerce is undergoing reinvention. In order to provide your customers with a strong experience, it's imperative to create a strategy – and to deploy the right enabling technologies – that allow for robust multi-channel commerce. This storyboard provides a concise overview of how to do just that.
Customer personas are archetypal representations of your key audience segments. This template (and populated examples) will help you construct personas for your omnichannel commerce project.
Ben Dickie
Research Lead, Research – Applications
Info-Tech Research Group
“Your commerce strategy is where the rubber hits the road, converting your prospects into paying customers. To maximize revenue (and provide a great customer experience), it’s essential to have a clearly defined commerce strategy in place.
A strong commerce strategy seeks to understand your target customer personas and commerce journey maps and pair these with the right channels and enabling technologies. There is not a “one-size-fits-all” approach to selecting the right commerce channels: while many organizations are making a heavy push into e-commerce and mobile commerce, others are seeking to differentiate themselves by innovating in traditional brick-and-mortar sales. Hybrid channel design now dominates many commerce strategies – using a blend of e-commerce and other channels to deliver the best-possible customer experience.
IT leaders must work with the business to create a succinct commerce strategy that defines personas and scenarios, outlines the right channel matrix, and puts in place the right enabling technologies (for example, point-of-sale and e-commerce platforms).”
Today’s customers expect to be able to transact with you in the channels of their choice.
The proliferation of e-commerce, innovations in brick-and-mortar retail, and developments in mobile commerce and social media selling mean that IT organizations are managing added complexity in drafting a strategy for commerce enablement.
The right technology stack is critical to support world-class e-commerce and brick-and-mortar interactions with customers.
Many organizations do not define strong, customer-centric drivers for dictating which channels they should be investing in for transactional capabilities.
As many retailers look to move shopping experiences online during the pandemic, the impetus for having a strong e-commerce suite has markedly increased. The proliferation of commerce vendors has made it difficult to identify and shortlist the right solution, while the pandemic has also highlighted the importance of adopting new vendors quickly and efficiently: companies need to understand the top players in different commerce market landscapes.
IT is receiving a growing number of commerce platform requests and must be prepared to speak intelligently about requirements and the “art of the possible.”
A commerce strategy outlines an organization’s approach to selling its products and services. A strong commerce strategy identifies target customers’ personas, commerce journeys that the organization wants to support, and the channels that the organization will use to transact with customers.
Many commerce strategies encompass two distinct but complementary branches: a commerce strategy for transacting through traditional channels and an e-commerce strategy. While the latter often receives more attention from IT, it still falls on IT leaders to provide the appropriate enabling technologies to support traditional brick-and-mortar channels as well. Traditional channels have also undergone a digital renaissance in recent years, with forward-looking companies capitalizing on new technology to enhance customer experiences in their stores.
To better serve their customers, many companies position themselves as “click-and-mortar” shops – allowing customers to transact at a store or online.
Today’s consumers expect speed, convenience, and tailored experiences at every stage of the customer lifecycle. Successful organizations strive to support these expectations.
58%
of retail customers admitted that their expectations now are higher than they were a year ago (FinancesOnline).
70%
of consumers between the ages of 18 and 34 have increasing customer expectations year after year (FinancesOnline).
69%
of consumers now expect store associates to be armed with a mobile device to deliver value-added services, such as looking up product information and checking inventory (V12).
73%
of support leaders agree that customer expectations are increasing, but only…
42%
of support leaders are confident that they’re actually meeting those expectations.
Customers expect to interact with organizations through the channels of their choice. Now more than ever, you must enable your organization to provide tailored commerce and transactional experiences.
Get ahead of the competition by doing omnichannel right! Devise a strategy that allows you to create and maintain a consistent, seamless commerce experience by optimizing operations with an omnichannel framework. Customers want to interact with you on their own terms, and it falls to IT to ensure that applications are in place to support and manage both traditional and e-commerce channels. There must also be consistency of copy, collateral, offers, and pricing between commerce channels.
71%
of consumers want a consistent experience across all channels, but only…
29%
say that they actually get it.
(Source: Business 2 Community, 2020)
Omnichannel is a “multichannel approach that aims to provide customers with a personalized, integrated, and seamless shopping experience across diverse touchpoints and devices.”
Source: RingCentral, 2021
An e-commerce platform is an enterprise application that provides end-to-end capabilities for allowing customers to purchase products or services from your company via an online channel (e.g. a traditional website, a mobile application, or an embedded link in a social media post). Modern e-commerce platforms are essential for delivering a frictionless customer journey when it comes to purchasing online.
$6.388
trillion dollars worth of sales will be conducted online by 2024 (eMarketer, 14 Jan. 2021).
44%
of all e-commerce transactions are expected to be completed via a mobile device by 2024 (Insider).
21.8%
of all sales will be made from online purchases by 2024 (eMarketer, 14 Jan. 2021).
Take time to learn the capabilities of modern e-commerce applications. Understanding the “art of the possible” will help you to get the most out of your e-commerce platform.
A strong e-commerce provides marketers with the data they need to produce actionable insights about their customers.
INDUSTRY - Retail
SOURCE - Salesforce (a)
PetSmart is a leading retailer of pet products, with a heavy footprint across North America. Historically, PetSmart was a brick-and-mortar retailer, but it has placed a heavy emphasis on being a true multi-channel “click-and-mortar” retailer to ensure it maintains relevance against competitors like Amazon.
To improve its e-commerce capabilities, PetSmart recognized that it needed to consolidate to a single, unified e-commerce platform to realize a 360-degree view of its customers. A new platform was also required to power dynamic and engaging experiences, with appropriate product recommendations and tailored content. To pursue this initiative, the company settled on Salesforce.com’s Commerce Cloud product after an exhaustive requirements definition effort and rigorous vendor selection approach.
After platform implementation, PetSmart was able to effortlessly handle the massive transaction volumes associated with Black Friday and Cyber Monday and deliver 1:1 experiences that boosted conversion rates.
INDUSTRY - Retail
SOURCE - Salesforce (b)
Icebreaker is a leading outerwear and lifestyle clothing company, operating six global websites and owning over 5,000 stores across 50 countries. Icebreaker is focused on providing its shoppers with accurate, real-time product suggestions to ensure it remains relevant in an increasingly competitive online market.
To improve its e-commerce capabilities, Icebreaker recognized that it needed to adopt a predictive recommendation engine that would offer its customers a more personalized shopping experience. This new system would need to leverage relevant data to provide both known and anonymous shoppers with product suggestions that are of interest to them. To pursue this initiative, Icebreaker settled on using Salesforce.com’s Commerce Cloud Einstein, a fully integrated AI.
After integrating Commerce Cloud Einstein on all its global sites, Icebreaker was able to cross-sell and up-sell its merchandise more effectively by providing its shoppers with accurate product recommendations, ultimately increasing average order value.
Point-of-sale systems are the “real world” complement to e-commerce platforms. They provide functional capabilities for selling products in a physical store, including basic inventory management, cash register management, payment processing, and retail analytics. Many firms struggle with legacy POS environments that inhibit a modern customer experience.
$27.338
trillion dollars in retail sales are expected to be made globally in 2022 (eMarketer, 2022).
84%
of consumers believe that retailers should be doing more to integrate their online and offline channels (Invoca).
39%
of consumers are unlikely or very unlikely to visit a retailer’s store if the online store doesn’t provide physical store inventory information (V12).
They’re key components of a well-oiled customer experience ecosystem!
Having a customer master database – the central place where all up-to-the-minute data on a customer profile is stored – is essential for traditional and e-commerce success. Typically, the POS or e-commerce platform is not the system of record for the master customer profile: this information lives in a CRM platform or customer data warehouse. Conceptually, this system is at the center of the customer-experience ecosystem.
Strong POS and e-commerce solutions orchestrate transactions but typically do not do the heavy lifting in terms of order fulfilment, shipping logistics, economic inventory management, and reverse logistics (returns). In an enterprise-grade environment, these activities are executed by an enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution – integrating your commerce systems with a back-end ERP solution is a crucial step from an application architecture point of view.
INDUSTRY - Retail
SOURCES - Amazon, n.d. CNET, 2020
Amazon is creating a hybrid omnichannel experience for retail by introducing innovative brick-and-mortar stores
Amazon began as an online retailer of books in the mid-1990s, and rapidly expanded its product portfolio to nearly every category imaginable. Often hailed as the foremost success story in online commerce, the firm has driven customer loyalty via consistently strong product recommendations and a well-designed site.
Beginning in 2016 (and expanding in 2018), Amazon introduced Amazon Go, a next-generation grocery retailer, to the Seattle market. While most firms that pursue an e-commerce strategy traditionally come from a brick-and-mortar background, Amazon upended the usual narrative: the world’s largest online retailer opening physical stores to become a true omnichannel, “click-and-mortar” vendor. From the get-go, Amazon Go focused on innovating the physical retail experience – using cameras, IoT capabilities, and mobile technologies to offer “checkout-free” virtual shopping carts that automatically know what products customers take off the shelves and bill their Amazon accounts accordingly.
Amazon received a variety of industry and press accolades for re-inventing the physical store experience and it now owns and operates seven separate store brands, with more still on the horizon.
INDUSTRY - Retail
SOURCES - Glossy, 2020
Old Navy is a clothing and accessories retail company that owns and operates over 1,200 stores across North America and China. Typically, Old Navy has relied on using traditional marketing approaches, but recently it has shifted to producing more digitally focused campaigns to drive revenue.
To overcome pandemic-related difficulties, including temporary store closures, Old Navy knew that it had to have strong holiday sales in 2020. With the goal of stimulating retail sales growth and maximizing its pre-existing omnichannel capabilities, Old Navy decided to focus more of its holiday campaign efforts online than in years past. With this campaign centered on connected TV platforms, such as Hulu, and social media channels including Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, Old Navy was able to take a more unique, fun, and good-humored approach to marketing.
Old Navy’s digitally focused campaign was a success. When compared with third quarter sales figures from 2019, third quarter net sales for 2020 increased by 15% and comparable sales increased by 17%.
“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.”
What does a typical GI on this topic look like?
| Phase 1 | Phase 2 | Phase 3 | Phase 4 | Phase 5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Call #1: Scope requirements, objectives, and your specific challenges. |
Call #2: Assess current maturity. |
Call #4: Identify relationship between current initiatives and capabilities. |
Call #6: Identify strategy risks. | Call #8: Identify and prioritize improvements. |
Call #3: Identify target-state capabilities. |
Call #5: Create initiative profiles. |
Call #7: Identify required budget. |
Call #9: 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 4 to 6 months.
| 1. Identify Critical Drivers for Your Omnichannel Commerce Strategy | 2. Map Drivers to the Right Channels and Technologies | |
|---|---|---|
| Best Practice Toolkit | 1.1 Assess Personas and Scenarios 1.2 Create Key Drivers and Metrics |
2.1 Build the Commerce Channel Matrix 2.2 Review Technology and Trends Primer |
| Guided Implementations |
|
|
| Onsite Workshop | Module 1: |
Module 2: |
Identify Critical Drivers for Your Omnichannel Commerce Strategy |
Map Drivers to the Right Channels and Technologies |
|
Phase 1 Outcome: |
Phase 2 Outcome: |
|
An initial shortlist of customer-centric drivers for your channel strategy and supporting metrics. |
A completed commerce channel matrix tailored to your organization, and a snapshot of enabling technologies and trends. |
1.1 Assess Personas and Scenarios
1.2 Create Key Drivers and Metrics
Enable Omnichannel Commerce That Delights Your Customers
Assess Personas and Scenarios
1.1.1 Build key customer personas for your commerce strategy.
1.1.2 Create commerce scenarios (journey maps) that you need to enable.
Personas are detailed descriptions of the targeted audience of your e-commerce presence. Effective personas:
Source: Usability.gov, n.d.
Personas help:
The number of personas that should be created is based on the organizational coverage of your commerce strategy. Here are some questions you should ask:
The identified personas should generate the most revenue – or provide a significant opportunity – for your business. Here are some questions that you should ask:
Persona quote: “After I call the company about the widget, I would usually go onto the company’s website and look at further details about the product. How am I supposed to do so when it is so hard to find the company’s website on everyday search engines, such as Google, Yahoo, or Bing?”
Michael is a middle-aged manager working in the financial district. He wants to buy the company’s widgets for use in his home, but since he is distrusting of online shopping, he prefers to call the company’s call center first. Afterwards, if Michael is convinced by the call center representative, he will look at the company’s website for further research before making his purchase.
Michael does not have a lot of free time on his hands, and tries to make his free time as relaxing as possible. Due to most of his work being client-facing, he is not in front of a computer most of the time during his work. As such, Michael does not consider himself to be skilled with technology. Once he makes the decision to purchase, Michael will conduct online transactions and pay most delivery costs due to his shortage of time.
The quote attached to a persona should be from actual quotes that your customers have used when you reviewed your voice of the customer (VoC) surveys or focus groups to drive home the impact of their issues with your company.
Persona building is typically used for understanding the external customer; however, if you need to gain a better understanding of the organization’s internal customers (those who will be interacting with the e-commerce platform), personas can also be built for this purpose. Examples of useful internal personas are sales managers, brand managers, and customer service directors.
A use-case scenario is a story or narrative that helps explore the set of interactions that a customer has with an organization. Scenario mapping will help identify key business and technology drivers as well as more granular functional requirements for POS or e-commerce platform selection.
Simplified E-Commerce Workflow Purchase Products
Identify Critical Drivers for Your Omnichannel Commerce Strategy
The ROI and perceived value of the organization’s e-commerce and POS solutions will be a critical indication of the success of the suite’s selection and implementation.
Commerce Strategy and Technology Adoption Metrics |
||
|---|---|---|
EXAMPLE METRICS |
Commerce Performance Metrics |
|
Average revenue per unique transaction |
Quantity and quality of commerce insights |
|
Aggregate revenue by channel |
Unique customers per channel |
|
Savings from automated processes |
Repeat customers per channel |
|
User Adoption and Business Feedback Metrics |
||
User satisfaction feedback |
User satisfaction survey with technology |
|
Business adoption rates |
Application overhead cost reduction |
|
Even if e-commerce metrics are difficult to track right now, the implementation of a dedicated e-commerce platform brings access to valuable customer intelligence from data that was once kept in silos.
2.1 Build the Commerce Channel Matrix
2.2 Review Technology and Trends Primer
Build the Commerce Channel Matrix
Map Drivers to the Right Channels and Technologies
Traditional Channels |
E-Commerce Channels |
Hybrid Channels |
|---|---|---|
Physical stores (brick and mortar) are the mainstay of retailers selling tangible goods – some now also offer intangible service delivery. |
E-commerce websites as exemplified by services like Amazon are accessible by a browser and deliver both goods and services. |
Online ordering/in-store fulfilment is a model whereby customers can place orders online but pick the product up in store. |
Telesales allows customers to place orders over the phone. This channel has declined in favor of mobile commerce via smartphone apps. |
Mobile commerce allows customers to shop through a dedicated, native mobile application on a smartphone or tablet. |
IoT-enabled smart carts/bags allow customers to shop in store, but check-out payments are handled by a mobile application. |
Mail order allows customers to send (”snail”) mail orders. A related channel is fax orders. Both have diminished in favor of e-commerce. |
Social media embedded shopping allows customers to order products directly through services such as Facebook. |
Your channel selections should be driven by customer personas and scenarios. For example, social media may be extensively employed by some persona types (i.e. millennials) but see limited adoption in other demographics or use cases (i.e. B2B).
| Product Line A | Product Line B | Product Line C | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Currently Used? | Future Use? | Currently Used? | Future Use? | Currently Used? | Future Use? | |
| Store | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| Kiosk | Yes | No | No | No | No | No |
| E-Commerce Site/Portal | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Mobile App | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| Embedded Social | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Review Technology and Trends Primer
Strong e-commerce applications can improve:
Unlike some enterprise application markets, such as CRM, the e-commerce market appeared almost overnight during the mid-to-late nineties as the dot-com explosion fueled the need to have reliable solutions for executing transactions online.
Early e-commerce solutions were less full-fledged suites than they were mediums for payment processing and basic product list management. PayPal and other services like Digital River were pioneers in the space, but their functionality was limited vis-à-vis tools such as web content management platforms, and their ability to amalgamate and analyze the data necessary for dynamic personalization and re-targeting was virtually non-existent.
As marketers became more sophisticated and companies put an increased focus on customer experience and omnichannel interaction, the need arose for platforms that were significantly more feature rich than their early contemporaries. In this context, vendors such as Shopify and Demandware stepped into the limelight, offering far richer functionality and analytics than previous offerings, such as asset management, dynamic personalization, and the ability to re-target customers who abandoned their carts.
As the market has matured, there has also been a series of acquisitions of some players (for example, Demandware by Salesforce) and IPOs of others (i.e. Shopify). Traditional payment-oriented services like PayPal still fill an important niche, while newer entrants like Square seek to disrupt both the e-commerce market and point-of-sale solutions to boot.
Modern e-commerce solutions are expanding the number of form factors (smartphones, tablets) they support via both responsive design and in-app capabilities. Many platforms now also support embedded purchasing options in non-owned channels (for example, social media). With the pandemic leading to a heightened affinity for online shopping, the importance of fully using these capabilities has been further emphasized.
E-commerce is another customer experience domain ripe for transformation via the potential of artificial intelligence. Machine learning algorithms are being used to enhance the effectiveness of dynamic personalization of product collateral, improve the accuracy of product recommendations, and allow for more effective re-targeting campaigns of customers who did not make a purchase.
Many e-commerce vendors – particularly the large players – are now going beyond traditional e-commerce and making plays into brick-and-mortar environments, offering point-of-sale capabilities and the ability to display product assets and customizations via augmented reality – truly blending the physical and virtual shopping experience.
The big names in e-commerce recognize they don’t live on an island: out-of-the-box integrations with popular CRM, web experience, and marketing automation platforms have been increasing at a breakneck pace. Support for digital wallets has also become increasingly popular, with many vendors integrating contactless payment technology (i.e. Apple Pay) directly into their applications.
Technology coverage is a priority for Info-Tech, and SoftwareReviews provides the most comprehensive unbiased data on today’s technology. The insights of our expert analysts provide unparalleled support to our members at every step of their buying journey.
We collect and analyze the most detailed reviews on enterprise software from real users to give you an unprecedented view into the product and vendor before you buy.
The Data Quadrant is a thorough 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.
As of February 2022
As of February 2022

Strong POS applications can improve:
As of February 2022


“25 Amazing Omnichannel Statistics Every Marketer Should Know (Updated for 2021).” V12, 29 June 2021. Accessed 12 Jan. 2022.
“Amazon Go.” Amazon, n.d. Web.
Andersen, Derek. “33 Statistics Retail Marketers Need to Know in 2021.” Invoca, 19 July 2021. Accessed 12 Jan. 2022.
Andre, Louie. “115 Critical Customer Support Software Statistics: 2022 Market Share Analysis & Data.” FinancesOnline, 14 Jan. 2022. Accessed 25 Jan. 2022.
Chuang, Courtney. “The future of support: 5 key trends that will shape customer care in 2022.” Intercom, 10 Jan. 2022. Accessed 11 Jan. 2022.
Cramer-Flood, Ethan. “Global Ecommerce Update 2021.” eMarketer, 13 Jan. 2021. Accessed 12 Jan. 2022.
Cramer-Flood, Ethan. “Spotlight on total global retail: Brick-and-mortar returns with a vengeance.” eMarketer, 3 Feb. 2022. Accessed 12 Apr. 2022.
Fox Rubin, Ben. “Amazon now operates seven different kinds of physical stores. Here's why.” CNET, 28 Feb. 2020. Accessed 12 Jan. 2022.
Krajewski, Laura. “16 Statistics on Why Omnichannel is the Future of Your Contact Center and the Foundation for a Top-Notch Competitive Customer Experience.” Business 2 Community, 10 July 2020. Accessed 11 Jan. 2022.
Manoff, Jill. “Fun and convenience: CEO Nany Green on Old Navy’s priorities for holiday.” Glossy, 8 Dec. 2020. Accessed 12 Jan. 2022.
Meola, Andrew. “Rise of M-Commerce: Mobile Ecommerce Shopping Stats & Trends in 2021.” Insider, 30 Dec. 2020. Accessed 12 Jan. 2022.
“Outdoor apparel retailer Icebreaker uses AI to exceed shopper expectations.” Salesforce, n.d.(a). Accessed 20 Jan. 2022.
“Personas.” Usability.gov., n.d. Web. 28 Aug. 2018.
“PetSmart – Why Commerce Cloud?” Salesforce, n.d.(b). Web. 30 April 2018.
Toor, Meena. “Customer expectations: 7 Types all exceptional researchers must understand.” Qualtrics, 3 Dec. 2020. Accessed 11 Jan. 2022.
Westfall, Leigh. “Omnichannel vs. multichannel: What's the difference?” RingCentral, 10 Sept. 2021. Accessed 11 Jan. 2022.
“Worldwide ecommerce will approach $5 trillion this year.” eMarketer, 14 Jan. 2021. Accessed 12 Jan. 2022.
Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:
Build a strong foundation for the project to increase the chances of success.
Identify which technologies are specific to certain services.
Determine which technologies underpin the existence of user-facing services.
Document the roles and responsibilities required to deliver each user-facing service.
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.
Build a foundation to kick off the project.
A carefully selected team of project participants.
Identified stakeholders and metrics.
1.1 Create a communication plan
1.2 Complete the training deck
Project charter
Understanding of the process used to complete the definitions
Determine the technologies that support the user-facing services.
Understanding of what is required to run a service.
2.1 Determine service-specific technology categories
2.2 Identify service-specific technologies
2.3 Determine underpinning technologies
Logical buckets of service-specific technologies makes it easier to identify them
Identified technologies
Identified underpinning services and technologies
Discover the roles and responsibilities required to deliver each user-facing service.
Understanding of what is required to deliver each user-facing service.
3.1 Determine roles required to deliver services based on organizational structure
3.2 Document the services
Mapped responsibilities to each user-facing service
Completed service definition visuals
Create a central hub (database) of all the technical components required to deliver a service.
Single source of information where IT can see what is required to deliver each service.
Ability to leverage the extended catalog to benefit the organization.
4.1 Document all the previous steps in the service definition chart and visual diagrams
4.2 Review service definition with team and subject matter experts
Completed service definition visual diagrams and completed catalog
Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:
Learn about RPA, including how it compares to IT-led automation rooted in business process management practices and the role of AI.
Identify and prioritize candidate processes for RPA.
Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:
Big data is centered on the volume, variety, velocity, veracity, and value of data. Achieve a data architecture that can support big data.
Understand the importance of a big data architecture strategy. Assess big data maturity to assist with creation of your architectural principles.
Come to accurate big data architecture decisions.
What are common services?
Gain business satisfaction with big data requests. Determine what steps need to be taken to achieve your big data architecture.
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.
Set expectations for the workshop.
Recognize the importance of doing big data architecture when dealing with big data.
Big data defined.
Understanding of why big data architecture is necessary.
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.
Defined Corporate Strategy
Defined Big Data
Reference Architecture
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 Architectural Principles and Guidelines defined.
Big data business pattern determined.
High-level requirements documented.
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.
Architectural Principles & Guidelines
Big Data Business Pattern
High-Level Functional and Quality of Service Requirements Exercise
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.
Defined gaps for Data Sources
Defined gaps for Data Integration capabilities
Optimal Data Persistence technology determined
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.
Data Sources Exercise
Data Integration Exercise
Data Persistence Decision Making Tool
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.
Common service needs identified.
Architectural walkthrough completed.
Initiative Roadmap completed.
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.
Architectural Walkthrough
Initiative Roadmap
Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:
Read our executive brief to understand everyday struggles regarding application maintenance, the root causes, and our methodology to overcome these. We show you how we can support you.
Identify your stakeholders and understand their drivers.
Identify the right level of governance appropriate to your company and business context for your application maintenance. That ensures that people uphold standards across maintenance practices.
Most companies cannot do everything for all applications and systems. Build your maintenance triage and prioritization rules to safeguard your company, maximize business value generation and IT risks and requirements.
Define quality standards in maintenance practices. Enforce these in alignment with the governance you have set up. Show a high degree of transparency and open discussions on development challenges.
IT teams have:
Use Info-Tech’s phased approach to diagnose your team and use the IDEA model to drive team effectiveness.
The IDEA model includes four factors to identify team challenges and focus on areas for improvement: identity, decision making, exchanges within the team, and atmosphere of team psychological safety.
Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:
The storyboard will walk you through three critical steps to assess, analyze, and build solutions to improve your team’s effectiveness.
Each stage has a deliverable that will support your journey on increasing effectiveness starting with how to communicate to the assessment which will accumulate into a team charter and action plan.
The Facilitation Guide contains instructions to facilitating several activities aligned to each area of the IDEA Model to target your approach directly to your team’s results.
The Action Plan Template captures next steps for the team on what they are committing to in order to build a more effective team.
A Team Charter captures the agreements your team makes with each other in terms of accepted behaviors and how they will communicate, make decisions, and create an environment that everyone feels safe contributing in.
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.
Determine if proceeding is valuable.
Set context for team members.
1.1 Review the business context.
1.2 Identify IT team members to be included.
1.3 Determine goals and objectives.
1.4 Build execution plan and determine messaging.
1.5 Complete IDEA Model assessment.
Execution and communication plan
IDEA Model assessment distributed
Review results to identify areas of strength and opportunity.
As a team, discuss results and determine actions.
2.1 Debrief results with leadership team.
2.2 Share results with team.
2.3 Identify areas of focus.
2.4 Identify IDEA Model activities to support objectives and explore areas of focus.
IDEA assessment results
Selection of specific activities to be facilitated
Review results to identify areas of strength and opportunity.
build an action plan of solutions to incorporate into team norms.
3.1 Create team charter.
3.2 Determine action plan for improvement.
3.3 Determine metrics.
3.4 Determine frequency of check-ins.
Team Charter
Action Plan
IT often struggles to move from an effective to a high-performing team due to the very nature of their work. They work across multiple disciplines and with multiple stakeholders.
When operating across many disciplines it can become more difficult to identify the connections or points of interactions that define effective teams and separate them from being a working group or focus on their individual performance.
IT employees also work in close partnership with multiple teams outside their IT domain, which can create confusion as to what team are they a primary member of. The tendency is to advocate for or on behalf of the team they primarily work with instead of bringing the IT mindset and alignment to IT roadmap and goals to serve their stakeholders.

Amanda Mathieson
Research Director, People & Leadership Practice
Info-Tech Research Group
The Challenge
Organizations rely on team-based work arrangements to provide organizational benefits and better navigate the volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA) operating environment.
This is becoming more challenging in a hybrid environment as interactions now rely less on casual encounters and must become more intentional.
A high-performing team is more than productive. They are more resilient and able to recognize opportunities. They are proactive instead of reactive due to the trust and high level of communication and collaboration.
Common Obstacles
IT teams are more unique, which also provides unique challenges other teams don't experience:
Info-Tech's Approach
Use Info-Tech's phased approach to diagnose your team and use the IDEA model to drive team effectiveness.
The IDEA model includes four factors to identify team challenges and focus on areas for improvement: identity, decision making, exchanges within the team, and atmosphere of team psychological safety.
Info-Tech Insight
IT teams often fail to reach their full potential because teamwork presents unique challenges and complexities due to the work they do across the organization and within their own group. Silos, not working together, and not sharing knowledge are all statements that indicate a problem. As a leader it's difficult to determine what to do first to navigate the different desires and personalities on a team.
Traditionally, organizations have tried to fix ineffective teams by focusing on these four issues: composition, leadership competencies, individual-level performance, and organizational barriers. While these factors are important, our research has shown it is beneficial to focus on the four factors of effective teams addressed in this blueprint first. Then, if additional improvement is needed, shift your focus to the traditional issue areas.
48% |
of IT respondents rate their team as low maturity. Maturity is defined by the value they provide the business, ranging from firefighting to innovative partner. Source: Info-Tech Research Group, Tech Trends, 2022 |
|---|---|
20 Hours |
Data Silos: Teams waste more than 20 hours per month due to poor collaboration and communication. Source: Bloomfire, 2022 |
| How High-Performing Teams Respond: | |
|---|---|
Volatile: High degree of change happening at a rapid pace, making it difficult for organizations to respond effectively. |
Teams are more adaptable to change because they know how to take advantage of each others' diverse skills and experience. |
Uncertain: All possible outcomes are not known, and we cannot accurately assess the probability of outcomes that are known. |
Teams are better able to navigate uncertainty because they know how to work through complex challenges and feel trusted and empowered to change approach when needed. |
Complex: There are numerous risk factors, making it difficult to get a clear sense of what to do in any given situation. |
Teams can reduce complexity by working together to identify and plan to appropriately mitigate risk factors. |
Ambiguous: There is a lack of clarity with respect to the causes and consequences of events. |
Teams can reduce ambiguity through diverse situational knowledge, improving their ability to identify cause and effect. |
Poor Communication
To excel, teams must recognize and adapt to the unique communication styles and preferences of their members.
To find the "just right" amount of communication for your team, communication and collaboration expectations should be set upfront.
85% of tech workers don't feel comfortable speaking in meetings.
Source: Hypercontext, 2022
Decision Making
Decision making is a key component of team effectiveness. Teams are often responsible for decisions without having proper authority.
Establishing a team decision-making process becomes more complicated when appropriate decision-making processes vary according to the level of interdependency between team members and organizational culture.
20% of respondents say their organization excels at decision making.
Source: McKinsey, 2019
Resolving Conflicts
It is common for teams to avoid/ignore conflict – often out of fear. People fail to see how conflict can be healthy for teams if managed properly.
Leaders assume mature adults will resolve conflicts on their own. This is not always the case as people involved in conflicts can lack an objective perspective due to charged emotions.
56% of respondents prioritize restoring harmony in conflict and will push own needs aside.
Source: Niagara Institute, 2022
3.5x |
Having a shared team goal drives higher engagement. When individuals feel like part of a team working toward a shared goal, they are 3.5x more likely to be engaged. Source: McLean & Company, Employee Engagement Survey, IT respondents, 2023; N=5,427 |
|---|---|
90% |
Engaged employees are stronger performers with 90% reporting they regularly accomplish more than what is expected. Source: McLean & Company, Employee Engagement Survey, IT respondents, 2023; N=4,363 |
Effective and high-performing teams exchange information freely. They are clear on the purpose and goals of the organization, which enable empowerment.
Clear decision-making processes allow employees to focus on getting the work done versus navigating the system.
INDUSTRY: Technology
SOURCE: reWork
Google wanted to clearly define what makes a team effective to drive a consistent meaning among its employees. The challenge was to determine more than quantitative measures, because more is not always better as it can just mean more mistakes to fix, and include the qualitative factors that bring some groups of people together better than others.
There was no pattern in the data it studied so Google stepped back and defined what a team is before embarking on defining effectiveness. There is a clear difference between a work group (a collection of people with little interdependence) and a team that is highly interdependent and relies on each other to share problems and learn from one another. Defining the different meanings took time and Google found that different levels of the organization were defining effectiveness differently.
Google ended up with clear definitions that were co-created by all employees, which helped drive the meaning behind the behaviors. More importantly it was also able to define factors that had no bearing on effectiveness; one of which is very relevant in today's hybrid world – colocation.
It was discovered that teams need to trust, have clarity around goals, have structure, and know the impact their work has.
Teams often lack the skills or knowledge to increase effectiveness and performance.
It's unrealistic to expect struggling teams to improve without outside help; if they were able to, they would have already done so.
To improve, teams require:
BUT these are the very things they are lacking when they're struggling.

Begin by assessing, recognizing, and addressing challenges in:
Effective Team
“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.”
| Phase 1: Assess the team | Phase 2: Review results and action plan | Phase 3: Document and measure |
|---|---|---|
Call #1: Scope requirements, objectives, and your specific challenges. |
Call #3: Review the assessment results and plan next steps. |
Call #6: Build out your team agreement. |
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 12 calls over the course of 4 to 6 months.
Contact your account representative for more information.
workshops@infotech.com 1-888-670-8889
Day 1 |
Day 2 |
Day 3 |
Day 4 |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
Determine objectives and assess |
Review survey results |
Determine and conduct activities to increase effectiveness |
Bridge the gap and |
|
Activities |
With Leader – 1 hour |
2.1 Debrief results with leadership team. |
3.1 Conduct IDEA Model Activities:
3.2 Record outcomes and actions. |
4.1 Create team charter or agreement. |
Deliverables |
|
|
|
|
Phase 1 |
Phase 2 |
Phase 3 |
|---|---|---|
1.1 Identify team members |
1.1 Review results with team |
1.1 Document outcomes and actions |
Begin by assessing, recognizing, and addressing challenges in:
Effective Team
In addition to having a clear understanding of the team's goals and objectives, team members must also:
Clear goals enable employees to link their contributions to overall success of the team. Those who feel their contributions are important to the success of the department are two times more likely to feel they are part of a team working toward a shared goal compared to those who don't (McLean & Company, Employee Engagement Survey, IT respondents, 2023; N=4,551).
The goals and objectives of the team are the underlying reason for forming the team in the first place. Without a clear and agreed-upon goal, it is difficult for teams to understand the purpose of their work.
Clear goals support creating clear roles and the contributions required for team success.

Decision making adds to the complexity of teamwork.
Individual team members hold different information and opinions that need to be shared to make good decisions.
Ambiguous decision-making processes can result in team members being unable to continue their work until they get clear direction.
The most appropriate decision-making process depends on the type of team:
Spectrum of Decision Making |
||
|---|---|---|
General consensus between all team members. |
A single, final decision maker within the team. |
|
Ensure team members understand how decisions are made within the team. Ask:
Evaluate exchanges within your team using two categories:
These categories are related, but there is not always overlap. While some conflicts involve failures to successfully exchange information, conflict can also occur even when everyone is communicating successfully.
Communication |
Managing Conflict |
||
|---|---|---|---|
Information, motivations, emotions |
Accepting and expressing diverse perspectives |
Resolving conflict (unified action through diverse perspectives) |
|
Transmission |
Reception |
||
Success is defined in terms of how well information, motivations, and emotions are transmitted and received as intended. |
Success is defined in terms of how well the team can move to united action through differences of opinion. Effective teams recognize that conflict can be healthy if managed effectively. |
||
When selecting a method of communication (for example, in-person versus email), consider how that method will impact the exchange of all three aspects – not just information.
Downplaying the importance of emotional and motivational exchanges and focusing solely on information is very risky since emotional and motivational exchanges can impact human relationships and team psychological safety.
Communication affects the whole team
Effects are not limited to the team members communicating directly:
Remember to watch the reactions and behavior of participants and observers when assessing how the team behaves.
Identify how conflict management is embedded into team practices.
Successfully communicating information, emotions, and motivations is not the same as managing conflict.
Teams that are communicating well are more likely to uncover conflicting perspectives and opinions than teams that are not.
Conflict is healthy and can be an important element of team success if it is managed.
The team should have processes in place to resolve conflicts and move to united action.
A team atmosphere that exists when all members feel confident that team members can do the following without suffering negative interpersonal consequences such as blame, shame, or exclusion:
(Administrative Science Quarterly, 1999;
The New York Times, 2016)
What psychologically safe teams look like:
(Administrative Science Quarterly, 1999;
The New York Times, 2016)
What "team psychological safety" is not:
"Psychological safety refers to an individual's perception of the consequences of taking an interpersonal risk or a belief that a team is safe for risk taking in the face of being seen as ignorant, incompetent, negative, or disruptive… They feel confident that no one on the team will embarrass or punish anyone else for admitting a mistake, asking a question, or offering a new idea."
– re:Work
The impact of psychological safety on team effectiveness
Why does an atmosphere of team psychological safety matter?
Creating psychological safety in a hybrid environment requires a deliberate approach to creating team connectedness.
In the Info-Tech State of Hybrid Work in IT report autonomy and team connectedness present an interesting challenge in that higher levels of autonomy drove higher perceptions of lack of connectedness to the respondent's team. In a hybrid world, this means leaders need to be intentional in creating a safe team dynamic.
47% of employees who experienced more control over their decisions related to where, when, and how they work than before the pandemic are feeling less connected to their teams.
Source: Info-Tech, State of Hybrid Work in IT, 2022
Input
Output
Materials
Participants
Download the IT Team Effectiveness Survey
Download the IT Team Effectiveness Survey Results Tool
Paper-Based Cautions & Considerations
Online Direct Cautions & Considerations
Phase 1 | Phase 2 | Phase 3 |
|---|---|---|
1.1 Identify team members | 1.1 Review results with team | 1.1 Document outcomes and actions |
This phase will walk you through the following activities:
This phase involves the following participants:
Deliverables:
Reviewing assessment results and creating an improvement action plan is best accomplished through a team meeting.
Analyzing and preparing for the team meeting may be done by:
Prioritize one to two factors for improvement by selecting those with:

The flatter the bars are across the top, the more agreement there was. Factors that show significant differences in opinion should be discussed to diagnose what is causing the misalignment within your team.
The alignment chart below shows varied responses; however, there are two distinct patterns. This will be an important area to review.
Things to think about:


Facilitation Factors
Select a third-party facilitator if:
Agenda
Materials
Participants
Work with the team to brainstorm and agree on an action plan of continuous improvements.
By creating an action plan together with the team, there is greater buy-in and commitment to the activities identified within the action plan.
Don't forget to include timelines and task owners in the action plan – it isn't complete without them.
Document final decisions in Info-Tech's Improve IT Team Effectiveness Action Plan Tool.
Review activity Develop Team Charter in the Improve IT Team Effectiveness Facilitation Guide and conclude the team meeting by creating a team charter. With a team charter, teams can better understand:
Facilitation Factors
Encourage and support participation from everyone.
Be sure no one on the team dismisses anyone's thoughts or opinions – they present the opportunity for further discussion and deeper insight.
Watch out for anything said or done during the activities that should be discussed in the activity debrief.
Debrief after each activity, outlining any lessons learned, action items, and next steps.
Agenda
Materials
Participants
Phase 1 | Phase 2 | Phase 3 |
|---|---|---|
1.1 Identify team members | 1.1 Review results with team | 1.1 Document outcomes and actions |
This phase will walk you through the following activities:
Building your team charter that will include:
This phase involves the following participants:
As a team it will be important to drive your brainstormed solutions into an output that is co-created.
Set clear expectations for the team's interactions and behaviors.
One contributor to the report shared the effort and intention around maintaining their culture during the pandemic. The team agreement created became a critical tool to enable conversations between leaders and their team – it was not a policy document.
Team effectiveness is driven through thoughtful planned conversations. And it's a continued conversation.

Download the IT Team Charter Template
Baseline metrics will be improved through:
Identify the impact that improved team effectiveness will have on the organization.
Determine your baseline metrics to assess the success of your team interventions and demonstrate the impact to the rest of the organization using pre-determined goals and metrics.
Share success stories through:
Sample effectiveness improvement goal |
Sample Metric |
|---|---|
Increase employee engagement |
|
Strengthen manager/employee relationships |
|
Reduce employee turnover (i.e. increase retention) |
|
Increase organizational productivity |
|
Track the team's progress by reassessing their effectiveness six to twelve months after the initial assessment.
Identify if:
As the team matures, priorities and areas of concern may shift; it is important to regularly reassess team effectiveness to ensure ongoing alignment and suitability.
Note: It is not always necessary to conduct a full formal assessment; once teams become more effective and self-sufficient, informal check-ins by team leads will be sufficient.
If you assess team effectiveness for multiple teams, you have the opportunity to identify trends:
Identifying these trends, initiatives, training, or tactics may be used to improve team effectiveness across the department – or even the organization.
As teams mature, the team lead should become less involved in action planning. However, enabling truly effective teams takes significant time and resources from the team lead.
Use the action plan created and agreed upon during the team meeting to hold teams accountable:
The team coach should have a plan to transition into a supportive role by:
The four factors outlined in the IDEA Model of team effectiveness are very important, but they are not the only things that have a positive or negative impact on teams. If attempts to improve the four factors have not resulted in the desired level of team effectiveness, evaluate other barriers:
For organizational culture, ask if performance and reward programs do the following:
For learning and development, ask:
If an individual team member's or leader's performance is not meeting expectations, potential remedies include a performance improvement plan, reassignment, and termination of employment.
These kinds of interventions are beyond the control of the team itself. In these cases, we recommend you consult with your HR department; HR professionals can be important advocates because they possess the knowledge, influence, and authority in the company to promote changes that support teamwork.
Redesign Your IT Department
Build an IT Employee Engagement Program

Carlene McCubbin
Practice Lead
Info-Tech Research Group

Nick Kozlo
Senior Research Analyst
Info-Tech Research Group

Heather Leier-Murray
Senior Research Analyst
Info-Tech Research Group

Stephen O'Conner
Executive Counselor
Info-Tech Research Group

Jane Kouptsova
Research Director
Info-Tech Research Group

Dr. Julie D. Judd, Ed.D.
Chief Technology Officer
Ventura County Office of Education
Aminov, I., A. DeSmet, and G. Jost. "Decision making in the age of urgency." McKinsey. April 2019. Accessed January 2023.
Duhigg, Charles. "What Google Learned From Its Quest to Build the Perfect Team." The New York Times, 25 Feb. 2016. Accessed January 2023.
Edmondson, Amy. "Psychological Safety and Learning Behavior in Work Teams." Administrative Science Quarterly, vol. 44, no. 2, June 1999, pp. 350-383.
Gardner, Kate. "Julie Judd – Ventura County Office of Education." Toggle, 12 Sept. 2022. Accessed January 2023.
Google People Operations. "Guide: Understand Team Effectiveness." reWork, n.d. Accessed February 2023.
Harkins, Phil. "10 Leadership Techniques for Building High-Performing Teams." Linkage Inc., 2014. Accessed 10 April 2017.
Heath, C. and D. Heath. Decision: How to make better choices in life and work. Random House, 2013, ISBN 9780307361141.
Hill, Jon. "What is an Information Silo and How Can You Avoid It." Bloomfire, 23 March 2022. Accessed January 2023.
"IT Team Management Software for Enhanced Productivity." Freshworks, n.d. Accessed January 2023.
Jackson, Brian. "2022 Tech Trends." Info-Tech Research Group, 2022. Accessed December 2022.
Kahneman, Daniel. Thinking fast and slow. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. 2011.
Kouptsova, J., and A. Mathieson. "State of Hybrid Work in IT." Info-Tech Research Group, 2023. Accessed January 2023.
Mayfield, Clifton, et al. "Psychological Collectivism and Team Effectiveness: Moderating Effects of Trust and Psychological Safety." Journal of Organizational Culture, Communications and Conflict, vol. 20, no. 1, Jan. 2016, pp. 78-94.
Rock, David. "SCARF: A Brain-Based Model for Collaborating With and Influencing Others." NeuroLeadership Journal, 2008. Web.
"The State of High Performing Teams in Tech Hypercontext." Hypercontext. 2022. Accessed November 2022.
Weick, Carl, and Kathleen Sutcliff. Managing the unexpected. John Wiley & Sons, 2007.
"Workplace Conflict Statistics: How we approach conflict at work." The Niagara Institute, August 2022. Accessed December 2022.
IT excels at hybrid location work and is more effective as a business function when location flexibility is an option for its employees. But hybrid work is just a start. A comprehensive flex work program extends beyond flexible location, so organizations must understand the needs of unique employee groups to uncover the options that will attract and retain talent.
Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:
Identify prioritized employee segments, flexibility challenges, and the desired state to inform program goals.
Review, shortlist, and assess the feasibility of common types of flexible work. Identify implementation issues and cultural barriers.
Equip managers and employees to adopt flexible work options while addressing implementation issues and cultural barriers and aligning HR programs.
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.
Gather information on organizational and employee flexibility needs.
Understand the flexibility needs of the organization and its employees to inform a targeted flex work program.
1.1 Identify employee and organizational needs.
1.2 Identify employee segments.
1.3 Establish program goals and metrics.
1.4 Shortlist flexible work options.
Organizational context summary
List of shortlisted flex work options
Perform a data-driven feasibility analysis on shortlisted work options.
A data-driven feasibility analysis ensures your flex work program meets its goals.
2.1 Conduct employee/manager focus groups to assess feasibility of flex work options.
Summary of flex work options feasibility per employee segment
Select the most impactful flex work options and create a plan for addressing implementation challenge
A data-driven selection process ensures decisions and exceptions can be communicated with full transparency.
3.1 Finalize list of approved flex work options.
3.2 Brainstorm solutions to implementation issues.
3.3 Identify how to overcome cultural barriers.
Final list of flex work options
Implementation barriers and solutions summary
Create supporting materials to ensure program implementation proceeds smoothly.
Employee- and manager-facing guides and policies ensure the program is clearly documented and communicated.
4.1 Design employee and manager guide prototype.
4.2 Align HR programs and policies to support flexible work.
4.3 Create a communication plan.
Employee and manager guide to flexible work
Flex work roadmap and communication plan
Put everything together and prepare to implement.
Our analysts will support you in synthesizing the workshop’s efforts into a cohesive implementation strategy.
5.1 Complete in-progress deliverables from previous four days.
5.2 Set up review time for workshop deliverables and to discuss next steps.
Completed flexible work feasibility workbook
Flexible work communication plan
IT excels at hybrid location work and is more effective as a business function when location flexibility is an option for its employees. But hybrid work is just a start. A comprehensive flex work program extends beyond flexible location, so organizations must understand the needs of unique employee groups to uncover the options that will attract and retain talent.
A 2022 LinkedIn report found that the following occurred between 2019 and 2021:
+362% |
Increase in LinkedIn members sharing content with the term "flexible work." |
|---|---|
+83% |
Increase in job postings that mention "flexibility." |
In 2022, Into-Tech found that hybrid was the most commonly used location work model for IT across all industries.
("State of Hybrid Work in IT," Info-Tech Research Group, 2022)
90% |
of employees said they want schedule and location flexibility ("Global Employee Survey," EY, 2021). |
|---|---|
17% |
of resigning IT employees cited lack of flexible work options as a reason ("IT Talent Trends 2022," Info-Tech Research Group, 2022). |
71% |
of executives said they felt "pressure to change working models and adapt workplace policies to allow for greater flexibility" (LinkedIn, 2021). |
Therefore, organizations who fail to offer flexibility will be left behind |
|
|---|---|
Difficulty attracting and retaining talent |
98% of IT employees say flexible work options are important in choosing an employer ("IT Talent Trends 2022," Info-Tech Research Group, 2022). |
Worsening employee wellbeing and burnout |
Knowledge workers with minimal to no schedule flexibility are 2.2x more likely to experience work-related stress and are 1.4x more likely to suffer from burnout (Slack, 2022; N=10,818). |
IT departments that offer some degree of location flexibility are more effective at supporting the organization than those who do not.
35% of service desk functions report improved service since implementing location flexibility.
("State of Hybrid Work in IT," Info-Tech Research Group, 2023).
Employees are 2.1x more likely to recommend their employer to others when they are satisfied with their organization's flexible work arrangements (LinkedIn, 2021).
41% of IT departments cite an expanded hiring pool as a key benefit of hybrid work.
Organizations that mention "flexibility" in their job postings have 35% more engagement with their posts (LinkedIn, 2022).
IT employees who have more control over their working arrangement experience a greater sense of contribution and trust in leadership ("State of Hybrid Work in IT," Info-Tech Research Group, 2023).
81% of employees say flexible work will positively impact their work-life balance (FlexJobs, 2021).
Flexible work options are not a concession to lower productivity. Properly implemented, flex work enables employees to be more productive at reaching business goals.
IT employees were asked what percentage of IT roles were currently in a hybrid or remote work arrangement ("State of Hybrid Work in IT," Info-Tech Research Group, 2023).
However, the benefits of remote work are not available to all, which raises fairness and equity concerns between remote and onsite employees.
| 45% | of employers said, "one of the biggest risks will be their ability to establish fairness and equity among employees when some jobs require a fixed schedule or location, creating a 'have and have not' dynamic based on roles" ("Businesses Suffering," EY, 2021). |
|---|
Offering schedule flexibility to employees who need to be fully onsite can be used to close the fairness and equity gap.
When offered the choice, 54% of employees said they would choose schedule flexibility over location flexibility ("Global Employee Survey," EY, 2021).
When employees were asked "What choice would you want your employer to provide related to when you have to work?" The top three choices were:
68% |
Flexibility on when to start and finish work |
|---|---|
38% |
Compressed or four-day work weeks |
33% |
Fixed hours (e.g. 9am to 5pm) |
Disclaimer: "Percentages do not sum to 100%, as each respondent could choose up to three of the [five options provided]" ("Global Employee Survey," EY, 2021).
Understanding the needs of various employee segments in the organization is critical to the success of a flexible work program.
82% |
of working mothers desire flexibility in where they work. |
|---|---|
48% |
of working fathers "want to work remotely 3 to 5 days a week." |
38% | "Thirty-eight percent of Black male employees and 33% of Black female employees would prefer a fully flexible schedule, compared to 25% of white female employees and 26% of white male employees." |
|---|---|
33% |
84% |
of remote workers and 61% of onsite workers reported working longer hours post pandemic. Longer working hours were attributed to reasons such as pressure from management and checking emails after working hours (Indeed, 2021). |
|---|---|
2.6x |
Respondents who either agreed or strongly agreed with the statement "Generally, I find my workload reasonable" were 2.6x more likely to be engaged compared to those who stated they disagreed or strongly disagreed (McLean & Company Engagement Survey Database;2022; N=5,615 responses). |
Longer hours and unsustainable workloads can contribute to stress and burnout, which is a threat to employee engagement and retention. With careful management (e.g. setting clear expectations and establishing manageable workloads), flexible work arrangement benefits can be preserved.
Employees' lived experiences and needs determine if people use flexible work programs – a flex program that has limited use or excludes people will not benefit the organization.

Overarching insight: IT excels at hybrid location work and is more effective as a business function when location, time, and time-off flexibility are an option for its employees.
| Introduction | Step 1 insight |
Step 2 insight |
Step 3 insight |
|---|---|---|---|
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In 2020, Info-Tech implemented emergency work-from-home for its IT department, along with the rest of the organization. Now in 2023, hybrid work is firmly embedded in Info-Tech's culture, with plans to continue location flexibility for the foreseeable future.
Adjusting to the change came with lessons learned and future-looking questions.
Moving into remote work was made easier by certain enablers that had already been put in place. These included issuing laptops instead of desktops to the user base and using an existing cloud-based infrastructure. Much support was already being done remotely, making the transition for the support teams virtually seamless.
Continuing hybrid work has brought benefits such as reduced commuting costs for employees, higher engagement, and satisfaction among staff that their preferences were heard.
Every flexible work implementation is a work in progress and must be continually revisited to ensure it continues to meet organizational and employee needs. Current questions being explored at Info-Tech are:
“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.”
What does a typical GI on this topic look like?
Preparation |
Step 1 |
Step 2 |
Step 3 |
Follow-up |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Call #1: Scope requirements, objectives, and your specific challenges. |
Call #2: Assess employee and organizational needs. |
Call #3: Shortlist flex work options and assess feasibility. |
Call #4: Finalize flex work options and create rollout plan. |
Call #5: (Optional) Review rollout progress or evaluate pilot success. |
A Guided Implementation (GI) is a series of calls with an Info-Tech analyst to help implement our best practices in your organization.
A typical GI is 3 to 5 calls over the course of 4 to 6 months.
Contact your account representative for more information.
workshops@infotech.com 1-888-670-8889
Day 1 |
Day 2 |
Day 3 |
Day 4 |
Day 5 |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Activities |
Prepare to assess flex work feasibility |
Assess flex work feasibility |
Finalize flex work options |
Prepare for implementation |
Next Steps and Wrap-Up (offsite) |
1.1 Identify employee and organizational needs. 1.2 Identify employee segments. 1.3 Establish program goals and metrics. 1.4 Shortlist flex work options. |
2.1 Conduct employee/manager focus groups to assess feasibility of flex work options. |
3.1 Finalize list of approved flex work options. 3.2 Brainstorm solutions to implementation issues. 3.2 Identify how to overcome cultural barriers. |
4.1 Design employee and manager guide prototype. 4.2 Align HR programs and policies to support flexible work. 4.3 Create a communication plan. |
5.1 Complete in-progress deliverables from previous four days. 5.2 Set up review time for workshop deliverables and to discuss next steps. |
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Deliverables |
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1. Assess employee and organizational flexibility needs
2. Identify potential flex options and assess feasibility
3. Implement selected option(s)
After completing this step you will have:
Organizational flexibility requires collaborative and cross-functional involvement to determine which flexible options will meet the needs of a diverse workforce. HR leads the project to explore flexible work options, while other stakeholders provide feedback during the identification and implementation processes.
HR |
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|---|---|
Senior Leaders |
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Managers |
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Flexible Workers |
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Non-Flexible Workers |
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Flexible work is a holistic team effort. Leaders, flexible workers, teammates, and HR must clearly understand their roles to ensure that teams are set up for success.
Current State |
Target State |
|---|---|
Review:
|
Identify what is driving the need for flexible work options. Ask:
These drivers identify goals for the organization to achieve through targeted flexible work options. |
Hybrid work is a start. A comprehensive flex work program extends beyond flexible location, so organizations must understand the needs of unique employee groups to uncover the options that will attract and retain talent. Provide greater inclusivity to employees by broadening the scope to include flex location, flex time, and flex time off.
Identify employee segments with common characteristics to assess if they require unique flexible work options. Assess the feasibility options for the segments separately in Step 2.
Identify employee segments and sort them into groups based on the characteristics above.
Examples of segments:
Determine whether the organization needs flexible work options for the entire organization or specific employee segments.
For specific employee segments:
For the entire organization:
High priority: The employee segment has the lowest engagement scores or highest turnover within the organization. Segment sentiment is that current flexibility is nonexistent or not sufficiently meeting needs.
Medium priority: The employee segment has low engagement or high turnover. Segment sentiment is that currently available flexibility is minimal or not sufficiently meeting needs.
Low priority: The segment does not have the lowest engagement or the highest turnover rate. Segment sentiment is that currently available flexibility is sufficiently meeting needs.
Example challenges:
Follow the guidance on preceding slides to complete the following activities.
Note: If you are only considering remote or hybrid work, use the Fast-Track Hybrid Work Program Workbook. Otherwise, proceed with the Targeted Flexible Work Program Workbook.
Download the Targeted Flexible Work Program Workbook
Download the Fast-Track Hybrid Work Program Workbook
Sample program goals |
Sample metrics |
|---|---|
Increase productivity |
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Improve business satisfaction and perception of IT value |
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Increase retention |
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Improve the employee value proposition (EVP) and talent attraction |
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Improve engagement and work-life balance |
|
Implementing flex work without solid performance metrics means you won't have a way of determining whether the program is enabling or hampering your business practices.
Use the examples on the preceding slide to identify program goals and metrics:
Download the Targeted Flexible Work Program Workbook
Download the IT Metrics Library
Download the HR Metrics Library
Work Duties |
Processes |
Operational Outcomes |
|
|---|---|---|---|
High degree of flexibility |
|
|
Most or all operational outcomes can be achieved offsite (e.g. products/service delivery not impacted by WFH) |
|
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Some operational outcomes can be achieved offsite (e.g. some impact of WFH on product/service delivery) |
|
Low degree of flexibility |
|
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Operational outcomes cannot be achieved offsite (e.g. significant impairment to product/service delivery) |
If roles within the segment have differing levels of location flexibility, use the lowest results (e.g. if role A in the segment has a high degree of flexibility for work duties and role B has a low degree of flexibility, use the results for role B).
Work Duties | Processes | Operational Outcomes | |
|---|---|---|---|
High degree of flexibility |
|
| Most or all operational outcomes are not time sensitive |
|
| Some operational outcomes are time sensitive and must be conducted within set date or time windows | |
Low degree of flexibility |
|
| Most or all operational outcomes are time sensitive and must be conducted within set date or time windows |
With additional coordination, flex time or flex time off options are still possible for employee segments with a low degree of flexibility. For example, with a four-day work week, the segment can be split into two teams – one that works Monday to Thursday and one that works Tuesday to Friday – so that employees are still available for clients five days a week.
Work Duties | Operational Outcomes | |
|---|---|---|
High degree of flexibility |
|
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Low degree of flexibility |
|
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For segments with a low degree of work deliverable flexibility (e.g. very constrained output), flexibility is still an option, but maintaining output would require additional headcount.
Use the guidelines on the preceding slides to document the parameters of each work segment.
Download the Targeted Flexible Work Program Workbook
1. Assess employee and organizational flexibility needs
2. Identify potential flex options and assess feasibility
3. Implement selected option(s)
After completing this step you will have:
First, review the Flexible Work Solutions Catalog |
Before proceeding to the next slide, review the Flexible Work Options Catalog to identify and shortlist five to seven flexible work options that are best suited to address the challenges faced for each of the priority employee segments identified in Step 1. |
|---|---|
Then, assess the feasibility of implementing selected options using slides 29 to 32 |
Assess the feasibility of implementing the shortlisted solutions for the prioritized employee segments against the feasibility factors in this step. Repeat for each employee segment. Use the following slides to consult with and include leaders when appropriate.
|
Operational coverage |
Synchronous communication |
Time zones |
Face-to-face communication |
|---|---|---|---|
To what extent are employees needed to deliver products or services?
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To what extent do employees need to communicate with each other synchronously?
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To what extent do employees need to coordinate work across time zones?
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When do employees need to interact with each other or clients in person?
|
Info-Tech Insight
Every role is eligible for hybrid location work. If onsite work duties prevent an employee group from participating, see if processes can be digitized or automated. Flexible work is an opportunity to go beyond current needs to future-proof your organization.
| Symbols | Values |
Behaviors |
|---|---|---|
How supportive of flexible work are the visible aspects of the organization's culture?
|
How supportive are both the stated and lived values of the organization?
|
How supportive are the attitudes and behaviors, especially of leaders?
|
People |
Process |
Technology |
|---|---|---|
Do employees have the knowledge, skills, and abilities to adopt this option?
|
How much will work processes need to change?
|
What new technologies will be required?
|
Data |
Health & Safety |
Legal |
|---|---|---|
How will data be kept secure?
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How will employees' health and safety be impacted?
|
What legal risks might be involved?
|

Flexible work options must balance organizational and employee needs. If an option is beneficial to employees but there is little or no benefit to the organization as a whole, or if the cost of the option is too high, it will not support the long-term success of the organization.
If you are only considering hybrid or remote work, skip to activity 2.1b. Use the guidelines on the preceding slides to conduct feasibility assessments.
Download the Targeted Flexible Work Program Workbook
Download the Flexible Work Options Catalog
Use the guidelines on the preceding slides to conduct a feasibility assessment. This exercise relies on having trialed hybrid or remote work before. If you have never implemented any degree of remote work, consider completing the full feasibility assessment in activity 2.1a.
Download the Fast-Track Hybrid Work Program Workbook
Prioritize flexible work options that employees want. Providing too many options often leads to information overload and results in employees not understanding what is available, lowering adoption of the flexible work program.
Running an IT pilot of flex work
If you are only considering hybrid or remote work, skip to activity 2.2b. Use the guidelines on the preceding slides to gather final feedback and finalize work option selections.
Download the Targeted Flexible Work Program Workbook
Use the guidelines on the preceding slides to gather final feedback and finalize work option selections.
Download the Fast-Track Hybrid Work Program Workbook
1. Assess employee and organizational flexibility needs
2. Identify potential flex options and assess feasibility
3. Implement selected option(s)
After completing this step, you will have:
Example: |
Issue |
Solution |
|---|---|---|
Option 1: Hybrid work |
Brainstorming at the beginning of product development benefits from face-to-face collaboration. |
Block off a "brainstorming day" when all team members are required in the office. |
Employee segment: Product innovation team |
One team member needs to meet weekly with the implementation team to conduct product testing. |
Establish a schedule with rotating responsibility for a team member to be at the office for product testing; allow team members to swap days if needed. |
Misconceptions |
Tactics to overcome them |
|---|---|
|
Make the case by highlighting challenges and expected benefits for both the organization and employees (e.g. same or increased productivity). Use data in the introductory section of this blueprint. Demonstrate operational feasibility by providing an overview of the feasibility assessment conducted to ensure operational continuity. Involve most senior leadership in communication. Encourage discovery and exploration by having managers try flexible work options themselves, which will help model it for employees. Highlight success stories within the organization or from competitors or similar industries. Invite input from managers on how to improve implementation and ownership, which helps to discover hidden options. |
Leaders' collective support of the flexible program determines the program's successful adoption. Don't sweep cultural barriers under the rug; acknowledge and address them to overcome them.
Provide managers and employees with a guide to flexible work |
Introduce appropriate organization policies |
Equip managers with the necessary tools and training |
|---|---|---|
Use the guide to:
|
Use Info-Tech's customizable policy templates to set guidelines, outline arrangements, and scope the organization's flexible work policies. This is typically done by, or in collaboration with, the HR department. |
|
Download the Guide to Flexible Work for Managers and Employees |
Download the Flex Location Policy Download the Flex Time-Off Policy Download the Flex Time Policy |
Use the guidelines on the preceding slides to brainstorm solutions to implementation issues and prepare to communicate program rollout to stakeholders.
Download the Guide to Flexible Work for Managers and Employees
Download the Targeted Flexible Work Program Workbook
| Prepare for pilot | Launch Pilot |
|---|---|
Identify the flexible work options that will be piloted.
Select pilot participants.
Create an approach to collect feedback and measure the success of the pilot.
The length of the pilot will greatly vary based on which flexible work options were selected (e.g. seasonal hours will require a shorter pilot period compared to implementing a compressed work week). Use discretion when deciding on pilot length and be open to extending or shortening the pilot length as needed. |
Launch pilot.
Gather feedback.
Track metrics.
|

If you have run a team pilot prior to rolling out to all of IT, or run an IT pilot before an organizational rollout, use the following steps to transition from pilot to full rollout.
For a rollout beyond IT, HR will likely take over.
However, this is your chance to remain at the forefront of your organization's flexible work efforts by continuing to track success and gather feedback within IT.
Talent Management |
Learning & Development |
Talent Acquisition |
|---|---|---|
Reinforce managers' accountability for the success of flexible work in their teams:
Support flexible workers' career progression:
|
Equip managers and employees with the knowledge and skills to make flexible work successful.
|
Incorporate the flexible work program into the organization's employee value proposition to attract top talent who value flexible work options.
|
Determine which organizational policies will be impacted as a result of the new flexible work options. For example, the introduction of flex time off can result in existing vacation policies needing to be updated.
Collect data
Collect data |
Act on data |
|
|---|---|---|
Uptake |
Gather data on the proportion of employees eligible for each option who are using the option. |
If an option is tracking positively:
|
Satisfaction |
Survey managers and employees about their satisfaction with the options they are eligible for and provide an open box for suggestions on improvements. |
If an option is tracking negatively:
|
Program goal progress |
Monitor progress against the program goals and metrics identified in Step 1 to evaluate the impact on issues that matter to the organization (e.g. retention, productivity, diversity). |
|
Career progression |
Evaluate flexible workers' promotion rates and development opportunities to determine if they are developing. |
|
Negative performance of a flexible work option does not necessarily mean failure. Take the time to evaluate whether the option simply needs to be tweaked or whether it truly isn't working for the organization.
Overarching insight: IT excels at hybrid location work and is more effective as a business function when location, time, and time-off flexibility are an option for its employees.
Quinn Ross
CEO
The Ross Firm Professional Corporation
Margaret Yap
HR Professor
Ryerson University
Heather Payne
CEO
Juno College
Lee Nguyen
HR Specialist
City of Austin
Stacey Spruell
Division HR Director
Travis County
Don MacLeod
Chief Administrative Officer
Zorra Township
Stephen Childs
CHRO
Panasonic North America
Shawn Gibson
Sr. Director
Info Tech Research Group
Mari Ryan
CEO/Founder
Advancing Wellness
Sophie Wade
Founder
Flexcel Networks
Kim Velluso
VP Human Resources
Siemens Canada
Lilian De Menezes
Professor of Decision Sciences
Cass Business School, University of London
Judi Casey
WorkLife Consultant and former Director, Work and Family Researchers Network
Boston College
Chris Frame
Partner – Operations
LiveCA
Rose M. Stanley,
CCP, CBP, WLCP, CEBS
People Services Manager
Sunstate Equipment Co., LLC
Shari Lava
Director, Vendor Research
Info-Tech Research Group
Carol Cochran
Director of People & Culture
FlexJobs
Kidde Kelly
OD Practitioner
Dr. David Chalmers
Adjunct Professor
Ted Rogers School of Management, Ryerson University
Kashmira Nagarwala
Change Manager
Siemens Canada
Dr. Isik U. Zeytinoglu
Professor of Management and Industrial Relations McMaster University, DeGroote School of Business
Claire McCartney
Diversity & Inclusion Advisor
CIPD
Teresa Hopke
SVP of Client Relations
Life Meets Work – www.lifemeetswork.com
Mark Tippey
IT Leader and Experienced Teleworker
Dr. Kenneth Matos
Senior Director of Research
Families and Work Institute
1 anonymous contributor
See Info-Tech's Focus Group Guidefor guidance on setting up and delivering focus groups. Customize the guide with questions specific to flexible work (see sample questions below) to gain deeper insight into employee preferences for the feasibility assessment in Step 2 of this blueprint.
Document themes in the Targeted Flexible Work Program Workbook.
1. Program purpose |
Start with the name and high-level purpose of the program. |
|---|---|
2. Business reasons for the program |
Share data you gathered in Step 1, illustrating challenges causing the need for the program and the benefits. |
3. Options selection process |
Outline the process followed to select options. Remember to share the involvement of stakeholders and the planning around employees' feedback, needs, and lived experiences. |
4. Options and eligibility |
Provide a brief overview of the options and eligibility. Specify that the organization is piloting these options and will modify them based on feedback. |
5. Approval not guaranteed |
Qualify that employees need to be "flexible about flexible work" – the options are not guaranteed and may sometimes be unavailable for business reasons. |
6. Shared responsibility |
Highlight the importance of everyone (managers, flexible workers, the team) working together to make flexible work achievable. |
7. Next steps |
Share any next steps, such as where employees can find the organization's Guide to Flexible Work for Managers and Employees, how to make flexible work a success, or if managers will be providing further detail in a team meeting. |
8. Ongoing communications |
Normalize the program and embed it in organizational culture by continuing communications through various media, such as the organization's newsletter or announcements in town halls. |
Baziuk, Jennifer, and Duncan Meadows. "Global Employee Survey - Key findings and implications for ICMIF." EY, June 2021. Accessed May 2022.
"Businesses suffering 'commitment issues' on flexible working," EY, 21 Sep. 2021. Accessed May 2022.
"IT Talent Trends 2022". Info-Tech Research Group, 2022.
"Jabra Hybrid Ways of Working: 2021 Global Report." Jabra, Aug. 2021. Accessed May 2022.
LinkedIn Talent Solutions. "2022 Global Talent Trends." LinkedIn, 2022. Accessed May 2022.
Lobosco, Mark. "The Future of Work is Flexible: 71% of Leaders Feel Pressure to Change Working Models." LinkedIn, 9 Sep. 2021. Accessed May 2022.
Ohm, Joy, et al. "Covid-19: Women, Equity, and Inclusion in the Future of Work." Catalyst, 28 May 2020. Accessed May 2022.
Pelta, Rachel. "Many Workers Have Quit or Plan to After Employers Revoke Remote Work." FlexJobs, 2021. Accessed May 2022.
Slack Future Forum. "Inflexible return-to-office policies are hammering employee experience scores." Slack, 19 April 2022. Accessed May 2022.
"State of Hybrid Work in IT: A Trend Report". Info-Tech Research Group, 2023.
Threlkeld, Kristy. "Employee Burnout Report: COVID-19's Impact and 3 Strategies to Curb It." Indeed, 11 March 2021. Accessed March 2022.
Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:
Assess the organization’s readiness for change and evaluate the PMO’s OCM capabilities.
Build an organic desire for change throughout the organization by developing a sponsorship action plan through the PMO and taking a proactive approach to change impacts.
Ensure stakeholders are engaged and ready for change by developing effective communication, transition, and training plans.
Determine accountabilities and establish a process for tracking business outcomes after the project team has packed up and moved onto the next project.
Institute an Organizational Change Management Playbook through the PMO that covers tools, processes, and tactics that will scale all of the organization’s project efforts.
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.
Assess the organization’s readiness for change and evaluate the PMO’s OCM capabilities.
Estimate the relative difficulty and effort required for managing organizational change through a specific project.
Create a rough but concrete timeline that aligns organizational change management activities with project scope.
A better understanding of the cultural appetite for change and of where the PMO needs to focus its efforts to improve OCM capabilities.
A project plan that includes disciplined organizational change management from start to finish.
1.1 Assess the organization’s current readiness for change.
1.2 Perform a change management SWOT analysis to assess the PMO’s capabilities.
1.3 Define OCM success metrics.
1.4 Establish and map out a core OCM project to pilot through the workshop.
Organizational Change Management Capabilities Assessment
A diagnosis of the PMO’s strengths and weaknesses around change management, as well as the opportunities and threats associated with driving an OCM strategy through the PMO
Criteria for implementation success
Project Level Assessment
Analyze the impact of the change across various dimensions of the business.
Develop a strategy to manage change impacts to best ensure stakeholder adoption.
Improved planning for both your project management and organizational change management efforts.
A more empathetic understanding of how the change will be received in order to rightsize the PMO’s OCM effort and maximize adoption.
2.1 Develop a sponsorship action plan through the PMO.
2.2 Determine the relevant considerations for analyzing the change impacts of a project.
2.3 Analyze the depth of each impact for each stakeholder group.
2.4 Establish a game plan to manage individual change impacts.
2.5 Document the risk assumptions and opportunities stemming from the impact analysis.
Sponsorship Action Plan
Organizational Change Management Capabilities Assessment
Risk and Opportunity Assessment
Define a clear and compelling vision for change.
Define roles and responsibilities of the core project team for OCM.
Identify potential types and sources of resistance and enthusiasm.
Create a stakeholder map that visualizes relative influence and interest of stakeholders.
Develop an engagement plan for cultivating support for change while eliciting requirements.
Begin to communicate a compelling vision for change.
Delegate and divide work on elements of the transition plan among the project team and support staff.
Begin developing a communications plan that appeals to unique needs and attitudes of different stakeholders.
Cultivate support for change while eliciting requirements.
3.1 Involve the right people to drive and facilitate change.
3.2 Solidify the vision of change to reinforce and sustain leadership and commitment.
3.3 Proactively identify potential skeptics in order to engage them early and address their concerns.
3.4 Stay one step ahead of potential saboteurs to prevent them from spreading dissent.
3.5 Find opportunities to empower enthusiasts to stay motivated and promote change by encouraging others.
3.6 Formalize the stakeholder analysis to identify change champions and blockers.
3.7 Formalize the engagement plan to begin cultivating support while eliciting requirements.
RACI table
Stakeholder Analysis
Engagement Plan
Communications plan requirements
Develop a realistic, effective, and adaptable transition plan, including:Clarity around leadership and vision.Well-defined plans for targeting unique groups with specific messages.Resistance and contingency plans.Templates for gathering feedback and evaluating success.
Clarity around leadership and vision.
Well-defined plans for targeting unique groups with specific messages.
Resistance and contingency plans.
Templates for gathering feedback and evaluating success.
Execute the transition in coordination with the timeline and structure of the core project.
Communicate the action plan and vision for change.
Target specific stakeholder and user groups with unique messages.
Deal with risks, resistance, and contingencies.
Evaluate success through feedback and metrics.
4.1 Sustain changes by adapting people, processes, and technologies to accept the transition.
4.2 Decide which action to take on enablers and blockers.
4.3 Start developing the training plan early to ensure training is properly timed and communicated.
4.4 Sketch a communications timeline based on a classic change curve to accommodate natural resistance.
4.5 Define plans to deal with resistance to change, objections, and fatigue.
4.6 Consolidate and refine communication plan requirements for each stakeholder and group.
4.7 Build the communications delivery plan.
4.8 Define the feedback and evaluation process to ensure the project achieves its objectives.
4.9 Formalize the transition plan.
Training Plan
Resistance Plan
Communications Plan
Transition Plan
Establish post-project benefits tracking timeline and commitment plans.
Institute a playbook for managing organizational change, including:
A process for ensuring the intended business outcomes are tracked and monitored after the project is completed.
Repeat and scale best practices around organizational change to future PMO projects.
Continue to build your capabilities around managing organizational change.
Increase the effectiveness and value of organizational change management.
5.1 Review lessons learned to improve organizational change management as a core PM discipline.
5.2 Monitor capacity for change.
5.3 Define roles and responsibilities.
5.4 Formalize and communicate the organizational change management playbook.
5.5 Regularly reassess the value and success of organizational change management.
Lessons learned
Organizational Change Capability Assessment
Organizational Change Management Playbook
PMOs, if you don't know who is responsible for org change, it's you.
"Organizational change management has been a huge weakness for IT departments and business units, putting projects and programs at risk – especially large, complex, transformational projects.
During workshops with clients, I find that the root of this problem is twofold: project planning tends to fixate on technology and neglects the behavioral and cultural factors that inhibit user adoption; further, accountabilities for managing change and helping to realize the intended business outcomes post-project are not properly defined.
It makes sense for the PMO to be the org-change leader. In project ecosystems where no one seems willing to seize this opportunity, the PMO can take action and realize the benefits and accolades that will come from coordinating and consistently driving successful project outcomes."
Matt Burton,
Senior Manager, Project Portfolio Management
Info-Tech Research Group
Make your PMO the change leader it’s already expected to be. Unless accountabilities for organizational change management (OCM) have been otherwise explicitly defined, you should accept that, to the rest of the organization – including its chief officers – the PMO is already assumed to be the change leader.
Don’t shy away from or neglect this role. It’s not just the business outcomes of the organization’s projects that will benefit; the long-term sustainability of the PMO itself will be significantly strengthened by making OCM a core competency.
The constraints that drive project management (time, scope, and budget) are insufficient for driving the overall success of project efforts.
For instance, a project may come in on time, on budget, and in scope, but…
…then that “successful project” represents a massive waste of the organization’s time and resources.
A supplement to project management is needed to ensure that the intended value is realized.
Mission (Not) Accomplished
50% Fifty percent of respondents in a KPMG survey indicated that projects fail to achieve what they originally intended. (Source: NZ Project management survey)
56% Only fifty-six percent of strategic projects meet their original business goals. (Source: PMI)
70% Lack of user adoption is the main cause for seventy percent of failed projects. (Source: Collins, 2013)
Organizational change management is the practice through which the PMO can improve user adoption rates and maximize project benefits.
Why OCM effectiveness correlates to project success:
Without OCM, IT might finish the project but fail to realize the intended outcomes.
In the long term, a lack of OCM could erode IT’s ability to work with the business.
OCM is a framework for managing the introduction of new business processes and technologies to ensure stakeholder adoption.
OCM involves tools, templates, and processes that are intended to help project leaders analyze the impacts of a change during the planning phase, engage stakeholders throughout the project lifecycle, as well as train and transition users towards the new technologies and processes being implemented.
OCM is a separate body of knowledge, but as a practice it is inseparable from both project management or business analysis.
Anytime you are starting a project or program that will depend on users and stakeholders to give up their old way of doing things, change will force people to become novices again, leading to lost productivity and added stress.
CM can help improve project outcomes on any project where you need people to adopt new tools and procedures, comply with new policies, learn new skills and behaviors, or understand and support new processes.
"What is the goal of change management? Getting people to adopt a new way of doing business." – BA, Natural Resources Company
82% of CEOs identify organizational change management as a priority. (D&B Consulting) But Only 18% of organizations characterize themselves as “Highly Effective” at OCM. (PMI)
On average, 95% percent of projects with excellent OCM meet or exceed their objectives. (Prosci) VS For projects with poor OCM, the number of projects that meet objectives drops to 15%. (Prosci)
82% of projects with excellent OCM practices are completed on budget. (Prosci) VS For projects with poor OCM, the number of projects that stay on budget drops to 51%. (Prosci)
71% of projects with excellent OCM practices stay on schedule. (Prosci) VS For projects with poor OCM practices, only 16% stay on schedule. (Prosci)
IT Processes Ranked by Effectiveness:
IT Processes Ranked by Importance:
Based on 3,884 responses to Info-Tech’s Management and Governance Diagnostic, June 2016
While the importance of change management is widely recognized across organizations, the statistics around change remain dismal.
Indeed, it’s an understatement to say that change is difficult.
People are generally – in the near-term at least – resistant to change, especially large, transformational changes that will impact the day-to-day way of doing things, or that involve changing personal values, social norms, and other deep-seated assumptions.
"There is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things." – Niccolo Machiavelli
70% - Change failure rates are extremely high. It is estimated that up to seventy percent of all change initiatives fail – a figure that has held steady since the 1990s. (McKinsey & Company)
25% - In a recent survey of 276 large and midsize organizations, only twenty-five percent of respondents felt that the gains from projects were sustained over time. (Towers Watson)
22% - While eighty-seven percent of survey respondents trained their managers to “manage change,” only 22% felt the training was truly effective. (Towers Watson)
Who is accountable for change success? …anyone?...
To its peril, OCM commonly falls into a grey area, somewhere in between project management and portfolio management, and somewhere in between being a concern of IT and a concern of the business.
While OCM is a separate discipline from project management, it is commonly thought that OCM is something that project managers and project teams do. While in some cases this might be true, it is far from a universal truth.
The end result: without a centralized approach, accountabilities for key OCM tasks are opaque at best – and the ball for these tasks is, more often than not, dropped altogether.
29% - Twenty-nine percent of change initiatives are launched without any formal OCM plan whatsoever.
"That’s 29 percent of leaders with blind faith in the power of prayer to Saint Jude, the patron saint of desperate cases and lost causes." – Torben Rick
#1 Organizational resistance to change is cited as the #1 challenge to project success that PMOs face. (Source: PM Solutions)
90% Companies with mature PMOs that effectively manage change meet expectations 90% of the time. (Source: Jacobs-Long)
A centralized approach to OCM is most effective, and the PMO is already a centralized project office and is already accountable for project outcomes.
What’s more, in organizations where accountabilities for OCM are not explicitly defined, the PMO will likely already be assumed to be the default change leader by the wider organization.
It makes sense for the PMO to accept this accountability – in the short term at least – and claim the benefits that will come from coordinating and consistently driving successful project outcomes.
In the long term, OCM leadership will help the PMO to become a strategic partner with the executive layer and the business side.
Short-term gains made by the PMO can be used to spark dialogues with those who authorize project spending and have the implicit fiduciary obligation to drive project benefits.
Ultimately, it’s their job to explicitly transfer that obligation, along with the commensurate resourcing and authority for OCM activities.
"With organizations demanding increasing value, PMOs will need to focus more and more on strategy, innovation, agility, and stakeholder engagement. And, in particular, developing expertise in organizational change management will be essential to their success." – PM Solutions, 2014
28% PMOs that are highly agile and able to respond quickly to changing conditions are 28% more likely to successfully complete strategic initiatives (69% vs. 41%). (PMI)
In other words, without heightened competencies around org-change, the PMO of tomorrow will surely sink like a stone in the face of increasingly unstable external factors and accelerated project demands.
With the advice and tools in Info-Tech’s Drive Organizational Change from the PMO blueprint, the PMO can provide the right OCM expertise at each phase of a project.
Business strategy-oriented OCM models such as John Kotter’s 8-Step model assume the change agent is in a position of senior leadership, able to shape corporate vision, culture, and values.
General-purpose OCM frameworks such as ACMP’s Standard for Change Management, CMI’s CMBoK, and Prosci’s ADKAR model are very comprehensive and need to be configured to PMO-specific initiatives.
References and Further Reading
Info-Tech’s organizational change management model adapts the best practices from a wide range of proven models and distills it into a step-by-step process that can be applied to any IT-enabled project.
| COBIT Section | COBIT Management Practice | Related Blueprint Steps |
|---|---|---|
| BAI05.01 | Establish the desire to change. | 1.1 / 2.1 / 2.2 |
| BAI05.02 | Form an effective implementation team. | 1.2 |
| BAI05.03 | Communicate the desired vision. | 2.1 / 3.2 |
| BAI05.03 | Empower role players and identify short-term wins. | 3.2 / 3.3 |
| BAI05.05 | Enable operation and use. | 3.1 |
| BAI05.06 | Embed new approaches. | 4.1 / 5.1 |
| BAI05.07 | Sustain changes. | 5.1 |
COBIT 5 is the leading framework for the governance and management of enterprise IT.
Screenshot of Info-Tech’s IT Management & Governance Framework.
Human behavior is largely a blind spot during the planning phase.
In IT especially, project planning tends to fixate on technology and underestimate the behavioral and cultural factors that inhibit user adoption. Whether change is project-specific or continuous, it’s more important to instill the desire to change than to apply specific tools and techniques. Accountability for instilling this desire should start with the project sponsor, with direct support from the PMO.
Don’t mistake change management for a “soft” skill.
Persuading people to change requires a “soft,” empathetic approach to keep them motivated and engaged. But don’t mistake “soft” for easy. Managing the people part of change is amongst the toughest work there is, and it requires a comfort and competency with uncertainty, ambiguity, and conflict. If a change initiative is going to be successful (especially a large, transformational change), this tough work needs to be done – and the more impactful the change, the earlier it is done, the better.
In “continuous change” environments, change still needs to be managed.
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. People will perceive change to be volatile and undesirable if their expectations aren’t managed through communications and engagement planning.
Info-Tech’s Drive Organizational Change from the PMO blueprint can be implemented quickly and can usually be done with the PMO’s own authority, without the need for additional or dedicated change resources.
15% - The average costs for effective OCM are 10%–15% of the overall project budget. (AMR Research)
200% - Small projects with excellent OCM practices report a 200% return-on-investment. (Change First)
650% - Large projects with excellent OCM practices report a 650% return-on-investment. (Change First)
Industry Manufacturing
Source Info-Tech Client
A medium-sized manufacturing company with offices all over the world was going through a consolidation of processes and data by implementing a corporate-wide ERP system to replace the fragmented systems that were previously in place. The goal was to have consistency in process, expectations, and quality, as well as improve efficiency in interdepartmental processes.
Up to this point, every subsidiary was using their own system to track data and sharing information was complicated and slow. It was causing key business opportunities to be compromised or even lost.
The organization was not very good in closing out projects. Initiatives went on for too long, and the original business benefits were usually not realized.
The primary culprit was recognized as mismanaged organizational change. People weren’t aware early enough, and were often left out of the feedback process.
Employees often felt like changes were being dictated to them, and they didn’t understand the wider benefits of the changes. This led to an unnecessary number of resistors, adding to the complexity of successfully completing a project.
Implementing an ERP worldwide was something that the company couldn’t gamble on, so proper organizational change management was a focus.
A thorough stakeholder analysis was done, and champions were identified for each stakeholder group throughout the organization.
Involving these champions early gave them the time to work within their groups and to manage expectations. The result was savings of 2–4 weeks of implementation time and $10,000.
“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
| Phase 1 | Phase 2 | Phase 3 | Phase 4 | Phase 5 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Best-Practice Toolkit |
1.1 Assess the organization’s readiness for change. 1.2 Define the structure and scope of the PMO’s pilot OCM initiative. |
2.1 Foster OCM considerations during the ideation phase. 2.2 Perform an organizational change impact assessment. |
3.1 Ensure stakeholders are engaged and ready for change. 3.2 Develop and execute the transition plan. 3.3 Establish HR and training plans. |
4.1 Determine accountabilities for benefits attainment. | 5.1 Institute an OCM playbook. |
| Guided Implementations |
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| Onsite Workshop |
Module 1: Prepare the PMO for change leadership. |
Module 2: Plant the seeds for change during planning and initiation. |
Module 3: Facilitate change adoption throughout the organization. |
Module 4: Establish a post-project benefits attainment process. |
Module 5: Solidify the PMO’s role as change leader. |
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Phase 1 Results: OCM Capabilities Assessment |
Phase 2 Results: Change Impact Analysis |
Phase 3 Results: Communications and Transition Plans |
Phase 4 Results: A benefits tracking process for sponsors |
Phase 5 Results: OCM Playbook |
Contact your account representative or email Workshops@InfoTech.com for more information.
| Preparation | Workshop Day 1 | Workshop Day 2 | Workshop Day 3 | Workshop Day 4 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Activities |
Organize and Plan Workshop
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Assess OCM Capabilities
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Analyze Impact of the Change
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Develop Engagement & Transition Plans
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Institute an OCM Playbook
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| Deliverables |
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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.
Proposed Time to Completion (in weeks): 1 week
Start with an analyst kick off call:
Then complete these activities…
With these tools & templates:
Work with an analyst to:
Then complete these activities…
With these tools & templates:
Continuous change and transition are increasingly common in organizations in 2016.
A state of constant change can make managing change more difficult in some ways, but easier in others.
By managing organizational change more effectively, the PMO can build credibility to manage both business and IT projects.
"The greatest danger in times of turbulence is not the turbulence; it is to act with yesterday’s logic." – Peter Drucker
In this phase, we will gauge your PMO’s abilities to effectively facilitate change based upon your change management capability levels and your wider organization’s responsiveness to change.
There are many moving parts involved in successfully realizing an organizational change.
For instance, even with an effective change toolkit and strong leadership support, you may still fail to achieve project benefits due to such factors as a staff environment resistant to change or poor process discipline.
Use Info-Tech’s Organizational Change Management Capabilities Assessment to assess your readiness for change across 7 categories:
Download Info-Tech’s Organizational Change Management Capabilities Assessment.
Use the drop downs to indicate the degree to which you agree or disagree with each of the statements in the survey.
Info-Tech Insight
Every organization has some change management capability.
Even if you find yourself in a fledgling or nascent PMO, with no formal change management tools or processes, you can still leverage other categories of change management effectiveness.
If you can, build upon people-related assets like “Organizational Knowledge” and “Cultural Readiness” as you start to hone your OCM toolkit and process.
Tab 3 of the Assessment tool shows your capabilities graph.
Focus on improving the first capability dimension (from left/front to right/back) that rates below 10.
Tab 4 of the Assessment tool reveals Info-Tech’s recommendations based upon your survey responses.
Use the red/yellow/green boxes to focus your efforts.
The content in the recommendations boxes is based around these categories and the advice therein is designed to help you to, in the near term, bring your capabilities up to the next level.
Each of Info-Tech’s seven OCM capabilities match up with different steps and phases in this blueprint.
We recommend that you consume this blueprint in a linear fashion, as each phase matches up to a different set of OCM activities to be executed at each phase of a project. However, you can use the legend below to locate how and where this blueprint will address each capability.
| Cultural Readiness | 2.1 / 2.2 / 3.1 / 3.2 / 3.3 |
|---|---|
| Leadership Support | 2.1 / 4.1 / 5.1 |
| Organizational Knowledge | 2.1 / 3.1 / 3.2 |
| Change Management Skills | 2.1 / 2.2 / 3.1 / 3.2 / 3.3 |
| Toolkit & Templates | 2.1 / 2.2 / 3.1 / 3.2 / 3.3 / 4.1 / 5.1 |
| Process Discipline | 2.1 / 2.2 / 3.1 / 3.2 / 3.3 / 4.1 / 5.1 |
| KPIs & Metrics | 3.2 / 5.1 |
Info-Tech Insight
Organizational change must be planned in advance and managed through all phases of a project.
Organizational change management must be embedded as a key aspect throughout the project, not merely a set of tactics added to execution phases.
Now that you have a sense of your change management strengths and weaknesses, you can begin to formalize the organizational specifics of these.
Gather PMO and IT staff, as well as other key project and business stakeholders, and perform a SWOT analysis based on your Capabilities Assessment.
Follow these steps to complete the SWOT analysis:
Use the SWOT Analysis Template on the next slide to document results.
Use the examples provided in the SWOT analysis to kick-start the discussion.
The purpose of the SWOT is to begin to define the goals of this implementation by assessing your change management capabilities and cultivating executive level, business unit, PMO, and IT alignment around the most critical opportunities and challenges.
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Strengths
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Weaknesses
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Opportunities
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Threats
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Before you move on to develop and implement your OCM processes, spend some time documenting how change management success will be defined for your organization and what conditions will be necessary for success to be achieved.
With the same group of individuals who participated in the SWOT exercise, discuss the below criteria. You can make this a sticky note or a whiteboard activity to help document discussion points.
| What conditions are necessary for OCM to succeed? | How will success be defined? |
|---|---|
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Use the table below to document any additional factors or uncertainties that could impact implementation success.
These could be external factors that may impact the PMO, or they could be logistical considerations pertaining to staffing or infrastructure that may be required to support additional change management processes and procedures.
"[A]ll bets are off when it comes to change. People scatter in all directions. Your past experiences may help in some way, but what you do today and how you do it are the new measures people will use to evaluate you." – Tres Roeder
| Consideration | Description of Need | Potential Resource Implications | Potential Next Steps | Timeline |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| e.g. The PMO will need to train PMs concerning new processes. | We will not only need to train PM staff in the new processes and documentation requirements, but we will also have to provide ongoing training, be it monthly, quarterly, or yearly. | Members of PMO staff will be required to support this training. | Analyze impact of redeploying existing resources vs. outsourcing. | Q3 2016 |
| e.g. We will need to communicate new OCM requirements to the business and wider organization. | The PMO will be taking on added communication requirements, needing to advertise to a wider audience than it has before. | None | Work with business side to expand the PMO’s communications network and look into leveraging existing communication portals. | Next month |
In subsequent phases of this blueprint, we will help the PMO develop an OCM strategy that aligns with your organization’s project timelines.
In this step (1.2), we will do some pre-work for you by determining a change initiative to pilot during this process and defining some of the roles and responsibilities for the OCM activities that we’ll develop in this blueprint.
In keeping with the need to align organizational change management activities with the actual timeline of the project, the next three phases of this blueprint will move from discussing OCM in general to applying OCM considerations to a single project.
As you narrow your focus to the organizational change stemming from a specific initiative, review the below considerations to help inform the decisions that you make during the activities in this step.
The need for OCM rigor will vary depending on project size and complexity.
While we recommend that every project has some aspect of change management to it, you can adjust OCM requirements accordingly, depending on the type of change being introduced.
| Incremental Change | → | Transformational Change |
|---|---|---|
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Organizational change management is highly recommended and beneficial for projects that require people to:
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Organizational change management is required for projects that require people to:
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Phases 2, 3, and 4 of this blueprint will guide you through the process of managing organizational change around a specific project. Select one now that is currently in your request or planning stages to pilot through the activities in this blueprint. We recommend choosing one that involves a large, transformational change.
Use Info-Tech’s project levels to define the complexity of the project that you’ve chosen to pilot.
Defining your project level will help determine how much effort and detail is required to complete steps in this blueprint – and, beyond this, these levels can help you determine how much OCM rigor to apply across each of the projects in your portfolio.
| Incremental Change | → | Transformational Change |
|---|---|---|
| Level 1 | Level 2 | Level 3 |
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For a more comprehensive assessment of project levels and degrees of risk, see Info-Tech’s Create Project Management Success blueprint – and in particular, our Project Level Assessment Tool.
What is the project changing?
How will it work?
What are the implications of doing nothing?
What are the phases in execution?
What is the desired outcome?
What can be measured? How?
When should it be measured?
List the goals.
Align with business and IT goals.
List the costs:
Software costs
Hardware costs
Implementation costs
List the risks:
Business risks
Technology risks
Implementation risks
| Planned Project Activities & Milestones | Timeline | Owner(s) | Status | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Example: Vendor Evaluation | Finish by Q4-17 | Jessie Villar | In progress |
| 2. | Example: Define Administrative Policies | Finish by Q4-17 | Gerry Anantha | Starting Q2 |
The key to change management success is ensuring that the right OCM activities are carried out at the right time. The below graphic serves as a quick view of what OCM activities entail and when they should be done.
| Project Phase or Milestone | Estimated Start Date | Estimated End Date | Associated OCM Requirement(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| e.g. Planning | e.g. Already in progress | e.g. July | e.g. Impact Assessment |
| e.g. Requirements & Design | e.g. August | e.g. October | e.g. Stakeholder Engagement & Transition Planning |
Info-Tech Insight
Proactive change management is easier to execute and infinitely more effective than managing change reactively. A reactive approach to OCM is bound to fail. The better equipped the PMO is to plan OCM activities in advance of projects, the more effective those OCM efforts will be.
The PMO leader will need to delegate responsibility for many to all of these OCM activities throughout the project lifecycle.
Compile a list of PMO staff, project workers, and other stakeholders who will likely be required to support these processes at each step, keeping in mind that we will be doing a more thorough consideration of the resources required to support an OCM program in Phase 3.
| OCM Activity | Resources Available to Support |
|---|---|
| Impact Assessment | |
| Stakeholder Engagement | |
| Transition Planning | |
| Training | |
| Communications | |
| Evaluation and Monitoring |
Info-Tech Insight
OCM processes require a diverse network to support them.
While we advocate an approach to org change that is centralized through the PMO, this doesn’t change the fact that the PMO’s OCM processes will need to engage the entirety of the project eco-system.
In addition to IT/PMO directors, org change processes will engage a group as varied as project sponsors, project managers, business analysts, communications leads, and HR/training leads.
Ensure that you are considering resources and infrastructure beyond IT as you plan your OCM processes – and engage these stakeholders early in this planning process.
In many cases, the core team only has one or two people responsible for impact analysis and plan development in addition to you, the sponsor, who is accountable for leadership and benefits realization.
For larger initiatives, the core team might include several co-sponsors or advisors from different departments or lines of business, along with a handful of staff working together on analysis and planning.
Some team structure templates/examples:
Small (e.g. Office 365)
Medium-Large (e.g. business process initiative)
Complex Transformational (e.g. business model initiative, company reorg)
In keeping with the eclectic network of stakeholders that is required to support OCM processes, Phase 2 is broken up into sections that will, by turn, engage project sponsors, project managers, business analysts, communications leads, and HR/training leads.
At each step, our intention is to arm the PMO with a toolkit and a set of processes that will help foster a project culture that is proactive about change.
"It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit." – Harry Truman
| Project Step | PMO | Sponsor | Project Manager | Business Analyst | Blueprint Reference |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Make a high-level case for change. |
A |
R | R/C | C | 1.1 |
| Initiate project/change planning. | A | C | R | C | 1.2 |
| Analyze full breadth and depth of impact. | A | C | R | R | 1.3 |
| Assess communications and training requirements. | A | C | R | R | 2.1 |
| Develop communications, training, and other transition plans. | A | R | C | R | 2.2-3 |
| Approve and communicate transition plans. | A | C | R | C | 2.4 |
| Analyze impact and progress. | A | C | R | R | 3.1 |
| Revise project/change planning. | A | C | R | C | 3.2 |
| Highlight and leverage successes. | A | R | C | C | 3.3 |
Use Info-Tech’s Transition Team Communications Template to help communicate the outcomes of this step.
Download Info-Tech’s Transition Team Communications Template.
"Managers and user communities need to feel like they are a part of a project instead of feeling like the project is happening to them. It isn't just a matter of sending a few emails or putting up a page on a project website." – Ross Latham
Industry Natural Resources
Source Interview
"The hard systems – they’re easy. It’s the soft systems that are challenging... Be hard on the process. Be easy on the people." – Business Analyst, natural resources company
Take Info-Tech’s OCM capabilities questionnaire and receive custom analyst recommendations concerning next steps.
Work with a seasoned analyst to assess your PMO’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats to becoming an org change leader.
Work with an analyst to clarify how the success of this initiative will be measured and what conditions are necessary for success.
Receive custom analyst insights on rightsizing your OCM planning efforts based on project size, timeline, and resource availability.
Harness analyst experience to develop a project-specific timeline for the PMO’s change management activities to better plan your efforts and resources.
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.
Proposed Time to Completion (in weeks): 1 week
Discuss these issues with an analyst:
Then complete these activities…
With these tools & templates:
Work with an analyst to:
Then complete these activities…
With these tools & templates:
Org Change Step #1: Make the case for change during the request phase
Initiation→Planning→Execution→Monitoring & Controlling→Closing
Even before project planning and initiation begin, sponsors and requestors have org change responsibilities around communicating the need for a change and demonstrating their commitment to that change.
In this step, we will look at the OCM considerations that need to be factored in during project ideation.
The slides ahead will cover what the PMO can do to help foster these considerations among project sponsors and requestors.
While this project may already be in the planning phase, the activities in the slides ahead will help lay a solid OCM foundation as you move ahead into the impact assessment and stakeholder engagement steps in this phase.
Strongly recommended: include the sponsor for your pilot OCM project in many of the following activities (see individual activity slides for direction).
Info-Tech Insight
Make active sponsorship a criteria when scoring new requests.
Projects with active sponsors are far more likely to succeed than those where the sponsor cannot be identified or where she/he is unable or unwilling to champion the initiative throughout the organization.
Consider the engagement level of sponsors when prioritizing new requests. Without this support, the likelihood of a change initiative succeeding is far diminished.
Somewhere along the way a stereotype arose of the project sponsor as a disengaged executive who dreams up a project idea and – regardless of that idea’s feasibility or merit – secures funding, pats themselves on the back, and does not materialize again until the project is over to pat themselves on the back again.
Indeed, it’s exaggerated, based partly on the fact that sponsors are almost always extremely busy individuals, with very demanding day jobs on top of their responsibilities as sponsors. The stereotype doesn’t capture the very real day-to-day project-level responsibilities of project sponsors.
Leading change management institute, Prosci, has developed a checklist of 10 identifiable traits and responsibilities that PMO leaders and project managers should help to foster among project sponsors. As Prosci states, the checklist “can be used as an audit tool to see if you are utilizing best practices in how you engage senior leaders on your change initiatives.”
Are your sponsors:
Many change initiatives require significant investments of political capital to garner approval, funding, and involvement from key executives. This process can take months or even years before the project is staffed and implementation begins.
| Executive/Stakeholder | Degree of Support | Ability to Influence | Potential Contribution/Engagement Strategy |
|---|---|---|---|
| Board of Directors | Med | High | |
| CEO | |||
| CFO | |||
| CIO | |||
| CxO |
“The stakes of having poorly engaged executive sponsors are high, as are the consequences and costs. PMI research into executive sponsorship shows that one in three unsuccessful projects fail to meet goals due to poorly engaged executive sponsors.”
– PMI, 2014
Build desire for change.
The project sponsor is accountable for defining the high-level scope and benefits of the project. The PMO needs to work with the sponsor during the ideation phase to help establish the need for the proposed change.
Use the table below to begin developing a compelling vision and story of change. If you have not already defined high-level goals and deliverables for your project, download Info-Tech’s Light Project Request Form (a Detailed Project Request Form is also available).
| Why is there a need to change? | |
|---|---|
| How will change benefit the organization? | |
| How did we determine this is the right change? | |
| What would happen if we didn’t change? | |
| How will we measure success? |
See Info-Tech’s Optimize Project Intake, Approval, and Prioritization blueprint for more detailed advice on working with requestors to define requirements and business value of new requests.
Crucial facts, data, and figures are made more digestible, memorable, and actionable when they are conveyed through a compelling storyline.
While you certainly need high-level scope elements and a rigorous cost-benefit analysis in your business case, projects that require organizational change also need a compelling story or vision to influence groups of stakeholders.
As the PMO works with sponsors to identify and document the goals and benefits of change, begin to sketch a narrative that will be compelling to the organization’s varied audiences.
Structuring an effective project narrative:
Research shows (Research and impacts cited in Torben Rick’s “Change Management Require[s] a Compelling Story,” 2014) that when managers and employees are asked about what most inspires them in their work, their responses are evenly split across five forms of impact:
"Storytelling enables the individuals in an organization to see themselves and the organization in a different light, and accordingly take decisions and change their behavior in accordance with these new perceptions, insights, and identities." – Steve Denning
Info-Tech Insight
A micro-to-macro change narrative. A compelling org change story needs to address all five of these impacts in order to optimally engage employees in change. In crafting a narrative that covers both the micro and macro levels, you will be laying a solid foundation for adoption throughout the organization.
Using a whiteboard to capture the discussion, address the 5 levels of change impact covered on the previous slide.
Whatever story you develop to communicate the goals and the benefits of the change, ultimately it should be the sponsor who communicates this message to the organization at large.
Given the competing demands that senior leaders face, the PMO still has a pivotal role to play in helping to plan and facilitate these communications.
The PMO should help sponsors by providing insights to shape change messaging (refer to the characteristics outlined in the table below for assistance) and by developing a sponsorship action plan (Activity 2.1.4).
| Tips for communicating a change story effectively: | |
|---|---|
| Identify and appeal to the audience’s unique frames of reference. | e.g. “Most of you remember when we…” |
| Include concrete, vivid details to help visualize change. | e.g. “In the future, when a sales rep visits a customer in Wisconsin, they’ll be able to process a $100,000 order in seconds instead of hours.” |
| Connect the past, present, and future with at least one continuous theme. | e.g. “These new capabilities reaffirm our long-standing commitment to customers, as well as our philosophy of continuously finding ways to be more responsive to their needs.” |
“[T]he sponsor is the preferred sender of messages related to the business reasons and organizational implications for a particular initiative; therefore, effective sponsorship is crucial in building an awareness of the need for change.
Sponsorship is also critical in building the desire to participate and support the change with each employee and in reinforcing the change.”
– Prosci
Use the below dimensions to gauge your organization’s appetite for change. Analyzing this will help determine the form and force of communications.
In the next slide, we will base aspects of your sponsorship action plan on whether an organization’s indicator is “high” or “low” across these three dimensions.
Three key dimensions determine the appetite for cultural change (Dimensions taken from Joanna Malgorzata Michalak’s “Cultural Catalysts and Barriers of Organizational Change Management: a Preliminary Overview,” 2010):
| Power Distance | Refers to the acceptance that power is distributed unequally throughout the organization. Organizations with a high power distance indicator show that the unequal power distribution is accepted by the less powerful employees. |
|---|---|
| Individualism | Organizations that score high in individualism have employees who are more independent; those who score low in individualism fall into the collectivism side where employees are strongly tied to one another or their groups. |
| Uncertainty Avoidance | Describes the level of acceptance that an organization has towards uncertainty. Those who score high in this area find that their employees do not favor “uncertain” situations, while those that score low in this area find that their employees are comfortable with change and uncertainty. |
"Societies with a high indicator of power distance, individualism, and uncertainty avoidance create vital inertial forces against transformation." – Michalak
| Group | Activity | Est. Weekly Effort | Comments/Frequency |
|---|---|---|---|
| Project Team | Ad hoc check-in on progress | 30 mins | Try to be visible at least once a week |
| Attend status meetings | 30 mins | Every second Tuesday, 9 am | |
| Senior Managers | Touch base informally | 45 mins | Aim for bi-weekly, one-on-one touchpoints |
| Lead steering committee meetings | 60 mins | First Thursday of the month, 3 pm | |
| End Users | Organization-wide emails | Ad hoc, 20 mins | As required, with PMO assistance |
"To manage change is to tell people what to do... but to lead change is to show people how to be." – Weick & Quinn
Use Info-Tech’s Transition Team Communications Template to help communicate the outcomes of this step.
The following activities should be recorded in the template:
Activity 2.1.2
In addition, the outcome of Activity 2.1.4, the “Sponsorship Action Plan,” should be converted to a format such as Word and provided to the project sponsor.
Download Info-Tech’s Transition Team Communications Template.
"In most work situations, the meaning of a change is likely to be as important, if not more so, than the change itself."
– Roethlisberger (cited in Burke)
In the previous step, we established a process and some accountabilities to help the PMO and project sponsors make the case for change during the ideation and initiation phase of a project.
In this step, we will help with the project planning phase by establishing a process for analyzing how the change will impact various dimensions of the business and how to manage these impacts to best ensure stakeholder adoption.
Brace for Impact…
A thorough analysis of change impacts will help the PMO:
In the absence of an assigned change manager, organizational change impact assessments are typically performed by a business analyst or the project manager assigned to the change initiative.
Sample RACI for this activity. Define these accountabilities for your organization before proceeding with this step.
| Project Sponsor | PMO | PM or BA | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Survey impact dimensions | I | A | R |
| Analyze impacts across multiple stakeholder groups | I | A | R |
| Assess required OCM rigor | I | A/R | C |
| Manage individual impacts | I | A | R |
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Bring perspective to an imperfect view.
No individual has a comprehensive view of the potential impact of change.
Impact assessment and analysis is most effective when multiple viewpoints are coordinated using a well-defined list of considerations that cover a wide breadth of dimensions.
Revisit and refine the impact analysis throughout planning and execution, as challenges to adoption become more clear.
Info-Tech’s Organizational Change Management Impact Analysis Tool helps to document the change impact across multiple dimensions, enabling the PMO to review the analysis with others to ensure that the most important impacts are captured. The tool also helps to effectively monitor each impact throughout project execution.
Download Info-Tech’s Organizational Change Impact Analysis Tool.
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Anticipate the unexpected. Impact analysis is the cornerstone of any OCM strategy. By shining a light on considerations that might have otherwise escaped project planners and decision makers, an impact analysis is an essential component to change management and project success.
The “2. Set Up” tab of the Impact Tool is where you enter project-specific data pertaining to the change initiative.
The inputs on this tab are used to auto-populate fields and drop-downs on subsequent tabs of the analysis.
Document the stakeholders (by individual or group) associated with the project who will be subject to the impacts.
You are allowed up to 15 entries. Try to make this list comprehensive. Missing any key stakeholders will threaten the value of this activity as a whole.
If you find that you have more than 15 individual stakeholders, you can group individuals into stakeholder groups.
Keep in mind...
An impact analysis is not a stakeholder management exercise.
Impact assessments cover:
Stakeholder management covers:
We will cover the latter in the next step.
“As a general principle, project teams should always treat every stakeholder initially as a recipient of change. Every stakeholder management plan should have, as an end goal, to change recipients’ habits or behaviors.”
– PMI, 2015
Use the survey on tab 3 of the Impact Analysis Tool to determine the dimensions of change that are relevant.
The impact analysis is fueled by the thirteen-question survey on tab 3 of the tool.
This survey addresses a comprehensive assortment of change dimensions, ranging from customer-facing considerations, to employee concerns, to resourcing, logistical, and technological questions.
Once you have determined the dimensions that are impacted by the change, you can go on to assess how individual stakeholders and stakeholder groups are affected by the change.
Screenshot of tab “3. Impact Survey,” showing the 13-question survey that drives the impact analysis.
Ideally, the survey should be performed by a group of project stakeholders together. Use the drop-downs in column K to record your responses.
"A new system will impact roles, responsibilities, and how business is conducted within an organization. A clear understanding of the impact of change allows the business to design a plan and address the different levels of changes accordingly. This approach creates user acceptance and buy-in."
– January Paulk, Panorama Consulting
As you assess change impacts, keep in mind that no impact will be felt the same across the organization. Depth of impact can vary depending on the frequency (will the impact be felt daily, weekly, monthly?), the actions necessitated by it (e.g. will it change the way the job is done or is it simply a minor process tweak?), and the anticipated response of the stakeholder (support, resistance, indifference?).
Use the Organizational Change Depth Scale below to help visualize various depths of impact. The deeper the impact, the tougher the job of managing change will be.
| Procedural | Behavioral | Interpersonal | Vocational | Cultural |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Procedural change involves changes to explicit procedures, rules, policies, processes, etc. | Behavioral change is similar to procedural change, but goes deeper to involve the changing tacit or unconscious habits. | Interpersonal change goes beyond behavioral change to involve changing relationships, teams, locations, reporting structures, and other social interactions. | Vocational change requires acquiring new knowledge and skills, and accepting the loss or decline in the value or relevance of previously acquired knowledge and skills. | Cultural change goes beyond interpersonal and vocational change to involve changing personal values, social norms, and assumptions about the meaning of good vs. bad or right vs. wrong. |
| Example: providing sales reps with mobile access to the CRM application to let them update records from the field. | Example: requiring sales reps to use tablets equipped with a custom mobile application for placing orders from the field. | Example: migrating sales reps to work 100% remotely. | Example: migrating technical support staff to field service and sales support roles. | Example: changing the operating model to a more service-based value proposition or focus. |
See the next slide for an accompanying screenshot of a change impact table from tab 4 of the Analysis Tool.
The stakeholder groups entered on the Set Up will auto-populate in column B of each table.
Your “yes” responses from the survey tab will auto-populate in the cells to the right of the “Change Impact” cells.
Use the drop-downs in this column to select how often the impact will be felt for each group (e.g. daily, weekly, periodically, one time, or never).
“Actions” include “change to core job duties,” “change to how time is spent,” “confirm awareness of change,” etc.
Use the drop-downs to hypothesize what the stakeholder response might be. For now, for the purpose of the impact analysis, a guess is fine. We will come back to build a communications plan based on actual responses in Phase 3 of this blueprint.
Based upon your assessment of each individual impact, the Analysis Tool will provide you with an “Overall Impact Rating” in tab 5.
Projects in the red should have maximum change governance, applying a full suite of OCM tools and templates, as well as revisiting the impact analysis exercise regularly to help monitor progress.
Increased communication and training efforts, as well as cross-functional partnerships, will also be key for success.
Projects in the yellow also require a high level of change governance. Follow the steps and activities in this blueprint closely, paying close attention to the stakeholder engagement activities in the next step to help sway resistors and leverage change champions.
In order to free up resources for those OCM initiatives that require more discipline, projects in green can ease up in their OCM efforts somewhat. With a high likelihood of adoption as is, stakeholder engagement and communication efforts can be minimized somewhat for these projects, so long as the PMO is in regular contact with key stakeholders.
"All change is personal. Each person typically asks: 'What’s in it for me?'" – William T. Craddock
Top-Five Highest Risk Impacts table: This table displays the highest risk impacts based on frequency and action inputs on Tab 4.
Top-Five Most Impacted Stakeholders table: Here you’ll find the stakeholders, ranked again based on frequency and action, who will be most impacted by the proposed changes.
Top Five Supporters table: These are the 5 stakeholders most likely to support changes, based on the Anticipated Response column on Tab 4.
The stakeholder groups entered on the Set Up Tab will auto-populate in column B of each table.
In addition to these outputs, this tab also lists top five change resistors, and has an impact register and list of potential impacts to watch out for (i.e. your “maybe” responses from tab 3).
A proper risk analysis often reveals risks and mitigations that are more important to other people in the organization than those managing the change. Failure to do a risk analysis on other people’s behalf can be viewed as negligence.
In the table below, document the risks related to the assumptions being made about the upcoming change. What are the risks that your assumptions are wrong? Can steps be taken to avoid these risks?
| Risk Assumption | Magnitude if Assumption Wrong | Likelihood That Assumption Is Wrong | Mitigation Strategy | Assessment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| e.g. Customers will accept shipping fees for overweight items > 10 pounds | Low | High | It's a percentage of our business, and usually accompanies a sharply discounted product. We need to extend discretionary discounting on shipping to supervisory staff to mitigate the risk of lost business. | Re-assess after each quarter. |
"One strategy to minimize the impact is to determine the right implementation pace, which will vary depending on the size of the company and the complexity of the project" – Chirantan Basu
Use the table below to brainstorm the business opportunities arising from your change initiative. Consider if the PMO can take steps to help improve the outcomes either through supporting the project execution or through providing support to the business.
| Opportunity Assumption | Potential Value | Likelihood That Assumption Is Wrong | Leverage Strategy | Assessment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| e.g. Customer satisfaction can increase as delivery time frames for the remaining custom products radically shrink and services extend greatly. | High | Medium | Reset the expectations of this market segment so that they go from being surprised by good service to expecting it. | Our competitors will not be able to react to this. |
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The bigger the change, the bigger the opportunity. Project and change management has traditionally focused on a defensive posture because organizations so often fail to mitigate risk. Good change managers also watch for opportunities to improve and exploit the outcomes of the change.
Now that you’ve assessed the impacts of the change, and the accompanying risks and opportunities, use the table below to document metrics that can be used to help assess the management of the change.
| Metric | Calculation | How to Collect | Who to Report to | Frequency |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price overrides for new shipping costs | It is entered as a line item on invoices, so it can be calculated as % of shipping fees discounted. | Custom report from CRM (already developed). | Project Steering Committee | Project Steering Committee |
If your organization doesn’t have a standard business case document, use one of Info-Tech’s templates. We have two templates to choose from, depending on the size of the project and the amount of rigor required:
Download Info-Tech’s Comprehensive Business Case Template for large, complex projects or our Fast Track Business Case Template for smaller ones.
Work with an analyst to exercise your storytelling muscles, building out a process to help make the case for change throughout the organization.
Utilize analyst experience to help develop a sponsorship action plan to help facilitate more engaged change project sponsors.
Get an analyst perspective on how each impact may affect different stakeholders in order to assist with the project and OCM planning process.
Rightsize your response to change impacts by developing a game plan to mitigate each one according to adoption likelihood.
Work with the analyst to translate the risks and opportunities identified during the impact analysis into points of consideration to help inform and improve the business case for the project.
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.
Proposed Time to Completion (in weeks): 4 to 6 weeks
Discuss these issues with analyst:
Then complete these activities…
With these tools & templates:
Discuss these issues with analyst:
Then complete these activities…
With these tools & templates:
Discuss these issues with analyst:
Then complete these activities…
With these tools & templates:
Empowerment: Increased worker mobility, effect of millennials in the workforce, and lower average tenure means that people are less tolerant of a hierarchical, command-and-control approach to change.
Noise: Inundation with communications and diversity of channels means the traditional “broadcast” approach to communicating change doesn’t work (i.e. you can’t expect every email to get everyone’s attention).
As a result, disciplines around organizational change tend to be less linear and deliberate than they were in the past.
"People don’t resist change. They resist being changed."
How to manage change in organizations of today and the future:
Accountabilities for change management are still required. While change management needs to adopt more collaborative and organic approaches, org change success still depends on assigning appropriate accountabilities. What’s changed in the move to matrix structure is that accountabilities need to be facilitated more collaboratively.
PMO leaders and IT experts often find themselves asked to help implement or troubleshoot technology-related business projects that are already in flight.
The PMO will end up with perceived or de facto responsibility for inadequate planning, communications, and training around technology-enabled change.
Projects led by the IT PMO tend to be more vulnerable to underestimating the impact on people and processes on the business side.
Make sure you engage stakeholders and representatives (e.g. “power users”) from user populations early enough to refine and validate your impact assessments.
Projects led by people on the business side tend to be more vulnerable to underestimating the implications of technology changes.
Make sure IT is involved early enough to identify and prepare for challenges and opportunities involving integration, user training, etc.
"A major impediment to more successful software development projects is a corporate culture that results in a lack of collaboration because business executives view the IT departments as "order takers," a view disputed by IT leaders."
– David Ramel (cited by Ben Linders)
Stakeholders will not only be highly involved in the process improvement initiative, but they also may be participants, so it’s essential that you get their buy-in for the initiative upfront.
Use Info-Tech’s Stakeholder Engagement Workbook to help plan how stakeholders rate in terms of engagement with the project.
Once you have identified where different stakeholders fall in terms of interests, influence, and support for/engagement with the change initiative, you can structure your communication plan (to be developed in step 3.2) based on where individuals and stakeholder groups fall.
Download Info-Tech’s Stakeholder Engagement Workbook.
The engagement plan is a structured and documented approach for:
Download Info-Tech’s Stakeholder Engagement Workbook.
Refer to your project level assessment from 1.2.2:
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The more transformational the change, the more it will affect the org chart – not just after the implementation, but also through the transition.
Take time early in the project to define the reporting structure for the project/transition team, as well as any teams and roles supporting the transition.
Use the RACI table on the next slide to clarify who will be accountable, responsible, consulted, and informed for key tasks and activities around this change initiative.
Perform a RACI exercise pertaining to your pilot change initiative to clarify who to include in the stakeholder engagement activity.
Don’t reinvent the wheel: revisit the list of stakeholders and stakeholder groups from your impact assessment. The purpose of the RACI is to bring some clarity to project-specific responsibilities.
| Tasks | PMO | Project Manager | Sr. Executives | Technology SME | Business Lead | Process Owner | HR | Trainers | Communications |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Meeting project objectives | A | R | A | R | R | ||||
| Identifying risks and opportunities | A | R | A | C | C | C | C | I | I |
| Building the action plan | A | R | C | R | R | R | R | R | R |
| Planning and delivering communications | A | R | C | C | C | C | C | R | A |
| Planning and delivering training | A | R | C | C | C | C | R | A | C |
| Gathering and analyzing feedback and KPIs | A | R | C | C | C | C | C | R | R |
Copy the results of this RACI exercise into tab 1 of the Stakeholder Engagement Workbook. In addition, it can be used to inform the designated RACI section in the Transition Plan Template. Revise the RACI Table there as needed.
Define key stakeholders (or stakeholder groups) who are affected by the project or are in positions to enable or block change.
In tab three of the Stakeholder Engagement Workbook, compile the list of stakeholders who are touched by the change and whose adoption of the change will be key to project success.
To save time, you can copy and paste your stakeholder list from the Set Up tab of the Organizational Change Management Impact Analysis Tool into the table below and edit the list as needed.
Formal stakeholder analysis should be:
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Resistance is, in many cases, avoidable. Resistance is commonly provided by people who are upset about not being involved in the communication. Missed opportunities are the same: they usually could have been avoided easily had somebody known in time. Use the steps ahead as an opportunity to ensure no one has been missed.
Use tab 4 of the Stakeholder Engagement Workbook to systematically assess each stakeholder's influence, interest, and potential contribution to the project as well as to develop plans for engaging each stakeholder or stakeholder group.
Use the drop-downs to select stakeholders and stakeholder groups. These will automatically populate based on your inputs in tab 3.
Rate each stakeholder on a scale of 1 to 10 in terms of her/his influence in the organization. Not only do these rankings feed the stakeholder map that gets generated on the next slide, but they will help you identify change champions and resistors with influence.
Similar to the ranking under “Influence,” rate the “Interest” and “Potential Contribution” to help identify stakeholder engagement.
Document how you will engage each stakeholder and stakeholder group and document how soon you should communicate with them concerning the change. See the following slides for advice on eliciting change input.
Use the elicitation methods on the following slides to engage stakeholders and gather change requirements.
| Method | Description | Assessment and Best Practices | Stakeholder Effort | BA/PMO Effort |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Casual Observation | The process of observing stakeholders performing tasks where the stakeholders are unaware they are being observed. | Capture true behavior through observation of stakeholders performing tasks without informing them that they are being observed. This information can be valuable for mapping business process; however, it is difficult to isolate the core business activities from unnecessary actions. | Low | Medium |
| Formal Observation | The process of observing stakeholders performing tasks where the stakeholders are aware they are being observed. | Formal observation allows business analysts to isolate and study the core activities in a business process because the stakeholder is aware they are being observed. Stakeholders may become distrusting of the business analyst and modify their behavior if they feel their job responsibilities or job security are at risk. | Low | Medium |
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Observing stakeholders does not uncover any information about the target state. Be sure to use contextual observation in conjunction with other techniques to discover the target state.
| Method | Description | Assessment and Best Practices | Stakeholder Effort | BA/PMO Effort |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Closed-Response Survey | A survey that has fixed responses for each answer. A Likert-scale (or similar measures) can be used to have respondents evaluate and prioritize possible requirements. | Closed-response surveys can be sent to large groups and used to quickly gauge user interest in different functional areas. They are easy for users to fill out and don’t require a high investment of time. However, their main deficit is that they are likely to miss novel requirements that are not listed. As such, closed-response surveys are best used after initial elicitation or brainstorming to validate feature groups. | Low | Medium |
| Open-Response Survey | A survey that has open-ended response fields. Questions are fixed, but respondents are free to populate the field in their own words. Open-response surveys take longer to fill out than closed, but can garner deeper insights. | Open-response surveys are a useful supplement (and occasionally a replacement) for group elicitation techniques, like focus groups, when you need to receive an initial list of requirements from a broad cross-section of stakeholders. Their primary shortcoming is the analyst can’t immediately follow up on interesting points. However, they are particularly useful for reaching stakeholders who are unavailable for individual one-on-ones or group meetings. | Medium | Medium |
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Surveys can be useful mechanisms for initial drafting of raw requirements (open response) and gauging user interest in proposed requirements or feature sets (closed response). However, they should not be the sole focus of your elicitation program due to lack of interactivity and two-way dialogue with the business analyst.
| Method | Description | Assessment and Best Practices | Stakeholder Effort | BA/PMO Effort |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Structured One-on-One Interview |
In a structured one-on-one interview, the business analyst has a fixed list of questions to ask the stakeholder and follows up where necessary. | Structured interviews provide the opportunity to quickly hone in on areas of concern that were identified during process mapping or group elicitation techniques. They should be employed with purpose – to receive specific stakeholder feedback on proposed requirements or help identify systemic constraints. Generally speaking, they should take 30 minutes or less to complete. | Low | Medium |
|
Unstructured One-on-One Interview |
In an unstructured one-on-one interview, the business analyst allows the conversation to flow freely. The BA may have broad themes to touch on, but does not run down a specific question list. | Unstructured interviews are most useful for initial elicitation when brainstorming a draft list of potential requirements is paramount. Unstructured interviews work best with senior stakeholders (sponsors or power users), since they can be time consuming if they’re applied to a large sample size. It’s important for BAs not to stifle open dialogue and allow the participants to speak openly. They should take 60 minutes or less to complete. | Medium | Low |
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Interviews should be used with “high-value targets.” Those who receive one-on-one face time can help generate good requirements, as well as allow effective communication around requirements at a later point (i.e. during the analysis and validation phases).
| Method | Description | Assessment and Best Practices | Stakeholder Effort | BA/PMO Effort |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Focus Group | Focus groups are sessions held between a small group (typically ten individuals or less) and an experienced facilitator who leads the conversation in a productive direction. | Focus groups are highly effective for initial requirements brainstorming. The best practice is to structure them in a cross-functional manner to ensure multiple viewpoints are represented and the conversation doesn’t become dominated by one particular individual. Facilitators must be wary of “groupthink” in these meetings (the tendency to converge on a single POV). | Medium | Medium |
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Group elicitation techniques are most useful for gathering a wide spectrum of requirements from a broad group of stakeholders. Individual or observational techniques are typically needed for further follow-up and in-depth analysis with critical power users or sponsors.
"Each person has a learning curve. Take the time to assess staff individually as some don’t adjust to change as well as others. Some never will." – CEO, Manufacturing Firm
Review all of these elicitation methods as you go through the workbook as a group. Be sure to document and discuss any other elicitation methods that might be specific to your organization.
| Elicitation method | Target stakeholder group(s) | PMO staff responsible for eliciting input | Next update to PMO |
|---|---|---|---|
| One-on-one structured interview | HR and Sales | Karla Molina | August 1 |
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Engagement paves the way for smoother communications. The “engagement” approach (rather than simply “communication”) turns stakeholders and users into advocates who help boost your message, sustain change, and realize benefits without constant, direct intervention.
Tab 5 of the Workbook provides an output – a stakeholder map – based on your inputs in the previous tab. Use the stakeholder map to inform your communications requirements considerations in the next tab of the workbook as well as your transition plan in the next step.
This is a screenshot of the “Stakeholder Analysis” from tab 5 of the Workbook. The four quadrants of the map are:
Top Quadrants: Supporters
Bottom Quadrant: Blockers
Use the Communications Requirements tab in the Stakeholder Engagement Workbook.
Do this as a 1–2 hour project team planning session.
The table will automatically generate a list of stakeholders based on your stakeholder analysis.
Update the assumptions that you made about the impact of the change in the Impact Analysis with results of stakeholder engagement and elicitation activities.
Use the table on this tab to refine these assumptions as needed before solidifying your communications plan.
Define the action required from each stakeholder or stakeholder group (if any) for change to be successful.
Continually refine messages and methods for communicating with each stakeholder and stakeholder group.
Note words that work well and words that don’t. For example, some buzzwords might have negative connotations from previous failed initiatives.
Designate who is responsible for developing and honing the communications plan (see details in the following section on developing the transition plan).
After completing this section you will have a realistic, effective, and adaptable transition plan that includes:
These activities will enable you to:
"Everyone loves change: take what you know and replace it with a promise. Then overlay that promise with the memory of accumulated missed efforts, half-baked attempts, and roads of abandoned promises."
Once the stakeholder engagement step has been completed, the PMO needs to facilitate the involvement of the transition team to help carry out transition planning and communications strategies.
You should have already sketched out a core transition team in step 1.2.6 of this blueprint. As with all org change activities, ensuring that individuals are made accountable for the execution of the following activities will be key for the long-term success of your change initiative.
Refer to the team structure examples from Activity 1.2.6 of this blueprint if you are still finalizing your transition team.
Download Info-Tech’s Transition Plan Template to help capture and record the outcomes of the activities in this step.
By now the project sponsor, project manager, and business analysts (or equivalent) should have defined project timelines, requirements, and other key details. Use these to start your communications planning process.
If your members of the transition team are also part of the core project team, meet with them to elicit the project timeline and requirements.
| Project Milestone | Milestone Time Frame | Communications Activities | Activity Timing | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Business Case Approval |
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| Pilot Go-Live |
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| Full Rollout Approval |
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| Full Rollout |
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| Benefits Assessment |
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Communicate, communicate, communicate.
Staff are 34% more likely to adapt to change quickly during the implementation and adoption phases when they are provided with a timeline of impending changes specific to their department. (Source: McLean & Company)
OCM experts use terms like “Valley of Despair” to describe temporary drops in support and morale that inevitably occur with any significant change. Don’t let these temporary drops derail your change efforts.
Anticipate setbacks and make sure the project plan accommodates the time and energy required to sustain and reinforce the initiative as people move through stages of resistance.
Based on Don Kelley and Daryl Conner’s Emotional Cycle of Change.
Identify critical points in the change curve:
Leveraging the stakeholder analyses you’ve already performed in steps 2.2 and 3.1, customize your communications strategy for the individual stakeholder groups.
Think about where each of the groups falls within the Organizational Change Depth Scale (below) to determine the type of communications approach required. Don’t forget: the deeper the change, the tougher the job of managing change will be.
| Procedural | Behavioral | Interpersonal | Vocational | Cultural |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Position
|
Incentivize
|
Empathize
|
Educate
|
Inspire
|
| Depth Levels | Stakeholder Groups | Tactics |
|---|---|---|
| Procedural | Position: Provide explanation of what exactly has changed and specific procedural instructions of what exactly people must do differently to ensure they remember to make adjustments as effortlessly as possible. | |
| Behavioral | Incentivize: Break old habits and establish new ones by adjusting the context of formal and informal incentives (including objective rewards, contextual nudges, cues, and informal recognition). | |
| Interpersonal | Empathize: Offer genuine recognition and support for disruptions of personal networks (a significant source of personal well-being) that may result from changing work relationships. Show how leadership shares the burden of such sacrifices. | |
| Vocational | Educate: Provide a range of learning options (formal and self-directed) to provide the knowledge and skills people need to learn and succeed in changed roles. | |
| Cultural | Inspire: Frame incentives in a vocabulary that reflects any shift in what types of things are seen as “good” or “normal” in the organization. |
Straightforward → Complex
When managing interpersonal, vocational, or cultural changes, you will be required to incorporate more inspirational messaging and gestures of empathy than you typically might in a business communication.
Communications that require an appeal to people’s emotions can be, of course, very powerful, but they are difficult to craft. As a result, oftentimes messages that are meant to inspire do the exact opposite, coming across as farfetched or meaningless platitudes, rather than evocative and actionable calls to change.
Refer to the tactics below for assistance when crafting more complex change communications that require an appeal to people’s emotions and imaginations.
"Instead of resisting any emotion, the best way to dispel it is to enter it fully, embrace it and see through your resistance."
Build upon the more high-level change story that you developed in step 1.1 by giving more specificity to the change for specific stakeholder groups.
Questions to address in your communication strategy include: How will the change benefit the organization and its people? How have we confirmed there is a need for change? What would happen if we didn’t change? How will the change leverage existing strengths – what will stay the same? How will we know when we get to the desired state?
Remember these guidelines to help your messages resonate:
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Change thy language, change thyself.
Jargon, acronyms, and technical terms represent deeply entrenched cultural habits and assumptions.
Continuing to use jargon or acronyms after a transition tends to drag people back to old ways of thinking and working.
You don’t need to invent a new batch of buzzwords for every change (nor should you), but every change is an opportunity to listen for words and phrases that have lost their meaning through overuse and abuse.
If there are multiple messages or impacts that need to be communicated to a single group or audience, you may need to do multiple Message Canvases per group. Refer back to your Stakeholder Engagement Workbook to help inform the stakeholder groups and messages that this activity should address.
Go to tab 6 of the Organizational Change Impact Analysis Toolfor multiple message canvas template boxes that you can use. These messages can then help inform your communication plan on tab 7 of that tool.
Review your options for communicating your change. This slide covers traditional methods of communication, while the following slides cover some options for multimedia mass-communications.
| Method | Best Practices |
|---|---|
| Email announcements are necessary for every organizational change initiative but are never sufficient. Treat email as a formalizing medium, not a medium of effective communication when organizational change is concerned. Use email to invite people to in-person meetings, make announcements across teams and geographical areas at the same time, and share formal details. | |
| Team Meeting | Team meetings help sell change. Body language and other in-person cues are invaluable when trying to influence people. Team meetings also provide an opportunity to gauge a group’s response to an announcement and gives the audience an opportunity to ask questions and get clarification. |
| One-on-One | One-on-ones are more effective than team meetings in their power to influence and gauge individual responses, but aren’t feasible for large numbers of stakeholders. Use one-on-ones selectively: identify key stakeholders and influencers who are most able to either advocate change on your behalf or provide feedback (or both). |
| Internal Site / Repository | Internal sites and repositories help sustain change by making knowledge available after the implementation. People don’t retain information very well when it isn’t relevant to them. Much of their training will be forgotten if they don’t apply that knowledge for several weeks or months. Use internal sites and repositories for how-to guides and standard operating procedures. |
| Method | Best Practices |
|---|---|
| User Interfaces | User interface (UI) design is overlooked as a communication method. Often a simple UI refinement with the clearer prompts or warnings is more effective and efficient than additional training and repeated email reminders. |
| Social Media | Social media is widely and deeply embraced by people publicly, and is increasingly useful within organizations. Look for ways to leverage existing internal social tools. Avoid trying to introduce new social channels to communicate change unless social transformation is within the scope of the core project’s goals; the social tool itself might become as much of an organizational change management challenge as the original project. |
| Posters & Marketing Collateral | Posters and other marketing collateral are common communication tools in retail and hospitality industries that change managers in other industries often don’t think of. Making key messages a vivid, visual part of people’s everyday environment is a very effective way to communicate. On the down side, marketing collateral requires professional design skills and can be costly to create. Professional copywriting is also advisable to ensure your message resonates. |
| Video | Videos are well worth the cost to produce when the change is transformational in nature, as in cultural changes. Videos are useful for both communicating the vision and as part of the training plan. |
This is a screenshot from the “Stakeholder/Audience” section of Info-Tech’s Transition Plan Template. Use the template to document your communication strategy for each audience and your delivery plan.
"The role of project communication is to inspire, instigate, inform or educate and ultimately lead to a desired action. Project communication is not a well presented collection of words; rather it is something that propels a series of actions."
Info-Tech Insight
Repetition is crucial. People need to be exposed to a message 7 times before it sticks. Using a variety of delivery formats helps ensure people will notice and remember key messages. Mix things up to keep employees engaged and looking forward to the next update.
"While creating and administering a survey represent(s) additional time and cost to the project, there are a number of benefits to be considered: 1) Collecting this information forces regular and systematic review of the project as it is perceived by the impacted organizations, 2) As the survey is used from project to project it can be improved and reused, 3) The survey can quickly collect feedback from a large part of the organization, increasing the visibility of the project and reducing unanticipated or unwelcome reactions."
Use the survey and questionnaire templates on the following two slides for assistance in eliciting feedback. Record the evaluation and feedback gathering process in the Transition Plan Template.
Use email to distribute a questionnaire (such as the example below) to project stakeholders to elicit feedback.
In addition to receiving invaluable opinions from key stakeholders and the frontline workers, utilizing questionnaires will also help involve employees in the change, making them feel more engaged and part of the change process.
| Interviewee | Date | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Stakeholder Group | Interviewer | ||
| Question | Response | Notes | |
| How do you think this change will affect you? | |||
| How do you think this change will affect the organization? | |||
| How long do you expect the change to take? | |||
| What do you think might cause the project/change to fail? | |||
| What do you think are the most critical success factors? | |||
Similar to a questionnaire, a survey is a great way to assess the lay of the land in terms of your org change efforts and the likelihood of adoption.
Using a free online survey tool like Survey Monkey, Typeform, or Google Forms, surveys are quick and easy to generate and deploy. Use the below example as a template to build from.
Use survey and questionnaire feedback as an occasion to revisit the Impact Analysis Tool and reassess the impacts and roadblocks based on hard feedback.
1=Strongly Disagree, 2=Disagree, 3=Somewhat Disagree, 4=Somewhat Agree, 5=Agree, 6=Strongly Agree
1=Very Negative, 2=Negative, 3=Somewhat Negative, 4=Somewhat Positive, 5=Positive, 6=Very Positive
The slides that follow walk you through activities to assess the different “faces of change” around your OCM initiative and to perform an objections handling exercise.
Assessing people’s emotional responses to the change will enable the PMO and transition team to:
Carol Beatty’s distinction between “easy work,” “hard work,” and “tough work” can be revealing in terms of the high failure rate on many change initiatives. (“The Tough Work of Managing Change.” Queen’s University IRC. 2015.)
That is what makes organizational change “tough,” as opposed to merely hard. Managing change requires mental and emotional toughness to deal with uncertainty, ambiguity, and conflict.
Use the table below to document where different stakeholders and stakeholder groups fall within the spectrum.
| Response | Symptoms | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Active Subversion | Publicly or privately disparaging the transition (in some cases privately disparaging while pretending to support); encouraging people to continue doing things the old way or to leave the organization altogether. | Group/Name |
| Quiet Resistance | Refusing to adopt change, continuing to do things the old way (including seemingly trivial or symbolic things). Non-participative. | Group/Name |
| Vocal Skepticism | Asking questions; questioning the why, what, and how of change, but continuing to show willingness to participate and try new things. | Group/Name |
| Neutrality / Uncertainty | Non-vocal participation, perhaps with some negative body language, but continuing to show tacit willingness to try new things. | Group/Name |
| Vocal Approval | Publicly and privately signaling buy-in for the change. | Group/Name |
| Quiet Support | Actively helping to enable change to succeed without necessarily being a cheerleader or trying to rally others around the transition. | Group/Name |
| Active Leadership | Visibly championing the change and helping to rally others around the transition. | Group/Name |
Use the below tactics across the “faces of change” spectrum to help inform the PMO’s responses to sources of objection and resistance and its tactics for leveraging support.
| Response | Engagement Strategies and Tactics |
|---|---|
| Active Subversion | Firmly communicate the boundaries of acceptable response to change: resistance is a natural response to change, but actively encouraging other people to resist change should not be tolerated. Active subversion often indicates the need to find a new role or depart the organization. |
| Quiet Resistance | Resistance is a natural response to change. Use the Change Curve to accommodate a moderate degree and period of resistance. Use the OCM Depth Scale to ensure communications strategies address the irrational sources of resistance. |
| Vocal Skepticism | Skepticism can be a healthy sign. Skeptics tend to be invested in the organization’s success and can be turned into vocal and active supporters if they feel their questions and concerns have been heard and addressed. |
| Neutrality / Uncertainty | Most fence-sitters will approve and support change when they start to see concrete benefits and successes, but are equally likely to become skeptics and resisters when they see signs of failure or a critical mass of skepticism, resistance, or simply ambivalence. |
| Vocal Approval | Make sure that espoused approval for change isn’t masking resistance or subversion. Engage vocal supporters to convert them into active enablers or champions of change. |
| Quiet Support | Engage quiet supporters to participate where their skills or social and political capital might help enable change across the organization. This could either be formal or informal, as too much formal engagement can invite minor disagreements and slow down change. |
| Active Leadership | Engage some of the active cheerleaders and champions of change to help deliver communications (and in some cases training) to their respective groups or teams. |
| What If... | Do This: | To avoid: |
|---|---|---|
| You aren’t on board with the change? | Fake it to your staff, then communicate with your superiors to gather the information you need to buy in to the change. | Starting the change process off on the wrong foot. If your staff believe that you don’t buy in to the change, but you are asking them to do so, they are not going to commit to it. |
| When you introduce the change, a saboteur throws a tantrum? | If the employee storms out, let them. If they raise uninformed objections in the meeting that are interrupting your introduction, ask them to leave and meet with them privately later on. Schedule an ad hoc one-on-one meeting. | A debate at the announcement. It’s an introduction to the change and questions are good, but it’s not the time for debate. Leave this for the team meetings, focus groups, and one-on-ones when all staff have digested the information. |
| Your staff don’t trust you? | Don’t make the announcement. Find an Enthusiast or another manager that you trust to make the announcement. | Your staff blocking any information you give them or immediately rejecting anything you ask of them. Even if you are telling the absolute truth, if your staff don’t trust you, they won’t believe anything you say. |
| An experienced skeptic has seen this tried before and states it won’t work? | Leverage their experience after highlighting how the situation and current environment is different. Ask the employee what went wrong before. | Reinventing a process that didn’t work in the past and frustrating a very valuable segment of your staff. Don’t miss out on the wealth of information this Skeptic has to offer. |
Use the Objections Handling Template on the next slide to brainstorm specific objections and forms of resistance and to strategize about the more effective responses and mitigation strategies.
Copy these objections and responses into the designated section of the Transition Plan Template. Continue to revise objections and responses there if needed.
| Objection | Source of Objection | PMO Response |
|---|---|---|
| We tried this two years ago. | Vocal skepticism | Enabling processes and technologies needed time to mature. We now have the right process discipline, technologies, and skills in place to support the system. In addition, a dedicated role has been created to oversee all aspects of the system during and after implementation. |
| Why aren’t we using [another solution]? | Uncertainty | We spent 12 months evaluating, testing, and piloting solutions before selecting [this solution]. A comprehensive report on the selection process is available on the project’s internal site [here]. |
Info-Tech Insight
There is insight in resistance. The individuals best positioned to provide insight and influence change positively are also best positioned to create resistance. These people should be engaged throughout the implementation process. Their insights will very likely identify risks, barriers, and opportunities that need to be addressed.
Highlighting quick wins or “bright spots” helps you go from communicating change to more persuasively demonstrating change.
Specifically, quick wins help:
Take the time to assess and plan quick wins as early as possible in the planning process. You can revisit the impact assessment for assistance in identifying potential quick wins; more so, work with the project team and other stakeholders to help identify quick wins as they emerge throughout the planning and execution phases.
Make sure you highlight bright spots as part of the larger story and vision around change. The purpose is to continue to build or sustain momentum and morale through the transition.
"The quick win does not have to be profound or have a long-term impact on your organization, but needs to be something that many stakeholders agree is a good thing… You can often identify quick wins by simply asking stakeholders if they have any quick-win recommendations that could result in immediate benefits to the organization."
Info-Tech Insight
Stay positive. Our natural tendency is to look for what’s not working and try to fix it. While it’s important to address negatives, it’s equally important to highlight positives to keep people committed and motivated around change.
Upon completion of the activities in this step, the PMO Director is responsible for ensuring that outcomes have been documented and recorded in the Transition Plan Template. Activities to be recorded include:
Going forward, successful change will require that many responsibilities be delegated beyond the PMO and core transition team.
Download Info-Tech’s Transition Plan Template.
"Whenever you let up before the job is done, critical momentum can be lost and regression may follow." – John Kotter, Leading Change
The PMO’s OCM approach should leverage organizational design and development capabilities already in place.
Recommendations in this section are meant to help the PMO and transition team understand HR and training plan activities in the context of the overall transition process.
Where organizational design and development capabilities are low, the following steps will help you do just enough planning around HR, and training and development to enable the specific change.
In some cases the need for improved OCM will reveal the need for improved organizational design and development capabilities.
This section will walk you through the basic steps of developing HR, training, and development plans to support and enable the change.
For comprehensive guidance and tools on role, job, and team design, see Info-Tech’s Transform IT Through Strategic Organizational Design blueprint.
Info-Tech Insight
Don’t make training a hurdle to adoption. Training and other disruptions take time and energy away from work. Ineffective training takes credibility away from change leaders and seems to validate the efforts of saboteurs and skeptics. The PMO needs to ensure that training sessions are as focused and useful as possible.
Refer back to Activity 3.2.4. Use the placement of each stakeholder group on the Organizational Change Depth Scale (below) to determine the type of HR and training approach required. Don’t impose training rigor where it isn’t required.
| Procedural | Behavioral | Interpersonal | Vocational | Cultural |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Simply changing procedures doesn’t generally require HR involvement (unless HR procedures are affected). | Changing behaviors requires breaking old habits and establishing new ones, often using incentives and disincentives. | Changing teams, roles, and locations means changing people’s relationships, which adds disruption to people’s lives and challenges for any change initiative. | Changing people’s roles and responsibilities requires providing ways to acquire knowledge and skills they need to learn and succeed. | Changing values and norms in the organization (i.e. what type of things are seen as “good” or “normal”) requires deep disruption and persistence. |
| Typically no HR involvement. | HR consultation recommended to help change incentives, compensation, and training strategies. | HR consultation strongly recommended to help define roles, jobs, and teams. | HR responsibility recommended to develop training and development programs. | HR involvement recommended. |
22%
In a recent survey of 276 large and midsize organizations, eighty-seven percent of survey respondents trained their managers to “manage change,” but only 22% felt the training was truly effective. (Towers Watson)
Revisit the high-level project schedule from steps 1.2.4 and 3.4.1 to create a tentative timeline for HR and training activities.
Revise this timeline throughout the implementation process, and refine the timing and specifics of these activities as you move from the development to the deployment phase.
| Project Milestone | Milestone Time Frame | HR/Training Activities | Activity Timing | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Business Case Approval |
|
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| Pilot Go-Live |
|
|||
| Full Rollout Approval |
|
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| Full Rollout |
|
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| Benefits Assessment |
|
"The reason it’s going to hurt is you’re going from a state where you knew everything to one where you’re starting over again."
– BA, Natural Resources Company
Use the final tab in the Stakeholder Engagement Workbook, “7. Training Requirements,” to begin fleshing out a training plan for project stakeholders.
The table will automatically generate a list of stakeholders based on your stakeholder analysis.
If your stakeholder list has grown or changed since the stakeholder engagement exercise in step 3.1, update the “Stakeholder List” tab in the tool.
Estimate when training can begin, when training needs to be completed, and the total hours required.
Training too early and too late are both common mistakes. Training too late hurts morale and creates risks. Training too early is often wasted and creates the need for retraining as knowledge and skills are lost without immediate relevance to their work.
Brainstorm or identify potential opportunities to leverage for training (such as using existing resources and combining multiple training programs).
Review the Change Management Impact Analysis to assess skills and knowledge required for each group in order for the change to succeed.
Depending on the type of change being introduced, you may need to have more in-depth conversations with technical advisors, project management staff, and project sponsors concerning gaps and required content.
Ultimately, the training plan will have to be put into action, which will require that the key logistical decisions are made concerning content and training delivery.
“95% of learning leaders from organizations that are very effective at implementing important change initiatives find best practices by partnering with a company or an individual with experience in the type of change, twice as often as ineffective organizations.”
Source: Implementing and Supporting Training for Important Change Initiatives.
Training content should be developed and delivered by people with training experience and expertise, working closely with subject matter experts. In the absence of such individuals, partnering with experienced trainers is a cost that should be considered.
The long-term success of the change is contingent on having the resources to maintain and support the tool, process, or business change being implemented. Otherwise, resourcing shortfalls could threaten the integrity of the new way of doing things post-change, threatening people’s trust and faith in the validity of the change as a whole.
Use the table below to assess and record skills requirements. Refer to the tactics on the next slide for assistance in filling gaps.
| Skill Required | Description of Need | Possible Resources | Recommended Next Steps | Timeline |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mobile Dev | Users expect mobile access to services. We need knowledge of various mobile platforms, languages or frameworks, and UX/UI requirements for mobile. |
|
|
Probably Q1 2015 |
| DBAs | Currently have only one DBA, which creates a bottleneck. We need some DBA redundancy to mitigate risk of single point of failure. |
|
|
Q3 2014 |
| Options: | Benefits: | Drawbacks: |
|---|---|---|
| Redeploy staff internally |
|
|
| Outsource |
|
|
| Contract |
|
|
| Hire externally |
|
|
Info-Tech Insight
Try more ad hoc training methods to offset uncertain project timelines.
One of the top challenges organizations face around training is getting it timed right, given the changes to schedule and delays that occur on many projects.
One tactic is to take a more ad hoc approach to training, such as making IT staff available in centralized locations after implementation to address staff issues as they come up.
This will not only help eliminate the waste that can come from poorly timed and ineffective training sessions, but it will also help with employee morale, giving individuals a sense that they haven’t been left alone to navigate unfamiliar processes or technologies.
Industry Manufacturing
Source Info-Tech Client
"The cause of slow adoption is often not anger or denial, but a genuine lack of understanding and need for clarification. Avoid snap decisions about a lack of adoption until staff understand the details." – IT Manager
Move away from a command-and-control approach to change by working with the analyst to develop a strategy that engages stakeholders in the change, making them feel like they are a part of it.
Work with the analyst to fine-tune the stakeholder messaging across various stakeholder responses to change.
Utilize analyst experience and perspective in order to develop strategy for effectively evaluating stakeholder feedback early enough that resistance and suggestions can be accommodated with the OCM strategy and project plan.
Utilize analyst experience and perspective in order to develop an objections handling strategy to deal with resistance, objections, and fatigue.
Receive custom analyst insights on rightsizing training content and timing your training sessions effectively.
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.
Proposed Time to Completion (in weeks): 1 to 2 weeks
Discuss these issues with analyst:
Then complete these activities…
With these tools & templates:
Organizations rarely close the loop on project benefits once a project has been completed.
With all this in mind, in this step we will round out our PMO-driven org change process by defining how the PMO can help to better facilitate the benefits realization process.
This section will walk you through the basic steps of developing a benefits attainment process through the PMO.
For comprehensive guidance and tools, see Info-Tech’s Establish the Benefits Realization Process.
Info-Tech Insight
Two of a kind. OCM, like benefits realization, is often treated as “nice to have” rather than “must do.” These two processes are both critical to real project success; define benefits properly during intake and let OCM take the reigns after the project kicks off.
Benefits realization ensures that the benefits defined in the business case are used to define a project’s expected value, and to facilitate the delivery of this value after the project is closed. The process begins when benefits are first defined in the business case, continues as benefits are managed through project execution, and ends when the loop is closed and the benefits are actually realized after the project is closed.
| Benefits Realization | ||
|---|---|---|
| Define | Manage | Realize |
| Initial Request | Project Kick Off | *Solution Is Deployed |
| ↓ | ↓ | ↓ |
| Business Case Approved | Project Execution | Solution Maintenance |
| ↓ | ↓ | ↓ |
| PM Assigned | *Project Close | Solution Decommissioned |
*For the purposes of this step, we will limit our focus to the PMO’s responsibilities for benefits attainment at project close-out and in the project’s aftermath to ensure that responsibilities for tracking business outcomes post-project have been properly defined and resourced.
As the project closes, responsibility for benefits tracking passes from the project team to the project sponsor. In many cases, the PMO will need to function as an intermediary here, soliciting the sponsor’s involvement when the time comes.
The project manager and team will likely move onto another project and the sponsor (in concert with the PMO) will be responsible for measuring and reporting benefits realization.
As benefits realization is measured, results should be collated by the PMO to validate results and help flag lagging benefits.
The PMO should ensure the participation of the project sponsor, the project manager, and any applicable members of the business side and the project team for this step.
Ideally, the CIO and steering committee members should be involved as well. At the very least, they should be informed of the decisions made as soon as possible.
Initiation-Planning-Execution-Monitoring & Controlling-Closing
The post-project phase is the most challenging because the project team and sponsor will likely be busy with other projects and work.
Conducting a post-implementation review for every project will force sponsors and other stakeholders to assess actual benefits realization and identify lagging benefits.
If the project is not achieving its benefits, a remediation plan should be created to attempt to capture these benefits as soon as possible.
| Agenda Item | |
|---|---|
| Assess Benefits Realization |
|
| Assess Quality |
|
| Discuss Ongoing Issues |
|
| Discuss Training |
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| Assess Ongoing Costs |
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| Assess Customer Satisfaction |
|
The realization stage is the most difficult to execute and oversee. The project team will have moved on, and unless someone takes accountability for measuring benefits, progress will not be measured. Use the sample RACI table below to help define roles and responsibilities for post-project benefits attainment.
| Process Step | Responsible | Accountable | Consulted | Informed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Track project benefits realization and document progress | Project sponsor | Project sponsor | PMO (can provide tracking tools and guidance), and directors or managers in the affected business unit who will help gather necessary metrics for the sponsor (e.g. report an increase in sales 3 months post-project) | PMO (can collect data and consolidate benefits realization progress across projects) |
| Identify lagging benefits and perform root cause analysis | Project sponsor and PMO | Project sponsor and PMO | Affected business unit | CIO, IT steering committee |
| Adjust benefits realization plan as needed | Project sponsor | Project sponsor | Project manager, affected business units | Any stakeholders impacted by changes to plan |
| Report project success | PMO | PMO | Project sponsor | IT and project steering committees |
Info-Tech Insight
A business accountability: Ultimately, the sponsor must help close this loop on benefits realization. The PMO can provide tracking tools and gather and report on results, but the sponsor must hold stakeholders accountable for actually measuring the success of projects.
While project sponsors should be accountable for measuring actual benefits realization after the project is closed, the PMO can provide monitoring tools and it should collect measurements and compare results across the portfolio.
Steps in a benefits tracking process.
"Checking the results of a decision against its expectations shows executives what their strengths are, where they need to improve, and where they lack knowledge or information."
– Peter Drucker
Download Info-Tech’s Portfolio Benefits Tracking Tool to help solidify the process from the previous step.
Simply publishing a set of best practices will not have an impact unless accountability is consistently enforced. Increasing accountability should not be complicated. Focus on publicly recognizing benefit success. As the process matures, you should be able to use benefits as a more frequent input to your budgeting process.
Info-Tech Insight
Don’t forget OCM best practices throughout the benefits tracking process. If benefits are lagging, the PMO should revisit phase 3 of this blueprint to consider how challenges to adoption are negatively impacting benefits attainment.
Get custom insights into how the benefits tracking process should be carried out post-project at your organization to ensure that intended project outcomes are effectively monitored and, in the long run, achieved.
Let our analysts customize a home-grown benefits tracking tool for your organization to ensure that the PMO and project sponsors are able to easily track benefits over time and effectively pivot on lagging benefits.
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.
Proposed Time to Completion (in weeks): 1 to 2 weeks
Discuss these issues with an analyst:
Then complete these activities…
With these tools & templates:
We return to a question that we started with in the Executive Brief of this blueprint: who is accountable for organizational change?
If nobody has explicit accountability for organizational change on each project, the Officers of the corporation retained it. Find out who is assumed to have this accountability.
Info-Tech Insight
Will the sponsor please stand up?
Project sponsors should be accountable for the results of project changes. Otherwise, people might assume it’s the PMO or project team.
Change Management Capabilities
Progressively build a stable set of core capabilities.
The basic science of human behavior underlying change management is unlikely to change. Effective engagement, communication, and management of uncertainty are valuable capabilities regardless of context and project specifics.
Organizational Context
Regularly update recurring activities and artifacts.
The organization and the environment in which it exists will constantly evolve. Reusing or recycling key artifacts will save time and improve collaboration (by leveraging shared knowledge), but you should plan to update them on at least a quarterly or annual basis.
Future Project Requirements
Approach every project as unique.
One project might involve more technology risk while another might require more careful communications. Make sure you divide your time and effort appropriately for each particular project to make the most out of your change management playbook.
Info-Tech Insight
Continuous Change. Continuous Improvement. Change is an ongoing process. Your approach to managing change should be continually refined to keep up with changes in technology, corporate strategy, and people involved.
1. With your pilot OCM initiative in mind, retrospectively brainstorm lessons learned using the template below. Info-Tech recommends doing this with the transition team. Have people spend 10-15 minutes brainstorming individually or in 2- to 3-person groups, then spend 15-30 minutes presenting and discussing findings collectively.
| What worked? | What didn't work? | What was missing? |
|---|---|---|
2. Develop recommendations based on the brainstorming and analysis above.
| Continue... | Stop... | Start... |
|---|---|---|
Perform the Organizational Change Management Capabilities Assessment in the wake of the OCM pilot initiative and lessons learned exercise to assess capabilities’ improvements.
As your OCM processes start to scale out over a range of projects across the organization, revisit the assessment on a quarterly or bi-annual basis to help focus your improvement efforts across the 7 change management categories that drive the survey.
Info-Tech Insight
Continual OCM improvement is a collaborative effort.
The most powerful way to drive continual improvement of your organizational change management practices is to continually share progress, wins, challenges, feedback, and other OCM related concerns with stakeholders. At the end of the day, the PMO’s efforts to become a change leader will all come down to stakeholder perceptions based upon employee morale and benefits realized.
Info-Tech Insight
Avoid creating unnecessary fiefdoms.
Make sure any permanent roles are embedded in the organization (e.g. within the PMO) and have leadership support.
Copy the RACI table from Activity 3.1.1. and repurpose it to help define the roles and responsibilities.
Include this RACI when you formalize your OCM Playbook.
Download Info-Tech’s Organizational Change Management Playbook.
Use the Value tab in the Organizational Change Management Capabilities Assessment to monitor the value and success of OCM.
Measure past performance and create a baseline for future success:
As you scale out an OCM program for all of the organization’s projects based on your pilot initiative, work with the analyst to investigate and define the right accountabilities for ongoing, long-term OCM.
Formalize a programmatic process for organizational change management in Info-Tech’s playbook template.
Develop a Project Portfolio Management Strategy
Optimize Project Intake, Approval, and Prioritization
Develop a Resource Management Strategy for the New Reality
Establish the Benefits Realization Process
Project Portfolio Management Diagnostic Program: The Project Portfolio Management Diagnostic Program is a low effort, high impact program designed to help project owners assess and improve their PPM practices. Gather and report on all aspects of your PPM environment in order to understand where you stand and how you can improve.
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Beatty, Carol. “The Tough Work of Managing Change.” Queens University. 2015. Web. June 14, 2016.
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Machiavelli, Niccolo. The Prince, selections from The Discourses and other writings. Ed. John Plamenatz. London: Fontana/Collins, 1972.
Michalak, Joanna Malgorzata. “Cultural Catalyst and Barriers to Organizational Change Management: a Preliminary Overview.” Journal of Intercultural Management. 2:2. November 2010. Web. June 14, 2016.
Miller, David, and Mike Oliver. “Engaging Stakeholder for Project Success.” PMI. 2015. Web. June 14, 2016.
Parker, John. “How Business Analysts Can Identify Quick Wins.” EnFocus Solutions. February 15, 2013. Web. June 14, 2016.
Paulk, January. “The Fundamental Role a Change Impact Analysis Plays in an ERP Implementation.” Panorma Consulting Solutions. March 24, 2014. Web. June 14, 2016.
Petouhoff, Natalie, Tamra Chandler, and Beth Montag-Schmaltz. “The Business Impact of Change Management.” Graziadio Business Review. 2006. Web. June 14, 2016.
PM Solutions. “The State of the PMO 2014.” 2014. Web. June 14, 2016.
PMI. “Pulse of the Profession: Enabling Organizational Change Throughout Strategic Initiatives.” March 2014. Web. June 14, 2016.
PMI. “Pulse of the Profession: Executive Sponsor Engagement.” October 2014. Web. June 14, 2016.
PMI. “Pulse of the Profession: the High Cost of Low Performance.” February 2014. Web. June 14, 2016.
Powers, Larry, and Ketil Been. “The Value of Organizational Change Management.” Boxley Group. 2014. Web. June 14, 2016.
Prosci. “Best Practices in Change Management – 2014 Edition: Executive Overview.” Web. June 14, 2016.
Prosci. “Change Management Sponsor Checklist.” Web. June 14, 2016.
Prosci. “Cost-benefit analysis for change management.” 2014. Web. June 14, 2016.
Prosci. “Five Levers of Organizational Change.” 2016. Web. June 14, 2016.
Rick, Torben. “Change Management Requires a Compelling Story.” Meliorate. October 3, 2014. Web. June 14, 2016.
Rick, Torben. “The Success Rate of Organizational Change Initiatives.” Meliorate. October 13, 2014. Web. June 14, 2016.
Schwartz, Claire. “Implementing and Monitoring Organizational Change: Part 3.” Daptiv Blogs. June 24, 2013. Web. June 14, 2016.
Simcik, Shawna. “Shift Happens! The Art of Change Management.” Innovative Career Consulting, Inc. Web. June 14, 2016.
Stewart Group. “Emotional Intelligence.” 2014. Web. June 14, 2016.
Thakur, Sidharth. “Improve your Project’s Communication with These Inspirational Quotes.” Ed. Linda Richter. Bright Hub Project Management. June 9, 2012. Web. June 14, 2016.
Training Folks. “Implementing and Supporting Training for Important Change Initiatives.” 2012. Web. June 14, 2016.
Warren, Karen. “Make your Training Count: The Right Training at the Right Time.” Decoded. April 12, 2015. Web. June 14, 2016.
Willis Towers Watson. “Only One-Quarter of Employers Are Sustaining Gains from Change Management Initiatives, Towers Watson Survey Finds.” August 29, 2013. Web. June 14, 2016.
Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:
Identify different responsibilities/functions in your organization and determine which ones can be outsourced. Complete a cost analysis.
Identify a list of features for your third-party provider and analyze.
Understand how to align third-party providers to your organization.
Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:
Assess your readiness to scale Agile vertically by identifying and mitigating potential Agile maturity gaps remaining after scaling Agile across your IT organization.
Complete an overview of various scaled Agile models to help you develop your own customized delivery framework.
Determine the effort and steps required to implement your extended delivery framework.
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.
Assess your readiness to scale Agile vertically.
Identify and mitigate potential Agile maturity gaps remaining after scaling Agile across your IT organization.
IT Agile maturity gaps identified and mitigated to ensure successful extension of Agile to the business
1.1 Characterize your Agile implementation using the CLAIM model.
1.2 Assess the maturity of your Agile teams and organization.
Maturity gaps identified with mitigation requirements
Complete a review of scaled Agile models to help you develop your own customized delivery framework.
A customized Agile delivery framework
2.1 Explore various scaled frameworks.
2.2 Select an appropriate scaled framework for your enterprise.
2.3 Define the future state of your team and the communication structure of your functional business group.
Blended framework delivery model
Identification of team and communication structure impacts resulting from the new framework
Create your implementation action plan for the new Agile delivery framework.
A clearly defined action plan
3.1 Define your value drivers.
3.2 Brainstorm the initiatives that must be completed to achieve your target state.
3.3 Estimate the effort of your Agile initiatives.
3.4 Define your Agile implementation action plan.
List of target state initiatives
Estimation of effort to achieve target state
An implementation action plan
Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:
Engage stakeholders to develop a vision for the project and perform a comprehensive assessment of existing service desks.
Outline the target state of the consolidated service desk and assess logistics and cost of consolidation.
Build a project roadmap and communication 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.
Identify and engage key stakeholders.
Conduct an executive visioning session to define the scope and goals of the consolidation.
A list of key stakeholders and an engagement plan to identify needs and garner support for the change.
A common vision for the consolidation initiative with clearly defined goals and objectives.
1.1 Identify key stakeholders and develop an engagement plan.
1.2 Brainstorm desired service desk attributes.
1.3 Conduct an executive visioning session to craft a vision for the consolidated service desk.
1.4 Define project goals, principles, and KPIs.
Stakeholder Engagement Workbook
Executive Presentation
Assess the overall maturity, structure, organizational design, and performance of each service desk.
Assess current ITSM tools and how well they are meeting needs.
A robust current state assessment of each service desk.
An understanding of agent skills, satisfaction, roles, and responsibilities.
An evaluation of existing ITSM tools and technology.
2.1 Review the results of diagnostics programs.
2.2 Map organizational structure and roles for each service desk.
2.3 Assess overall maturity and environment of each service desk.
2.4 Assess current information system environment.
Consolidate Service Desk Assessment Tool
Define the target state for consolidated service desk.
Identify requirements for the service desk and a supporting solution.
Detailed requirements and vision for the consolidated service desk.
Gap analysis of current vs. target state.
Documented standardized processes and procedures.
3.1 Identify requirements for target consolidated service desk.
3.2 Build requirements document and shortlist for ITSM tool.
3.3 Use the scorecard comparison tool to assess the gap between existing service desks and target state.
3.4 Document standardized processes for new service desk.
Consolidate Service Desk Scorecard Tool
Consolidated Service Desk SOP
Break down the consolidation project into specific initiatives with a detailed timeline and assigned responsibilities.
Plan the logistics and cost of the consolidation for process, technology, and facilities.
Develop a communications plan.
Initial analysis of the logistics and cost considerations to achieve the target.
A detailed project roadmap to migrate to a consolidated service desk.
A communications plan with responses to anticipated questions and objections.
4.1 Plan the logistics of the transition.
4.2 Assess the cost and savings of consolidation to refine business case.
4.3 Identify initiatives and develop a project roadmap.
4.4 Plan communications for each stakeholder group.
Consolidation TCO Tool
Consolidation Roadmap
Executive Presentation
Communications Plan
News Bulletin & FAQ Template
Manage the dark side of growth.
"It’s tempting to focus strategic planning on the processes and technology that will underpin the consolidated service desk. Consistent processes and a reliable tool will cement the consolidation, but they are not what will hold you back.
The most common barrier to a successful consolidation is workforce resistance to change. Cultural difference, perceived risks, and organizational inertia can hinder data gathering, deter collaboration, and impede progress from the start.
Building a consolidated service desk is first and foremost an exercise in organizational change. Garner executive support for the project, enlist a team of volunteers to lead the change, and communicate with key stakeholders early and often. The key is to create a shared vision for the project and engage those who will be most affected."
Sandi Conrad
Senior Director, Infrastructure Practice
Info-Tech Research Group
Every organization must grow to survive. Good growth makes an organization more agile, responsive, and competitive, which leads to further growth.
The proliferation of service desks is a hallmark of good growth when it empowers the service of diverse end users, geographies, or technologies.
Growth has its dark side. Bad growth within a business can hinder agility, responsiveness, and competitiveness, leading to stagnation.
Supporting a large number of service desks can be costly and inefficient, and produce poor or inconsistent customer service, especially when each service desk uses different ITSM processes and technologies.
Manage the dark side of growth. Consolidating service desks can help standardize ITSM processes, improve customer service, improve service desk efficiency, and reduce total support costs. A consolidation is a highly visible and mission critical project, and one that will change the public face of IT. Organizations need to get it right.
Building a consolidated service desk is an exercise in organizational change. The success of the project will hinge on how well the organization engages those who will be most affected by the change. Build a guiding coalition for the project, create a shared vision, enlist a team of volunteers to lead the change, and communicate with key stakeholders early and often.
Use a structured approach to facilitate the development of a shared strategic vision, design a detailed consolidated architecture, and anticipate resistance to change to ensure the organization reaps project benefits.
Info-Tech Insight
End-user satisfaction is a more reliable measure of a successful consolidation.
The project will generate many cost savings, but they will take time to manifest, and are best seen as an indirect consequence of the pursuit of customer service.
Info-Tech Insight
Business units facing a service desk consolidation are often concerned that the project will lead to a loss of access to IT resources. Focus on building a customer-focused consolidated service desk to assuage those fears and earn their support.
2nd out of 45
On average, IT leaders and process owners rank the service desk 2nd in terms of importance out of 45 core IT processes. Source: Info-Tech Research Group, Management and Governance Diagnostic (2015, n = 486)
42.1%
On average, end users who were satisfied with service desk effectiveness rated all other IT services 42.1% higher than dissatisfied end users. Source: Info-Tech Research Group, End-User Satisfaction Survey 2015, n = 133)
38.0%
On average, end users who were satisfied with service desk timeliness rated all other IT services 38.0% higher than dissatisfied end users. Source: Info-Tech Research Group, End-User Satisfaction Survey (2015, n = 133)
In most organizations, the greatest hurdles that consolidation projects face are related to people rather than process or technology.
In a survey of 168 service delivery organizations without a consolidated service desk, the Service Desk Institute found that the largest internal barrier to putting in place a consolidated service desk was organizational resistance to change.
Specifically, more than 56% of respondents reported that the different cultures of each service unit would hinder the level of collaboration such an initiative would require.
Service Desk Institute (n = 168, 2007)
Info-Tech Insight
Use a phased approach to overcome resistance to change. Focus on quick-win implementations that bring two or three service desks together in a short time frame and add additional service desks over time.
Every organization must grow to survive, and relies heavily on its IT infrastructure to do that. Good growth makes an organization more agile, responsive, and competitive, and leads to further growth.
However, growth has its dark side. Bad growth hobbles agility, responsiveness, and competitiveness, and leads to stagnation.
As organizations grow organically and through mergers, their IT functions create multiple service desks across the enterprise to support:
A hallmark of bad growth is the proliferation of redundant and often incompatible ITSM services and processes.
Project triggers:
| Challenge | Impact |
|---|---|
| Incompatible Technologies |
|
| Inconsistent Processes |
|
| Lack of Data Integration |
|
| Low Customer Satisfaction |
|
A successful consolidation can significantly reduce cost per transaction, speed up service delivery, and improve the customer experience through:
| Project Outcome |
Expected Benefit |
|---|---|
| Integrated information | The capacity to produce quick, accurate, and segmented reports of service levels across the organization. |
| Integrated staffing | Flexible management of resources that better responds to organizational needs. |
| Integrated technology | Reduced tool procurement costs, improved data integration, and increased information security. |
| Standardized processes | Efficient and timely customer service and a more consistent customer experience. |
The foundation of a successful service desk consolidation initiative is a robust current state assessment. Given the project’s complexity, however, determining the right level of detail to include in the evaluation of existing service desks can be challenging.
The Info-Tech approach to service desk consolidation includes:
The project blueprint walks through a method that helps identify which processes and technologies from each service desk work best, and it draws on them to build a target state for the consolidated service desk.
Inspiring your target state from internal tools and best practices is much more efficient than developing new tools and processes from scratch.
Info-Tech Insight
The two key hurdles that a successful service desk consolidation must overcome are organizational complexity and resistance to change.
Effective planning during the current state assessment can overcome these challenges.
Identify existing best practices for migration to the consolidated service desk to foster agent engagement and get the consolidated service desk up quickly.
Phase 1: Develop a Shared Vision
Phase 2: Design the Consolidation
Phase 3: Plan the Transition
Whether or not your project requires multiple transition waves to complete the consolidation depends on the complexity of the environment.
For a more detailed breakdown of this project’s steps and deliverables, see the next section.
| Phases | Phase 1: Develop a Shared Vision | Phase 2: Design the Consolidated Service Desk | Phase 3: Plan the Transition |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steps | 1.1 - Identify and engage key stakeholders | 2.1 - Design target consolidated service desk | 3.1 - Build the project roadmap |
| 1.2 - Develop a vision to give the project direction | |||
| 1.3 - Conduct a full assessment of each service desk | 2.2 - Assess logistics and cost of consolidation | 3.2 - Communicate the change | |
| Tools & Templates | Executive Presentation | Consolidate Service Desk Scorecard Tool | Service Desk Consolidation Roadmap |
| Consolidate Service Desk Assessment Tool | Consolidated Service Desk SOP | Communications and Training Plan Template | |
| Service Desk Efficiency Calculator | News Bulletin & FAQ Template | ||
| Service Desk Consolidation TCO Comparison Tool |
Facilitate the extension of service management best practices to other business functions to improve productivity and position IT as a strategic partner.
Build essential incident, service request, and knowledge management processes to create a sustainable service desk that meets business needs.
Build a continual improvement plan for the service desk to review and evaluate key processes and services, and manage the progress of improvement initiatives.
Build essential incident, service request, and knowledge management processes to create a sustainable service desk that boosts business value.
Review mid-market and enterprise service desk tools, select an ITSM solution, and build an implementation plan to ensure your investment meets your needs.
Build a strategic roadmap to consolidate service desks to reduce end-user support costs and sustain end-user satisfaction.
Our Approach to the Service Desk
Service desk optimization goes beyond the blind adoption of best practices.
Info-Tech’s approach focuses on controlling support costs and making the most of IT’s service management expertise to improve productivity.
Complete the projects sequentially or in any order.
Industry: Higher Education
Source: Oxford University, IT Services
Background
Until 2011, three disparate information technology organizations offered IT services, while each college had local IT officers responsible for purchasing and IT management.
ITS Service Desk Consolidation Project
Oxford merged the administration of these three IT organizations into IT Services (ITS) in 2012, and began planning for the consolidation of five independent help desks into a single robust service desk.
Complication
The relative autonomy of the five service desks had led to the proliferation of different tools and processes, licensing headaches, and confusion from end users about where to acquire IT service.
Oxford University IT at a Glance
Help Desks:
"IT Services are aiming to provide a consolidated service which provides a unified and coherent experience for users. The aim is to deliver a ‘joined-up’ customer experience when users are asking for any form of help from IT Services. It will be easier for users to obtain support for their IT – whatever the need, service or system." – Oxford University, IT Services
“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
| 1. Develop shared vision | 2. Design consolidation | 3. Plan transition | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Best-Practice Toolkit |
1.1 Identify and engage key stakeholders 1.2 Develop a vision to give the project direction 1.3 Conduct a full assessment of each service desk |
2.1 Design target consolidated service desk 2.2 Assess logistics and cost of consolidation |
3.1 Build project roadmap 3.2 Communicate the change |
| Guided Implementations |
|
|
|
| Onsite Workshop |
Module 1: Engage stakeholders to develop a vision for the service desk Module 2: Conduct a full assessment of each service desk |
Module 3: Design target consolidated service desk | Module 4: Plan for the transition |
|
Phase 1 Outcomes:
|
Phase 2 Outcomes:
|
Phase 3 Outcomes:
|
| GI | Measured Value |
|---|---|
| Phase 1: |
|
| Phase 2: |
|
| Phase 3: |
|
| Total savings | $10,800 |
Contact your account representative or email Workshops@InfoTech.com for more information.
| Pre-Workshop | Workshop Day 1 | Workshop Day 2 | Workshop Day 3 | Workshop Day 4 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Activities |
Module 0: Gather relevant data 0.1 Conduct CIO Business Vision Survey 0.2 Conduct End-User Satisfaction Survey 0.3 Measure Agent Satisfaction |
Module 1: Engage stakeholders to develop a vision for the service desk 1.1 Identify key stakeholders and develop an engagement plan 1.2 Brainstorm desired service desk attributes 1.3 Conduct an executive visioning session to craft a vision for the consolidated service desk 1.4 Define project goals, principles, and KPIs |
Module 2: Conduct a full assessment of each service desk 2.1 Review the results of diagnostic programs 2.2 Map organizational structure and roles for each service desk 2.3 Assess overall maturity and environment of each service desk 2.4 Assess current information system environment |
Module 3: Design target consolidated service desk 3.1 Identify requirements for target consolidated service desk 3.2 Build requirements document and shortlist for ITSM tool 3.3 Use the scorecard comparison tool to assess the gap between existing service desks and target state 3.4 Document standardized processes for new service desk |
Module 4: Plan for the transition 4.1 Plan the logistics of the transition 4.2 Assess the cost and savings of consolidation to refine business case 4.3 Identify initiatives and develop a project roadmap 4.4 Plan communications for each stakeholder group |
| Deliverables |
|
|
|
|
|
Don’t get bogged down in the details. A detailed current state assessment is a necessary first step for a consolidation project, but determining the right level of detail to include in the evaluation can be challenging. Gather enough data to establish a baseline and make an informed decision about how to consolidate, but don’t waste time collecting and evaluating unnecessary information that will only distract and slow down the project, losing management interest and buy-in.
Leverage the Consolidate Service Desk Assessment Tool to gather the data you need to evaluate your existing service desks.
Select the target state that is right for your organization. Don’t feel pressured to move to a complete consolidation with a single point of contact if it wouldn’t be compatible with your organization’s needs and abilities, or if it wouldn’t be adopted by your end users. Design an appropriate level of standardization and centralization for the service desk and reinforce and improve processes moving forward.
Leverage the Consolidate Service Desk Scorecard Tool to analyze the gap between your existing processes and your target state.
Getting people on board is key to the success of the consolidation, and a communication plan is essential to do so. Develop targeted messaging for each stakeholder group, keeping in mind that your end users are just as critical to success as your staff. Know your audience, communicate to them often and openly, and ensure that every communication has a purpose.
Leverage the Communications Plan and Consolidation News Bulletin & FAQ Template to plan your communications.
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.
Proposed Time to Completion (in weeks): 4-8
Discuss with an analyst:
Then complete these activities…
With these tools & templates:
Stakeholder Engagement Workbook
Discuss with an analyst:
Then complete these activities…
With these tools & templates:
Consolidate Service Desk Executive Presentation
Discuss with an analyst:
Then complete these activities…
With these tools & templates:
Consolidate Service Desk Assessment Tool
IT Skills Inventory and Gap Assessment Tool
Develop a shared vision
1.1 Identify and engage key stakeholders
1.2 Develop a vision to give the project direction
1.3 Conduct a full assessment of each service desk
Industry: Higher Education
Source: Oxford University, IT Services
The merging of Oxford’s disparate IT organizations was motivated primarily to improve end-user service and efficiency.
Similarly, ITS positioned the SDCP as an “operational change,” not to save costs, but to provide better service to their customers.
"The University is quite unique in the current climate in that reduction in costs was not one of the key drivers behind the project. The goal was to deliver improved efficiencies and offer a single point of contact for their user base." – Peter Hubbard, ITSM Consultant Pink Elephant
Oxford recognized early that they needed an open and collaborative environment to succeed.
Key IT and business personnel participated in a “vision workshop” to determine long- and short-term objectives, and to decide priorities for the consolidated service desk.
"Without key support at this stage many projects fail to deliver the expected outcomes. The workshop involved the key stakeholders of the project and was deemed a successful and positive exercise, delivering value to this stage of the project by clarifying the future desired state of the Service Desk." – John Ireland, Director of Customer Service & Project Sponsor
IT Services introduced a Service Desk Consolidation Project Blog very early into the project, to keep everyone up-to-date and maintain key stakeholder buy-in.
Constant consultation with people at all levels led to continuous improvement and new insights.
"We also became aware that staff are facing different changes depending on the nature of their work and which toolset they use (i.e. RT, Altiris, ITSM). Everyone will have to change the way they do things at least a little – but the changes depend on where you are starting from!" – Jonathan Marks, Project Manager
Service desk consolidation means combining multiple service desks into one centralized, single point of contact.
Consolidation must include people, process, and technology:
Consolidation can take the form of:
Service Desk 1 - Service Desk 2 - Service Desk 3
↓
Consolidated Service Desk
Info-Tech Insight
Consolidation isn’t for everyone.
Before you embark on the project, think about unique requirements for your organization that may necessitate more than one service desk, such as location-specific language. Ask yourself if consolidation makes sense for your organization and would achieve a benefit for the organization, before proceeding.
Use a RACI table (e.g. in the following section) to clarify who is to be accountable, responsible, consulted, and informed.
Info-Tech Insight
The more transformational the change, the more it will affect the organizational chart – not just after the implementation but through the transition.
Take time early in the project to define the reporting structure for the project/transition team, as well as any teams and roles supporting the transition.
RACI = Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, Informed
The RACI chart will provide clarity for overarching roles and responsibilities during the consolidation.
| Task | Project Sponsor | Project Manager | Sr. Executives | SMEs | Business Lead | Service Desk Managers | HR | Trainers | Communications |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Meeting project objectives | A | R | A | R | R | ||||
| Identifying risks and opportunities | R | A | A | C | C | C | C | I | I |
| Assessing current state | I | A | I | R | C | R | |||
| Defining target state | I | A | I | C | C | R | |||
| Planning logistics | I | A | I | R | R | C | R | ||
| Building the action plan | I | A | C | R | R | R | R | R | R |
| Planning and delivering communications | I | A | C | C | C | C | R | R | A |
| Planning and delivering training | I | A | C | C | C | C | R | R | C |
| Gathering and analyzing feedback and KPIs | I | A | C | C | C | C | C | R | R |
Why is a stakeholder analysis essential?
Info-Tech Insight
Be diverse and aware. When identifying key stakeholders for the project, make sure to include a rich diversity of stakeholder expertise, geography, and tactics. Also, step back and add silent members to your list. The loudest voices and heaviest campaigners are not necessarily your key stakeholders.
Goal: Create a prioritized list of people who are affected or can affect your project so you can plan stakeholder engagement and communication.
Outcome: A list of key stakeholders to include on your steering committee and your project team, and to communicate with throughout the project.
According to the Project Management Institute, only 25% of individuals fully commit to change. The remaining 75% either resist or simply accept the change. Gathering stakeholder concerns is a powerful way to gain buy-in.
Solicit direct feedback from the organization to gain critical insights into their perceptions of IT.
We recommend completing at least the End-User Satisfaction survey as part of your service desk consolidation assessment and planning. An analyst will help you set up the diagnostic and walk through the report with you.
To book a diagnostic, or get a copy of our questions to inform your own survey, visit Info-Tech’s Benchmarking Tools, contact your account manager, or call toll-free 1-888-670-8889 (US) or 1-844-618-3192 (CAN).
Data-Driven Diagnostics:
End-User Satisfaction Survey
CIO Business Vision
Review the results of your diagnostics in step 1.3
Use Info-Tech’s Stakeholder Engagement Workbook to formalize an engagement strategy
The engagement plan is a structured and documented approach for gathering requirements by eliciting input and validating plans for change and cultivating sponsorship and support from key stakeholders early in the project lifecycle.
The Stakeholder Engagement Workbook situates stakeholders on a grid that identifies which ones have the most interest in and influence on your project, to assist you in developing a tailored engagement strategy.
You can also use this analysis to help develop a communications plan for each type of stakeholder in step 3.2.
| Method | Description | Assessment and Best Practices | Stakeholder Effort | Business Analyst Effort |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Structured One-on-One Interview | In a structured one-on-one interview, the business analyst has a fixed list of questions to ask the stakeholder and follows up where necessary. | Structured interviews provide the opportunity to quickly hone in on areas of concern that were identified during process mapping or group elicitation techniques. They should be employed with purpose – to receive specific stakeholder feedback on proposed requirements or help identify systemic constraints. Generally speaking, they should be 30 minutes or less. | Low |
Medium |
| Unstructured One-on-One Interview | In an unstructured one-on-one interview, the business analyst allows the conversation to flow freely. The BA may have broad themes to touch on, but does not run down a specific question list. | Unstructured interviews are most useful for initial elicitation, when brainstorming a draft list of potential requirements is paramount. Unstructured interviews work best with senior stakeholders (sponsors or power users), since they can be time consuming if they’re applied to a large sample size. It’s important for BAs not to stifle open dialog and allow the participants to speak openly. They should be 60 minutes or less. | Medium | Low |
Develop a shared vision
1.1 Get buy-in from key stakeholders
1.2 Develop a vision to give the project direction
1.3 Conduct a full assessment of each service desk
A shared vision for the consolidated service desk that:
An executive visioning session can take up to two days of focused effort and activities with the purpose of defining the short and long-term view, objectives, and priorities for the new consolidated service desk.
The session should include the following participants:
The session should include the following tasks:
The activities throughout this step are designed to be included as part of the visioning session
A consolidated service desk should include the following aspects:
Consolidated Service Desk
Document in the Consolidate Service Desk Executive Presentation, slide 6.
| Consolidated Service Desk Model | Level of Consolidation | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Partial | Complete | ||
| Type of Consolidation | Virtual | ||
| Physical | |||
| Hybrid | ✓ | ||
3. As a group, brainstorm and document a list of attributes that the consolidated service desk should have.
Examples:
Document in the Consolidate Service Desk Executive Presentation, slide 7.
Build desire for change.
In addition to standard high-level scope elements, consolidation projects that require organizational change also need a compelling story or vision to influence groups of stakeholders.
Use the vision table below to begin developing a compelling vision and story of change.
| Why is there a need to consolidate service desks? | |
| How will consolidation benefit the organization? The stakeholders? | |
| How did we determine this is the right change? | |
| What would happen if we didn’t consolidate? | |
| How will we measure success? |
A service desk consolidation project requires a compelling vision to energize staff and stakeholders toward a unified goal over a sustained period of time.
Great visions:
Info-Tech Insight
Tell a story. Stories pack a lot of information into few words. They are easy to write, remember, and most importantly – share. It’s worth spending a little extra time to get the details right.
Stories serve to give the consolidation real-world context by describing what the future state will mean for both staff and users of the service desk. The story should sum up the core of the experience of using the consolidated service desk and reflect how the service desk will fit into the life of the user.
Stories should include:
Imagine if…
… users could access one single online service that allows them to submit a ticket through a self-service portal and service catalog, view the status of their ticket, and receive updates about organization-wide outages and announcements. They never have to guess who to contact for help with a particular type of issue or how to contact them as there is only one point of contact for all types of incidents and service requests.
… all users receive consistent service delivery regardless of their location, and never try to circumvent the help desk or go straight to a particular technician for help as there is only one way to get help by submitting a ticket through a single service desk.
… tickets from any location could be easily tracked, prioritized, and escalated using standardized definitions and workflows to ensure consistent service delivery and allow for one set of SLAs to be defined and met across the organization.
Service Desk Institute (n = 20, 2007)
A survey of 233 service desks considering consolidation found that of the 20 organizations that were in the planning stages of consolidation, the biggest driver was to improve service delivery and/or increase productivity.
This is in line with the recommendation that improved service quality should be the main consolidation driver over reducing costs.
Service Desk Institute (n = 43, 2007)
The drivers were similar among the 43 organizations that had already implemented a consolidated service desk, with improved service delivery and increased productivity again the primary driver.
Aligning with best practice was the second most cited driver.
Use the results of your stakeholder analysis and interviews to facilitate a discussion among recommended participants and document the purpose of the consolidation project, the goals the project aims to achieve, and the guiding principles that must be followed.
Use the following example to guide your discussion:
| Purpose | The purpose of consolidating service desks is to improve service delivery to end users and free up more time and resources to achieve the organization’s core mission. |
|---|---|
| Goals |
|
| Guiding Principles |
The consolidated service desk must:
|
The primary driver for consolidation of service desks is improved service delivery and increased productivity. This should relate to the primary benefits delivered by the consolidation, most importantly, improved end-user satisfaction.
A survey of 43 organizations that have implemented a consolidated service desk identified the key benefits delivered by the consolidation (see chart at right).
Source: Service Desk Institute (n = 43, 2007)
Info-Tech Insight
Cost reduction may be an important benefit delivered by the consolidation effort, but it should not be the most valuable benefit delivered. Focus communications on anticipated benefits for improved service delivery and end-user satisfaction to gain buy-in for the project.
Document in the Executive Presentation, slide 10
| Stop | Start | Continue |
|---|---|---|
|
|
|
| Strengths (Internal) | Weaknesses (Internal) |
|
|
| Opportunities (External) | Threats (External) |
|
|
…to help you conduct your SWOT analysis on the service desk.
| Strengths (Internal) | Weaknesses (Internal) |
|
|
| Opportunities (External) | Threats (External) |
|
|
| Helpful to achieving the objective | Harmful to achieving the objective | |
|---|---|---|
| Internal origin attributes of the organization | Strengths | Weaknesses |
|
External Origin attributes of the environment |
Opportunities | Threats |
Frame the project in terms of the change and impact it will have on:
Service desk consolidation will likely have a significant impact in all three categories by standardizing processes, implementing a single service management tool, and reallocating resources. Framing the project in this way will ensure that no aspect goes forgotten.
For each of the three categories, you will identify:
People
Process
Technology
Complete an executive presentation using the decisions made throughout this step
Develop a shared vision
1.1 Get buy-in from key stakeholders
1.2 Develop a vision to give the project direction
1.3 Conduct a full assessment of each service desk
Industry: Higher Education
Source: Oxford University, IT Services
Oxford ITS instigated the service desk consolidation project in the fall of 2012.
A new ITSM solution was formally acquired in the spring 2014, and amalgamated workflows designed.
Throughout this period, at least 3 detailed process analyses occurred in close consultation with the affected IT units.
Responsibility for understanding each existing process (incident, services, change management, etc.) were assigned to members of the project team.
They determined which of the existing processes were most effective, and these served as the baseline – saving time and effort in the long run by sticking with tested processes that work.
Almost from day one, the Oxford consolidation team made sure to consult closely with each relevant ITS team about their processes and the tools they used to manage their workflows.
This was done both in structured interviews during the visioning stage and informally at periodic points throughout the project.
The result was the discovery of many underlying similarities. This information was then instrumental to determining a realistic baseline from which to design the new consolidated service desk.
"We may give our activities different names or use different tools to manage our work but in all cases common sense has prevailed and it’s perhaps not so surprising that we have common challenges that we choose to tackle in similar ways." – Andrew Goff, Change Management at Oxford ITS
Before you begin planning for the consolidation, make sure you have a clear picture of the magnitude of what you plan on consolidating.
Evaluate the current state of each help desk being considered for consolidation. This should include an inventory of:
Info-Tech Insight
A detailed current state assessment is a necessary first step for a consolidation project, but determining the right level of detail to include in the evaluation can be challenging. Gather enough data to establish a baseline and make an informed decision about how to consolidate, but don’t waste time collecting unnecessary information that will only distract and slow down the project.
| Poor Processes | vs. | Optimized Processes |
|---|---|---|
|
Inconsistent or poor processes affect the business through:
|
Standardized service desk processes increase user and technician satisfaction and lower costs to support through:
|
1. Facilitate a discussion among recommended participants to discuss the structure of each service desk. Decide which model best describes each service desk:
2. Use a flip chart or whiteboard to draw the architecture of each service desk, using the example on the right as a guide.
The Consolidate Service Desk Assessment Tool will provide insight into the overall health of each existing service desk along two vectors:
Together these answers offer a snapshot of the health, efficiency, performance, and perceived value of each service desk under evaluation.
This tool will assist you through the current state assessment process, which should follow these steps:
These activities will be described in more detail throughout this step of the project.
Send a copy of the Consolidate Service Desk Assessment Tool to the Service Desk Manager (or other designated party) of each service desk that will be considered as part of the consolidation.
Instruct them to complete tab 2 of the tool, the Environment Survey:
This assessment will provide an overview of key metrics to assess the performance of each service desk, including:
Use the IT Skills Inventory and Gap Assessment Tool to assess agent skills and identify gaps or overlaps.
Agent Satisfaction
Measure employee satisfaction and engagement to identify strong teams.
Roles and Responsibilities
Gather a clear picture of each service desk’s organizational hierarchy, roles, and responsibilities.
Agent Utilization
Obtain a snapshot of service desk productivity by calculating the average amount of time an agent is handling calls, divided by the average amount of time an agent is at work.
Send the Skills Coverage Tool tab to each Service Desk Manager, who will either send it to the individuals who make up their service desk with instructions to rate themselves, or complete the assessment together with individuals as part of one-on-one meetings for discussing development plans.
IT Skills Inventory and Gap Assessment Tool will enable you to:
| Tier 1 Help Desk Lead | Tier 2 Help Desk Lead | Tier 2 Apps Support Lead | Tier 3 Specialist Support Lead |
| Tier 1 Specialist | Name Title | Name Title | Name Title |
| Tier 1 Specialist | Name Title | Name Title | Name Title |
| Name Title | Name Title | Name Title | |
| Name Title | Name Title | ||
Agent satisfaction forms a key metric within the Consolidate Service Desk Assessment Tool, and it can be evaluated in a variety of ways. Choose the approach that best suits your organization and time restraints for the project.
Determine agent satisfaction on the basis of a robust (and anonymous) survey of service desk agents. Like the end-user satisfaction score, this measure is ideally computed as a percentage.
There are several ways to measure agent satisfaction:
Ideally, your service desks are already on the same ITSM platform, but if not, a comprehensive assessment of current tools is the first step toward a single, consolidated solution.
Include the following in your tools assessment:
Info-Tech Insight
Document not only the service management tools that are used but also any of their unique and necessary functions and configurations that users may have come to rely upon, such as remote support, self-serve, or chat support, in order to inform requirements in the next phase.
Inventory your IT environment, including:
User Devices
Servers
Data centers
In addition to identifying the range of devices you currently support, assess:
Info-Tech Insight
The capabilities and configuration of your existing infrastructure and applications could limit your consolidation plans. A comprehensive technology assessment of not only the service desk tools but also the range of devices and applications your service desks supports will help you to prepare for any potential limitations or obstacles a consolidated service desk may present.
Document information on number of devices supported and number of desktop images associated with each service desk in the section on “Technology Data” of the Consolidate Service Desk Assessment Tool.
Use a RACI chart to assign overarching responsibilities for the consolidation project.
Map out the organizational structure and flow of each service desk and discuss the model that best describes each.
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.
Proposed Time to Completion (in weeks): 2-4
Start with an analyst kick-off call:
Then complete these activities…
With these tools & templates:
Consolidate Service Desk Scorecard Tool
Review findings with analyst:
Then complete these activities…
With these tools & templates:
Service Desk Efficiency Calculator
Service Desk Consolidation TCO Comparison Tool
Phase 2 Results:
Design consolidation
2.1 Design target consolidated service desk
2.2 Assess logistics and cost of consolidation
Industry: Higher Education
Source: Oxford University, IT Services
"Since our last update, a review and re-planning exercise has reassessed the project approach, milestones, and time scales. This has highlighted some significant hurdles to transition which needed to be addressed, resulting primarily from the size of the project and the importance to the department of a smooth and well-planned transition to the new processes and toolset." – John Ireland, Director of Customer Service & Project Sponsor
Despite careful planning and its ultimate success, Oxford’s consolidation effort still encountered some significant hurdles along the way – deadlines were sometimes missed and important processes overlooked.
These bumps can be mitigated by building flexibility into your plan:
Info-Tech Insight
Ensure that the project lead is someone conversant in ITSM, so that they are equipped to understand and react to the unique challenges and expectations of a consolidation and can easily communicate with process owners.
With approval for the project established and a clear idea of the current state of each service desk, narrow down the vision for the consolidated service desk into a specific picture of the target state.
The target state should provide answers to the following types of questions:
Process:
People:
Technology:
Info-Tech Insight
Select the target state that is right for your organization. Don’t feel pressured to select the highest target state or a complete consolidation. Instead select the target state that is most compatible with your organization’s current needs and capabilities.
Identify three primary categories where the consolidation project is expected to yield benefits to the business. Use the example on the right to guide your discussion.
Efficiency and effectiveness are standard benefits for this project, but the third category may depend on your organization.
Identify 1-3 key performance indicators (KPIs) associated with each benefit category, which will be used to measure the success of the consolidation project. Ensure that each has a baseline measure that can be reassessed after the consolidation.
Efficiency
Streamlined processes to reduce duplication of efforts
Resourcing
Improved allocation of human and financial resources
Effectiveness
Service delivery will be more accessible and standardized
| Efficiency | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Business Value | KPI | Current Metric | Short-Term (6 month) Target | Long-Term (1 year) Target |
| Streamlined processes to reduce duplication of efforts | Improved response time | 2 hours | 1 hour | 30 minutes |
| Effectiveness | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Business Value | KPI | Current Metric | Short-Term (6 month) Target | Long-Term (1 year) Target |
| Service delivery will be more accessible and standardized | Improved first call resolution (% resolved at Tier 1) | 50% | 60% | 70% |
Service Requests:
Incident Management:
Knowledgebase:
Reporting:
Evaluate how your processes compare with the best practices defined here. If you need further guidance on how to standardize these processes after planning the consolidation, follow Info-Tech’s blueprint, Standardize the Service Desk.
Consider the following unique process considerations for consolidation:
Info-Tech Insight
Don’t do it all at once. Consolidation will lead to some level of standardization. It will be reinforced and improved later through ongoing reengineering and process improvement efforts (continual improvement management).
Example:
Whiteboard:
Consider the following people-related elements when designing your target state:
Consider the following unique people considerations for consolidation:
Info-Tech Insight
Identify SMEs and individuals who are knowledgeable about a particular location, end-user base, technology, or service offering. They may be able to take on a different, greater role due to the reorganization that would make better use of their skills and capabilities and improve morale.
Document internally, or leave on a whiteboard for workshop participants to return to when documenting tasks in the roadmap tool.
Example:
Whiteboard:
Info-Tech Insight
Talk to staff at each service desk to ask about their tool needs and requirements to support their work. Invite them to demonstrate how they use their tools to learn about customization, configuration, and functionality in place and to help inform requirements. Engaging staff in the process will ensure that the new consolidated tool will be supported and adopted by staff.
Document internally, or leave on a whiteboard for workshop participants to return to when documenting tasks in the roadmap tool.
Example:
Whiteboard:
| Features | Description |
|---|---|
| Modules |
|
|
Self-Serve |
|
| Enterprise Service Management Needs |
|
| Workflow Automation |
|
| License Maintenance Costs |
|
| Configuration Costs |
|
| Speed / Performance |
|
| Vendor Support |
|
Create a requirements list for the service desk tool.
Create a demo script:
Using information from the requirements list, determine which features will be important for the team to see during a demo. Focus on areas where usability is a concern, for example:
Evaluate current tool:
Consider alternatives:
Info-Tech regularly evaluates ITSM solution providers and ranks each in terms of functionality and affordability. The results are published in the Enterprise and Mid-Market Service Desk Software Vendor Landscapes.
After selecting a solution, follow the Build an ITSM Tool Implementation Plan project to develop an implementation plan to ensure the tool is appropriately designed, installed, and tested and that technicians are sufficiently trained to ensure successful deployment and adoption of the tool.
The purpose of this tool is to organize the data from up to six service desks that are part of a service desk consolidation initiative. Displaying this data in an organized fashion, while offering a robust comparative analysis, should facilitate the process of establishing a new baseline for the consolidated service desk.
Use the results on tab 4 of the Consolidate Service Desk Assessment Tool. Enter the data from each service desk into tab “2. InfoCards” of the Consolidate Service Desk Scorecard Tool.
Data from up to six service desks (up to six copies of the assessment tool) can be entered into this tool for comparison.
The values entered on this tab will be used in calculating the overall metric score for each service desk, allowing you to compare the performance of existing service desks against each other and against your target state.
Develop one set of standard operating procedures to ensure consistent service delivery across locations.
One set of standard operating procedures for the new service desk is essential for a successful consolidation.
Info-Tech’s Consolidated Service Desk SOP Template provides a detailed example of documenting procedures for service delivery, roles and responsibilities, escalation and prioritization rules, workflows for incidents and service requests, and resolution targets to help ensure consistent service expectations across locations.
Use this template as a guide to develop or refine your SOP and define the processes for the consolidated service desk.
Design consolidation
2.1 Design target consolidated state
2.2 Assess logistics and cost
Industry: US Coast Guard
Source: CIO Rear Adm. Robert E. Day, Jr. (retired)
The US Coast Guard was providing internal IT support for 42,000 members on active duty from 11 distinct regional IT service centers around the US.
Pain Points
Admiral Day was the CIO from 2009 to 2014. In 2011, he lead an initiative to consolidate USCG service desks.
Relocating to a new location involved potentially higher implementation costs, which was a significant disadvantage.
Ultimately, the relocation reinforced the national mandate of the consolidated service desk. The new organization would act as a single point of contact for the support of all 42,000 members of the US Coast Guard.
"Before our regional desks tended to take on different flavors and processes. Today, users get the same experience whether they’re in Alaska or Maryland by calling one number: (855) CG-FIX IT." – Rear Adm. Robert E. Day, Jr. (retired)
A detailed project roadmap will help break down the project into manageable tasks to reach the target state, but there is no value to this if the target state is not achievable or realistic.
Don’t forget to assess the logistics of the consolidation that can be overlooked during the planning phase:
Info-Tech Insight
Language barriers can form significant hurdles or even roadblocks for the consolidation project. Don’t overlook the importance of unique language requirements and ensure the consolidated service desk will be able to support end-user needs.
Identify tasks that should form part of the roadmap and document in the roadmap tool.
Identify costs that should be included in the TCO assessment and document in the TCO tool.
Discuss and identify any logistic and cost considerations that will need to form part of the consolidation plan and roadmap. Examples are highlighted below.
Keep in mind that if your target state involves reorganization of resources and the creation of resources, there will be additional staffing tasks that should form part of the consolidation plan. These include:
If new positions will be created, follow these steps to mitigate risks:
For more guidance on hiring help desk staff, see Info-Tech’s blueprint, Manage Help Desk Staffing.
Be sensitive to employee concerns.
Develop guiding principles for the consolidation to ensure that employee satisfaction remains a priority throughout the consolidation.
Examples include:
Info-Tech Insight
The most talented employees can be lost in the migration to a consolidated service desk, resulting in organizational loss of core knowledge. Mitigate this risk using measurement strategies, competency modeling, and knowledge sharing to reduce ambiguity and discomfort of affected employees.
Identify tasks that should form part of the roadmap and document in the roadmap tool.
Identify costs that should be included in the TCO assessment and document in the TCO tool.
Discuss and identify any logistic and cost considerations surrounding resources and staffing that will need to form part of the consolidation plan and roadmap. Examples are highlighted below.
How do organizations calculate the staffing implications of a service desk consolidation?
The Service Desk Efficiency Calculator uses the ITIL Gross Staffing Model to think through the impact of consolidating service desk processes.
To estimate the impact of the consolidation on staffing levels, estimate what will happen to three variables:
All things being equal, a reduction in ticket volume (through outsourcing or the implementation of self-serve options, for example), will reduce your staffing requirements (all things being equal). The same goes for a reduction in the average call resolution rate.
Constraints:
Spare capacity: Many organizations are motivated to consolidate service desks by potential reductions in staffing costs. However, this is only true if your service desk agents have spare capacity to take on the consolidated ticket volume. If they don’t, you will still need the same number of agents to do the work at the consolidated service desk.
Agent capabilities: If your agents have specialised skills that you need to maintain the same level of service, you won’t be able to reduce staffing until agents are cross-trained.
The third tab of the Service Desk Efficiency Calculator will quantify:
Facilitate a discussion around the results.
Evaluate where you are now and where you hope to be. Focus on the efficiency gains expected from the outsourcing project. Review the expected gains in average resolution time, the expected impact on service desk ticket volume, and the associated productivity gains.
Use this information to refine the business case and project plan for the consolidation, if needed.
Typical cost savings for a service desk consolidation are highlighted below:
People 10-20% savings (through resource pooling and reallocation)
Process 5-10% savings (through process simplification and efficiencies gained)
Technology 10-15% savings (through improved call routing and ITSM tool consolidation)
Facilities 5-10% savings (through site selection and redesign)
Cost savings should be balanced against the costs of the consolidation itself (including hiring for consolidation project managers or consultants, moving expenses, legal fees, etc.)
Evaluate consolidation costs using the TCO Comparison Tool described in the next section.
Since completing the executive visioning session in step 1.2, you should have completed the following activities:
The next step will be to develop a project roadmap to achieve the consolidation vision.
Before doing this, check back in with the project sponsor and business executives to refine the business case, obtain necessary approvals, and secure buy-in.
If necessary, add to the executive presentation you completed in step 1.2, copying results of the deliverables you have completed since:
Identify process requirements and desired characteristics for the target consolidated service desk.
Review the results of the Consolidate Service Desk Scorecard Tool to identify top performing service desks and glean best practices.
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.
Proposed Time to Completion (in weeks): 2-4
Discuss with an analyst:
Then complete these activities…
With these tools & templates:
Service Desk Consolidation Roadmap
Discuss with an analyst:
Then complete these activities…
With these tools & templates:
Service Desk Consolidation Communications and Training Plan Template
Service Desk Consolidation News Bulletin & FAQ Template
Plan the consolidation
3.1 Build the project roadmap
3.2 Communicate the change
A detailed roadmap to migrate to a single, consolidated service desk, including:
Industry: Healthcare
Source: Organizational insider
A large US healthcare facilities organization implemented a service desk consolidation initiative in early 2013. Only 18 months later, they reluctantly decided to return to their previous service desk model.
Two disparate service desks:
One virtually-consolidated service desk servicing many facilities spread geographically over two distinct locations.
The main feature of the new virtual service desk was a single, pooled ticket queue drawn from all the end users and facilities in the new geographic regions.
Document the list of initiatives in the Service Desk Consolidation Roadmap.
In order to translate your newly made decisions regarding the target state and logistical considerations into a successful consolidation strategy, create an exhaustive list of all the steps and sub-steps that will lead you from your current state to your target state.
Use the next few steps to finish brainstorming the initiative list, identify risks and dependencies, and construct a detailed timeline populated with specific project steps.
Start with the list you have been curating throughout the current and future state assessments. If you are completing this project as a workshop, add to the initiative list you have been developing on the whiteboard.
Try to organize your initiatives into groups of related tasks. Begin arranging your initiatives into people, process, technology, or other categories.
| Whiteboard | People | Process | Technology | Other |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Risk - degree of impact if activities do not go as planned | High |
A – High Risk, Low Frequency Tasks that are rarely done and are high risk. Focus attention here with careful planning (e.g. consolidation) |
B – High Risk, High Frequency Tasks that are performed regularly and must be watched closely each time (e.g. security authorizations) |
| ↕ |
C – Low Risk, Low Frequency Tasks that are performed regularly with limited impact or risk (e.g. server upgrades) |
D – Low Risk, High Frequency Tasks that are done all the time and are not risky (e.g. password resets) |
|
| Low | ↔ | High | |
| Frequency - how often the activity has been performed | |||
Service desk consolidations fit in category A
The project manager, service desk managers, and subject matter experts (SMEs) of different areas, departments, or locations should identify risks for each of the processes, tools, resource groups (people), and any data exchanges and moves that will be part of the project or impacted by the project.
Process - For each process, validate that workflows can remain intact throughout the consolidation project. If any gaps may occur in the process flows, develop a plan to be implemented in parallel with the consolidation to ensure service isn’t interrupted.
Technology - For a tool consolidation, upgrade, or replacement, verify that there is a plan in place to ensure continuation of service delivery processes throughout the change.
Make a plan for if and how data from the old tool(s) will be migrated to the new tool, and how the new tool will be installed and configured.
People - For movement of staff, particularly with termination, identify any risks that may occur and involve your HR and legal departments to ensure all movement is compliant with larger processes within the organization.
Info-Tech Insight
Don’t overlook the little things. Sometimes the most minor-seeming components of the consolidation can cause the greatest difficulty. For example, don’t assume that the service desk phone number can simply roll over to a new location and support the call load of a combined service desk. Verify it.
Use the outcome of this activity to complete your consolidation roadmap.
Document your initiatives on tab 2 of the Service Desk Consolidation Roadmap or map it out on a whiteboard.
Adjust initiatives in the consolidation roadmap if necessary.
The transition date will be used in communications in the next step.
Info-Tech Insight
Consolidating service desks doesn’t have to be done in one shot, replacing all your help desks, tools, and moving staff all at the same time. You can take a phased approach to consolidating, moving one location, department, or tool at a time to ease the transition.
Design consolidation
3.1 Build the project roadmap
3.2 Communicate the change
Industry: Higher Education
Source: Oxford University, IT Services
ITS ran a one-day ITSM “business simulation” for the CIO and direct reports, increasing executive buy-in.
“ The business simulation was incredibly effective as a way of getting management buy-in – it really showed what we are driving at. It’s a way of making it real, bringing people on board. ” – John Ireland, Director of Customer Service
Detailed use cases were envisioned referencing particular ITIL processes as the backbone of the process framework.
“ The use cases were very helpful, they were used […] in getting a broad engagement from teams across our department and getting buy-in from the distributed IT staff who we work with across the wider University. ” – John Ireland, Director of Customer Service
“ We in the project team would love to hear your view on this project and service management in general, so please feel free to comment on this blog post, contact us using the project email address […] or, for further information visit the project SharePoint site […] ” – Oxford ITS SDCP blog post
A communications plan should address three elements:
Goals of communication:
Email and Newsletters
Email and newsletters are convenient and can be transmitted to large audiences easily, but most users are inundated with email already and may not notice or read the message.
Face-to-Face Communication
Face-to-face communication helps to ensure that users are receiving and understanding a clear message, and allows them to voice their concerns and clarify any confusion or questions.
Internal Website/Drive
Internal sites help sustain change by making knowledge available after the consolidation, but won’t be retained beforehand.
Business units:
Be attentive to the concerns of business unit management about loss of power. Appease worries about the potential risk of reduced service quality and support responsiveness that may have been experienced in prior corporate consolidation efforts.
Make the value of the consolidation clear, and involve business unit management in the organizational change process.
Focus on producing a customer-focused consolidated service desk. It will assuage fears over the loss of control and influence. Business units may be relinquishing control of their service desk, but they should retain the same level of influence.
Employees:
Employees are often fearful of the impact of a consolidation on their jobs. These fears should be addressed and alleviated as soon as possible.
Design a communication plan outlining the changes and the reasons motivating it.
Put support programs in place for displaced and surviving employees.
Motivate employees during the transition and increase employee involvement in the change.
Educate and train employees who make the transition to the new structure and new job demands.
Info-Tech Insight
Know your audience. Be wary of using technical jargon or acronyms that may seem like common knowledge within your department but would not be part of the vocabulary of non-technical audiences. Ensure your communications are suitable for the audience. If you need to use jargon or acronyms, explain what you mean.
Document your decisions in the communications plan template
Section 4 of the communications plan on objections and question handling will be completed in activity 3.2.2.
Optional Activity
If you completed the Stakeholder Engagement Workbook in step 1.1, you may also complete the Communications tab in that workbook to further develop your plan to engage stakeholders.
Communicate and track changes: Identify and communicate changes to all stakeholders affected by the change to ensure they are aware of any downtime and can plan their own activities accordingly.
Isolate testing: Test changes within a safe non-production environment to eliminate the risk of system outages that result from defects discovered during testing.
Document back-out plans: Documented back-out/backup plans enable quick recovery in the event that the change fails.
Organizations that have more mature and defined change management processes experience less unplanned downtime when implementing change across the organization.
| What? |
1. Adapt people to the change
|
2. Adapt processes to the change
|
3. Adapt technologies to the change
|
|---|---|---|---|
| How? | Work with HR on any changes involving job design, personnel changes, or compensation. | Work with enterprise architects or business analysts to manage significant changes to processes that may impact the business and service levels. |
See Info-Tech’s Optimize the Change Management Processblueprint to use a disciplined change control process for technology changes. |
Info-Tech Insight
Organizational change management (OCM) is widely recognized as a key component of project success, yet many organizations struggle to get adoption for new tools, policies, and procedures. Use Info-Tech’s blueprint on driving organizational change to develop a strategy and toolkit to achieve project success.
Leverage the Stakeholder Engagement Workbook from step 1.1 as well as Info-Tech’s blueprint on driving organizational change for more tactics on change management, particularly managing and engaging various personas.
Business
Employees
End Users
Document your questions and responses in section 4 of the communications plan template. This should be continually updated.
| Group | Objection/Question | Response |
|---|---|---|
| Service desk staff | I’m comfortable with the service desk tool we’ve been using here and won’t know how to use the new one. | We carefully evaluated the new solution against our requirements and selected it as the one that will provide the best service to our users and be user friendly. We tested the solution through user-acceptance testing to ensure staff will be comfortable using it, and we will provide comprehensive training to all users of the tool before launching it. |
| End user | I’m used to going to my favorite technician for help. How will I get service now? | We are initiating a single point of contact so that you will know exactly where to go to get help quickly and easily, so that we can more quickly escalate your issue to the appropriate technician, and so that we can resolve it and notify you as soon as possible. This will make our service more effective and efficient than you having to find one individual who may be tied up with other work or unavailable. |
Keep the following in mind when formulating your responses:
The Service Desk Consolidation News Bulletin & FAQ Template is intended to be an example that you can follow or modify for your own organization. It provides a summary of how the consolidation project will change how end users interact with the service desk.
The bulletin is targeted for mass distribution to end users. A similar letter may be developed for service desk staff, though face-to-face communication is recommended.
Instructions:
Industry: Higher Education
Source: Oxford University, IT Services
Oxford’s new consolidated service desk went live April 20, 2015.
They moved from 3 distinct tools and 5 disparate help desks to a single service desk with one robust ITSM solution, all grounded by a unified set of processes and an integrated workflow.
The success of this project hinged upon:
"We have had a few teething issues to deal with, but overall this has been a very smooth transition given the scale of it." – ICTF Trinity Term 2015 IT Services Report
Create a list of specific tasks that will form the consolidation project on sticky notes and organize into people, process, technology, and other categories to inform the roadmap.
Brainstorm anticipated questions and objections that will arise from various stakeholder groups and prepare consistent responses to each.
Standardize the Service Desk - Provide timely and effective responses to user requests and resolutions of all incidents.
Extend the Service Desk to the Enterprise - Position IT as an innovator.
Build a Continual Improvement Plan for the Service Desk - Teach your old service desk new tricks.
Adopt Lean IT to Streamline the Service Desk - Turn your service desk into a Lean, keen, value-creating machine.
Vendor Landscape: Enterprise Service Desk Software - Move past tickets to proactive, integrated service.
Vendor Landscape: Mid-Market Service Desk Software - Ensure the productivity of the help desk with the right platform.
Build an ITSM Tool Implementation Plan - Nail your ITSM tool implementation from the outset.
Drive Organizational Change from the PMO - Don’t let bad change happen to good projects.
Stacey Keener - IT Manager for the Human Health and Performance Directorate, Johnson Space Center, NASA
Umar Reed - Director of IT Support Services US Denton US LLP
Maurice Pryce - IT Manager City of Roswell, Georgia
Ian Goodhart - Senior Business Analyst Allegis Group
Gerry Veugelaers - Service Delivery Manager New Zealand Defence Force
Alisa Salley Rogers - Senior Service Desk Analyst HCA IT&S Central/West Texas Division
Eddie Vidal - IS Service Desk Managers University of Miami
John Conklin - Chief Information Officer Helen of Troy LP
Russ Coles - Senior Manager, Computer Applications York Region District Schoolboard
John Seddon - Principal Vanguard Consulting
Ryan van Biljon - Director, Technical Services Samanage
Rear Admiral Robert E. Day Jr. (ret.) - Chief Information Officer United States Coast Guard
George Bartha - Manager of Information Technology Unifrax
Peter Hubbard - IT Service Management Consultant Pink Elephant
Andre Gaudreau - Manager of School Technology Operations York Region District School Board
Craig Nekola - Manager, Information Technology Anoka County
Hoen, Jim. “The Single Point of Contact: Driving Support Process Improvements with a Consolidated IT Help-Desk Approach.” TechTeam Global Inc. September 2005.
Hubbard, Peter. “Leading University embarks on IT transformation programme to deliver improved levels of service excellence.” Pink Elephant. http://pinkelephant.co.uk/about/case-studies/service-management-case-study/
IBM Global Services. “Service Desk: Consolidation, Relocation, Status Quo.” IBM. June 2005.
Keener, Stacey. “Help Desks: a Problem of Astronomical Proportions.” Government CIO Magazine. 1 February 2015.
McKaughan, Jeff. “Efficiency Driver.” U.S. Coast Guard Forum Jul. 2013. Web. http://www.intergraphgovsolutions.com/documents/CoastGuardForumJuly2013.pdf
Numara Footprints. “The Top 10 Reasons for Implementing a Consolidated Service Desk.” Numara Software.
Roy, Gerry, and Frederieke Winkler Prins. “How to Improve Service Quality through Service Desk Consolidation.” BMC Software.
Smith, Andrew. “The Consolidated Service Desk – An Achievable Goal?” The Service Desk Institute.
Wolfe, Brandon. “Is it Time for IT Service Desk Consolidation?” Samanage. 4 August 2015.
Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:
Identify your open data program's current state maturity, and gain buy-in from the business for the program.
Identify a target state maturity and reach it through building a policy and processes and the use of metrics.
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.
Ensure that the open data program is being driven out from the business in order to gain business support.
Identify drivers for the open data program that are coming directly from the business.
1.1 Understand constraints for the open data program.
1.2 Conduct interviews with the business to gain input on business drivers and level-set expectations.
1.3 Develop list of business drivers for open data.
Defined list of business drivers for the open data program
Understand the gaps between where your program currently is and where you want it to be.
Identify top processes for improvement in order to bring the open data program to the desired target state maturity.
2.1 Perform current state maturity assessment.
2.2 Define desired target state with business input.
2.3 Highlight gaps between current and target state.
Defined current state maturity
Identified target state maturity
List of top processes to improve in order to reach target state maturity
Develop a draft open data policy that will give you a starting point when building your policy with the community.
A draft open data policy will be developed that is based on best-practice standards.
3.1 Define the purpose of the open data policy.
3.2 Establish principles for the open data program.
3.3 Develop a rough governance outline.
3.4 Create a draft open data policy document based on industry best-practice examples.
Initial draft of open data policy
Build open data processes and identify metrics for the program in order to track benefits realization.
Formalize processes to set in place to improve the maturity of the open data program.
Identify metrics that can track the success of the open data program.
4.1 Develop the roles that will make up the open data program.
4.2 Create processes for new dataset requests, updates of existing datasets, and the retiring of datasets.
4.3 Identify metrics that will be used for measuring the success of the open data program.
Initial draft of open data processes
Established metrics for the open data program
Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:
This research describes an approach to strategize and implement DLP solutions for cloud services.
Use this tool to identify and prioritize your data, then use that information to make decisions on DLP strategies based on classification and data environment.
Driven by reduced operational costs and improved agility, the migration to cloud services continues to grow at a steady rate. A recent report by Palo Alto Networks indicates workload in the cloud increased by 13% last year, and companies are expecting to move an additional 11% of their workload to the cloud in the next 24 months1.
However, moving to the cloud poses unique challenges for cyber security practitioners. Cloud services do not offer the same level of management and control over resources as traditional IT approaches. The result can be reduced visibility of data in cloud services and reduced ability to apply controls to that data, particularly data loss prevention (DLP) controls.
It’s not unusual for organizations to approach DLP as a point solution. Many DLP solutions are marketed as such. The truth is, DLP is a complex program that uses many different parts of an organization’s security program and architecture. To successfully implement DLP for data in the cloud, an organization should leverage existing security controls and integrate DLP tools, whether newly acquired or available in cloud services, with its existing security program.
Bob Wilson
CISSP
Research Director, Security and Privacy
Info-Tech Research Group
Your ChallengeOrganizations must prevent the misuse and leakage of data, especially sensitive data, regardless of where it’s stored. Organizations often have compliance obligations requiring protection of sensitive data. All stages of the data lifecycle exist in the cloud and all stages provide opportunity for data loss. Organizations must find ways to mitigate insider threats without impacting legitimate business access. |
Common ObstaclesMany organizations must handle a plethora of data in multiple varied environments. Organizations don’t know enough about the data they use or where it is located. Different systems offer differing visibility. Necessary privileges and access can be abused. |
Info-Tech’s ApproachThe path to data loss prevention is complex and should be taken in small and manageable steps. First, organizations must achieve data comprehension. Organizations must align DLP with their current security program and architecture. Organizations need to implement DLP with a distinct goal in mind. Once the components are in place it’s important to measure and improve. |
Data loss prevention is the outcome of a well-designed strategy that incorporates multiple, sometimes disparate, tools within your existing security program.

Data loss prevention doesn’t depend on a single tool. Many of the leading cloud service providers offer DLP controls with their services and these controls should be considered.
53%53% of a study’s respondents think it is more difficult to detect insider threats in the cloud. Source: "2023 Insider Threat Report," Cybersecurity Insiders, 2023 |
45%Only about 45% of organizations think native cloud app functionality is useful in detecting insider threats. Source: "2023 Insider Threat Report," Cybersecurity Insiders, 2023 |
An insider threat management (ITM) program focuses on the user. DLP programs focus on the data.
DLP is not just a single tool. It’s an additional layer of security that depends on different components of your security program, and it requires time and effort to mature.
Organizations should leverage existing security architecture with the DLP controls available in the cloud services they use.
Data loss prevention is the outcome of a well-designed strategy that incorporates multiple, sometimes disparate tools within your existing security program.
Start with the data that matters most to your organization.
Having a clearly defined objective will make implementing a DLP program much easier.
Data loss prevention is not foundational, and it depends on many other parts of a mature information security program.
Start your DLP implementation with a quick win in mind and build on small successes.
Your organization must be prepared to investigate alerts and respond to incidents.
Data loss prevention is not a point solution.
It’s the outcome of a well-designed strategy that incorporates multiple, sometimes disparate tools within your existing security program.
Leverage existing security tools where possible.
DLP is a set of technologies and processes that provides additional data protection by identifying, monitoring, and preventing data from being illicitly used or transmitted.
DLP depends on many components of a mature security program, including but not limited to:
DLP is achieved through some or all of the following tactics:
DLP is not foundational. Your information security program needs to be moderately mature to support a DLP strategy.
DLP uses a handful of techniques to achieve its tactics:
DLP has two primary approaches for applying techniques:
Some DLP tools use both approaches.
Different DLP products will support different methods. It is important to keep these in mind when choosing a DLP solution.
Who? Who owns the data? Who needs access? Who would be impacted if it was lost?
What? What data do you have? What type of data is it? In what format does it exist?
When? When is the data generated? When is it used? When is it destroyed?
Where? Where is the data stored? Where is it generated? Where is it used?
Why? Why is the data needed?
Use what you discover about your data to create a data inventory!
Compliance requirements often dictate what must be done to manage and protect data and vary from industry to industry.
Some examples of compliance requirements to consider:
Why is especially important. If you don’t need a specific piece of data, dispose of it to reduce risk and administrative overhead related to maintaining or protecting data.
Data classification is a process by which data is categorized.
Refer to our Discover and Classify Your Data blueprint for guidance on data classification.
Label |
Category |
| Top Secret | Data that is mission critical and highly likely to negatively impact the organization if breached. The “crown jewels.” Examples: Trade secrets, military secrets |
| Confidential | Data that must not be disclosed, either because of a contractual or regulatory requirement or because of its value to the organization. Examples: Payment card data, private health information, personally identifiable information, passwords |
| Internal | Data that is intended for organizational use, which should be kept private. Examples: Internal memos, sales reports |
| Limited | Data that isn’t generally intended for public consumption but may be made public. Examples: Employee handbooks, internal policies |
| Public | Data that is meant for public consumption and anonymous access. Examples: Press releases, job listings, marketing material |
Data classification should be implemented as a continuous program, not a one-time project.
Data exists in three states, and each state presents different opportunities for risk. Different DLP methodologies will be appropriate for different states.
Data states
In use
In motion
At rest
The most common causes of data loss can be categorized by people, processes, and technology.
Check out our Combine Security Risk Management Components Into One Program blueprint for guidance on risk management, including how to do a full risk assessment.
Prioritizing the data that most needs protection will help define your DLP goals.
The prioritization of your data should be a business decision based on your comprehension of the data. Drivers for prioritizing data can include:
It’s not feasible for most organizations to apply DLP to all their data. Start with the most important data.
Input: Lists of data, data types, and data environments
Output: A list of data types with an estimated priority
Materials: Data Loss Prevention Strategy Planner worksheet
Participants: Security leader, Data owners
For this activity, you will use the Data Loss Prevention Strategy Planner workbook to prioritize your data.
Click to download the Data Loss Prevention Strategy Planner
In the Data Loss Prevention Strategy Planner tool, start with tab “2. Setup.”
Next, move to tab “3. Data Prioritization.”
Click to download the Data Loss Prevention Strategy Planner
DLP objectives should achieve one or more of the following:
Example objectives:
Most common DLP use cases:
Having a clear idea of your objectives will make implementing a DLP program easier.
1. Data handling standards or guidelines: These specify how your organization will handle data, usually based on its classification. Your data handling standards will inform the development of DLP rules, and your employees will have a clear idea of data handling expectations.
2. Identity and access management (IAM): IAM will control the access users have to various resources and data and is integral to DLP processes.
3. Incident response policy or plan: Be sure to consider your existing incident handling processes when implementing DLP. Modifying your incident response processes to accommodate alerts from DLP tools will help you efficiently process and respond to incidents.
4. Existing security tools: Firewalls, email gateways, security information and event management (SIEM), and other controls should be considered or leveraged when implementing a DLP solution.
5. Acceptable use policy: An organization must set expectations for acceptable/unacceptable use of data and IT resources.
6. User education and awareness: Aside from baseline security awareness training, organizations should educate users about policies and communicate the risks of data leakage to reduce risk caused by user error.
Consider DLP as a secondary layer of protection; a safety net. Your existing security program should do most of the work to prevent data misuse.
A fundamental challenge with implementing DLP with cloud services is the reduced flexibility that comes with managing less of the technology stack. Each cloud model offers varying levels of abstraction and control to the user.
Infrastructure as a service (IaaS): This service model provides customers with virtualized technology resources, such as servers and networking infrastructure. IaaS allows users to have complete control over their virtualized infrastructure without needing to purchase and maintain hardware resources or server space. Popular examples include Amazon Web Servers, Google Cloud Engine, and Microsoft Azure.
Platform as a service (PaaS): This service model provides users with an environment to develop and manage their own applications without needing to manage an underlying infrastructure. Popular examples include Google Cloud Engine, OpenShift, and SAP Cloud.
Software as a service (SaaS): This service model provides customers with access to software that is hosted and maintained by the cloud provider. SaaS offers the least flexibility and control over the environment. Popular examples include Salesforce, Microsoft Office, and Google Workspace.
Cloud service providers may include DLP controls and functionality for their environments with the subscription. These tools are usually well suited for DLP functions on that platform.
DLP products often fall into general categories defined by where those tools provide protection. Some tools fit into more than one category.
Cloud DLP refers to DLP products that are designed to protect data in cloud environments.
Endpoint DLP: This DLP solution runs on an endpoint computing device and is suited to detecting and controlling data at rest on a computer as well as data being uploaded or downloaded. Endpoint DLP would be feasible for IaaS.
Network DLP: Network DLP, deployed on-premises or as a cloud service, enforces policies on network flows between local infrastructure and the internet.
DLP solution types that are better suited for SaaS: CASB and Integrated Tools
DLP solution types that are better suited for PaaS: CASB, Integrated Tools, Network DLP
DLP solution types that are better suited for IaaS: CASB, Integrated Tools, Network DLP, and Endpoint DLP
Click to download the Data Loss Prevention Strategy Planner
Check the tab labeled “6. DLP Features Reference” for a list of common DLP features.
Input: Knowledge of data states for data types
Output: A set of technical DLP policy rules for each data type by environment
Materials: The same Data Loss Prevention Strategy Planner worksheet from the earlier activity
Participants: Security leader, Data owners
Continue with the same workbook used in the previous activity.
Click to download the Data Loss Prevention Strategy Planner
Use tab “4. DLP Methods” to plan DLP rules and technical policies.
See tab “5. Results” for a summary of your DLP policies.
Click to download the Data Loss Prevention Strategy Planner
After a DLP program is implemented, alerts will need to be investigated and incidents will need a response. Be prepared for DLP to be a work multiplier!
DLP attempts to tackle the challenge of promptly detecting and responding to an incident.
To measure the effectiveness of your DLP program, compare the number of events, number of incidents, and mean time to respond to incidents from before and after DLP implementation.
A high number of false positives and rule exceptions may indicate that the rules are not working well and may be interfering with legitimate use.
It’s important to address these issues as the frustration felt by employees can undermine the DLP program.
Establish a process for routinely using metrics to tune rules.
This will improve performance and reduce friction.
Aside from performance-based tuning, it’s important to evaluate your DLP program periodically and after major system or business changes to maintain an awareness of your data environment.
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Discover and Classify Your DataUnderstand where your data lives and who has access to it. This blueprint will help you develop an appropriate data classification system by conducting interviews with data owners and by incorporating vendor solutions to make the process more manageable and end-user friendly. |
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Identify the Components of Your Cloud Security ArchitectureThis blueprint and associated tools are scalable for all types of organizations within various industry sectors. It allows them to know what types of risk they are facing and what security services are strongly recommended to mitigate those risks. |
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Data Loss Prevention on SoftwareReviewsQuickly evaluate top vendors in the category using our comprehensive market report. Compare product features, vendor strengths, user-satisfaction, and more. Don’t settle for just any vendor – find the one you can trust. Use the Emotional Footprint report to see which vendors treat their customers right. |
Andrew Amaro
CSO and Founder
Klavan Physical and Cyber Security Services
Arshad Momin
Cyber Security Architect
Unicom Engineering, Inc.
James Bishop
Information Security Officer
StructureFlow
Michael Mitchell
Information Security and Privacy Compliance Manager
Unicom Engineering, Inc.
One Anonymous Contributor
Alhindi, Hanan, Issa Traore, and Isaac Woungang. "Preventing Data Loss by Harnessing Semantic Similarity and Relevance." jisis.org Journal of Internet Services and Information Security, 31 May 2021. Accessed 2 March 2023. https://jisis.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/jisis-2021-vol11-no2-05.pdf
Cash, Lauryn. "Why Modern DLP is More Important Than Ever." Armorblox, 10 June 2022. Accessed 10 February 2023. https://www.armorblox.com/blog/modern-dlp-use-cases/
Chavali, Sai. "The Top 4 Use Cases for a Modern Approach to DLP." Proofpoint, 17 June 2021. Accessed 7 February 2023. https://www.proofpoint.com/us/blog/information-protection/top-4-use-cases-modern-approach-dlp
Crowdstrike. "What is Data Loss Prevention?" Crowdstrike, 27 Sept. 2022. Accessed 6 Feb. 2023. https://www.crowdstrike.com/cybersecurity-101/data-loss-prevention-dlp/
De Groot, Juliana. "What is Data Loss Prevention (DLP)? Definition, Types, and Tips." Digital Guardian, 8 February 2023. Accessed 9 Feb. 2023. https://digitalguardian.com/blog/what-data-loss-prevention-dlp-definition-data-loss-prevention
Denise. "Learn More About DLP Key Use Cases." CISO Platform, 28 Nov. 2019. Accessed 10 February 2023. https://www.cisoplatform.com/profiles/blogs/learn-more-about-dlp-key-use-cases
Google. "Cloud Data Loss Prevention." Google Cloud Google, n.d. Accessed 7 Feb. 2023. https://cloud.google.com/dlp#section-6
Gurucul. "2023 Insider Threat Report." Cybersecurity Insiders, 13 Jan. 2023. Accessed 23 Feb. 2023. https://gurucul.com/2023-insider-threat-report
IBM Security. "Cost of a Data Breach 2022." IBM Security, 1 Aug. 2022. Accessed 13 Feb. 2023. https://www.ibm.com/downloads/cas/3R8N1DZJ
Mell, Peter & Grance, Tim. "The NIST Definition of Cloud Computing." NIST CSRC NIST, Sept. 2011. Accessed 7 Feb. 2023. https://csrc.nist.gov/publications/detail/sp/800-145/final
Microsoft. "Plan for Data Loss Prevention (DLP)." Microsoft 365 Solutions and Architecture Microsoft, 6 Feb. 2023. Accessed 14 Feb. 2023. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/compliance/dlp-overview-plan-for-dlp
Nanchengwa, Christopher. "The Four Questions for Successful DLP Implementation." ISACA Journal ISACA, 1 Jan. 2019. Accessed 6 Feb. 2023. https://www.isaca.org/resources/isaca-journal/issues/2019/volume-1/the-four-questions-for-successful-dlp-implementation
Palo Alto Networks. "The State of Cloud Native Security 2023." Palo Alto Networks, 2 March 2023. Accessed 23 March 2023. https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/content/dam/pan/en_US/assets/pdf/reports/state-of-cloud-native-security-2023.pdf
Pritha. "Top Six Metrics for your Data Loss Prevention Program." CISO Platform, 27 Nov. 2019. Accessed 10 Feb. 2023. https://www.cisoplatform.com/profiles/blogs/top-6-metrics-for-your-data-loss-prevention-program
Raghavarapu, Mounika. "Understand DLP Key Use Cases." Cymune, 12 June 2021. Accessed 7 Feb. 2023. https://www.cymune.com/blog-details/DLP-key-use-cases
Sheela, G. P., & Kumar, N. "Data Leakage Prevention System: A Systematic Report." International Journal of Recent Technology and Engineering BEIESP, 30 Nov. 2019. Accessed 2 March 2023. https://www.ijrte.org/wp-content/uploads/papers/v8i4/D6904118419.pdf
Sujir, Shiv. "What is Data Loss Prevention? Complete Guide [2022]." Pathlock, 15 Sep. 2022. Accessed 7 February 2023. https://pathlock.com/learn/what-is-data-loss-prevention-complete-guide-2022/
Wlosinski, Larry G. "Data Loss Prevention - Next Steps." ISACA Journal, 16 Feb. 2018. Accessed 21 Feb. 2023. https://www.isaca.org/resources/isaca-journal/issues/2018/volume-1/data-loss-preventionnext-steps
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.
New biosecurity standards will be imposed on many industries, and the autonomous edge will be part of the solution to manage that new reality.
There are some key considerations for businesses considering new biosecurity measures:
Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:
Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:
Improve employee engagement and ultimately the organization’s bottom line.
Have a productive engagement feedback discussion with teams.
Facilitate effective team engagement action planning.
Solicit employee pain points that could potentially hinder their engagement.
Develop a stronger relationship with employees to drive engagement.
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.
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.
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.
Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:
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.
Use this tool to input the outcomes of your various application assessments.
“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
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.
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.
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.
Is “Lotus” Domino still alive?
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.
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:
With multiple options to consider, take the time to clearly understand the application rationalization process within your decision making.
“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
by Darin Stahl
| Key/Value | Column | ||
|---|---|---|---|
Use case: Heavily accessed, rarely updated, large amounts of data |
Use case: High availability, multiple data centers |
||
| Document | Graph | ||
Use case: Rapid development, Web and programmer friendly |
Use case: Best at dealing with complexity and relationships/networks |
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Store the application data in a long-term repository with the means to locate and read it for regulatory and compliance purposes.
Migrate to a new version of the application, facilitating the process of moving software applications from one computing environment to another.
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.
Review the current Domino platform roadmap and understand HCL’s support model. Keep the application within the Domino platform.
Retire the application, storing the application data in a long-term repository.
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.
Be aware of the costs associated with archiving. The more you archive, the more it will cost you.
Migrate to a new version of the application
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.
Transition an existing Domino application to a new modern platform
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:
There is a difference between a migration and a replatform application strategy. Determine which solution aligns to the application requirements.
Stay with HCL, understanding its future commitment to the platform.
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:
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.
“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.”*
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.
Croatia
“Providing leading solutions, resources, and expertise to help your organization transform its collaborative environment.”*
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
Canada
* rivit.ca
“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.”*
SkyBow Studio: The low-code platform fully integrated into Microsoft 365
Switzerland
“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.”*
CIMtrek SharePoint Migrator: Reduce the time and cost of migrating your IBM® Lotus Notes® applications to Office 365, SharePoint online, and SharePoint on premises.
United Kingdom
“4WS.Platform is a rapid application development tool used to quickly create multi-channel applications including web and mobile applications.”*
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.
Italy
Application rationalization is the perfect exercise to fully understand your business-developed applications, their importance to business process, and the potential underlying financial impact.
Use this Application Rationalization Tool to input the outcomes of your various application assessments
Follow the instructions to generate recommended dispositions and populate an application portfolio roadmap.
Watch out for misleading scores that result from poorly designed criteria weightings.
Manage your application portfolio to minimize risk and maximize value.
Empower the business to implement their own applications with a trusted business-IT relationship.
Extend IT, automation, and digital capabilities to the business with the right tools, good governance, and trusted organizational relationships.
Optimize your organization’s enterprise application capabilities with a refined and scalable methodology.
Leverage your vendor sourcing process to get better results.
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 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.
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.
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.
The TY advisory service is tailored to your needs. It combines the best of traditional IT consulting expertise with the analysis and remedial solutions of an expert bureau.
When you observe specific symptoms, TY analyses the exact areas that contribute to these symptoms.
TY specializes in IT Operations and goes really deep in that area. We define IT Operations as the core service you deliver to your clients:
When you see your operation running smoothly, it looks obvious and simple, but it is not. IT Operations is a concerto, under the leadership of a competent IT Ops Conductor-Manager. IT Ops keeps the lights on and ensures your reputation with your clients and the market as a whole as a predictable and dependable business partner. And we help you achieve this, based on more than 30 years of IT Ops experience.
As most companies' business services are linked at the hip with IT, your IT Operations, in other words, are your key to a successful business.
That is why we work via a simple value-based proposition. We discuss your wants and together discover your needs. Once we all agree, only then do we make our proposal. Anything you learned on the way, is yours to keep and use.
Gert has advised clients on what to do before issues happen. We have also worked to bring companies back from the brink after serious events. TY has brought services back after big incidents.
You need to get it done, not in theory, but via actionable advice and if required, via our actions and implementation prowess. It's really elementary. Anyone can create a spreadsheet with to-do lists and talk about how resilience laws like DORA and NIS2 need to be implemented.
It's not the talk that counts, it's the walk. Service delivery is in our DNA. Resilience is our life.
Good governance directly ensures happy clients because staff knows what to do when and allows them leeway in improving the service. And this governance will satisfy auditors.
Incidents erode client confidence in your service and company. You must get them fixed in accordance with their importance,
You don't want repeat incidents! Tackle the root causes and fix issues permanently. Save money by doing this right.
You must update your services to stay the best in your field. Do it in a controlled yet efficient way. Lose overhead where you can, add the right controls where you must.
The base for most of your processes. You gotta know what you have and how it works together to provide the services to your clients.
IT monitoring delivers business value by catching issues before they become problems. With real-time insights into system performance and security, you can minimize downtime, improve efficiency, and make better decisions that keep your operations strong and your customers happy.
Bring all the IT Operations services together and measure how they perform versus set business relevant KPI's
Disaster recovery is your company's safety net for getting critical systems and data back up and running after a major disruption, focusing on fast IT recovery and minimizing financial and operational losses, whereas business continuity ensures the entire business keeps functioning during and after the crisis.
Business continuity is keeping your company running smoothly during disruptions by having the right plans, processes, and backups in place to minimize downtime and protect your operations, customers, and reputation. We go beyond disaster recovery and make sure your critical processes can continue to function.
Hope for the best, but plan for the worst. When you embark on a new venture, know how to get out of it. Planning to exit is best done in the very beginning, but better late than when it is too late.
We base our analysis on over 30 years experience in corporate and large volume dynamic services. Unique to our service is that we take your company culture into account, while we adjust the mindset of the experts working in these areas.
Your people are what will make these processes work efficiently. We take their ideas, hard capabilities and leadership capabilities into account and improve upon where needed. That helps your company and the people themselves.
We look at the existing governance and analyse where they are best in class or how we can make them more efficient. We identify the gaps and propose remedial updates. Our updates are verified through earlier work, vetted by first and second line and sometimes even regulators
Next we decide with you on how to implement the updates to the areas that need them.
Please schedule your complimentary 30-minute discovery call below.
There is no financial commitment required from you. During this meeting we discus further in detail the issue at hand and the direction of the ideal solution and the way of working.
We take in the information of our talks and prepare the the roadmap to the individualized solution for you.
By now, TY has a good idea of how we can help you, and we have prepared a roadmap to solving the issue. In this meeting we present the way forward our way of working and what it will require from you.
If you decide this is not what you expected, you are free to take the information provided so far and work with it yourself.
After the previous meeting and agreement in principle, you will have by now received our offer.
When you decide to work together, we start our partnership and solve the issue. We work to ensure you are fully satisfied with the result.
Do you experience any of the following challenges:
Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:
Ask the right questions and pressure test the workflow so the documentation is as helpful as possible to all who consult it.
Use this workflow as an example of the output of an onboarding workflow-improvement activity.
Emily Sugerman Info-Tech Research Group |
You can’t mature processes without also documenting them. Process documentation is most effective when workflows are both written out and also visualized in the form of flow charts. Your workflows may appear in standard operating procedures, in business continuity and disaster recovery plans, or anywhere else a process’ steps need to be made explicit. Often, just getting something down on paper is a win. However, the best workflows usually do not emerge fully-formed out of a first draft. Your workflow documentation must achieve two things:
This research will use the example of improving an onboarding workflow. Ask the right questions and pressure test the workflow so the documentation is as helpful as possible to all who consult it. |
Your Challenge |
Common Obstacles |
Info-Tech’s Approach |
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Use this material to help
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Info-Tech Insight
Don’t just document – target your future state as you document your workflows. Find opportunities for automation, pinpoint key handoff points, and turn cold handoffs into warm handoffs.

Keep future state in mind.
Don’t just document – target your future state as you document your workflows. Find opportunities for automation, pinpoint key handoff points, and turn cold handoffs into warm handoffs.
Promote the benefits of documenting workflows as flowcharts.
Foreground to the IT team how this will improve customer experience. End-users will benefit from more efficient workflows.
Remember the principle of constructive criticism.
Don’t be afraid to critique the workflow but remember this can be a team-building experience. Focus on how these changes will be mutually beneficial, not assigning blame for workflow friction.
Don’t waste time building shelfware.
Establish a review cadence to ensure the flowchart is a living document that people actually use.
Risks of inadequate workflows |
Benefits of documented workflows |
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Use these talking points to build commitment toward documenting/updating processes.
Risk reduction
“Our outdated documentation is a risk, as people will assume the documented process is accurate.”
Transparency
“The activity of mapping our processes will bring transparency to everyone involved.”
Accountability
“Flow charts will help us clarify task ownership at a glance.”
Accessibility
“Some team members prefer diagrams over written steps, so we should provide both.”
Knowledge centralization
“Our flow charts will include links to other supporting documentation (checklists, vendor documentation, other flowcharts).”
Role clarification
“Separating steps into swim lanes can clarify different tiers, process stages, and ownership, while breaking down silos.”
Communication
To leadership/upper management: “This process flow chart quickly depicts the big picture.”
Knowledge transfer
“Flow charts will help bring new staff up to speed more quickly.”
Consistency
“Documenting a process standardizes it and enables everyone to do it in the same way.”
A pictorial representation of a process that is used to achieve transparency.
This research will use one specific example of an onboarding process workflow. Before drilling down into onboarding workflows specifically, review Info-Tech’s Process Mapping Guide for general guidance on what to do before you begin:

Download the Process Mapping Guide
Good candidates include:
Application Development Process
Application Maintenance Process
Business Continuity Plan Business Process
Business Continuity Plan Recovery Process
Commitment Purchasing Workflow
Coordinated Vulnerability Disclosure Process
Data Protection Recovery Workflow
Disaster Recovery Plan/Business Continuity Plan Review Workflow
End-User Device Management Workflow Library
Incident Management and Service Desk Workflows
Security Policy Exception Process
Self-Service Resolution Process
Service Desk Ticket Intake by Channel
Onboarding is a perennial challenge due to the large number of separate teams and departments who are implicated in the process.
There can be resistance to alignment. As a result, everyone needs to be pulled in to see the big picture and the impact of an overly manual and disconnected process.
Additionally, the quality of the overall onboarding process (of which IT is but one part) has a significant impact on the employee experience of new hires, and the long-term experience of those employees. This workflow is therefore often a good one to target for improvement.
“Organizations with a standardized onboarding process experience 62% greater new hire productivity, along with 50% greater new hire retention.”1
“Companies that focus on onboarding retain 50% more new employees than companies that don’t.”2
In the tabletop exercise, your team will walk through your onboarding process step by step and document what happens at each stage. Prep for this meeting with the following steps:
Facilitator
Tasks:
Notetaker
Tasks:
Lack of communication/expectation setting with users: |
Messy process, poor coordination among task owners: |
User experience affected: |
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Start, End, and Connector. Traditional flowcharting standards reserve this shape for connectors to other flowcharts or other points in the existing flowchart. Unified modeling language (UML) also uses the circle for start and end points. Start, End. Traditional flowcharting standards use this for start and end. However, Info-Tech recommends using the circle shape to reduce the number of shapes and avoid confusion with other similar shapes. Process Step. Individual process steps or activities (e.g. create ticket or escalate ticket). If it’s a series of steps, then use the sub-process symbol and flowchart the sub-process separately. Sub-Process. A series of steps. For example, a critical incident standard operating procedure (SOP) might reference a recovery process as one of the possible actions. Marking it as a sub-process, rather than listing each step within the critical incident SOP, streamlines the flowchart and avoids overlap with other flowcharts (e.g. the recovery process). Decision. Represents decision points, typically with yes/no branches, but you could have other branches depending on the question (e.g. a “Priority” question could branch into separate streams for Priority 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 issues). Document/Report Output. For example, the output from a backup process might include an error log. |

Time to review and revise the workflow. What gaps exist? How can you improve the process? What documentation gaps have been overlooked?
Consider the following refinements for the onboarding workflow:
Facilitator
Tasks:
Notetaker
Tasks:

Solicit feedback from the group.
"
Be complete.
The workflow should surface tacit knowledge, so make it explicit (Haddadpoor et al.):
Identify task ownership.
The flow chart will be more useful if it clearly identifies who does what in the process.

“Each task has an owner, and the task list is visible to the employee and other stakeholders, so there's visibility about whether each person has done their actions.”
For onboarding, this means setting SLOs/SLAs and internal timepoints.
Add internal timepoints for the major steps/tasks in the workflow. Begin to track these service level objectives and adjust as necessary.
When you have validated the service level objectives are accurate and you can meet them an acceptable amount of time, communicate the overall SLA to your users. This will ensure they submit future onboarding requests to your team with enough lead time to fulfill the request. Try to place the SLA directly in the service catalog.
“Tracking the time within the workflow can be a powerful way to show the working group why there is user dissatisfaction.”
Sandi Conrad, Principal Advisory Director, Info-Tech Research Group
For onboarding, this means implementing a transactional survey.
The onboarding workflow will be subject to periodic reviews and continual improvement. Suggestions for improvement should come not only from the internal IT team, but also the users themselves.
Use Info-Tech’s Take Action on Service Desk Customer Feedback for more guidance on creating these surveys.
For onboarding, approvals can be the main roadblock to fulfilling requests
A positive onboarding experience is an important part of a new employee’s success.
Though IT is only one part of an employee’s onboarding experience, it’s an important part. Delays for hardware procurement and a lack of communication can lead to employee disengagement. Ask the team:
Place communication bullet points in the flow chart to indicate where the team will reach out to users to update or notify them of delays.
Where can we automate for onboarding?
Identify when the process is dragged out due to waiting times (e.g. times when the technician can’t address the ticket right away).
Avoid reinforcing manual processes, which make it even harder for departmental silos to work together.
Create role-based templates.
Does HR know which applications our users need? Are they deferring to the manager, who then asks IT to simply duplicate an existing user?
Personas are asset profiles that apply to multiple users (e.g. in a department) and that can be easily duplicated for new hires. You might create three persona groups in a department, with variations within each subgroup or title. To do this, you need accurate information upfront.
Then, if you’re doing zero touch deployment, you can automate software to automatically load.
Many HRIS systems have the ability to create a persona, and also to add users to the AD, email, and distribution groups without IT getting involved. This can alleviate work from the sysadmin. Does our HRIS do this?
How does the group feel about the revised workflow?
Download the Workflow Activity: Onboarding Example
Remember the principle of constructive criticism.
Don’t be afraid to critique the workflow but remember this can also be a team-building experience. Focus on how these changes will be mutually beneficial, not assigning blame for workflow friction.

Decide how often this workflow will be revised.
Share the flowchart and set up a review meeting.
Don’t waste time building shelfware.
Establish a review cadence to ensure the flowchart is a living document that people actually use.
“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.”
Bushkill, Claire. “The top 5 ways to automate your onboarding checklist.” Rippling Blog. 18 Mar 2022. Accessed 29 Nov 2022. Ha https://www.rippling.com/blog/the-top-5-ways-to-automate-your-onboarding-checklist
Carucci, Ron. “To Retain New Hires, Spend More Time Onboarding Them.” Harvard Business Review, 3 Dec 2018
Haddadpoor, Asefeh, et al. “Process Documentation: A Model for Knowledge Management in Organizations.” Materia Socio-Medica, vol. 27, no. 5, Oct. 2015, pp. 347–50. PubMed Central, https://doi.org/10.5455/msm.2015.27.347-350.
King, Melissa. “New hire checklist: An employee onboarding checklist template for 2022.” Zapier. 14 Jul 2022. Accessed 29 Nov 2022. https://zapier.com/blog/onboarding-checklist/
Uzialko, Adam. “What Does Poor Onboarding Really Do to Your Team?” Business News Daily. 23 Jan 2023.
https://www.manageengine.com/products/service-desk...
Sandi Conrad, Principal Advisory Director, Infrastructure and Operations, Info-Tech Research Group
Christine Coz, Executive Counselor, Info-Tech Research Group
Allison Kinnaird, Practice Lead, Infrastructure and Operations, Info-Tech Research Group
Natalie Sansone, Research Director, Infrastructure and Operations, Info-Tech Research Group
Even in a highly tool-centric view, it is the appreciation of DevOps core principles that will determine your success in implementing its practices.
Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:
Understand the current state of your software delivery process and categorize existing challenges in it.
Brainstorm solutions using Info-Tech Research Group’s MATURE framework.
Identify metrics that are insightful and valuable. Determine tools that can help with DevOps practices implementation.
Lay out a schedule for enhancements for your software process to make it ready for DevOps.
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.
Set the context for improvement.
Provide a great foundation for an actionable vision and goals that people can align to.
1.1 Review the outcome of the DevOps Readiness Survey.
1.2 Articulate the current-state delivery process.
1.3 Categorize existing challenges using PEAS.
Baseline assessment of the organization’s readiness for introducing DevOps principles in its delivery process
A categorized list of challenges currently evident in the delivery process
Brainstorm solutions using the MATURE framework.
Collaborative list of solutions to challenges that are restricting/may restrict adoption of DevOps in your organization.
2.1 Brainstorm solutions for identified challenges.
2.2 Understand different DevOps topologies within the context of strong communication and collaboration.
A list of solutions that will enhance the current delivery process into one which is influenced by DevOps principles
(Optional) Identify a team topology that works for your organization.
Select metrics and tools for your DevOps-inspired delivery pipeline.
Enable your team to select the right metrics and tool chain that support the implementation of DevOps practices.
3.1 Identify metrics that are sensible and provide meaningful insights into your organization’s DevOps transition.
3.2 Determine the set of tools that satisfy enterprise standards and can be used to implement DevOps practices.
3.3 (Optional) Assess DevOps pipeline maturity.
A list of metrics that will assist in measuring the progress of your organization’s DevOps transition
A list of tools that meet enterprise standards and enhance delivery processes
Build a plan laying out the work needed to be done for implementing the necessary changes to your organization.
Roadmap of steps to take in the coming future.
4.1 Create a roadmap for future-state delivery process.
Roadmap for future-state delivery process
Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:
Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:
Get an overview of the core disciplines of the data and analytics landscape.
Most organizations go through an organizational redesign to:
Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:
The purpose of this storyboard is to provide a four-phased approach to organizational redesign.
Use this templated Communication Deck to ensure impacted stakeholders have a clear understanding of why the new organizational structure is needed and what that structure will look like.
This template provides IT leaders with an opportunity to present their case for a change in organizational structure and roles to secure the funding and buy-in required to operate in the new structure.
This Workbook allows IT and business leadership to work through the steps required to complete the organizational redesign process and document key rationale for those decisions.
Refer to this tool when working through the redesign process to better understand the operating model sketches and the capability definitions. Each capability has been tied back to core frameworks that exist within the information and technology space.
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.
Lay the foundation for your organizational redesign by establishing a set of organizational design principles that will guide the redesign process.
Clearly articulate why this organizational redesign is needed and the implications the strategies and context will have on your structure.
1.1 Define the org design drivers.
1.2 Document and define the implications of the business context.
1.3 Align the structure to support the strategy.
1.4 Establish guidelines to direct the organizational design process.
Clear definition of the need to redesign the organizational structure
Understanding of the business context implications on the organizational structure creation.
Strategic impact of strategies on organizational design.
Customized Design Principles to rationalize and guide the organizational design process.
Select and customize an operating model sketch that will accurately reflect the future state your organization is striving towards. Consider how capabilities will be sourced, gaps in delivery, and alignment.
A customized operating model sketch that informs what capabilities will make up your IT organization and how those capabilities will align to deliver value to your organization.
2.1 Augmented list of IT capabilities.
2.2 Capability gap analysis
2.3 Identified capabilities for outsourcing.
2.4 Select a base operating model sketch.
2.5 Customize the IT operating model sketch.
Customized list of IT processes that make up your organization.
Analysis of which capabilities require dedicated focus in order to meet goals.
Definition of why capabilities will be outsourced and the method of outsourcing used to deliver the most value.
Customized IT operating model reflecting sourcing, centralization, and intended delivery of value.
Translate the operating model sketch into a formal structure with defined functional teams, roles, reporting structure, and responsibilities.
A detailed organizational chart reflecting team structures, reporting structures, and role responsibilities.
3.1 Categorize your IT capabilities within your defined functional work units.
3.2 Create a mandate statement for each work unit.
3.3 Define roles inside the work units and assign accountability and responsibility.
3.4 Finalize your organizational structure.
Capabilities Organized Into Functional Groups
Functional Work Unit Mandates
Organizational Chart
Ensure the successful implementation of the new organizational structure by strategically communicating and involving stakeholders.
A clear plan of action on how to transition to the new structure, communicate the new organizational structure, and measure the effectiveness of the new structure.
4.1 Identify and mitigate key org design risks.
4.2 Define the transition plan.
4.3 Create the change communication message.
4.4 Create a standard set of FAQs.
4.5 Align sustainment metrics back to core drivers.
Risk Mitigation Plan
Change Communication Message
Standard FAQs
Implementation and sustainment metrics.
Allison Straker
Research Director,
Organizational Transformation
Brittany Lutes
Senior Research Analyst,
Organizational Transformation
An organizational structure is much more than a chart with titles and names. It defines the way that the organization operates on a day-to-day basis to enable the successful delivery of the organization’s information and technology objectives. Moreover, organizational design sees beyond the people that might be performing a specific role. People and role titles will and often do change frequently. Those are the dynamic elements of organizational design that allow your organization to scale and meet specific objectives at defined points of time. Capabilities, on the other hand, are focused and related to specific IT processes.
Redesigning an IT organizational structure can be a small or large change transformation for your organization. Create a structure that is equally mindful of the opportunities and the constraints that might exist and ensure it will drive the organization towards its vision with a successful implementation. If everyone understands why the IT organization needs to be structured that way, they are more likely to support and adopt the behaviors required to operate in the new structure.
Your organization needs to reorganize itself because:
Many organizations struggle when it comes redesigning their IT organizational structure because they:
Successful IT organization redesign includes:
A successful redesign requires a strong foundation and a plan to ensure successful adoption. Without these, the organizational chart has little meaning or value.
Organizational design is a challenge for many IT and digital executives
69% of digital executives surveyed indicated challenges related to structure, team silos, business-IT alignment, and required roles when executing on a digital strategy.
To overcome these barriers:
75% The percentage of change efforts that fail.
55% The percentage of practitioners who identify how information flows between work units as a challenge for their organization.
IT organizational design refers to the process of aligning the organization’s structure, processes, metrics, and talent to the organization’s strategic plan to drive efficiency and effectiveness.
Why is the right IT organizational design so critical to success? |
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Adaptability is at the core of staying competitive today |
Structure is not just an organizational chart |
Organizational design is a never-ending process |
Digital technology and information transparency are driving organizations to reorganize around customer responsiveness. To remain relevant and competitive, your organizational design must be forward looking and ready to adapt to rapid pivots in technology or customer demand. |
The design of your organization dictates how roles function. If not aligned to the strategic direction, the structure will act as a bungee cord and pull the organization back toward its old strategic direction (ResearchGate.net, 2014). Structure supports strategy, but strategy also follows structure. |
Organization design is not a one-time project but a continuous, dynamic process of organizational self-learning and continuous improvement. Landing on the right operating model will provide a solid foundation to build upon as the organization adapts to new challenges and opportunities. |
Organizational design the process in which you intentionally align the organizational structure to the strategy. It considers the way in which the organization should operate and purposely aligns to the enterprise vision. This process often considers centralization, sourcing, span of control, specialization, authority, and how those all impact or are impacted by the strategic goals.
Operating models provide an architectural blueprint of how IT capabilities are organized to deliver value. The placement of the capabilities can alter the culture, delivery of the strategic vision, governance model, team focus, role responsibility, and more. Operating model sketches should be foundational to the organizational design process, providing consistency through org chart changes.
The organizational structure is the chosen way of aligning the core processes to deliver. This can be strategic, or it can be ad hoc. We recommend you take a strategic approach unless ad hoc aligns to your culture and delivery method. A good organizational structure will include: “someone with authority to make the decisions, a division of labor and a set of rules by which the organization operates” (Bizfluent, 2019).
The capstone of this change initiative is an easy-to-read chart that visualizes the roles and reporting structure. Most organizations use this to depict where individuals fit into the organization and if there are vacancies. While this should be informed by the structure it does not necessarily depict workflows that will take place. Moreover, this is the output of the organizational design process.
All three elements of the Technology Value Trinity work in harmony to delivery business value and achieve strategic needs. As one changes, the others need to change as well.
How do these three elements relate?
Too often strategy, organizational design, and governance are considered separate practices – strategies are defined without teams and resources to support. Structure must follow strategy.
Like a story, a strategy without a structure to deliver on it is simply words on paper.
Books begin by setting the foundation of the story.
Introduce your story by:
The plot cannot thicken without the foundation. Your organizational structure and chart should not exist without one either.
The steps to establish your organizational chart - with functional teams, reporting structure, roles, and responsibilities defined – cannot occur without a clear definition of goals, need, and context. An organizational chart alone won’t provide the insight required to obtain buy-in or realize the necessary changes.
Conclude your story through change management and communication.
Good stories don’t end without referencing what happened before. Use the literary technique of foreshadowing – your change management must be embedded throughout the organizational redesign process. This will increase the likelihood that the organizational structure can be communicated, implemented, and reinforced by stakeholders.
Once your IT strategy is defined, it is critical to identify the capabilities that are required to deliver on those strategic initiatives. Each initiative will require a combination of these capabilities that are only supported through the appropriate organization of roles, skills, and team structures.
For each phase of this blueprint, its important to consider change management. These are the points when you need to communicate the structure changes:
Do not undertake an organizational redesign initiative if you will not engage in change management practices that are required to ensure its successful adoption.
Given that the organizational redesign is intended to align with the overall vision and objectives of the business, many of the metrics that support its success will be tied to the business. Adapt the key performance indicators (KPIs) that the business is using to track its success and demonstrate how IT can enable the business and improve its ability to reach those targets.
The percentage of resources dedicated to strategic priorities and initiatives supported by IT operating model. While operational resources are necessary, ensuring people are allocating time to strategic initiatives as well will drive the business towards its goal state. Leverage Info-Tech’s IT Staffing Assessment diagnostic to benchmark your IT resource allocation.
Assess the improvement in business satisfaction overall with IT year over year to ensure the new structure continues to drive satisfaction across all business functions. Leverage Info-Tech’s CIO Business Vision diagnostic to see how your IT organization is perceived.
The degree of clarity that IT employees have around their role and its core responsibilities can lead to employee engagement and retention. Consider measuring this core job driver by leveraging Info-Tech’s Employee Engagement Program.
Measure customer satisfaction with technology-enabled business services or products and improvements in technology-enabled client acquisition or retention processes. Assess the percentage of users satisfied with the quality of IT service delivery and leverage Info-Tech’s End-User Satisfaction Survey to determine improvements.
Phase |
1. Establish the Organizational Design Foundation |
2. Create the Operating Model Sketch |
3. Formalize the Organizational Structure |
4. Plan for Implementation and Change |
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Phase Outcomes |
Lay the foundation for your organizational redesign by establishing a set of organizational design principles that will guide the redesign process. |
Select and customize an operating model sketch that will accurately reflect the future state your organization is striving towards. Consider how capabilities will be sourced, gaps in delivery, and alignment. |
Translate the operating model sketch into a formal structure with defined functional teams, roles, reporting structure, and responsibilities. |
Ensure the successful implementation of the new organizational structure by strategically communicating and involving stakeholders. |
Organizational redesign processes focus on defining the ways in which you want to operate and deliver on your strategy – something an organizational chart will never be able to convey.
Focus on your organization, not someone else's’. Benchmarking your organizational redesign to other organizations will not work. Other organizations have different strategies, drivers, and context.
An operating model sketch that is customized to your organization’s specific situation and objectives will significantly increase the chances of creating a purposeful organizational structure.
If you follow the steps outlined in the first three phases, creating your new organizational chart should be one of the fastest activities.
Throughout the creation of a new organizational design structure, it is critical to involve the individuals and teams that will be impacted.
You could have the best IT employees in the world, but if they aren’t structured well your organization will still fail in reaching its vision.
Each step of this blueprint is accompanied by supporting deliverables to help you accomplish your goals:
Communication Deck
Communicate the changes to other key stakeholders such as peers, managers, and staff.
Workbook
As you work through each of the activities, use this workbook as a place to document decisions and rationale.
Reference Deck
Definitions for every capability, base operating model sketches, and sample organizational charts aligned to those operating models.
Job Descriptions
Key deliverable:
Executive Presentation
Leverage this presentation deck to gain executive buy-in for your new organizational structure.
INDUSTRY: Government
SOURCE: Analyst Interviews and Working Sessions
IT was tasked with providing equality to the different business functions through the delivery of shared IT services. The government created a new IT organizational structure with a focus on two areas in particular: strategic and operational support capabilities.
When creating the new IT structure, an understanding of the complex and differing needs of the business functions was not reflected in the shared services model.
As a result, the new organizational structure for IT did not ensure adequate meeting of business needs. Only the operational support structure was successfully adopted by the organization as it aligned to the individual business objectives. The strategic capabilities aspect was not aligned to how the various business lines viewed themselves and their objectives, causing some partners to feel neglected.
"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.
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.
Phase 1
Call #1: Define the process, understand the need, and create a plan of action.
Phase 2
Call #2: Define org. design drivers and business context.
Call #3: Understand strategic influences and create customized design principles.
Call #4: Customize, analyze gaps, and define sourcing strategy for IT capabilities.
Call #5: Select and customize the IT operating model sketch.
Phase 3
Call #6: Establish functional work units and their mandates.
Call #7: Translate the functional organizational chart to an operational organizational chart with defined roles.
Phase 4
Call #8: Consider risks and mitigation tactics associated with the new structure and select a transition plan.
Call #9: Create your change message, FAQs, and metrics to support the implementation plan.
Contact your account representative for more information.
workshops@infotech.com 1-888-670-8889
Day 1 |
Day 2 |
Day 3 |
Day 4 |
Day 5 |
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Establish the Organizational Redesign Foundation |
Create the Operating Model Sketch |
Formalize the Organizational Structure |
Plan for Implementation and Change |
Next Steps and |
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Activities |
1.1 Define the org. design drivers. 1.2 Document and define the implications of the business context. 1.3 Align the structure to support the strategy. 1.4 Establish guidelines to direct the organizational design process. |
2.1 Augment list of IT capabilities. 2.2 Analyze capability gaps. 2.3 Identify capabilities for outsourcing. 2.4 Select a base operating model sketch. 2.5 Customize the IT operating model sketch. |
3.1 Categorize your IT capabilities within your defined functional work units. 3.2 Create a mandate statement for each work unit. 3.3 Define roles inside the work units and assign accountability and responsibility. 3.4 Finalize your organizational structure. |
4.1 Identify and mitigate key org. design risks. 4.2 Define the transition plan. 4.3 Create the change communication message. 4.4 Create a standard set of FAQs. 4.5 Align sustainment metrics back to core drivers. |
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 |
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PART 1: DESIGN |
PART 2: STRUCTURE |
PART 3: IMPLEMENT |
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IT Organizational Architecture |
Organizational Sketch |
Organizational Structure |
Organizational Chart |
Transition Strategy |
Implement Structure |
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1. Define the organizational design drivers, business context, and strategic alignment. 2. Create customized design principles. 3. Develop and customize a strategically aligned operating model sketch. 4. Define the future-state work units. 5. Create future-state work unit mandates. |
6. Define roles by work unit. 7. Turn roles into jobs with clear capability accountabilities and responsibilities. 8. Define reporting relationships between jobs. 9. Assess options and select go-forward organizational sketch. |
11. Validate organizational sketch. 12. Analyze workforce utilization. 13. Define competency framework. 14. Identify competencies required for jobs. |
15. Determine number of positions per job 16. Conduct competency assessment. 17. Assign staff to jobs. 18. Build a workforce and staffing plan. |
19. Form an OD implementation team. 20. Develop change vision. 21. Build communication presentation. 22. Identify and plan change projects. 23. Develop organizational transition plan. |
24. Train managers to lead through change. 25. Define and implement stakeholder engagement plan. 26. Develop individual transition plans. 27. Implement transition plans. |
Risk Management: Create, implement, and monitor risk management plan.
HR Management: Develop job descriptions, conduct job evaluation, and develop compensation packages.
Monitor and Sustain Stakeholder Engagement
This phase will walk you through the following activities:
1.1 Define the organizational redesign driver(s)
1.2 Create design principles based on the business context
1.3a (Optional Exercise) Identify the capabilities from your value stream
1.3b Identify the capabilities required to deliver on your strategies
1.4 Finalize your list of design principles
This phase involves the following participants:
Changes are most successful when leaders clearly articulate the reason for the change – the rationale for the organizational redesign of the IT function. Providing both staff and executive leaders with an understanding for this change is imperative to its success. Despite the potential benefits to a redesign, they can be disruptive. If you are unable to answer the reason why, a redesign might not be the right initiative for your organization.
Employees who understand the rationale behind decisions made by executive leaders are 3.6 times more likely to be engaged.
Successful adoption of the new organizational design requires change management from the beginning. Start considering how you will convey the need for organizational change within your IT organization.
All aspects of your IT organization’s structure should be designed with the business’ context and strategic direction in mind.
Use the following set of slides to extract the key components of your drivers, business context, and strategic direction to land on a future structure that aligns with the larger strategic direction.
Driver(s) can originate from within the IT organization or externally. Ensuring the driver(s) are easy to understand and articulate will increase the successful adoption of the new organizational structure.
Defines the interactions that occur throughout the organization and between the organization and external stakeholders. The context provides insight into the environment by both defining the purpose of the organization and the values that frame how it operates.
The IT strategy should be aligned to the overall business strategy, providing insight into the types of capabilities required to deliver on key IT initiatives.
Where are we today?
Determine the current overall maturity level of the IT organization.
Where do we want to be as an organization?
Use the inputs from Info-Tech’s diagnostic data to determine where the organization should be after its reorganization.
How can you leverage these results?
The result of these diagnostics will inform the design principles that you’ll create in this phase.
CIO Business Vision Diagnostic
Management & Governance Diagnostic
Effectiveness is a concern:
New capabilities are needed:
Lack of business understanding
Workforce challenges
Avoid change for change’s sake. Restructuring could completely miss the root cause of the problem and merely create a series of new ones.
1-2 hours
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Participants |
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Record the results in the Organizational Design Communications Deck
Workforce Considerations:
Business Context Consideration |
IT Org. Design Implication |
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Culture: Culture, "the way we do things here,” has huge implications for executing strategy, driving engagement, and providing a guiding force that ensures organizations can work together toward common goals.
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Consider whether your organization’s culture can accept the operating model and organizational structure changes that make sense on paper. Certain cultures may lean toward particular operating models. For example, the demand-develop-service operating model may be supported by a cooperative culture. A traditional organization may lean towards the plan-build-run operating model. Ensure you have considered your current culture and added exercises to support it. If more capacity is required to accomplish the goals of the organization, you’ll want to prepare the leaders and explain the need in your design principles (to reflect training, upskilling, or outsourcing). Unionized environments require additional consideration. They may necessitate less structural changes, and so your principles will need to reflect other alternatives (hiring additional resources, creative options) to support organizational needs. Hybrid or fully remote workforces may impact how your organization interacts. |
Business Context Consideration | IT Org. Design Implication |
Control & Governance: It is important to consider how your organization is governed, how decisions are made, and who has authority to make decisions. Strategy tells what you do, governance validates you’re doing the right things, and structure is how you execute on what’s been approved.
| Organizations that require more controls may lean toward more centralized governance. Organizations that are looking to better enable and empower their divisions (products, groups, regions, etc.) may look to embed governance in these parts of the organization. For enterprise organizations, consider where IT has authority to make decisions (at the global, local, or system level). Appropriate governance needs to be built into the appropriate levels. |
Business Context Consideration | IT Org. Design Implication |
Financial Constraints: Follow the money: You may need to align your IT organization according to the funding model.
| Determine if you can move forward with a new model or if you can adjust your existing one to suit the financial constraints. If you have no say over your funding, pre-work may be required to build a business case to change your funding model before you look at your organizational structure – without this, you might have to rule out centralized and focus on hybrid/centralized. If you don’t control the budget (funding comes from your partners), it will be difficult to move to a more centralized model. A federated business organization may require additional IT governance to help prioritize across the different areas. Budgets for digital transformation might come from specific areas of the business, so resources may need to be aligned to support that. You’ll have to consider how you will work with those areas. This may also impact the roles that are going to exist within your IT organization – product owners or division owners might have more say. |
Business Context Consideration | IT Org. Design Implication |
Business Perspective of IT: How the business perceives IT and how IT perceives itself are sometimes not aligned. Make sure the business’ goals for IT are well understood.
Business Organization Structure and Growth:
| If IT needs to become more of a business partner, you’ll want to define what that means to your organization and focus on the capabilities to enable this. Educating your partners might also be required if you’re not aligned. For many organizations, this will include stakeholder management, innovation, and product/project management. If IT and its business partners are satisfied with an order-taker relationship, be prepared for the consequences of that. A global organization will require different IT needs than a single location. Specifically, site reliability engineering (SRE) or IT support services might be deployed in each region. Organizations growing through mergers and acquisitions can be structured differently depending on what the organization needs from the transaction. A more centralized organization may be appropriate if the driver is reuse for a more holistic approach, or the organization may need a more decentralized organization if the acquisitions need to be handled uniquely. |
Business Context Consideration | IT Org. Design Implication |
Sourcing Strategy:
Change Tolerance:
| Your sourcing strategy affects your organizational structure, including what capabilities you group together. Since managing outsourced capabilities also includes the need for vendor management, you’ll need to ensure there aren’t too many capabilities required per leader. Look closely at what can be achieved through your operating model if IT is done through other groups. Even though these groups may not be in scope of your organization changes, you need to ensure your IT team works with them effectively. If your organization is going to push back if there are big structural changes, consider whether the changes are truly necessary. It may be preferred to take baby steps – use an incremental versus big-bang approach. A need for incremental change might mean not making a major operating model change. |
Business Context Consideration | IT Org Design. Implication |
Stakeholder Engagement & Focus: Identify who your customers and stakeholders are; clarify their needs and engagement model.
Business Vision, Services, and Products: Articulate what your organization was built to do.
| For a customer or user focus, ensure capabilities related to understanding needs (stakeholder, UX, etc.) are prioritized. Hybrid, decentralized, or demand-develop-service models often have more of a focus on customer needs. Outsourcing the service desk might be a consideration if there’s a high demand for the service. A differentiation between these users might mean there’s a different demand for services. Think broadly in terms of your organizational vision, not just the tactical (widget creation). You might need to choose an operating model that supports vision. Do you need to align your organization with your value stream? Do you need to decentralize specific capabilities to enable prioritization of the key capabilities? |
1-3 hours
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Materials | Participants |
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Record the results in the Organizational Design Communications Deck
Designing your IT organization requires an assessment of what it needs to be built to do:
The IT organization must reflect your business needs:
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Record the results in the Organizational Design Communications Deck
Ensure that you have a clear view of the goals and initiatives that are needed in your organization. Your IT, digital, business, and/or other strategies will surface the IT capabilities your organization needs to develop. Identify the goals of your organization and the initiatives that are required to deliver on them. What capabilities are required to enable these? These capabilities will need to be reflected in your design principles.
Sample initiatives and capabilities from an organization’s strategies
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Your organizational design principles should define a set of loose rules that can be used to design your organizational structure to the specific needs of the work that needs to be done. These rules will guide you through the selection of the appropriate operating model that will meet your business needs. There are multiple ways you can hypothetically organize yourself to meet these needs, and the design principles will point you in the direction of which solution is the most appropriate as well as explain to your stakeholders the rationale behind organizing in a specific way. This foundational step is critical: one of the key reasons for organizational design failure is a lack of requisite time spent on the front-end understanding what is the best fit.
1-3 hours
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Record the results in the Organizational Design Communications Deck
Design Principle |
Description |
Decision making |
We will centralize decision making around the prioritization of projects to ensure that the initiatives driving the most value for the organization as a whole are executed. |
Fit for purpose |
We will build and maintain fit-for-purpose solutions based on business units’ unique needs. |
Reduction of duplication |
We will reduce role and application duplication through centralized management of assets and clearly differentiated roles that allow individuals to focus within key capability areas. |
Managed security |
We will manage security enterprise-wide and implement compliance and security governance policies. |
Reuse > buy > build |
We will maximize reuse of existing assets by developing a centralized application portfolio management function and approach. |
Managed data |
We will create a specialized data office to provide data initiatives with the focus they need to enable our strategy. |
Design Principle |
Description |
Controlled technical diversity |
We will control the variety of technology platforms we use to allow for increased operability and reduction of costs. |
Innovation |
R&D and innovation are critical – we will build an innovation team into our structure to help us meet our digital agenda. |
Resourcing |
We will separate our project and maintenance activities to ensure each are given the dedicated support they need for success and to reduce the firefighting mentality. |
Customer centricity |
The new structure will be directly aligned with customer needs – we will have dedicated roles around relationship management, requirements, and strategic roadmapping for business units. |
Interoperability |
We will strengthen our enterprise architecture practices to best prepare for future mergers and acquisitions. |
Cloud services |
We will move toward hosted versus on-premises infrastructure solutions, retrain our data center team in cloud best practices, and build roles around effective vendor management, cloud provisioning, and architecture. |
This phase will walk you through the following activities:
2.1 Augment the capability list
2.2 Heatmap capabilities to determine gaps in service
2.3 Identify the target state of sourcing for your IT capabilities
2.4 Review and select a base operating model sketch
2.5 Customize the selected overlay to reflect the desired future state
This phase involves the following participants:
Obtain desire from stakeholders to move forward with organizational redesign initiative by involving them in the process to gain interest. This will provide the stakeholders with assurance that their concerns are being heard and will help them to understand the benefits that can be anticipated from the new organizational structure.
“You’re more likely to get buy-in if you have good reason for the proposed changes – and the key is to emphasize the benefits of an organizational redesign.”
Just because people are aware does not mean they agree. Help different stakeholders understand how the change in the organizational structure is a benefit by specifically stating the benefit to them.
Capabilities
Competencies
1-3 hours
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Record the results in the Organizational Design Workbook
Assess the gaps between where you currently are and where you need to be. Evaluate how critical and how effective your capabilities are:
Remember to identify what allows the highly effective capabilities to perform at the capacity they are. Leverage this when increasing effectiveness elsewhere.
High Gap
There is little to no effectiveness (high gap) and the capability is highly important to your organization.
Medium Gap
Current ability is medium in effectiveness (medium gap) and there might be some priority for that capability in your organization.
Low Gap
Current ability is highly effective (low gap) and the capability is not necessarily a priority for your organization.
1-3 hours
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Record the results in the Organizational Design Workbook
There are a few different “types” of outsourcing:
Insourcing |
Staff Augmentation |
Managed Service |
Competitive Advantage |
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Description |
The organization maintains full responsibility for the management and delivery of the IT capability or service. |
Vendor provides specialized skills and enables the IT capability or service together with the organization to meet demand. |
Vendor completely manages the delivery of value for the IT capability, product or service. |
Vendor has unique skills, insights, and best practices that can be taught to staff to enable insourced capability and competency. |
Benefits |
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Drawbacks |
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Capability |
Capacity |
Outsourcing Model |
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Low |
Low |
Your solutions may be with you for a long time, so it doesn’t matter whether it is a strategic decision to outsource development or if you are not able to attract the talent required to deliver in your market. Look for a studio, agency, or development shop that has a proven reputation for long-term partnership with its clients. |
Low |
High |
Your team has capacity but needs to develop new skills to be successful. Look for a studio, agency, or development shop that has a track record of developing its customers and delivering solutions. |
High |
Low |
Your organization knows what it is doing but is strapped for people. Look at “body shops” and recruiting agencies that will support short-term development contracts that can be converted to full-time staff or even a wholesale development shop acquisition. |
High |
High |
You have capability and capacity for delivering on your everyday demands but need to rise to the challenge of a significant, short-term rise in demand on a critical initiative. Look for a major system integrator or development shop with the specific expertise in the appropriate technology. |
Sourcing Criteria | Description | |
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Determine whether you’ll outsource using these criteria | 1. Critical or commodity | Determine whether the component to be sourced is critical to your organization or if it is a commodity. Commodity components, which are either not strategic in nature or related to planning functions, are likely candidates for outsourcing. Will you need to own the intellectual property created by the third party? Are you ok if they reuse that for their other clients? |
2. Readiness to outsource | Identify how easy it would be to outsource a particular IT component. Consider factors such as knowledge transfer, workforce reassignment or reduction, and level of integration with other components. Vendor management readiness – ensuring that you have sufficient capabilities to manage vendors – should also be considered here. | |
3. In-house capabilities | Determine if you have the capability to deliver the IT solutions in-house. This will help you establish how easy it would be to insource an IT component. | |
4. Ability to attract resources (internal vs. outsourced) | Determine if the capability is one that is easily sourced with full-time, internal staff or if it is a specialty skill that is best left for a third-party to source. | |
Determine your sourcing model using these criteria | 5. Cost | Consider the total cost (investment and ongoing costs) of the delivery of the IT component for each of the potential sourcing models for a component. |
| 6. Quality | Define the potential impact on the quality of the IT component being sourced by the possible sourcing models. | |
| 7. Compliance | Determine whether the sourcing model would fit with regulations in your industry. For example, a healthcare provider would only go for a cloud option if that provider is HIPAA compliant. | |
| 8. Security | Identify the extent to which each sourcing option would leave your organization open to security threats. | |
| 9. Flexibility | Determine the extent to which the sourcing model will allow your organization to scale up or down as demand changes. |
1-3 hours
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Record the results in the Organizational Design Workbook
An IT operating model sketch is a visual representation of the way your IT organization needs to be designed and the capabilities it requires to deliver on the business mission, strategic objectives, and technological ambitions. It ensures consistency of all elements in the organizational structure through a clear and coherent blueprint.
The visual should be the optimization and alignment of the IT organization’s structure to deliver the capabilities required to achieve business goals. Additionally, it should clearly show the flow of work so that key stakeholders can understand where inputs flow in and outputs flow out of the IT organization. Investing time in the front end getting 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.
Every structure decision you make should be based on an identified need, not on a trend.Build your IT organization to enable the priorities of the organization.
Centralized |
Hybrid |
Decentralized |
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Disadvantages |
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Decentralization can take a number of different forms depending on the products the organization supports and how the organization is geographically distributed. Use the following set of explanations to understand the different types of decentralization possible and when they may make sense for supporting your organizational objectives.
Decentralization by lines of business (LoB) aligns decision making with business operating units based on related functions or value streams. Localized priorities focus the decision making from the CIO or IT leadership team. This form of decentralization is beneficial in settings where each line of business has a unique set of products or services that require specific expertise or flexible resourcing staffing between the teams.
Decentralization by product line organizes your team into operationally aligned product families to improve delivery throughput, quality, and resource flexibility within the family. By adopting this approach, you create stable product teams with the right balance between flexibility and resource sharing. This reinforces value delivery and alignment to enterprise goals within the product lines.
Geographical decentralization reflects a shift from centralized to regional influences. When teams are in different locations, they can experience a number of roadblocks to effective communication (e.g. time zones, regulatory differences in different countries) that may necessitate separating those groups in the organizational structure, so they have the autonomy needed to make critical decisions.
Functional decentralization allows the IT organization to be separated by specialty areas. Organizations structured by functional specialization can often be organized into shared service teams or centers of excellence whereby people are grouped based on their technical, domain, or functional area within IT (Applications, Data, Infrastructure, Security, etc.). This allows people to develop specialized knowledge and skills but can also reinforce silos between teams.
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Record the results in the Organizational Design Workbook
The following bridges might be necessary to augment your divisions:
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Document the final operating model sketch in the Communications Deck
This phase will walk you through the following activities:
3.1 Create work units
3.2 Create work unit mandates
3.3 Define roles inside the work units
3.4 Finalize the organizational chart
3.5 Identify and mitigate key risks
This phase involves the following participants:
You don’t have to make the change in one big bang. You can adopt alternative transition plans such as increments or pilots. This allows people to see the benefits of why you are undergoing the change, allows the change message to be repeated and applied to the individuals impacted, and provides people with time to understand their role in making the new organizational structure successful.
“Transformational change can be invigorating for some employees but also highly disruptive and stressful for others.”
Without considering the individual impact of the new organizational structure on each of your employees, the change will undoubtedly fail in meeting its intended goals and your organization will likely fall back into old structured habits.
The organizational sketch is the outline of the organization that encompasses the work units and depicts the relationships among them. It’s important that you create the structure that’s right for your organization, not one that simply fits with your current staff’s skills and knowledge. This is why Info-Tech encourages you to use your operating model as a mode of guidance for structuring your future-state organizational sketch.
The organizational sketch is made up of unique work units. Work units are the foundational building blocks on which you will define the work that IT needs to get done. The number of work units you require and their names will not match your operating model one to one. Certain functional areas will need to be broken down into smaller work units to ensure appropriate leadership and span of control.
A work unit is a functional group or division that has a discrete set of processes or capabilities that it is responsible for, which don’t overlap with any others. Your customized list of IT capabilities will form the building blocks of your work units. Step one in the process of building your structure is grouping IT capabilities together that are similar or that need to be done in concert in the case of more complex work products. The second step is to iterate on these work units based on the organizational design principles from Phase 1 to ensure that the future-state structure is aligned with enablement of the organization’s objectives.
Here is a list of example work units you can use to brainstorm what your organization’s could look like. Some of these overlap in functionality but should provide a strong starting point and hint at some potential alternatives to your current way of organizing.
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A group consists of two or more individuals who are working toward a common goal. Group formation is how those individuals are organized to deliver on that common goal. It should take into consideration the levels of hierarchy in your structure, the level of focus you give to processes, and where power is dispersed within your organizational design.
Importance: Balance highly important capabilities with lower priority capabilities
Specialization: The scope of each role will be influenced by specialized knowledge and a dedicated leader
Effectiveness: Group capabilities that increase their efficacy
Span of Control: Identify the right number of employees reporting to a single leader
Smaller organizations will require less specialization simply out of necessity. To function and deliver on critical processes, some people might be asked to wear several hats.
When you say you are looking for a team that is a “jack of all trades,” you are likely exceeding appropriate cognitive loads for your staff and losing productivity to task switching.
Complexity: More complex work should have fewer direct reports. This often means the leader will need to provide lots of support, even engaging in the work directly at times.
Demand: Dynamic shifts in demand require more managerial involvement and therefore should have a smaller span of control. Especially if this demand is to support a 24/7 operation.
Competency Level: Skilled employees should require less hands-on assistance and will be in a better position to support the business as a member of a larger team than those who are new to the role.
Purpose: Strategic leaders are less involved in the day-to-day operations of their teams, while operational leaders tend to provide hands-on support, specifically when short-staffed.
Pick your poison…
It’s important to understand the impacts that team design has on your services and products. The solutions that a team is capable of producing is highly dependent on how teams are structured. For example, Conway’s Law tells us that small distributed software delivery teams are more likely to produce modular service architecture, where large collocated teams are better able to create monolithic architecture. This doesn’t just apply to software delivery but also other products and services that IT creates. Note that small distributed teams are not the only way to produce quality products as they can create their own silos.
The work unit mandate should provide a quick overview of the work unit and be clear enough that any reader can understand why the work unit exists, what it does, and what it is accountable for.
Each work unit will have a unique mandate. Each mandate should be distinguishable enough from your other work units to make it clear why the work is grouped in this specific way, rather than an alternative option. The mandate will vary by organization based on the agreed upon work units, design archetype, and priorities.
Don’t just adopt an example mandate from another organization or continue use of the organization’s pre-existing mandate – take the time to ensure it accurately depicts what that group is doing so that its value-added activities are clear to the larger organization.
The Office of the CIO will be a strategic enabler of the IT organization, driving IT organizational performance through improved IT management and governance. A central priority of the Office of the CIO is to ensure that IT is able to respond to evolving environments and challenges through strategic foresight and a centralized view of what is best for the organization.
The Project Management Office will provide standardized and effective project management practices across the IT landscape, including an identified project management methodology, tools and resources, project prioritization, and all steps from project initiation through to evaluation, as well as education and development for project managers across IT.
The Solutions Development Group will be responsible for the high-quality development and delivery of new solutions and improvements and the production of customized business reports. Through this function, IT will have improved agility to respond to new initiatives and will be able to deliver high-quality services and insights in a consistent manner.
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Now that you have identified the main units of work in the target IT organization, it is time to identify the roles that will perform that work. At the end of this step, the key roles will be identified, the purpose statement will be built, and accountability and responsibility for roles will be clearly defined. Make sure that accountability for each task is assigned to one role only. If there are challenges with a role, change the role to address them (e.g. split roles or shift responsibilities).
Do not bias your role design by focusing on your existing staff’s competencies. If you begin to focus on your existing team members, you run the risk of artificially narrowing the scope of work or skewing the responsibilities of individuals based on the way it is, rather than the way it should be.
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Despite popular belief, there is no such thing as the Spotify model, and organizations that structured themselves based on the original Spotify drawing might be missing out on key opportunities to obtain productivity from employees.
The primary goal of any product delivery team is to improve the delivery of value for customers and the business based on your product definition and each product’s demand. Each organization will have different priorities and constraints, so your team structure may take on a combination of patterns or may take on one pattern and then transform into another.
Delivery Team Structure Patterns |
How Are Resources and Work Allocated? |
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Functional Roles |
Teams are divided by functional responsibilities (e.g. developers, testers, business analysts, operations, help desk) and arranged according to their placement in the software development lifecycle (SDLC). |
Completed work is handed off from team to team sequentially as outlined in the organization’s SDLC. |
Shared Service and Resource Pools |
Teams are created by pulling the necessary resources from pools (e.g. developers, testers, business analysts, operations, help desk). |
Resources are pulled whenever the work requires specific skills or pushed to areas where product demand is high. |
Product or System |
Teams are dedicated to the development, support, and management of specific products or systems. |
Work is directly sent to the teams who are directly managing the product or directly supporting the requester. |
Skills and Competencies |
Teams are grouped based on skills and competencies related to technology (e.g. Java, mobile, web) or familiarity with business capabilities (e.g. HR, Finance). |
Work is directly sent to the teams who have the IT and business skills and competencies to complete the work. |
Functional Roles | Shared Service and Resource Pools | Product or System | Skills and Competencies |
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When your people are specialists versus having cross-functional skills | Leveraged when specialists such as Security or Operations will not have full-time work on the product | When you have people with cross-functional skills who can self-organize around a product’s needs | When you have a significant investment in a specific technology stack |
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For more information about delivering in a product operating model, refer to our Deliver Digital Products at Scale blueprint.
1-3 hours
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Record the results in the Organizational Design Workbook & Executive Communications Deck
Every organizational structure will include certain risks that should have been considered and accepted when choosing the base operating model sketch. Now that the final organizational structure has been created, consider if those risks were mitigated by the final organizational structure that was created. For those risks that weren’t mitigated, have a tactic to control risks that remain present.
1-3 hours
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| Materials | Participants |
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Record the results in the Organizational Design Workbook
This phase will walk you through the following activities:
4.1 Select a transition plan
4.2 Establish the change communication messages
4.3 Be consistent with a standard set of FAQs
4.4 Define org. redesign resistors
4.5 Create a sustainment plan
This phase involves the following participants:
Change management is: |
Managing a change that requires replanning and reorganizing and that causes people to feel like they have lost control over aspects of their jobs. – Padar et al., 2017 |
| People Process Technology |
| PREPARE | A | Awareness: Establish the need for organizational redesign and ensure this is communicated well. |
This blueprint is mostly focused on the prepare and transition components. |
| D | Desire: Ensure the new structure is something people are seeking and will lead to individual benefits for all. |
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| TRANSITION | K | Knowledge: Provide stakeholders with the tools and resources to function in their new roles and reporting structure. |
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| A | Ability: Support employees through the implementation and into new roles or teams. |
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| FUTURE | R | Reinforcement: Emphasize and reward positive behaviors and attitudes related to the new organizational structure. |
Implementation Plan |
Transition Plan: Identify the appropriate approach to making the transition, and ensure the transition plan works within the context of the business. |
Communication Strategy: Create a method to ensure consistent, clear, and concise information can be provided to all relevant stakeholders. |
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Plan to Address Resistance: Given that not everyone will be happy to move forward with the new organizational changes, ensure you have a method to hear feedback and demonstrate concerns have been heard. |
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Employee Development Plan: Provide employees with tools, resources, and the ability to demonstrate these new competencies as they adjust to their new roles. |
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Monitor and Sustain the Change: Establish metrics that inform if the implementation of the new organizational structure was successful and reinforce positive behaviors. |
As a result, your organization must adopt OCM practices to better support the acceptance and longevity of the changes being pursued.
Incremental Change |
Transformational Change |
Organizational change management is highly recommended and beneficial for projects that require people to:
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Organizational change management is required for projects that require people to:
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How you transition to the new organizational structure can be heavily influenced by HR. This is the time to be including them and leveraging their expertise to support the transition “how.”
Description | Pros | Cons | Example | |
Big Bang Change | Change that needs to happen immediately – “ripping the bandage off.” |
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| A tsunami in Japan stopped all imports and exports. Auto manufacturers were unable to get parts shipped and had to immediately find an alternative supplier. |
Incremental Change | The change can be rolled out slower, in phases. |
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| A change in technology, such as HRIS, might be rolled out one application at a time to ensure that people have time to learn and adjust to the new system. |
Pilot Change | The change is rolled out for only a select group, to test and determine if it is suitable to roll out to all impacted stakeholders. |
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| A retail store is implementing a new incentive plan to increase product sales. They will pilot the new incentive plan at select stores, before rolling it out broadly. |
1-3 hours
| Input | Output |
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| Materials | Participants |
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Record the results in the Organizational Design Workbook
Success of your new organizational structure hinges on adequate preparation and effective communication.
The top challenge facing organizations in completing the organizational redesign is their organizational culture and acceptance of change. Effective planning for the implementation and communication throughout the change is pivotal. Make sure you understand how the change will impact staff and create tailored plans for communication.
65% of managers believe the organizational change is effective when provided with frequent and clear communication.
Leaders of successful change spend considerable time developing a powerful change message, i.e. a compelling narrative that articulates the desired end state, and that makes the change concrete and meaningful to staff.
The organizational change message should:
2 hours
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Record the results in the Organizational Design Workbook
Be Clear |
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Be Consistent |
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Be Concise |
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Be Relevant |
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As a starting point for building an IT organizational design implementation, look at implementing an FAQ that will address the following:
Questions to consider answering:
1 hour
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| Materials | Participants |
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Record the results in the Organizational Design Workbook
People resist changes for many reasons. When it comes to organizational redesign changes, some of the most common reasons people resist change include a lack of understanding, a lack of involvement in the process, and fear.
Assess employee to determine competency levels and interests.
Employee drafts development goals; manager reviews.
Manager helps with selection of development activities.
Manager provides ongoing check-ins, coaching, and feedback.
Sustain the change by following through with stakeholders, gathering feedback, and ensuring that the change rationale and impacts are clearly understood. Failure to so increases the potential that the change initiative will fail or be a painful experience and cost the organization in terms of loss of productivity or increase in turnover rates.
Obtaining qualitative feedback from employees, customers, and business partners can provide insight into where the new organizational structure is operating optimally versus where there are further adjustments that could be made to support the change.
1 hour
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Record the results in the Organizational Design Workbook
Jardena London
Transformation Catalyst, Rosetta Technology Group
Jodie Goulden
Consultant | Founder, OrgDesign Works
Shan Pretheshan
Director, SUPA-IT Consulting
Chris Briley
CIO, Manning & Napier
Dean Meyer
President N. Dean Meyer and Associates Inc.
Jimmy Williams
CIO, Chocktaw Nation of Oklahoma
Cole Cioran, Managing Partner
Dana Daher, Research Director
Hans Eckman, Principal Research Director
Ugbad Farah, Research Director
Ari Glaizel, Practice Lead
Valence Howden, Principal Research Director
Youssef Kamar, Senior Manager, Consulting
Carlene McCubbin, Practice Lead
Baird Miller, Executive Counsellor
Josh Mori, Research Director
Rajesh Parab, Research Director
Gary Rietz, Executive Counsellor
“A Cheat Sheet for HR Professionals: The Organizational Development Process.” AIHR, 2021. Web.
Acharya, Ashwin, Roni Lieber, Lissa Seem, and Tom Welchman. “How to identify the right ‘spans of control’ for your organization.” McKinsey, 21 December 2017. Web.
Anand. N., and Jean-Louis Barsoux. “What everyone gets wrong about change management. Harvard Business Review, December 2017. Web.
Atiken, Chris. “Operating model design-first principles.” From Here On, 24 August 2018. Web.
“Avoid common digital transformation challenges: Address your IT Operating Model Now.” Sofigate, 5 May 2020. Web.
Baumann, Oliver, and Brian Wu. “The many dimensions of research on designing flat firms.” Journal of Organizational Design, no. 3, vol. 4. 09 May 2022.Web.
Bertha, Michael. “Cross the project to product chasm.” CIO, 1 May 2020. Web.
Blenko, Marcia, and James Root. “Design Principles for a Robust Operating Model.” Bain & Company, 8 April 2015. Web.
Blenko, Marcia, Leslie Mackrell, and Kevin Rosenberg. “Operating models: How non-profits get from strategy to results.” The Bridge Span Group, 15 August 2019. Web.
Boulton, Clint. “PVH finds perfect fit in hybrid IT operating model amid pandemic.” CIO, 19 July 2021. Web.
Boulton, Clint. “Why digital disruption leaves no room for bimodal IT.” CIO, 11 May 2017. Web.
Bright, David, et al. “Chapter 10: Organizational Structure & Change.” Principles of Management, OpenStax, Rice University, 20 March 2019. Book.
Campbell, Andrew. “Design Principles: How to manage them.” Ashridge Operating Models. 1 January 2022. Web.
D., Maria. “3 Types of IT Outsourcing Models and How to Choose Between Them.” Cleveroad, 29 April 2022. Web.
Devaney, Eric. “9 Types of Organizational Structure Every Company Should Consider.” HubSpot, 11 February 2022. Web.
Devaney, Erik. “The six building blocks of organizational structure.” Hubspot, 3 June 2020. Web.
Eisenman, M., S. Paruchuri, and P. Puranam. “The design of emergence in organizations.” Journal of Organization Design, vol. 9, 2020. Web.
Forbes Business Development Council. “15 Clear Signs It’s Time to Restructure the Business.” Forbes, 10 February 2020. Web.
Freed, Joseph. “Why Cognitive Load Could Be The Most Important Employee Experience Metric In The Next 10 Years.” Forbes, 30 June 2020. Web.
Galibraith, Jay. “The Star Model.” JayGalbraith.com, n.d. Web.
Girod, Stéphane, and Samina Karim. “Restructure or reconfigure?” Harvard Business Review, April 2017. Web.
Goldman, Sharon. “The need for a new IT Operating Model: Why now?” CIO, 27 August 2019. Web.
Halapeth, Milind. “New age IT Operating Model: Creating harmony between the old and the new.” Wirpo, n.d. Web.
Harvey, Michelle. “Why a common operating model is efficient for business productivity.” CMC, 10 May 2020. Web.
Helfand, Heidi. “Dynamic Reteaming.” O’Reilly Media, 7 July 2020. Book.
JHeller, Martha. “How Microsoft CIO Jim DuBois changed the IT Operating Model.” CIO, 2 February 2016. Web.
Heller, Martha. “How Stryker IT Shifted to a global operating model.” CIO, 19 May 2021. Web.
Heller, Michelle. “Inside blue Shields of California’s IT operating model overhaul.” CIO, 24 February 2021. Web.
Hessing, Ted. “Value Stream Mapping.” Six Sigma Study Guide, 11 April 2014. Web.
Huber, George, P. “What is Organization Design.” Organizational Design Community, n.d. Web.
Indeed Editorial Team. “5 Advantages and Disadvantages of the Matrix Organizational Structure.” Indeed, 23 November 2020. Web.
Indeed Editorial Team. “How to plan an effective organization restructure.” Indeed, 10 June 2021. Web.
“Insourcing vs Outsourcing vs Co-Sourcing.” YML Group, n.d. Web.
“Investing in more strategic roles.” CAPS Research, 3 February 2022. Web.
Jain, Gagan. “Product IT Operating Model: The next-gen model for a digital work.” DevOps, 22 July 2019. Web.
Kane, Gerald, D. Plamer, and Anh Phillips. “Accelerating Digital Innovation Inside and Out.” Deloitte Insights, 4 June 2019. Web.
Krush, Alesia. “IT companies with ‘flat’ structures: utopia or innovative approach?” Object Style, 18 October 2018. Web.
Law, Michael. “Adaptive Design: Increasing Customer Value in Your Organisation.” Business Agility Institute, 5 October 2020. Web.
LucidContent Team. “How to get buy-in for changes to your organizational structure.” Lucid Chart, n.d. Web.
Matthews, Paul. “Do you know the difference between competence and capability?” The People Development Magazine, 25 September 2020. Web.
Meyer, Dean N. “Analysis: Common symptoms of organizational structure problems.” NDMA, n.d. Web.
Meyer, N. Dean. “Principle-based Organizational Structure.” NDMA Publishing, 2020. Web.
Morales Pedraza, Jorge. Answer to posting, “What is the relationship between structure and strategy?” ResearchGate.net, 5 March 2014. Web.
Nanjad, Len. “Five non-negotiables for effective organization design change.” MNP, 01 October 2021. Web.
Neilson, Gary, Jaime Estupiñán, and Bhushan Sethi. “10 Principles of Organizational Design.” Strategy & Business, 23 March 2015. Web.
Nicastro, Dom. “Understanding the Foundational Concepts of Organizational Design.” Reworked, 24 September 2020. Web.
Obwegeser, Nikolaus, Tomoko Yokoi, Michael Wade, and Tom Voskes. “7 Key Principles to Govern Digital Initiatives.” MIT Sloan, 1 April 2020. Web.
“Operating Models and Tools.” Business Technology Standard, 23 February 2021. Web.
“Organizational Design Agility: Journey to a combined community.” ODF-BAI How Space, Organizational Design Forum, 2022. Web.
“Organizational Design: Understanding and getting started.” Ingentis, 20 January 2021. Web.
Padar, Katalin, et al. “Bringing project and change management roles into sync.” Journal of Change Management, 2017. Web.
Partridge, Chris. “Evolve your Operating Model- It will drive everything.” CIO, 30 July 2021. Web.
Pijnacker, Lieke. “HR Analytics: role clarity impacts performance.” Effectory, 25 September 2019. Web.
Pressgrove, Jed. “Centralized vs. Federated: Breaking down IT Structures.” Government Technology, March 2020. Web.
Sherman, Fraser. “Differences between Organizational Structure and Design.” Bizfluent, 20 September 2019. Web.
Skelton, Matthew, and Manual Pais. “Team Cognitive Load.” IT Revolution, 19 January 2021. Web.
Skelton, Matthew, and Manual Pais. Team Topologies. IT Revolution Press, 19 September 2019. Book
Spencer, Janet, and Michael Watkins. “Why organizational change fails.” TLNT, 26 November 2019. Web.
Storbakken, Mandy. “The Cloud Operating Model.” VMware, 27 January 2020. Web.
"The Qualities of Leadership: Leading Change.” Cornelius & Associates, 2010. Web.
“Understanding Organizational Structures.” SHRM, 31 August 2021. Web.
"unfix Pattern: Base.” AgilityScales, n.d. Web.
Walker, Alex. “Half-Life: Alyx helped change Valve’s Approach to Development.” Kotaku, 10 July 2020. Web.
"Why Change Management.” Prosci, n.d. Web.
Wittig, Cynthia. “Employees' Reactions to Organizational Change.” OD Practioner, vol. 44, no. 2, 2012. Web.
Woods, Dan. “How Platforms are neutralizing Conway’s Law.” Forbes, 15 August 2017. Web.
Worren, Nicolay, Jeroen van Bree, and William Zybach. “Organization Design Challenges. Results from a practitioner survey.” Journal of Organizational Design, vol. 8, 25 July 2019. Web.
Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:
Understand what a Lean management system is, review Lean philosophies, and examine simple Lean tools and activities.
Understand the implications of the scope of your Lean management program.
Examine the sections and content to include in your huddle board design.
Determine the actions required by leaders and the operating rhythm.
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.
Understand Lean management.
Gain a common understanding of Lean management, the Lean management thought model, Lean philosophies, huddles, visual management, team growth, and voice of customer.
1.1 Define Lean management in your organization.
1.2 Create training materials.
Lean management definition
Customized training materials
Understand Lean management.
Determine the scope of your program.
Understand metrics and performance review.
Understand problem identification and continuous improvement.
Understand Kanban.
Understand Leader Standard Work.
Define the scope of the Lean management program.
2.1 Develop example operational metrics
2.2 Simulate problem section.
2.3 Simulate Kanban.
2.4 Build scoping tool.
Understand how to use operational metrics
Understand problem identification
Understand Kanban/daily tasks section
Defined scope for your program
Design the sections and content for your huddle board.
Initial huddle board design.
3.1 Design and build each section in your huddle board.
3.2 Simulate coaching conversations.
Initial huddle board design
Understanding of how to conduct a huddle
Design your Leader Standard Work activities.
Develop a schedule for executing Leader Standard Work.
Standard activities identified and documented.
Sample schedule developed.
4.1 Identify standard activities for leaders.
4.2 Develop a schedule for executing Leader Standard Work.
Leader Standard Work activities documented
Initial schedule for Leader Standard Work activities
Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:
Decide which functional areas in the organization will benefit the most from using social data, and create use cases accordingly.
Identify and evaluate key social analytics metrics and understand the importance of combining multiple metrics to get the most out of the analytics program.
Leverage a cross-departmental Social Media Steering Committee and evaluate SMMPs and other social analytics tools.
Identify specific uses of internal social analytics: crowd-sourcing ideation, harvesting employee feedback, and rewarding internal brand advocates.
Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:
Establish an effective EA function that will realize value for the organization with an EA strategy.
Use this template to document the outputs of the EA strategy and to communicate the EA strategy for approval by stakeholders.
Identify and prioritize the stakeholders that are important to your IT strategy development effort.
Use this template to analyze the effect of external factors on IT.
Use this template to create an EA value proposition that explicitly communicates to stakeholders how an EA function can contribute to addressing their needs.
Use this template to help set goals for your EA function based on the EA value proposition and identify objectives to measure the progression towards those EA goals.
Use this template to define relevant universal EA principles and create new EA principles to guide and inform IT investment decisions.
Use this template to identify the EA services relevant to your organization and then define how those services will be accessed.
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.
Show an example of traceability.
Members have a real-world example of traceability between business goals and EA contributions.
1.1 Start from the business goals of the organization.
1.2 Document business and IT drivers.
1.3 Identify EA contributions that help achieve the business goals.
Business goals documented.
Business and IT drivers documented.
Identified EA contributions and traced them to business goals.
Create an understanding about role of architect in Agile ceremonies.
Understanding of the role of the EA architect in Agile ceremonies.
2.1 Document the Agile ceremony used in the organization (based on SAFe or other Agile approaches).
2.2 Determine which ceremonies the system architect will participate in.
2.3 Determine which ceremonies the solution architect will participate in.
2.4 Determine which ceremonies the enterprise architect will participate in.
2.5 Determine architect syncs, etc.
Documented the Agile ceremonial used in the organization (based on SAFe or other Agile approaches).
Determined which ceremonies the system architect will participate in.
Determined which ceremonies the solution architect will participate in.
Determined which ceremonies the enterprise architect will participate in.
Determined architect syncs, etc.
Enterprise Architecture Strategy |
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Business & IT Strategy
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Unlock the Value of Architecture
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Current Environment
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Enterprise architecture is NOT a one-size-fits-all endeavor. It needs to be right-sized to the needs of the organization.
Enterprise architects are boots on the ground and part of the solution; in addition, they need to have a good understanding of the corporate strategy, vision, and goals and have a vested interest on the optimization of the outcomes for the enterprise. They also need to anticipate the moves ahead, to be able to determine future trends and how they will impact the enterprise.
Milena Litoiu
Principal/Senior Director, Enterprise Architecture
Info-Tech Research Group
“Enterprise architects need to think about and consider different areas of expertise when formulating potential business options. By understanding the context, the puzzle pieces can combine to create a positive business outcome that aligns with the organization’s strategies. Sometimes there will be missing pieces; leveraging what you know to create an outline of the pieces and collaborating with others can provide a general direction.”
Jean Bujold
Senior Workshop Delivery Director
Info-Tech Research Group
“The role of enterprise architecture is to eliminate misalignment between the business and IT and create value for the organization.”
Reddy Doddipalli
Senior Workshop Director, Research
Info-Tech Research Group
“Every transformation journey is an opportunity to learn: ‘Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.’ Benjamin Franklin.”
Graham Smith
Senior Lead Enterprise Architect and Independent Consultant
We need to make decisions today for an unknown future. Decisions are influenced by:
Decisions are often made:
The more complex an organization, the more players involved, the more difficult it is to overcome these obstacles.
There is no “right architecture” for organizations of all sizes, maturities, and cultural contexts. The value of enterprise architecture can only be measured against the business goals of a single organization. Enterprise architecture needs to be right-sized for your organization.
| Business engagement
It is important to trace architectural decisions to business goals. As business goals evolve, architecture should evolve as well. As new business input is provided during Agile cycles, architecture is continuously evolving. |
EA fundamentals
EA fundamentals will shape how enterprise architects think and act, how they engage with the organization, what decisions they make, etc. Start small and lean and evolve as needed. Continuously align strategy with delivery and operations. Architects should establish themselves as business partners as well as implementation/delivery leaders. |
Enterprise services
Definitions of enterprise services should start from the business goals of the organization and the capabilities IT needs to perform for the organization to survive in the marketplace. Continuous delivery and continuous innovation are the two facets of architecture. |
| Tactical insight
Your current maturity should be reflected as a baseline in the strategy. |
Tactical insight
Take Agile/opportunistic steps toward your strategic North star. |
Tactical insight
EA services differ based on goals, maturity, and the Agile appetite of the enterprise. |
Jeanne W. Ross, MIT CISR
Co-author of Enterprise Architecture as Strategy: Creating a Foundation for Business Execution,
Harvard Business Press, 2006.
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There is no “absolute maturity” for organizations of all sizes, maturities, and cultural contexts. The maturity of enterprise architecture can only be measured against the business goals of the organization.
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." |
Contact your account representative for more information.
workshops@infotech.com1-888-670-8889
| Session 1 | Session 2 | Session 3 | Session 4 | Session 5 | |
| Activities |
Identify organizational needs and landscape1.0 Interview stakeholders to identify business and technology needs 1.1 Review organization perspective, including business needs, challenges, and strategic directions 1.2 Conduct PESTLE analysis to identify business and technology trends 1.3 Conduct SWOT analysis to identify business and technology internal perspective |
Create the EA value proposition2.1 Identify and prioritize EA stakeholders 2.2 Create business and technology drivers from needs 2.3 Define the EA value proposition 2.4 Identify EA maturity and target |
Define the EA fundamentals3.1 Define the EA goals and objectives 3.2 Determine EA scope 3.3 Create a set of EA principles 3.4. Define the need of a methodology/agility 3.5 Create the EA vision and mission statement |
Identify the EA framework and communicate the EA strategy4.1 Define initial EA operating model and governance mechanism 4.2 Define the activities and services the EA function will provide, derived from business goals 4.3 Determine effectiveness measures 4.4 Create EA roadmap and next steps 4.5 Build communication plan for stakeholders |
Next Steps and Wrap-Up (offsite)5.1 Generate workshop report 5.2 Set up review time for workshop report and to discuss next steps |
| Outcomes |
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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.
While variations depend on the maturity of the organization as well as its aspirations, these are some typical steps:
Phase 1
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Phase 2
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Phase 3
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Phase 4
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Define the role of the group and different roles inside the enterprise architecture competency.
Enterprise architecture needs to have input from the corporate strategy of the organization. Similarly, EA governance needs to be informed by corporate governance. If this is not the case, it is like planning and governing with your eyes closed.
| EA Functions |
Operationalized
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–––› | Common EA value | |
| Decreased cost | Reduced risk | |||
Emerging
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–x–› | Cut through complexity | Increased agility | |
| External Factors | –› | Layers of a Business Model (Organization) |
–› | Architecture Supported Transformation |
| Industry Changes | Business Strategy | |||
| Competition | Value Streams
(Business Outcomes) |
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| Regulatory Impacts | Business Capability Maps
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| Workforce Impacts | Execution
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External forces can affect the organization as a whole; they need to be included as part of the holistic approach for enterprise architecture.
Business and Technology Drivers – A set of statements created from business and technology needs. Gathered from information sources, it communicates improvements needed.
Enterprise architecture needs to create and be part of a culture where decisions are made through collaboration while focusing on enterprise-wide efficiencies (e.g. reduced duplication, reusability, enterprise-wide cost minimization, overall security, comprehensive risk mitigation, and any other cross-cutting concerns) to optimize corporate business goals.
Establish the EA function scope by using the EA value proposition and EA fundamentals that have already been developed. After defining the EA function scope, refer back to these statements to ensure it accurately reflects the EA value proposition and EA fundamentals.
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EA value proposition +EA vision statement
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—› Influences |
Organizational coverage Architectural domains Depth Time horizon |
—› Defines |
EA function scope |
The team assembled to create the EA strategy will be defined as the “EA strategy creation team” in this blueprint.
Using an enterprise architecture methodology is a good starting point to achieving a common understanding of what that is. Often, organizations agree to "tailor" methodologies to their needs.
The use of lean/Agile approaches will increase efficiency beyond traditional methodologies.
| Corporate Strategy “Why does our enterprise exist in the market?” |
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| EA Strategy
“What does EA need to be and do to support the enterprise’s ability to meet its goals? What is EA’s value proposition?” |
Business & IT Operating Culture
“How does the organization’s culture and structure influence the EA operating model?” |
| EA Operating Model
How does EA need to operate on a daily basis to deliver the value proposition?” |
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(Source: The Center for Organizational Design)
| Vision, goals, and aspirations as well internal and external pressures | ||
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Business current state
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Enterprise Architecture |
IT current state
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Business target state
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IT target state
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| Complex, overlapping, contradictory world of humans vs. logical binary world of IT | ||
| EA is a planning tool to help achieve the corporate business goals | ||
Business architecture is the cornerstone that sets the foundation for all other architectural domains: security, data, application, and technology.
“An enterprise architecture practice is both difficult and costly to set up. It is normally built around a process of peer review and involves the time and talent of the strategic technical leadership of an enterprise.” (The Open Group Architecture Framework, 2018)
The primary question during the design of the EA operating model is how to integrate the EA function with the rest of the business.
If the EA practice functions on its own, you end up with ivory tower syndrome and a dictatorship.
If you totally embed the EA function within business units it will become siloed with no enterprise value.
Organizations need to balance consistency at the enterprise level with creativity from the grass roots.
Decisions at the enterprise level apply across multiple programs/portfolios/solutions and represent the guardrails set for all to play within.
Larger organizations with multiple domains/divisions or business units will need to decide which architecture functions will be centralized and which, if any, will be decentralized as they plan to scope their EA program. What are the core functions to be centralized for the EA to deliver the greatest benefits?
Typically, we see a need to have a centralized repository of reusable assets and standards across the organization, while other approaches/standards can operate locally.
Being able to answer the deceptively simple question “How am I doing?” requires traceability to and from the business goals to be achieved all the way to applications, to infrastructure, and ultimately, to the funded initiatives (portfolios, programs, projects, etc.).
Corporate Business Goals
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EA Contributions
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Measurements
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Organizations must create clear and smart KPIs (key performance indicators) across the board.
In the absence of a corporate strategy, enterprise architecture is missing its North Star.
However, enterprise architects can partner with the business strategists to build the needed vision.
According to the Scaled Agile Framework, three of the most applicable principles for the architectural professions refer to the following:
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Common DomainsBusiness Architecture Information Architecture Application Architecture Technical Architecture Integration Architecture Security Architecture Others |
All architects are boots on the ground and play in the solutioning space. What differs is their decisions’ impact (the enterprise architect’s decisions affects all domains and solutions).
SAFe definitions of the Enterprise/Solution and System Architect roles can be found here.
The role of the Enterprise Architect is detailed here.
(Adapted from Disciplined Agile)
There are both formal and informal collaborations between enterprise architects and solution architects across the enterprise.
Enterprise architects should collaborate with solutions architects to create the best solutions at the enterprise level and to provide guidance across the board.
According to Scale Agile Framework 5 for Lean Enterprises:
Please check the SAFe Scaled Agile site for detailed information on the approach.
A clear commitment for architects to achieve and support agility is needed. Architects should not be in an ivory tower; they should be hands on and engaged in all relevant Agile ceremonies, like the pre- and post-program increment (PI) planning, etc.
Architect syncs are also required to ensure the needed collaboration.
Architect participation in Agile ceremonies, according to SAFe:
Architecting for scale, modularity, and extensibility is key for the architecture to adapt to changing conditions and evolve.
Proactively address NFRs; architect for performance and security.
Continuously refine the solution intent.
For large solutions, longer foundational architectural runways are needed.
Having an intentional continuous improvement/continuous development (CI/CD) pipeline to continuously release, test, and monitor is key to evolving large and complex systems.
Architects need to help make some fundamental decisions, e.g. help define the environment that best supports continuous innovation or exploration and continuous integration, deployment, and delivery.
The enterprise architecture statement relative to agility specifies the architects’ responsibilities as well as the Agile protocols they will participate in. This statement will guide every architect’s participation in planning meetings, pre- and post-PI, various syncs, etc. Use simple and concise terminology; speak loudly and clearly.
Strong EA statement relative to agility has the following characteristics:
Sample EA statement relative to agility
Below is a sample of connecting keywords to form an enterprise architect role statement, relative to agility.
Optimize – We collaborate with the business to analyze and optimize business capabilities and business processes to enable the agile and efficient attainment of [Company name] business objectives.
Transform – We support IT-enabled business transformation programs by building and maintaining a shared vision of the future-state enterprise and consistently communicating it to stakeholders.
Innovate – We identify and develop new and creative opportunities for IT to enable the business. We communicate the art of the possible to the business.
Defining and implementing – We engage with project teams early and guide solution design and selection to ensure alignment to the target-state enterprise architecture and provide guidance and accelerators.
Target enterprise structure in an agile way – We analyze business needs and priorities and assess the current state of the enterprise. We build and maintain the target enterprise architecture blueprints that define:
| Traditional Enterprise Architecture | Next-Generation Enterprise Architecture |
| Scope: Technology focused | Business transformation (scope includes both business and technology) |
| Bottom up | Top down |
| Inside out | Outside In |
| Point to point; difficult to change | Expandable, extensible, evolvable |
| Control-based: Governance intensive; often over-centralized | Guidance-based: Collaboration and partnership-driven based on accepted guardrails |
| Big up-front planning | Incremental/dynamic planning; frequent changes |
| Functional siloes and isolated projects, programs, and portfolios | Enterprise-driven outcome optimization (across value streams) |
The role of the architecture in Lean (Agile) approaches is to set up the needed guardrails and ensure a safe environment where everyone can be effective and creative.
Phase 1
| Phase 2
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Phase 3
| Phase 4
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An understanding of your organization’s EA needs.
Create the Value Proposition
| Step 2.1 | Step 2.2 |
Creating an EA value proposition should be the first step to realizing a healthy EA function. The EA value proposition demonstrates to organizational stakeholders the importance of EA in helping to realize their needs.
Five steps towards the successful articulation of EA value proposition:
EA can deliver many benefits to an organization. To increase the likelihood of success, each EA group needs to commit to delivering value to their organization based on the current operating environment and the desired direction of the enterprise. An EA value proposition will articulate the group’s promises of value to the enterprise.
All stakeholders need to know how the EA function can help them. Provide the stakeholders with an understanding of the EA strategy’s impact on the business by involving them.
A stakeholder map can be a powerful tool to help identify and prioritize stakeholders. A stakeholder map is a visual sketch of how various stakeholders interact with your organization, with each other, and with external audience segments.
“Stakeholder management is critical to the success of every project in every organization I have ever worked with. By engaging the right people in the right way in your project, you can make a big difference to its success…and to your career.” (Rachel Thompson, MindTools)
Input: Expertise from the EA strategy creation team
Output: An identified and prioritized set of stakeholders for the EA function to target
Materials: Note-taking materials, Whiteboard or flip chart, markers
Participants: EA strategy creation team
Download the Stakeholder Power Map Template for more detailed instructions on completing this activity.
All stakeholders will have a set of needs they would like to address. Take those needs and translate them into business and technology drivers. Drivers help clearly articulate to stakeholders, and the EA function, the stakeholder needs to be addressed.
Business DriverBusiness drivers are internal or external business conditions, changing business capabilities, and changing market trends that impact the way EA operates and provides value to the enterprise. Examples:Ensure corporate compliance with legislation pertaining to data and security (e.g. regulated oil fields). Enable the automation and digitization of internal processes and services to business stakeholders. |
Technology DriverTechnology drivers are internal or external technology conditions or factors that are not within the control of the EA group that impact the way that the EA group operates and provides value to the enterprise. Examples:Establish standards and policies for enabling the organization to take advantage of cloud and mobile technologies. Reduce the frequency of shadow IT by lowering the propensity to make business–technology decisions in isolation. |
Review information sources, then analyze them to derive business and technology drivers. Information sources are not targeted towards EA stakeholders. Analyze the information sources to create drivers that are relevant to EA stakeholders.
| Information Sources | Drivers (Examples) | |||
|
PESTLE Analysis Strategy Documents Stakeholder Interviews SWOT Analysis |
—› |
Analysis |
—› |
Help the organization align technology investments with corporate strategy Ensure corporate compliance with legislation. Increase the organization’s speed to market. |
| Business and Technology Needs
By examining information sources, the EA team will come across a set of business and technology needs. Through analysis, these needs can be synthesized into drivers. |
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PESTLE examines six perspectives for external factors that may impact business and technology needs. Below are prompting questions to facilitate a PESTLE analysis working session.
| Political |
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Economic |
| Social |
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Technological |
| Legal |
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Environmental |
2 hours
Input: Expertise from EA strategy creation team
Output: Identified set of business and technology needs from PESTLE
Materials: Note-taking materials, Whiteboard or flip chart, markers
Participants: EA strategy creation team
Download the PESTLE Analysis Template to assist with completing this activity.
Some organizations (and business units) create an authoritative strategy document. These documents contain corporate aspirations and outline initiatives, reorganizations, and shifts in strategy. From these documents, a set of business and technology needs can be generated.
Overt Statements
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Turn these statements to business and technology needs by:Asking the following:
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Covert Statements
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2 hours
Input: Strategic documents in the organization
Output: Identified set of business and technology needs from documents
Materials: Note-taking materials, Whiteboard or flip chart, markers
Participants: EA strategy creation team
Begin the identification process of business and technology needs from strategic documents with the following steps:
In this interview process, you will be asking EA stakeholders questions that uncover their business and technology needs. You will also be able to ask follow-up questions to get a better understanding of abstract or complex concepts from the strategy document review and PESTLE analysis.
4-8 hours
Input: Expertise from the EA stakeholders
Output: Business and technology needs for EA stakeholders
Materials: Note-taking materials, Whiteboard or flip chart, markers
Participants: EA strategy creation team, Identified EA stakeholders
A value proposition document that ties the value of the EA function to stakeholder needs.
Create the EA Value Proposition
| Step 2.1 | Step 2.2 |
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There are several key attributes that a driver should have. Driver Key Attributes
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“The greatest impact of enterprise architecture is the strategic impact. Put the mission and the needs of the organization first.” (Matthew Kern, Clear Government Solutions)
3 hours
Input: Expertise from EA strategy creation team
Output: A set of business and technology drivers
Materials: Note-taking materials, Whiteboard or flip chart, markers
Participants: EA strategy creation team, EA stakeholders
Meet with the EA strategy creation team and follow the steps below to begin the process of synthesizing the business and technology needs into drivers.
Download the EA Value Proposition Template to record your findings in this activity.
A pain is an obstacle that business stakeholders will face when attempting to address business and technology drivers. Identify the pains associated with each driver so that EA’s contributions can be linked to resolving obstacles to address business needs.
Business and Technology Drivers |
› |
Pains |
| Created by assessing information sources. | A sentence that states the nature of the pain and how the pain stops the organization from addressing the drivers. | |
Examples:
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Examples:
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2 hours
Input: Expertise from EA strategy creation team and EA stakeholders
Output: An associated pain that obstructs each identified driver
Materials: Note-taking materials, Whiteboard or flip chart, markers
Participants: EA strategy creation team, EA stakeholders
Call a meeting with the EA strategy creation team and any available stakeholders to identify the pains that obstruct addressing the business and technology drivers.
Take each driver and ask the questions below to the EA strategy creation team and to any EA stakeholders who are available. Record the answers to identify the pains when realizing the drivers.
Take the recorded answers and follow the steps below to create the pain statements:
Download the EA Value Proposition Template to record your findings in this activity.
Set the foundations for the value proposition by brainstorming the EA contributions that can alleviate the pains.
Business and technology drivers produce:Pains |
—› |
EA contributions produce:Value by alleviating pains |
PainsObstructions to addressing business and technology drivers. Stakeholders will face these pains. Examples
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EA contributionsActivities the EA function can perform to help alleviate the pains. Demonstrates the contributions the EA function can make to business value. Examples:
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| EA contribution category | EA contribution details |
| Define business capabilities and processes | As-is and target business capabilities and processes are documented and understood by both IT and the business. |
| Design information flows and services | Information flows and services effectively support business capabilities and processes. |
| Analyze gaps and identify project opportunities | Create informed project identification, scope definition, and project portfolio management. |
| Optimize technology assets | Greater homogeneity and interoperability between tangible and intangible technology assets. |
| Create and maintain technology standards | Decrease development, integration, and support efforts. Reduce complexity and improve interoperability. |
| Rationalize technology assets | Tangible and intangible technology assets are rationalized to adequately and efficiently support information flows and services. |
2 hours
Input: Expertise from EA strategy creation team
Output: EA contributions that addresses the pains that were identified
Materials: Note-taking materials, Whiteboard or flip chart, markers
Participants: EA strategy creation team
Gather with the EA strategy creation team, take each pain, then ask and record the answers to the questions below to identify the EA contributions that would solve the pains:
Answers to the questions above will generate a list of activities EA can do to help alleviate the pains. Use the following steps to complete this activity:
Download the EA Value Proposition Template to record your findings in this activity.
2 hours
Input: Expertise from EA strategy creation team and EA stakeholders
Output: Promises of value for each business and technology driver
Materials: Note-taking materials, Whiteboard or flip chart, markers
Participants: EA strategy creation team, EA stakeholders
Now that the EA contributions have been identified, identify the promises of value to articulate the value proposition.
Take each driver, then ask and record the answers to the questions below to identify the promises of value when realizing the drivers:
Take the recorded answers and follow the steps below to create the promises of value.
Download the EA Value Proposition Template to record your findings in this activity.
Phase 1
| Phase 2
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Phase 3
| Phase 4
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| Step 3.1 | Step 3.2 |
EA fundamentals include a vision statement, a mission statement, goals and objectives, and principles. They are a set of documented statements that guide the EA function. The fundamentals guide the EA function in terms of its strategy and decision making.
| EA vision statement | EA mission statement |
EA fundamentals |
|
| EA goals and objectives | EA principles |
Treat the critical elements of the EA group the same way as you would a business. Create a directional foundation for EA and define the vision, mission, goals, principles, and scope necessary to deliver on the established value proposition.
The enterprise architecture vision statement communicates a desired future state of the EA function. The statement is expressed in the present tense. It seeks to articulate the desired role of the EA function and how the EA function will be perceived.
The enterprise architecture mission statement specifies the team’s purpose or “reason of being.” The mission should guide each day’s activities and decisions. The mission statements use simple and concise terminology, speak loudly and clearly, and generate enthusiasm for the organization.
The process for constructing the enterprise architecture vision statement and enterprise architecture mission statement is articulated below.
| Promises of value | Derive keywords | Construct draft statements | Reference test criteria | Finalize statements |
| Derive the a set of keywords from the promises of value to accurately capture their essence. | Create the initial statement using the keywords. | Check the initial statement against a set of test criteria to ensure their quality. | Finalize the statement after referencing the initial statement against the test criteria. |
Develop keywords by summarizing the promises of value that were derived from drivers into one word that will take on the essence of the promise. See examples below:
| Business and technology drivers | Promises of value | Keywords |
| Help the organization align investments with the corporate strategy and departmental priorities. | Increase the number of investments that have a direct tie to corporate strategy. | Business |
| Support the rapid growth and development of the company through fiscal planning, project planning, and technology sustainability. | Ensure budgets and projects are delivered on time with the assistance of technology. | IT-Enabled |
| Reduce the duplication and work effort to build and deploy technology solutions across the entire organization. | Aim to reduce the number of redundant applications in the organization to streamline processes and save costs. | Catalyst |
| Improve the organization’s technology responsiveness and increase speed to market. | Reduce the number of days required in the SDLC for all core business support projects. | Value delivery |
Ensure the sentence is cohesive and captures additional value outside of the keywords. The statement as a whole should be greater than the sum of the parts. Expand upon the meaning of the words, if necessary, to communicate the value. Below is an example of a finished vision statement.
SampleCatalyst – We will continuously interact with the business and IT to accelerate and improve results.
IT-enabled – We will ensure the optimal use of technology in enabling business capabilities to achieve business objectives.
Business – We will be perceived as a business-focused unit that understands [Company name]’s business priorities and required business capabilities.
Value delivery – EA’s value will be recognized by both business and IT stakeholders. We will track and market EA’s contribution to business value organization-wide.
Likewise, below is a sample of connecting keywords together to form an EA mission statement:
Optimize – We collaborate with the business to analyze and optimize business capabilities and business processes to enable the agile and efficient attainment of [Company name] business objectives.
Transform – We support IT-enabled business transformation programs by building and maintaining a shared vision of the future-state enterprise and consistently communicating it to stakeholders.
Innovate – We identify and develop new and creative opportunities for IT to enable the business. We communicate the art of the possible to the business.
Defining and implementing – We engage with project teams early and guide solution design and selection to ensure alignment to the target-state enterprise architecture.
Target enterprise structure – We analyze business needs and priorities and assess the current state of the enterprise. We build and maintain the target enterprise architecture blueprints that define:
1 hour
Input: Identified promises of value, Vision statement test criteria
Output: EA function vision statement
Materials: Note-taking materials, Whiteboard or flip chart, markers
Participants: EA strategy creation team
Begin the creation of the EA vision statement by following the steps below:
1 hour
Input: Identified promises of value, Mission statement test criteria
Output: EA function mission statement
Materials: Note-taking materials, Whiteboard or flip chart, markers
Participants: EA strategy creation team
Begin the creation of the EA mission statement by following the steps below:
Enterprise architecture goals define specific desired outcomes of an EA function. EA goals are important because they establish the milestones the EA function can strive toward to deliver their promises of value.
Inform EA goals by examining:Promises of value |
—› |
EA goals produce:Targets and milestones |
Promises of valueProduce EA strategic outcomes that can be classified into four categories. The four categories are:
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EA goalsSupport the strategic outcomes. EA goals can be strategic or operational:
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2 hours
Input: Identified promises of value
Output: EA goals
Materials: Note-taking materials, Whiteboard or flip chart, markers
Participants: EA strategy creation team
Begin the creation of EA goals by following the steps below:
Download the EA Goals and Objectives Template to assist with completing this activity.
Below are examples of EA goals and the objectives that track their performance:
| IT performance-oriented goals | Objectives |
| Alignment of IT and business strategy |
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| Increase in IT agility |
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| Optimization of IT assets, resources, and capabilities |
|
2 hours
Input: Defined EA goals
Output: EA objectives linked to EA goals
Materials: Note-taking materials, Whiteboard or flip chart, markers
Participants: EA strategy creation team
Begin the process of defining EA objectives and linking them to EA goals using the following steps:
Download the EA Goals and Objectives Template to assist with completing this activity.
Add details to the enterprise architecture objectives previously defined to increase their clarity to stakeholders.
| EA objective detail category | Description |
| Unit of measure |
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| Calculation formula |
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| Objective baseline, status, and target |
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| Data collection |
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| Reporting |
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2 hours
Input: Defined list of EA objectives
Output: Increased detail into each defined EA objective
Materials: Note-taking materials, Whiteboard or flip chart, markers
Participants: EA strategy creation team
Record the details of each EA objective. Use the following steps below to assist with recording the details:
Download the EA Goals and Objectives Template to assist with completing this activity.
Build the EA Fundamentals
| Step 3.1 | Step 3.2 |
The EA function scope constrains the promises of value the EA function will deliver on by taking into account factors across four dimensions. The EA function scope ensures that the EA function is not stretched beyond its current/planned means and capabilities when delivering the promised value. The four dimensions are illustrated below:
| Organizational coverage
Determine the focus of the enterprise architecture effort in terms of specific business units, functions, departments, capabilities, or geographical areas. |
Depth
Determine the appropriate level of detail to be captured, based on the intended use of the enterprise architecture and the contingent decisions to be made. |
EA Scope |
|
| Architectural Domains
Determine the EA domains (business, data, application, infrastructure, security) that are appropriate to address stakeholder concerns and architecture requirements. |
Time horizon
Determine the target-state architecture’s objective time period. |
Establish the EA function scope by using the EA value proposition and EA fundamentals that have been developed. After defining the EA function scope, refer back to these statements to ensure the EA function scope accurately reflects the EA value proposition and EA fundamentals.
|
EA value proposition +EA vision statement
|
—› Influences |
Organizational coverage Architectural domains Depth Time horizon |
—› Defines |
EA function scope |
The organizational coverage dimension of EA scope determines the focus of enterprise architecture effort in the organization. Coverage can be determined by specific business units, functions, departments, capabilities, or geographic areas. Info-Tech has typically seen two types of coverage based on the size of the organization.
Indicators: Full-time employees dedicated to manage its data and IT infrastructure. Individuals are IT generalists and may have multiple roles.
Recommended coverage: Typically, for small and medium-size businesses, the organizational coverage of architecture work is the entire enterprise. (Source: The Open Group, 2018)
Indicators: Dedicated full-time IT staff with expertise to manage specific applications or parts of the IT infrastructure.
Recommended coverage: For large enterprises, it is often necessary to develop a number of architectures focused on specific business segments and/or geographies. In this federated model, an overarching enterprise architecture should be established to ensure interoperability and conformance to overarching EA principles. (Source: DCIG, 2011)
Enterprise architecture objectives are specific metrics that help measure and monitor progress towards achieving an EA goal. Objectives are SMART.
| EA goals | —› | EA objectives |
|
|
Download the EA Goals and Objectives Template to see examples between the relationship of EA goals to objectives.
| Corporate Business Goals | Measurements | |
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2 hours
Input: EA value proposition, Previously defined EA fundamentals
Output: Organizational coverage dimension of EA scope defined
Materials: Note-taking materials, Whiteboard or flip chart, markers
Participants: EA strategy creation team
Define the organizational coverage of the EA function scope using the following steps below:
A complete enterprise architecture should address all five architectural domains. The five architectural domains are business, data, application, infrastructure, and security.
| Enterprise Architecture | ||||
| —› | Data Architecture | |||
| Business Architecture | —› | Infrastructure Architecture | ||
| Security Architecture | ||||
| —› | Application Architecture | |||
“The realities of resource and time constraints often mean there is not enough time, funding, or resources to build a top-down, all-inclusive architecture encompassing all four architecture domains. Build architecture domains with a specific purpose in mind.” (The Open Group, 2018)
Below are the definitions of different domains of enterprise architecture (Info-Tech perspective; others can be identified as well, e.g. Integration Architecture).
Business ArchitectureBusiness architecture is a means of demonstrating the business value of subsequent architecture work to key stakeholders and the return on investment to those stakeholders from supporting and participating in the subsequent work. Business architecture defines the business strategy, governance, organization, and key business processes. |
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Data ArchitectureDescribes the structure of an organization’s logical and physical data assets and data management resources. |
Application ArchitectureProvides a blueprint for the individual applications to be deployed, their interactions, and their relationships to the core business processes of the organization. |
Infrastructure ArchitectureRepresents the sum of hardware, software, and telecommunications-related IT capability associated with a particular enterprise. It is concerned with the synergistic operations and management of the devices in the organization. |
Security ArchitectureProvides an unified security design that addresses the necessities and potential risks involved in a certain scenario or environment. It also specifies when and where to apply security controls. |
EA scope depth defines the architectural detail for each EA domain that the organization has selected to pursue. The level of depth is broken down into four levels. The level of depth the organization decides to pursue should be consistent across the domains.
| Contextual |
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| Conceptual |
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| Logical |
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| Physical |
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| (Source: Zachman International, 2011) | Business Architecture | Data Architecture | Application Architecture | Infrastructure Architecture | Security Architecture |
The graphic below depicts examples of the key artifacts that each domain of architecture would produce at each depth level.
| Contextual | Enterprise Governance | ||||
| Conceptual | Business strategy | Business objects | Use-case models | Technology landscaping | Security policy |
| Logical | Business capabilities | Data attribution | Application integration | Network/ hardware topology | Security standards |
| Physical | Business process | Database design | Application design | Configuration management | Security configuration |
| Business Architecture | Data Architecture | Application Architecture | Infrastructure Architecture | Security Architecture | |
2 hours
Input: EA value proposition, Previously defined EA fundamentals
Output: Architectural domain and depth dimensions of EA scope defined
Materials: Note-taking materials, Whiteboard or flip chart, markers
Participants: EA strategy creation team
Define the EA function scope for your organization using the following steps below:
It is important that the EA team’s work has an appropriate planning horizon while avoiding two extremes:
| Planning Horizon: | 1 year | 2-3 years | 5 years |
| Recommended under the following conditions: |
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|
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2 hours
Input: EA value proposition, Previously defined EA fundamentals
Output: Time horizon dimension of EA scope defined
Materials: Note-taking materials, Whiteboard or flip chart, markers
Participants: EA strategy creation team
Define the EA function scope for your organization using the following steps below:
EA principles are shared, long-lasting beliefs that guide the use of IT in constructing, transforming, and operating the enterprise by informing and restricting target-state enterprise architecture design, IT investment portfolio management, solution development, and procurement decisions.
| EA value proposition | Influences —› |
EA Principles | Guide and inform —› |
Decisions on the Use of IT | Direct and control ‹— |
Specific Domain Policies |
| ‹——————— What decisions should be made? |
————— | ————— | —————
How should decisions be made? |
————— | ————— | —————————›
Who has the accountability and authority to make decisions? |
Info-Tech has identified a set of characteristics that EA principles should possess. Having these characteristics ensures the EA principles are relevant and followed in the organization.
| Approach focused | EA principles are focused on the approach, i.e. how the enterprise is built, transformed, and operated, as apposed to what needs to be built, which is defined by both functional and non-functional requirements. |
| Business relevant | Create EA principles specific to the organization. Tie EA principles to the organization’s priorities and strategic aspirations. |
| Long lasting | Build EA principles that will withstand the test of time. |
| Prescriptive | Inform and direct decision making with EA principles that are actionable. Avoid truisms, general statements, and observations. |
| Verifiable | If compliance can’t be verified, the principle is less likely to be followed. |
| Easily digestible | EA principles must be clearly understood by everyone in IT and by business stakeholders. EA principles aren’t a secret manuscript of the EA team. EA principles should be succinct; wordy principles are hard to understand and remember. |
| Followed | Successful EA principles represent a collection of beliefs shared among enterprise stakeholders. EA principles must be continuously “preached” to all stakeholders to achieve and maintain buy-in.
In organizations where formal policy enforcement works well, EA principles should be enforced through appropriate governance processes. |
| 1. Enterprise value focus | We aim to provide maximum long-term benefits to the enterprise as a whole while optimizing total costs of ownership and risks. |
| 2. Fit for purpose | We maintain capability levels and create solutions that are fit for purpose without over-engineering them. |
| 3. Simplicity | We choose the simplest solutions and aim to reduce operational complexity of the enterprise. |
| 4. Reuse › buy › build | We maximize reuse of existing assets. If we can’t reuse, we procure externally. As a last resort, we build custom solutions. |
| 5. Managed data | We handle data creation, modification, and use enterprise-wide in compliance with our data governance policy. |
| 6. Controlled technical diversity | We control the variety of technology platforms we use. |
| 7. Managed security | We manage security enterprise-wide in compliance with our security governance policy. |
| 8. Compliance to laws and regulations | We operate in compliance with all applicable laws and regulations. |
| 9. Innovation | We seek innovative ways to use technology for business advantage. |
| 10. Customer centricity | We deliver best experiences to our customers with our services and products. |
2 hours
Input: Info-Tech’s ten universal EA principles, Identified promises of value
Output: A defined set of EA principles for your organization
Materials: Note-taking materials, Whiteboard or flip chart, markers
Participants: EA strategy creation team
Create a set of EA principles for your organization using the steps below:
Download the EA Principles Template – EA Strategy to document this step.
After defining the set of EA principles, ensure they are all expanded upon with a rationale and implications. The rationale and implications ensure principles are more likely to be followed because they communicate why the principles are important and how they are to be used.
| Name |
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| Statement |
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| Rationale |
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| Implications |
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2 hours
Input: Identified set of EA principles
Output: EA principles that have rationale and implications
Materials: Note-taking materials, Whiteboard or flip chart, markers
Participants: EA strategy creation team
Add the rationale and implication of each EA principle that your organization has selected using the following steps:
Download the EA Principles Template – EA Strategy to document this step.
1-2 hours
Input: Defined set of EA principles
Output: EA principles are successfully operationalized
Materials: Note-taking materials, Whiteboard or flip chart, markers
Participants: EA strategy creation team
Begin to operationalize the EA principles by reviewing the proposed principles with business and technology leadership to secure their approval.
After operationalizing the EA principles for your organization, the organization can now use those principles to guide and inform its IT investment decisions. Below is an example of a scenario where EA principles were used to guide and inform an IT investment decision.
Organization wants to provision an application but it needs to decide how to do so, and it considers the relevant EA principles:
The organization has decided to go with a specialized vendor, even though it normally prefers to reuse existing components. The vendor has experience in this domain, understands the data security implications, and can help the organization mitigate risk. Lastly, the vendor is known for providing new solutions on a regular basis and is a market leader, making it more likely to provide the organization with innovative solutions.
As an enterprise architecture function starting from ground zero, the organization did not have the EA fundamentals in place to guide the EA function. Further, the organization also did not possess an EA function scope to define the boundaries of the EA function.
Due to the lack of EA scope, the EA function did not know which part of the organization to provide contributions toward. A lack of EA fundamentals caused confusion regarding the future direction of the EA function.
Info-Tech worked with the EA team to define the different components of the EA fundamentals. This included EA vision and mission statements, EA goals and objectives, and EA principles.
Additionally, Info-Tech worked with the EA team to define the EA function scope.
These EA strategy components were created by examining the needs of the business. The components were aligned with the identified needs of the EA stakeholders.
The defined EA function scope helped set out the responsibilities of the enterprise architecture function to the organization.
The EA vision and mission statements and EA goals and objectives were used to guide the direction of the EA function. These fundamentals helped the EA function improve its maturity and deliver on its promises.
The EA principles were used in IT review boards to guide the decisions on IT investments in the organization.
1 hour
Input: Existing methodologies
Output: Decisions about need of agility, ceremonies, and protocols to be used
Materials: Note-taking materials, Whiteboard or flip chart, markers
Participants: EA strategy creation team
Add the rationale and implication of adopting an Agile methodology and/or a combination with a traditional methodology.
Phase 1
| Phase 2
| ||
Phase 3
| Phase 4
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Design the EA Services
| Step 3.1 | Step 3.2 |
Enterprise architecture services are a set of activities the enterprise architecture function provides for the organization. EA services are important because the services themselves provide a set of benefits for the organization.
Viewing the EA function from a service perspective resolves the following pains:
Previously identified EA contributions can be linked to EA services, which helps the EA function identify a set of EA services that are important to business stakeholders. Further, linking the EA contributions to EA services can define for the EA function the services they need to provide.
2 hours
Input: Previously identified EA contributions from the EA value proposition
Output: A set of EA services selected for the organization from Info-Tech’s defined set of EA services
Materials: Note-taking materials, Whiteboard or flip chart, markers
Participants: EA strategy creation team
Begin the selection of EA services relevant to your organization by following the steps below:
Download the EA Service Planning Tool to assist with this activity.
2 hours
Input: Expertise from the EA strategy creation team, Previously defined EA contributions
Output: A defined set of EA services outside the list Info-Tech has recommended
Materials: Note-taking materials, Whiteboard or flip chart, markers
Participants: EA strategy creation team
Identify if services outside of the recommended list in the EA Service Planning Tool are relevant to your organization by using the steps below:
Download the EA Service Planning Tool to assist with this activity.
The EA service catalog is an important communicator to the business. It shifts the technology-oriented view of EA to services that show direct benefit to the business. It is a tool that communicates and provides clarity to the business about the EA services that are available and how those services can assist them.
| Define the services to show value | Define the service catalog to show how to use those services |
Already defined
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Need to define
|
The EA group must provide the organization with a list of services it will provide to demonstrate value. This will help the team manage expectations and the workload while giving organizational stakeholders a clear understanding of how to engage EA and what lies outside of EA’s involvement.
4 hours
Input: Expertise from the EA strategy creation team
Output: Service details for each EA service in your organization
Materials: Note-taking materials, Whiteboard or flip chart, markers
Participants: EA strategy creation team
Complete the details for each relevant EA service in the EA Service Planning Tool by using the following steps:
Download the EA Service Planning Tool to assist with this activity.
Design the EA Services
| Step 4.1 | Step 4.2 |
For the EA strategy to be successfully executed, it must be approved by the EA stakeholders. Securing their approval will increase the likelihood of success in the execution of the EA operating model.
| Outputs that make up the EA strategy | —› | Present outputs to EA strategy stakeholders |
|
|
1 hour
Input: Completed EA Function Strategy Template, Expertise from EA strategy creation team
Output: Approval of the EA strategy
Materials: Note-taking materials, Whiteboard or flip chart, markers
Participants: EA strategy creation team, Key EA stakeholders
Use the following steps to assist with securing approval for your organization’s EA strategy:
Use the EA Function Strategy Template to assist with this activity.
3 hours
Input: Expertise from EA strategy creation team
Output: Service details for each EA service in your organization
Materials: Note-taking materials, Whiteboard or flip chart, markers
Participants: EA strategy creation team
Map EA contributions/services to the goals of the organization.
Download the EA Service Planning Tool to assist with this activity.
1 hour
Input: Expertise from EA strategy creation team
Output: Defined KPIs (SMART)
Materials: Note-taking materials, Whiteboard or flip chart, markers
Participants: EA strategy creation team
Use SMART key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure EA contributions vis-à-vis business goals.
| Corporate Business Goals | EA Contributions | Measurements |
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The oil and gas corporation faced a great challenge in communicating the role of enterprise architecture to the organization. Although it has the mandate from the CIO to create the EA function, there was no function in existence. Thus, few people in the organization understood EA.
Because of this lack of understanding, the EA function was often undermined. The EA function was seen as an order taker that provided some services to the organization.
First, Info-Tech worked with the enterprise architecture team to define the EA stakeholders in the organization.
Second, Info-Tech interviewed those stakeholders to identify their needs. The needs were analyzed and pains that would obstruct addressing those needs were identified.
Lastly, Info-Tech worked with the team to identify common EA contributions that would solve those pains.
Through this process, Info-Tech helped the team at the oil and gas company create a document that could communicate the value of EA. Specifically, the document could articulate the issues obstructing each stakeholder from achieving their needs and how enterprise architecture could solve them.
With this value proposition, EA was able to demonstrate value to important stakeholders and set itself up for success in its future endeavors.
As a brand new enterprise architecture function, the EA function at the oil and gas corporation did not have a set of defined EA services. Because of this lack of EA services, the organization did not know what contributions EA could provide.
Further, without the definition of EA services, the EA function did not set out explicit expectations to the business. This caused expectations from the business to be different from those of the EA function, resulting in friction.
Info-Tech worked with the EA function at the oil and gas corporation to define a set of EA services the function could provide.
The Info-Tech team, along with the organization, assessed the business and technology needs of the stakeholder. Those needs acted as the basis for the EA function to create their initial services.
Additionally, Info-Tech worked with the team to define the service details (e.g. service benefits, service requestor, service provider) to communicate how to provide services to the business.
The defined EA services led the EA function to communicate what it could provide for the business. As well, the defined services clarified the level of expectation for the business.
The EA team was able to successfully service the business on future projects, adding value through their expertise and knowledge of the organization’s systems. Because of the demonstrated value, EA has been given greater responsibility throughout the organization.
1 hour
Input: Expertise from EA strategy creation team
Output: Participation in Agile Pre- and Post-PI, Architect Syncs, etc.
Materials: Note-taking materials, Whiteboard or flip chart, markers
Participants: EA strategy creation team
Document the involvement of the enterprise architect in your organization’s Agile ceremonies.
Note: Roles and responsibilities can be further defined as part of the Agile Enterprise Operating Model.
The enterprise architecture role relative to agility specifies the architecture roles as well as the agile protocols they will participate in.
This statement will guide every architect’s participation in planning meetings, pre- and post-PI, syncs, etc. Use simple and concise terminology; speak loudly and clearly.
A strong EA role statement relative to agility has the following characteristics:
Sample EA mission relative to agility
Likewise, below is a sample of connecting keywords together to form an enterprise architect role statement, relative to agility.
Optimize – We collaborate with the business to analyze and optimize business capabilities and business processes to enable the agile and efficient attainment of [Company name] business objectives.
Transform – We support IT-enabled business transformation programs by building and maintaining a shared vision of the future-state enterprise and consistently communicating it to stakeholders.
Innovate – We identify and develop new and creative opportunities for IT to enable the business. We communicate the art of the possible to the business.
Defining and implementing – We engage with project teams early and guide solution design and selection to ensure alignment to the target-state enterprise architecture and provide guidance as well as accelerators.
Target enterprise structure in an agile way – We analyze business needs and priorities and assess the current state of the enterprise. We build and maintain the target enterprise architecture blueprints that define:
Once approved, move on to Info-Tech’s Define an EA Operating Model blueprint to begin executing on the EA strategy.
This blueprint focuses on setting up an enterprise architecture function, with the goal of maximizing the likelihood of EA success. The blueprint puts into place the components that will align the EA function with the needs of the stakeholders, guide the decision making of the EA function, and define the services EA can provide to the organization.
An EA operating model helps you design and organize the EA function, ensuring adherence to architectural standards and delivery of EA services. This blueprint acts on the EA strategy by creating methods to engage, govern, and develop architecture as a part of the larger organization.
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Milena Litoiu
Senior Director Research and Advisory, Enterprise Architecture
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Lan Nguyen
IT Executive, Mentor, Managing Partner at CIOs Beyond Borders Group
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Dirk Coetsee
Director Research and Advisory, Enterprise Architecture, Data & Analytics
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Andy Neill
AVP, Enterprise Architecture, Data and Analytics
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Wayne Filin-Matthews
Chief Enterprise Architect, ICMG Winner of Global Chief Enterprise Architect of the Year 2019
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Graham Smith
Experienced lead Enterprise Architect and Independent Consultant
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Thanks also go to all experts who contributed to previous versions of this document:
Additional interviews were conducted but are not listed due to privacy and confidentiality requirements.
“Agile Manifesto for Software Development,” Ward Cunningham, 2001. Accessed July 2021.
“ArchiMate 3.1 Specification.” The Open Group, n.d. Accessed July 2021.
“Are Your IT Strategy and Business Strategy Aligned?” 5Q Partners, 8 Jan. 2015. Accessed Oct. 2016.
Bowen, Fillmore. “How agile companies create and sustain high ROI.” IBM. Accessed Oct. 2016.
Burns, Peter, et al. Building Value through Enterprise Architecture: A Global Study. Booz & Co. 2009. Web. Nov. 2016.
“Demonstrating the Value of Enterprise Architecture in Delivering Business Capabilities.” Cisco, 2008. Web. Oct. 2016.
“Disciplined Agile.” Disciplined Agile Consortium, n.d. Web.
Fowler, Martin. “Building Effective software.” MartinFowler.com. Accessed July 2021.
Fowler, Martin. “Agile Software Guide.” MartinFowler.com, 1 Aug. 2019.
Accessed July 2021.Haughey, Duncan. “SMART Goals.” Project Smart, 2014. Accessed July 2021.
Kern, Matthew. “20 Enterprise Architecture Practices.” LinkedIn, 3 March 2016. Accessed Nov. 2016.
Lahanas, Stephen. “Infrastructure Architecture, Defined.” IT Architecture Journal, Sept. 2014. Accessed July 2021.
Lean IX website, Accessed July 2021.
Litoiu, Milena. Course material from Information Technology 2690: Foundations of Enterprise Architecture, 2021, University of Toronto.
Mocker, M., J.W. Ross, and C.M. Beath. “How Companies Use Digital Technologies to Enhance Customer Findings.” MIT CISR Working Paper No. 434, Feb. 2019. Qtd in Mayor, Tracy. “MIT expert recaps 30-plus years of enterprise architecture.” MIT Sloan, 10 Aug. 2020. Web.
“Open Agile ArchitectureTM.” The Open Group, 2020. Accessed July 2021.
“Organizational Design Framework – The Transformation Model.” The Center for Organizational Design, n.d. Accessed 1 Aug. 2020.
Ross, Jeanne W. et al. Enterprise Architecture as Strategy: Creating a Foundation for Business Execution. Harvard Business School Press, 2006.
Rouse, Margaret. “Enterprise Architecture (EA).” SearchCIO, June 2007. Accessed Nov. 2016.
“SAFe 5 for Lean Enterprises.” Scaled Agile Framework, Scaled Agile, Inc. Accessed 2021.
“Security Architecture.” Technopedia, updated 20 Dec. 2016. Accessed July 2021.
“Software Engineering Institute.” Carnegie Mellon University, n.d. Web.
“TOGAF 9.1.” The Open Group, 2011. Accessed Oct. 2016.
“TOGAF 9.2.” The Open Group, 2018. Accessed July 2021.
Thompson, Rachel. “Stakeholder Analysis: Winning Support for Your Projects.” MindTools, n.d. Accessed July 2021.
Wendt, Jerome M. “Redefining ‘SMB’, ‘SME’ and ‘Large Enterprise.’” DCIG, 25 Mar. 2011. Accessed July 2021.
Wilkinson, Jim. “Business Drivers.” The Strategic CFO, 23 July 2013. Accessed July 2021.
Zachman, John. “Conceptual, Logical, Physical: It is Simple.” Zachman International, 2011. Accessed July 2021.
Attractive a target, I do not make, hmmm? Yoda-speak with a slightly inquisitive tone, indicating that he means the opposite. And many (small) business owners also feel they are no target. But 61% of SMBs were attacked already. And large corporations also still have a ways to go.
Aligning your business with applications through your strategy will not only increase business satisfaction but also help to ensure you’re delivering applications that enable the organization’s goals.
Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:
This review guide provides organizations with a detailed assessment of their application strategy, ensuring that the applications enable the business strategy so that the organization can be more effective.The assessment provides criteria and exercises to provide actionable outcomes.
Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:
Outline your plan, form your team, and plan marketing tech stack support.
Set lead flow thresholds, define your ideal customer profile and lead generation engine components, and weight, score, test, and refine them.
Apply your lead scoring model to your lead management app, test it, validate the results with sellers, apply advanced methods, and refine.
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.
Drive an aligned vision for lead scoring.
Attain an aligned vision for lead scoring.
Identify the steering committee and project team and clarify their roles and responsibilities.
Provide your team with an understanding of how leads score through the marketing funnel.
1.1 Outline a vision for lead scoring.
1.2 Identify steering committee and project team members.
1.3 Assess your tech stack for lead scoring and seek advice from Info-Tech analysts to modernize where needed.
1.4 Align on marketing pipeline terminology.
Steering committee and project team make-up
Direction on tech stack to support lead generation
Marketing pipeline definitions alignment
Define the buyer journey and map the lead generation engine.
Align the vision for your target buyer and their buying journey.
Identify the assets and activities that need to compose your lead generation engine.
2.1 Establish a buyer persona.
2.2 Map your buyer journey.
2.3 Document the activities and assets of your lead generation engine.
Buyer persona
Buyer journey map
Lead gen engine assets and activities documented
Build and test your lead scoring model.
Gain team alignment on how leads score and, most importantly, what constitutes a sales-accepted lead.
Develop a scoring model from which future iterations can be tested.
3.1 Understand the Lead Scoring Grid and set your thresholds.
3.2 Identify your ideal customer profile, attributes, and subattribute weightings – run tests.
Lead scoring thresholds
Ideal customer profile, weightings, and tested scores
Test profile scoring
Align on engagement attributes.
Develop a scoring model from which future iterations can be tested.
4.1 Weight the attributes of your lead generation engagement model and run tests.
4.2 Apply weightings to activities and assets.
4.3 Test engagement and profile scenarios together and make any adjustments to weightings or thresholds.
Engagement attributes and weightings tested and complete
Final lead scoring model
Apply the model to your tech platform.
Deliver better qualified leads to Sales.
5.1 Apply model to your marketing management/campaign management software and test the quality of sales-accepted leads in the hands of sellers.
5.2 Measure overall lead flow and conversion rates through your marketing pipeline.
5.3 Apply lead nurturing and other advanced methods.
Model applied to software
Better qualified leads in the hands of sellers
EXECUTIVE BRIEF
As B2B organizations emerge from the lowered demands brought on by COVID-19, they are eager to convert marketing contacts to sales-qualified leads with even the slightest signal of intent, but many sales cycles are wasted when sellers receive unqualified leads. Delivering highly qualified leads to sellers is still more art than science, and it is especially challenging without a way to score a contact profile and engagement. While most marketers capture some profile data from contacts, many will pass a contact over to Sales without any engagement data or schedule a demo with a contact without any qualifying profile data. Passing unqualified leads to Sales suboptimizes Sales’ resources, raises the costs per lead, and often results in lost opportunities. Marketers need to develop a lead scoring methodology that delivers better qualified leads to Field Sales scored against both the ideal customer profile (ICP) and engagement that signals lower-funnel buyer interest. To be successful in building a compelling lead scoring solution, marketers must work closely with key stakeholders to align the ICP asset/activity with the buyer journey. Additionally, working early in the design process with IT/Marketing Operations to implement lead management and analytical tools in support will drive results to maximize lead conversion rates and sales wins.
Jeff Golterman
Managing Director
SoftwareReviews Advisory
The affordability and ease of implementation of digital marketing tools have driven global adoption to record levels. While many marketers are fine-tuning the lead generation engine components of email, social media, and web-based advertising to increase lead volumes, just 32% of companies pass well-qualified leads over to outbound marketers or sales development reps (SDRs). At best, lead gen costs stay high, and marketing-influenced win rates remain suboptimized. At worst, marketing reputation suffers when poorly qualified leads are passed along to sellers.
Most marketers lack a methodology for lead scoring, and some lack alignment among Marketing, Product, and Sales on what defines a qualified lead. In their rush to drive lead generation, marketers often fail to “define and align” on the ICP with stakeholders, creating confusion and wasted time and resources. In the rush to adopt B2B marketing and sales automation tools, many marketers have also skipped the important steps to 1) define the buyer journey and map content types to support, and 2) invest in a consistent content creation and sourcing strategy. The wrong content can leave prospects unmotivated to engage further and cause them to seek alternatives.
To employ lead scoring effectively, marketers need to align Sales, Marketing, and Product teams on the definition of the ICP and what constitutes a Sales-accepted lead. The buyer journey needs to be mapped in order to identify the engagement that will move a lead through the marketing lead generation engine. Then the project team can score prospect engagement and the prospect profile attributes against the ICP to arrive at a lead score. The marketing tech stack needs to be validated to support lead scoring, and finally Sales needs to sign off on results.
Lead scoring is a must-have capability for high-tech marketers. Without lead scoring, marketers will see increased costs of lead gen, decreased SQL to opportunity conversion rates, decreased sales productivity, and longer sales cycles.
Leading marketers who successfully implement a lead scoring methodology develop it collaboratively with stakeholders across Marketing, Sales, and Product Management. Leaders will engage Marketing Operations, Sales Operations, and IT early to gain support for the evaluation and implementation of a supporting campaign management application and for analytics to track lead progress throughout the Marketing and Sales funnels. Leverage the Marketing Lead Scoring Toolkit to build out your version of the model and to test various scenarios. Use the slides contained within this storyboard and the accompanying toolkit as a means to align key stakeholders on the ICP and to weight assets and activities across your marketing lead generation engine.
Lead scoring weighs the value of a prospect’s profile against the ICP and renders a profile score. The process then weighs the value of the prospects activities against the ideal call to action (CTA) and renders an activity score. Combining the profile and activity scores delivers an overall score for the value of the lead to drive the next step along the overall buyer journey.
EXAMPLE: SALES MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE
SoftwareReviews Advisory Insight:
A significant obstacle to quality lead production is disagreement on or lack of a documented definition of the ideal customer profile. Marketers successful in lead scoring will align key stakeholders on a documented definition of the ICP as a first step in improving lead scoring.
Up to 66% of businesses don’t practice any type of lead scoring.
“ With lead scoring, you don’t waste loads of time on unworthy prospects, and you don’t ignore people on the edge of buying.”
“The benefits of lead scoring number in the dozens. Having a deeper understanding of which leads meet the qualifications of your highest converters and then systematically communicating with them accordingly increases both ongoing engagement and saves your internal team time chasing down inopportune leads.”
Optimizing Sales Resources Using Lead Scoring
“On average, organizations that currently use lead scoring experience a 77% lift in lead generation ROI, over organizations that do not currently use lead scoring.”
Average Lead Generation ROI by Use of Lead Scoring
1. Drive Aligned Vision for Lead Scoring |
2. Build and Test Your Lead Scoring Model |
3. Apply to Your Tech Platform and Validate, Nurture, and Grow |
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Phase |
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Phase Outcomes |
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The workbook walks you through a step-by-step process to:
Consider core functions and form a cross-functional lead scoring team. Document the team’s details here.
Set your initial threshold weightings for profile and engagement scores.
Establish Your Ideal Customer Profile
Identify major attributes and attribute values and the weightings of both. You’ll eventually score your leads against this ICP.
Record and Weight Lead Gen Engine Activities
Identify the major activities that compose prospect engagement with your lead gen engine. Weight them together as a team.
Test Lead Profile Scenarios
Test actual lead profiles to see how they score against where you believe they should score. Adjust threshold settings in Tab 2.
Test Activity Engagement Scores
Test scenarios of how contacts navigate your lead gen engine. See how they score against where you believe they should score. Adjust thresholds on Tab 2 as needed.
Review Combined Profile and Activity Score
Review the combined scores to see where on your lead scoring matrix the lead falls. Make any final adjustments to thresholds accordingly.
| DIY Toolkit | Guided Implementation | Workshop | Consulting |
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"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." |
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Phase 1 |
Phase 2 |
Phase 3 |
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Call #1: Collaborate on vision for lead scoring and the overall project. Call #2: Identify the steering committee and the rest of the team. Call #3: Discuss app/tech stack support for lead scoring. Understand key marketing pipeline terminology and the buyer journey. Call #4: Discuss your ICP, apply weightings, and run test scenarios. |
Call #5: Discuss and record lead generation engine components. Call #6: Understand the Lead Scoring Grid and set thresholds for your model. Call #7: Identify your ICP, apply weightings to attributes, and run tests. |
Call #8: Weight the attributes of engagement activities and run tests. Review the application of the scoring model on lead management software. Call #9: Test quality of sales-accepted leads in the hands of sellers. Measure lead flow and conversion rates through your marketing pipeline. Call #10: Review progress and discuss nurturing and other advanced topics. |
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.
Day 1 |
Day 2 |
Day 3 |
Day 4 |
Day 5 |
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Drive Aligned Vision for Lead Scoring |
Buyer Journey and Lead Gen Engine Mapping |
Build and Test Your Lead Scoring Model |
Align on Engagement Attributes |
Apply to Your Tech Platform |
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Activities |
1.1 Outline a vision for lead scoring. 1.2 Identify steering committee and project team members. 1.3 Assess your tech stack for lead scoring and seek advice from Info-Tech analysts to modernize where needed. 1.4 Align on marketing pipeline terminology. |
2.1 Establish a buyer persona (if not done already). 2.2 Map your buyer journey. 2.3 Document the activities and assets of your lead gen engine. |
3.1 Understand Lead Scoring Grid and set your thresholds. 3.2 Identify ICP attribute and sub-attribute weightings. Run tests. |
4.1 Weight the attributes of your lead gen engagement model and run tests. 4.2 Apply weightings to activities and assets. 4.3 Test engagement and profile scenarios together and adjust weightings and thresholds as needed. |
5.1 Apply model to your campaign management software and test quality of sales-accepted leads in the hands of sellers. 5.2. Measure overall lead flow and conversion rates through your marketing pipeline. 5.3 Apply lead nurturing and other advanced methods. |
Deliverables |
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Phase 1 |
Phase 2 |
Phase 3 |
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1.1 Establish a cross-functional vision for lead scoring 1.2 Asses your tech stack for lead scoring (optional) 1.3 Catalog your buyer journey and lead gen engine assets |
2.1 Start building your lead scoring model 2.2 Identify and verify your IPC and weightings 2.3 Establish key lead generation activities and assets |
3.1 Apply model to your marketing management software 3.2 Test the quality of sales-accepted leads 3.3 Apply advanced methods |
This phase will walk you through the following activities:
This phase involves the following stakeholders:
Activities
1.1.1 Identify stakeholders critical to success
1.1.2 Outline the vision for lead scoring
1.1.3 Select your lead scoring team
This step will walk you through the following activities:
This step involves the following participants:
Outcomes of this step
1 hour
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B2B marketers that lack agreement among Marketing, Sales, Inside Sales, and lead management supporting staff of what constitutes a qualified lead will squander precious time and resources throughout the customer acquisition process.
1 hour
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While SMBs can implement some form of lead scoring when volume is very low and leads can be scored by hand, lead scoring and effective lead management cannot be performed without investment in digital platforms and lead management software and integration with customer relationship management (CRM) applications in the hands of inside and field sales staff. Marketers should plan and budget for the right combination of applications and tools to be in place for proper lead management.
Title |
Key Stakeholders Within a Lead Generation/Scoring Initiative |
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Lead Scoring Sponsor |
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Lead Scoring Initiative Manager |
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Business Leads |
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Digital, Marketing/Sales Ops/IT Team |
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Steering Committee |
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Marketers managing the lead scoring initiative must include Product Marketing, Sales, Inside Sales, and Product Management. And given that world-class B2B lead generation engines cannot run without technology enablement, Marketing Operations/IT – those that are charged with enabling marketing and sales – must also be part of the decision making and implementation process of lead scoring and lead generation.
30 minutes
| Input | Output |
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| Materials | Participants |
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Download the Lead Scoring Workbook
Consider the core team functions when composing the lead scoring team. Form a cross-functional team (i.e. across IT, Marketing, Sales, Service, Operations) to create a well-aligned lead management/scoring strategy. Don’t let your core team become too large when trying to include all relevant stakeholders. Carefully limit the size of the team to enable effective decision making while still including functional business units.
Required Skills/Knowledge |
Suggested Team Members |
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Business |
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IT |
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Other |
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Our model assumes you have:
1.2.1 A marketing application/campaign management application in place that accommodates lead scoring.
1.2.2 Lead management software integrated with the sales automation/CRM tool in the hands of Field Sales.
1.2.3 Reporting/analytics that spans the entire lead generation pipeline/funnel.
Refer to the following three slides if you need guidance in these areas.
This step will walk you through the following activities:
This step involves the following participants:
Outcomes of this step
SoftwareReviews Advisory Insight:
Marketers that collaborate closely with Marketing Ops/IT early in the process of lead scoring design will be best able to assess whether current marketing applications and tools can support a full lead scoring capability.
A thorough evaluation takes months – start early
A thorough evaluation takes months – start early
Access the Info-Tech blueprint Select and Implement a CRM Platform, along with analyst inquiry support during the requirements definition, vendor evaluation, and vendor selection phases. Use the SoftwareReviews CRM Data Quadrant during vendor evaluation and selection.
A thorough evaluation takes weeks – start early
Activities
1.3.1 Review marketing pipeline terminology
1.3.2 Describe your buyer journey
1.3.3 Describe your awareness and lead generation engine
This step will walk you through the following activities:
This step involves the following participants:
Outcomes of this step
30 minutes
Stage |
Characteristics |
Actions |
Contact |
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Nurture SDR Qualify Send to Sales Close |
MQL |
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SQL |
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Oppt’y |
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Win |
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SoftwareReviews Advisory Insight:
Score leads in a way that makes it crystal clear whether they should be ignored, further nurtured, further qualified, or go right into a sellers’ hands as a super hot lead.
2 hours
On the following slide:
SoftwareReviews Advisory Insight:
Establishing a buyer journey is one of the most valuable tools that, typically, Product Marketing produces. Its use helps campaigners, product managers, and Inside and Field Sales. Leading marketers keep journeys updated based on live deals and characteristics of wins.
[Persona name] ([levels it includes from arrows above]) Buyer’s Journey for [solution type] Vendor Selection
* For guidance on best practices in engaging industry analysts, contact your engagement manager to schedule an inquiry with our expert in this area. during that inquiry, we will share best practices and recommended analyst engagement models.
2 hours
On the following slide:
SoftwareReviews Advisory Insight:
Marketing’s primary mission is to deliver marketing-influenced wins (MIWs) to the company. Building a compelling awareness and lead gen engine must be done with that goal in mind. Leaders are ruthless in testing – copy, email subjects, website navigation, etc. – to fine-tune the engine and staying highly collaborative with sellers to ensure high value lead delivery.
Phase 1 | Phase 2 | Phase 3 |
|---|---|---|
1.1 Establish a cross-functional vision for lead scoring 1.2 Asses your tech stack for lead scoring (optional) 1.3 Catalog your buyer journey and lead gen engine assets | 2.1 Start building your lead scoring model 2.2 Identify and verify your IPC and weightings 2.3 Establish key lead generation activities and assets | 3.1 Apply model to your marketing management software 3.2 Test the quality of sales-accepted leads 3.3 Apply advanced methods |
This phase will walk you through the following activities:
This phase involves the following participants:
Activities
2.1.1 Understand the Lead Scoring Grid
2.1.2 Identify thresholds
This step will walk you through the following activities:
This step involves the following participants:
Outcomes of this step
30 minutes
30 minutes
We have set up a model Lead Scoring Grid – see Lead Scoring Workbook, tab 2, “Identify Thresholds.”
Set your thresholds within the Lead Scoring Workbook:
SoftwareReviews Advisory Insight:
Clarify that all-important threshold for when a lead passes to your expensive and time-starved outbound sellers.
Activities
2.2.1 Identify your ideal customer profile
2.2.2 Run tests to validate profile weightings
This step will walk you through the following activities:
This step involves the following participants:
Outcomes of this step
2 hours
SoftwareReviews Advisory Insight:
Marketers who align with colleagues in areas such as Product Marketing, Sales, Inside Sales, Sales Training/Enablement, and Product Managers and document the ICP give their organizations a greater probability of lead generation success.
SoftwareReviews Advisory Insight:
Keep your model simple in the interest of fast implementation and to drive early learnings. The goal is not to be perfect but to start iterating toward success. You will update your scoring model even after going into production.
2 hours
Activities
2.3.1 Establish activities, attribute values, and weights
2.3.2 Run tests to evaluate activity ratings
This step will walk you through the following activities:
This step involves the following participants:
Outcomes of this step
2 hours
SoftwareReviews Advisory Insight:
Use data from actual closed deals and the underlying activities to build your model – nothing like using facts to inform your key decisions. Use common sense and keep things simple. Then update further when data from new wins appears.
2 hours
Phase 1 | Phase 2 | Phase 3 |
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1.1 Establish a cross-functional vision for lead scoring 1.2 Asses your tech stack for lead scoring (optional) 1.3 Catalog your buyer journey and lead gen engine assets | 2.1 Start building your lead scoring model 2.2 Identify and verify your IPC and weightings 2.3 Establish key lead generation activities and assets | 3.1 Apply model to your marketing management software 3.2 Test the quality of sales-accepted leads 3.3 Apply advanced methods |
This phase will walk you through the following activities:
This phase involves the following participants:
Activities
3.1.1 Apply final model to your lead management software
This step will walk you through the following activities:
This step involves the following participants:
Outcomes of this step
3 hours
Activities
3.2.1 Achieve sales lead acceptance
3.2.2 Measure and optimize
This step will walk you through the following activities:
This step involves the following participants:
Outcomes of this step
1 hour
Stage | Characteristics | Actions |
Contact |
| Nurture SDR Qualify Send to Sales Close |
MQL |
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SQL |
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Oppt’y |
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Win |
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SoftwareReviews Advisory Insight:
Marketers that collaborate with Sales – and in this case, a group of sellers as a sales advisory team – well in advance of sales acceptance to design lead scoring will save time during this stage, build trust with sellers, and make faster decisions related to lead management/scoring.
Ongoing
Analytics will also drive additional key insights across your lead gen engine:
Activities
3.3.1 Employ lead nurturing strategies
3.3.2 Adjust your model over time to accommodate more advanced methods
This step will walk you through the following activities:
This step involves the following participants:
Outcomes of this step
SoftwareReviews Advisory Insight:
Nurturing success combines the art of crafting engaging copy/experiences and the science of knowing just where a prospect is within your lead gen engine. Great B2B marketers demonstrate the discipline of knowing when to drive engagement and/or additional profile attribute capture using intent while not losing the prospect to over-profiling.
Ongoing
SoftwareReviews Advisory Insight:
When nurturing, choose/design content as to what “intent” it satisfies. For example, a head-to-head comparison with a key competitor signals “Selection” phase of the buyer journey. Content that helps determine what app-type to buy signals “Solution”. A company video, or a webinar replay, may mean your buyer is “educating themselves.
Ongoing
Advanced Methods
ABM |
Account-Based Marketing |
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B2B |
Business to Business |
CMO |
Chief Marketing Officer |
CRM |
Customer Relationship Management |
ICP |
Ideal Customer Profile |
MIW |
Marketing-Influenced Win |
MQL |
Marketing-Qualified Lead |
SDR |
Sales Development Representative |
SQL |
Sales-Qualified Lead |
Arora, Rajat. “Mining the Real Gems from you Data – Lead Scoring and Engagement Scoring.” LeadSquared, 27 Sept. 2014. Web.
Doyle, Jen. “2012 B2B Marketing Benchmark Report: Research and insights on attracting and converting the modern B2B buyer.” MarketingSherpa, 2012. Web.
Doyle, Jen, and Sergio Balegno. “2011 MarketingSherpa B2B Marketing Benchmark Survey: Research and Insights on Elevating Marketing Effectiveness from Lead Generation to Sales Conversion.” MarketingSherpa, 2011.
Kirkpatrick, David. “Lead Scoring: CMOs realize a 138% lead gen ROI … and so can you.” marketingsherpa blog, 26 Jan 2012. Web.
Moser, Jeremy. “Lead Scoring Is Important for Your Business: Here’s How to Create Scoring Model and Hand-Off Strategy.” BigCommerce, 25 Feb. 2019. Web.
Strawn, Joey. “Why Lead Scoring Is Important for B2Bs (and How You Can Implement It for Your Company.” IndustrialMarketer.com, 17 Aug. 2016. Web.
Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:
Kick-off the project and complete the project charter.
Determine the current state for service management practices.
Build your roadmap with identified initiatives.
Create the communication slide that demonstrates how things will change, both short and long term.
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.
Understand service management.
Gain a common understanding of service management, the forces that impact your roadmap, and the Info-Tech Service Management Maturity Model.
1.1 Understand service management.
1.2 Build a compelling vision and mission.
Constraints and enablers chart
Service management vision, mission, and values
Assess the organization’s current service management capabilities.
Understand attitudes, behaviors, and culture.
Understand governance and process ownership needs.
Understand strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.
Defined desired state.
2.1 Assess cultural ABCs.
2.2 Assess governance needs.
2.3 Perform SWOT analysis.
2.4 Define desired state.
Cultural improvements action items
Governance action items
SWOT analysis action items
Defined desired state
Assess the organization’s current service management capabilities.
Understand the current maturity of service management processes.
Understand organizational change management capabilities.
3.1 Perform service management process maturity assessment.
3.2 Complete OCM capability assessment.
3.3 Identify roadmap themes.
Service management process maturity activities
OCM action items
Roadmap themes
Use outputs from previous steps to build your roadmap and communication one-pagers.
Easy-to-understand roadmap one-pager
Communication one-pager
4.1 Build roadmap one-pager.
4.2 Build communication one-pager.
Service management roadmap
Service management roadmap – Brought to Life communication slide
"More than 80% of the larger enterprises we’ve worked with start out wanting to develop advanced service management practices without having the cultural and organizational basics or foundational practices fully in place. Although you wouldn’t think this would be the case in large enterprises, again and again IT leaders are underestimating the importance of cultural and foundational aspects such as governance, management practices, and understanding business value. You must have these fundamentals right before moving on."
Tony Denford,
Research Director – CIO
Info-Tech Research Group
Having effective service management practices in place will allow you to pursue activities such as innovation and drive the business forward. Addressing foundational elements like business alignment and management practices will enable you to build effective core practices that deliver business value. Consistent leadership support and engagement is essential to allow practitioners to focus on delivering expected outcomes.
Immaturity in service management will not result in one pain – rather, it will create a chaotic environment for the entire organization, crippling IT’s ability to deliver and perform.
Low Service Management Maturity
These are some of the pains that can be attributed to poor service management practices.
And there are many more…
In 2004, PwC published a report titled “IT Moves from Cost Center to Business Contributor.” However, the 2014-2015 CSC Global CIO Survey showed that a high percentage of IT is still considered a cost center.
And low maturity of service management practices is inhibiting activities such as agility, DevOps, digitalization, and innovation.
39%: Resources are primarily focused on managing existing IT workloads and keeping the lights on.
31%: Too much time and too many resources are used to handle urgent incidents and problems.
Effective service management is a journey that encompasses a series of initiatives that improves the value of services delivered.
Service desk is the foundation, since it is the main end-user touch point, but service management is a set of people and processes required to deliver business-facing services.
The tool is part of the overall service management program, but the people and processes must be in place before implementing.
Service management development is a series of initiatives that takes into account an organization’s current state, maturity, capacities, and objectives.
A successful service management program takes into account the dependencies of processes.
Service management is about delivering high-value and high-quality services.
As an organization progresses on the service management journey, its ability to deliver high-value and high-quality services increases.
Preventing incidents is the name of the game.
Service management is about understanding what’s going on with user-facing services and proactively improving service quality.
Service management is about business/user-facing services and the value the services provide to the business.
Understand your customers and what they value, and design your practices to deliver this value.
Don't run before you can walk. Fundamental practices must reach the maturity threshold before developing advanced practices. Implement continuous improvement on your existing processes so they continue to support new practices.
Our best-practice research is based on extensive experience working with clients through advisory calls and workshops.
Info-Tech can help you create a customized, low-effort, and high-value service management roadmap that will shore up any gaps, prove IT’s value, and achieve business satisfaction.
With our methodology, you can expect the following:
Doing it right the first time around
You will see these benefits at the end
✓ Increase the quality of services IT provides to the business.
✓ Increase business satisfaction through higher alignment of IT services.
✓ Lower cost to design, implement, and manage services.
✓ Better resource utilization, including staff, tools, and budget.
Focus on behaviors and expected outcomes before processes.
Continued leadership support of the foundational elements will allow delivery teams to provide value to the business. Set the expectation of the desired maturity level and allow teams to innovate.
Before moving to advanced service management practices, you must ensure that the foundational and core elements are robust enough to support them. Leadership must nurture these practices to ensure they are sustainable and can support higher value, more mature practices.
Assemble a team with the right talent and vision to increase the chances of project success.
Understand where you are currently on the service management journey using the maturity assessment tool.
Based on the assessments, build a roadmap to address areas for improvement.
Based on the roadmap, define the current state, short- and long-term visions for each major improvement area.
Ideally, the CIO should be the project sponsor, even the project leader. At a minimum, the CIO needs to perform the following activities:
Improving or adopting any new practice is difficult, especially for a project of this size. Thus, the CIO needs to show visible support for this project through internal communication and dedicated resources to help complete this project.
Most likely, the implementation of this project will be lengthy and technical in some nature. Therefore, the project leader must have a good understanding of the current IT structure, senior standing within the organization, and the relationship and power in place to propel people into action.
Determine a realistic target state for the organization based on current capability and resource/budget restraints.
Reinforce or re-emphasize the importance of this project to the organization through various communication channels if needed.
Industry: Manufacturing
Source: Engagement
Original Plan
Revised Plan with Service Management Roadmap:
MORAL OF THE STORY:
Understanding the value of each service allowed the organization to focus effort on high-return activities rather than continuous fire fighting.
Industry: Manufacturing
Source: Engagement
Original Plan
Revised Plan with Service Management Roadmap:
MORAL OF THE STORY:
Make sure that you understand which processes need to be reviewed in order to determine the cause for service instability. Focusing on the proactive processes was the right answer for this company.
Industry: Healthcare
Source:Journal of American Medical Informatics Association
Original Plan
Revised Plan: with Service Management Roadmap:
MORAL OF THE STORY:
Before you build and publish a service catalog, make sure that you understand how the business is using the IT services that you provide.
To measure the value of developing your roadmap using the Info-Tech tools and methodology, you must calculate the effort saved by not having to develop the methods.
Using Info-Tech’s tools and methodology you can accurately estimate the effort to develop a roadmap using industry-leading research into best practice.
This metric represents the time your team would take to be able to effectively assess themselves and develop a roadmap that will lead to service management excellence.
Measured Value |
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Step 1: Assess current state |
Cost to assess current state:
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Step 2: Build the roadmap |
Cost to create service management roadmap:
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Step 3: Develop the communication slide |
Cost to create roadmaps for phases:
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Potential financial savings from using Info-Tech resources: |
Estimated cost to do “B” – (Step 1 ($A) + Step 2 ($B) + Step 3 ($C)) = $Total Saving |
"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 keeps 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."
Launch the project |
Assess the current state |
Build the roadmap |
Build communication slide |
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Best-Practice Toolkit |
1.1 Create a powerful, succinct mission statement 1.2 Assemble a project team with representatives from all major IT teams 1.3 Determine project stakeholders and create a communication plan 1.4 Establish metrics to track the success of the project |
2.1 Assess impacting forces 2.2 Build service management vision, mission, and values 2.3 Assess attitudes, behaviors, and culture 2.4 Assess governance 2.5 Perform SWOT analysis 2.6 Identify desired state 2.7 Assess SM maturity 2.8 Assess OCM capabilities |
3.1 Document overall themes 3.2 List individual initiatives |
4.1 Document current state 4.2 List future vision |
Guided Implementations |
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Onsite Workshop |
Module 1: Launch the project |
Module 2: Assess current service management maturity |
Module 3: Complete the roadmap |
Module 4: Complete the communication slide |
Contact your account representative or email Workshops@InfoTech.com for more information
Workshop Day 1 |
Workshop Day 2 |
Workshop Day 3 |
Workshop Day 4 |
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Activities |
Understand Service Management 1.1 Understand the concepts and benefits of service management. 1.2 Understand the changing impacting forces that affect your ability to deliver services. 1.3 Build a compelling vision and mission for your service management program. |
Assess the Current State of Your Service Management Practice 2.1 Understand attitudes, behaviors, and culture. 2.2 Assess governance and process ownership needs. 2.3 Perform SWOT analysis. 2.4 Define the desired state. |
Complete Current-State Assessment 3.1 Conduct service management process maturity assessment. 3.2 Identify organizational change management capabilities. 3.3 Identify themes for roadmap. |
Build Roadmap and Communication Tool 4.1 Build roadmap one-pager. 4.2 Build roadmap communication one-pager. |
Deliverables |
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Complete these steps on your own, or call us to complete a guided implementation. A guided implementation is a series of 2-3 advisory calls that help you execute each phase of a project. They are included in most advisory memberships.
Guided Implementation 1: Launch the Project |
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Step 1.1 – Kick-off the Project Start with an analyst kick-off call:
Then complete these activities…
With these tools & templates:
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Step 1.2 – Complete the Charter Review findings with analyst:
Then complete these activities…
With these tools & templates:
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The Service Management Roadmap Project Charter is used to govern the initiative throughout the project. It provides the foundation for project communication and monitoring.
The template has been pre-populated with sample information appropriate for this project. Please review this sample text and change, add, or delete information as required.
The charter includes the following sections:
Adapt and personalize Info-Tech’s Service Management Roadmap Mission Statement and Goals & Objectives below to suit your organization’s needs.
To help [Organization Name] develop a set of service management practices that will better address the overarching goals of the IT department.
To create a roadmap that sequences initiatives in a way that incorporates best practices and takes into consideration dependencies and prerequisites between service management practices.
To garner support from the right people and obtain executive buy-in for the roadmap.
The project leader should be a member of your IT department’s senior executive team with goals and objectives that will be impacted by service management implementation. The project leader should possess the following characteristics:
Identify
The project team members are the IT managers and directors whose day-to-day lives will be impacted by the service management roadmap and its implementation. The service management initiative will touch almost every IT staff member in the organization; therefore, it is important to have representatives from every single group, including those that are not mentioned. Some examples of individuals you should consider for your team:
Engage & Communicate
You want to engage your project participants in the planning process as much as possible. They should be involved in the current-state assessment, the establishment of goals and objectives, and the development of your target state.
To sell this project, identify and articulate how this project and/or process will improve the quality of their job. For example, a formal incident management process will benefit people working at the service desk or on the applications or infrastructure teams. Helping them understand the gains will help to secure their support throughout the long implementation process by giving them a sense of ownership.
When managing stakeholders, it is important to help them understand their stake in the project as well as their own personal gain that will come out of this project.
For many of the stakeholders, they also play a critical role in the development of this project.
The CIO should be actively involved in the planning stage to help determine current and target stage.
The CIO also needs to promote and sell the project to the IT team so they can understand that higher maturity of service management practices will allow IT to be seen as a partner to the business, giving IT a seat at the table during decision making.
Service Delivery Managers are directly responsible for the quality and value of services provided to the business owners. Thus, the Service Delivery Managers have a very high stake in the project and should be considered for the role of project leader.
Service Delivery Managers need to work closely with the process owners of each service management process to ensure clear objectives are established and there is a common understanding of what needs to be achieved.
The Committee should be informed and periodically updated about the progress of the project.
The Manager of the Service Desk should participate closely in the development of fundamental service management processes, such as service desk, incident management, and problem management.
Having a more established process in place will create structure, governance, and reduce service desk staff headaches so they can handle requests or incidents more efficiently.
The Manager of Applications and Infrastructure should be heavily relied on for their knowledge of how technology ties into the organization. They should be consulted regularly for each of the processes.
This project will also benefit them directly, such as improving the process to deploy a fix into the environment or manage the capacity of the infrastructure.
As the IT organization moves up the maturity ladder, the Business Relationship Manager will play a fundamental role in the more advanced processes, such as business relationship management, demand management, and portfolio management.
This project will be an great opportunity for the Business Relationship Manager to demonstrate their value and their knowledge of how to align IT objectives with business vision.
One of the top challenges for organizations embarking on a service management journey is to manage the magnitude of the project. To ensure the message is not lost, communicate this roadmap in two steps.
1. Communicate the roadmap initiative
The most important message to send to the IT organization is that this project will benefit them directly. Articulate the pains that IT is currently experiencing and explain that through more mature service management, these pains can be greatly reduced and IT can start to earn a place at the table with the business.
2. Communicate the implementation of each process separately
The communication of process implementation should be done separately and at the beginning of each implementation. This is to ensure that IT staff do not feel overwhelmed or overloaded. It also helps to keep the project more manageable for the project team.
Continuously monitor feedback and address concerns throughout the entire process
Key aspects of a communication plan
The methods of communication (e.g. newsletters, email broadcast, news of the day, automated messages) notify users of implementation.
In addition, it is important to know who will deliver the message (delivery strategy). You need IT executives to deliver the message – work hard on obtaining their support as they are the ones communicating to their staff and should be your project champions.
Anticipate organizational changes
The implementation of the service management roadmap will most likely lead to organizational changes in terms of structure, roles, and responsibilities. Therefore, the team should be prepared to communicate the value that these changes will bring.
Communicating Change
This project cannot be successfully completed without the support of senior IT management.
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1.1
Create a powerful, succinct mission statement
Using Info-Tech’s sample mission statement as a guide, build your mission statement based on the objectives of this project and the benefits that this project will achieve. Keep the mission statement short and clear.
1.2
Assemble the project team
Create a project team with representatives from all major IT teams. Engage and communicate to the project team early and proactively.
1.3
Identify project stakeholders and create a communication plan
Info-Tech will help you identify key stakeholders who have a vested interest in the success of the project. Determine the communication message that will best gain their support.
1.4
Use metrics to track the success of the project
The onsite analyst will help the project team determine the appropriate metrics to measure the success of this project.
Call 1-888-670-8889 or email GuidedImplementations@InfoTech.com for more information.
Complete these steps on your own, or call us to complete a guided implementation. A guided implementation is a series of 2-3 advisory calls that help you execute each phase of a project. They are included in most advisory memberships.
Guided Implementation 2: Determine Your Service Management Current State | |||||||
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Step 2.1 – Assess Impacting Forces Start with an analyst kick-off call:
Then complete these activities…
With these tools & templates: Service Management Roadmap Presentation Template | Step 2.2 – Build Vision, Mission, and Values Review findings with analyst:
Then complete these activities…
With these tools & templates: Service Management Roadmap Presentation Template | Step 2.3 – Assess Attitudes, Behaviors, and Culture Review findings with analyst:
Then complete these activities…
With these tools & templates: Service Management Roadmap Presentation Template | Step 2.4 – Assess Governance Needs Review findings with analyst:
Then complete these activities…
With these tools & templates: Service Management Roadmap Presentation Template | Step 2.5 – Perform SWOT Analysis Review findings with analyst:
Then complete these activities…
With these tools & templates: Service Management Roadmap Presentation Template | Step 2.6 – Identify Desired State Review findings with analyst:
Then complete these activities…
With these tools & templates: Service Management Roadmap Presentation Template | Step 2.7 – Perform SM Maturity Assessment Review findings with analyst:
Then complete these activities…
With these tools & templates: Service Management Roadmap Presentation Template Service Management Maturity Assessment | Step 2.8 – Review OCM Capabilities Review findings with analyst:
Then complete these activities…
With these tools & templates: Service Management Roadmap Presentation Template Organizational Change Management Assessment |
Effective service management requires a mix of different approaches and practices that best fit your organization. There’s not a one-size-fits-all solution. Consider the resources, environment, emerging technologies, and management practices facing your organization. What items can you leverage or use to mitigate to move your service management program forward?
The Service Management Roadmap Presentation Template will help you understand the business environment you need to consider as you build out your roadmap.
Discuss and document constraints and enablers related to the business environment, available resources, management practices, and emerging technologies. Any constraints will need to be addressed within your roadmap and enablers should be leveraged to maximize your results.
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A vision statement describes the intended state of your service management organization, expressed in the present tense.
A mission statement describes why your service management organization exists.
Your organizational values state how you will deliver services.
The Service Management Roadmap Presentation Template will help you document your vision for service management, the purpose of the program, and the values you want to see demonstrated.
If the team cannot gain agreement on their reason for being, it will be difficult to make traction on the roadmap items. A concise and compelling statement can set the direction for desired behavior and help team members align with the vision when trying to make ground-level decisions. It can also be used to hold each other accountable when undesirable behavior emerges. It should be revised from time to time, when the environment changes, but a well-written statement should stand the test of time.
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Any form of organizational change involves adjusting people’s attitudes, creating buy-in and commitment. You need to identify and address attitudes that can lead to negative behaviors and actions or that are counter-productive. It must be made visible and related to your desired behavior.
To implement change within IT, especially at a tactical level, both IT and organizational behavior needs to change. This is relevant because people don’t like to change and will resist in an active or passive way unless you can sell the need, value, and benefit of changing their behavior.
The organizational or corporate “attitude,” the impact on employee behavior and attitude is often not fully understood. Culture is an invisible element, which makes it difficult to identify, but it has a strong impact and must be addressed to successfully embed any organizational change or strategy.
43% of CIOs cited resistance to change as the top impediment to a successful digital strategy.
75% of organizations cannot identify or articulate their culture or its impact.
“Shortcomings in organizational culture are one of the main barriers to company success in the digital age.”
✓ While there is attention and better understanding of these areas, very little effort is made to actually solve these challenges.
✓ The impact is not well understood.
✓ The lack of tangible and visible factors makes it difficult to identify.
✓ There is a lack of proper guidance, leadership skills, and governance to address these in the right places.
✓ Addressing these issues has to be done proactively, with intent, rigor, and discipline, in order to be successful.
✓ We ignore it (head in the sand and hoping it will fix itself).
Avoidance has been a common strategy for addressing behavior and culture in organizations.
The Service Management Roadmap Presentation Template will help you document attitude, behavior, and culture constraints.
Discuss as a team attitudes, behaviors, and cultural aspects that can either hinder or be leveraged to support your vision for the service management program. Capture all items that need to be addressed in the roadmap.
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Attitude, behavior, and culture are still underestimated as core success factors in governance and management.
Behavior is a key enabler of good governance. Leading by example and modeling behavior has a cascading impact on shifting culture, reinforcing the importance of change through adherence.
Executive leadership and governing bodies must lead and support cultural change.
Risk Mitigation
Gap
Value Production
This creates a situation where service management activities and roadmaps focus on adjusting and tweaking process areas that no longer support how the organization needs to work.
Once in place, effective governance enables success for organizations by:
Your ownership structure largely defines how processes will need to be implemented, maintained, and improved. It has a strong impact on their ability to integrate and how other teams perceive their involvement.
Most organizations are somewhere within this spectrum of four core ownership models, usually having some combination of shared traits between the two models that are closest to them on the scale.
The organizational structure that is best for you depends on your needs, and one is not necessarily better than another. The next four slides describe when each ownership level is most appropriate.
Distributed process ownership is usually evident when organizations initially establish their service management practices. The processes are assigned to a specific group, who assumes some level of ownership over its execution.
This model is often a suitable approach for initial implementations or where it may be difficult to move out of siloes within the organization’s structure or culture.
Centralized process ownership usually becomes necessary for organizations as they move into a more functional structure. It starts to drive management of processes horizontally across the organization while still retaining functional management control.
This model is often suitable for maturing organizations that are starting to look at process integration and shared service outcomes and accountability.
Federated process ownership allows for global control and regional variation, and it supports product orientation and Agile/DevOps principles
Federated process ownership is usually evident in organizations that have an international or multi-regional presence.
SMO structures tend to occur in highly mature organizations, where service management responsibility is seen as an enterprise accountability.
SMOs are suitable for organizations with a defined IT and organizational strategy. A SMO supports integration with other enterprise practices like enterprise architecture and the PMO.
The Service Management Roadmap Presentation Template will help you document process ownership and governance model
Example:
Key Goals:
☐ Own accountability for changes to core processes
☐ Understand systemic nature and dependencies related to processes and services
☐ Approve and prioritize improvement and CSI initiatives related to processes and services
☐ Evaluate success of initiative outcomes based on defined benefits and expectations
☐ Own Service Management and Governance processes and policies
☐ Report into ITSM executive or equivalent body
Membership:
☐ Process Owners, SM Owner, Tool Owner/Liaison, Audit
Discuss as a team which process ownership model works for your organization. Determine who will govern the service management practice. Determine items that should be identified in your roadmap to address governance and process ownership gaps.
The Service Management Roadmap Presentation Template will help you document items from your SWOT analysis.
Brainstorm the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats related to resources, environment, technology, and management practices. Add items that need to be addressed to your roadmap.
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Discuss the various maturity levels and choose a desired level that would meet business needs.
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The Service Management Process Maturity Assessment Tool will help you understand the true state of your service management.
Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3 tabs
These three worksheets contain questions that will determine the overall maturity of your service management processes. There are multiple sections of questions focused on different processes. It is very important that you start from Part 1 and continue the questions sequentially.
Results tab
The Results tab will display the current state of your service management processes as well as the percentage of completion for each individual process.
The current-state assessment will be the foundation of building your roadmap, so pay close attention to the questions and answer them truthfully.
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At the end of the assessment, the Results tab will have action items you could perform to close the gaps identified by the process assessment tool.
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The Organizational Change Management Capabilities Assessment tool will help you understand the true state of your organizational change management capabilities.
Complete the Capabilities tab to capture the current state for organizational change management. Review the Results tab for interpretation of the capabilities. Review the Recommendations tab for actions to address low areas of maturity.
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2.1
Create a powerful, succinct mission statement
Using Info-Tech’s sample mission statement as a guide, build your mission statement based on the objectives of this project and the benefits that this project will achieve. Keep the mission statement short and clear.
2.2
Complete the assessment
With the project team in the room, go through all three parts of the assessment with consideration of the feedback received from the business.
2.3
Interpret the results of the assessment
The Info-Tech onsite analyst will facilitate a discussion on the overall maturity of your service management practices and individual process maturity. Are there any surprises? Are the results reflective of current service delivery maturity?
Call 1-888-670-8889 or email GuidedImplementations@InfoTech.com for more information.
Complete these steps on your own, or call us to complete a guided implementation. A guided implementation is a series of 2-3 advisory calls that help you execute each phase of a project. They are included in most advisory memberships.
Guided Implementation 3: Determine Your Service Management Target State | |
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Step 3.1 – Document the Overall Themes Start with an analyst kick-off call:
Then complete these activities…
With these tools & templates: Service Management Roadmap Presentation Template | Step 3.2 – Determine Individual Initiatives Review findings with analyst:
Then complete these activities…
With these tools & templates: Service Management Roadmap Presentation Template |
Focus on behaviors and expected outcomes before processes.
Continued leadership support of the foundational elements will allow delivery teams to provide value to the business. Set the expectation of the desired maturity level and allow teams to innovate.
Before moving to advanced service management practices, you must ensure that the foundational and core elements are robust enough to support them. Leadership must nurture these practices to ensure they are sustainable and can support higher value, more mature practices.
The Service Management Roadmap Presentation Template contains a roadmap template to help communicate your vision, themes to be addressed, and initiatives
Working from the lower maturity items to the higher value practices, identify logical groupings of initiatives into themes. This will aid in communicating the reasons for the needed changes. List the individual initiatives below the themes. Adding the service management vision and mission statements can help readers understand the roadmap.
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3.1
Identify themes to address items from the foundational level up to higher value service management practices
Identify easily understood themes that will help others understand the expected outcomes within your organization.
Document individual initiatives that contribute to the themes
Identify specific activities that will close gaps identified in the assessments.
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 4: Build the Service Management Roadmap | |
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Step 4.1: Document the Current State Start with an analyst kick-off call:
Then complete these activities…
With these tools & templates: Service Management Roadmap Presentation Template | Step 4.2: List the Future Vision Review findings with analyst:
Then complete these activities…
With these tools & templates: Service Management Roadmap Presentation Template |
The Service Management Roadmap Presentation Template contains a communication template to help communicate your vision of the future state
Use this template to demonstrate how existing pain points to delivering services will improve over time by painting a near- and long-term picture of how things will change. Also list specific initiatives that will be launched to affect the changes. Listing the values identified in the vision, mission, and values exercise will also demonstrate the team’s commitment to changing behavior to create better outcomes.
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4.1
Identify the pain points and initiatives to address them
Identify items that the business can relate to and initiatives or actions to address them.
4.2
Identify short- and long-term expectations for service management
Communicate the benefits of executing the roadmap both short- and long-term gains.
Valence Howden, Principal Research Director, CIO Practice
Info-Tech Research Group
Valence helps organizations be successful through optimizing how they govern, design, and execute strategies, and how they drive service excellence in all work. With 30 years of IT experience in the public and private sectors, he has developed experience in many information management and technology domains, with focus in service management, enterprise and IT governance, development and execution of strategy, risk management, metrics design and process design, and implementation and improvement.
Graham Price, Research Director, CIO Practice
Info-Tech Research Group
Graham has an extensive background in IT service management across various industries with over 25 years of experience. He was a principal consultant for 17 years, partnering with Fortune 500 clients throughout North America, leveraging and integrating industry best practices in IT service management, service catalog, business relationship management, IT strategy, governance, and Lean IT and Agile.
Sharon Foltz, Senior Workshop Director
Info-Tech Research Group
Sharon is a Senior Workshop Director at Info-Tech Research Group. She focuses on bringing high value to members via leveraging Info-Tech’s blueprints and other resources enhanced with her breadth and depth of skills and expertise. Sharon has spent over 15 years in various IT roles in leading companies within the United States. She has strong experience in organizational change management, program and project management, service management, product management, team leadership, strategic planning, and CRM across various global organizations.
Organizations risk being locked in a circular trap of inertia from auto-renewing their software. With inertia comes complacency, leading to a decrease in overall satisfaction. Indeed, organizations are uniformly choosing to renew their software – even if they don’t like the vendor!
Renewal is an opportunity cost. Switching poorly performing software substantially drives increased satisfaction, and it potentially lowers vendor costs in the process. To realize maximum gains, it’s essential to have a repeatable process in place.
Realize the benefits of switching by using Info-Tech’s five action steps to optimize your vendor switching processes:
Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:
Use this outline of key statistics to help make the business case for switching poorly performing software.
Optimize your software vendor switching processes with five action steps.
Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:
Identify the symptoms of inadequate IT support of digital marketing to diagnose the problems in your organization.
Identify the untapped digital marketing value in your organization to understand where your organization needs to improve.
Develop a plan for communicating with stakeholders to ensure buy-in to the digital marketing capability building project.
Assess how well each digital channel reaches target segments. Identify the capabilities that must be built to enable digital channels.
Assess the people, processes, and technologies required to build required capabilities and determine the best fit with 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.
Determine the fit of each digital channel with your organizational goals.
Determine the fit of digital channels with your organizational structure and business model.
Compare the fit of digital channels with your organization’s current levels of use to:Identify missed opportunities your organization should capitalize on.Identify digital channels that your organization is wasting resources on.
Identify missed opportunities your organization should capitalize on.
Identify digital channels that your organization is wasting resources on.
IT department achieves consensus around which opportunities need to be pursued.
Understanding that continuing to pursue excellent-fit digital channels that your organization is currently active on is a priority.
Identification of the channels that stopping activity on could free up resources for.
1.1 Define and prioritize organizational goals.
1.2 Assess digital channel fit with goals and organizational characteristics.
1.3 Identify missed opportunities and wasted resources in your digital channel mix.
1.4 Brainstorm creative ways to pursue untapped digital channels.
Prioritized list of organizational goals.
Assigned level of fit to digital channels.
List of digital channels that represent missed opportunities or wasted resources.
List of brainstormed ideas for pursuing digital channels.
Identify the digital channels that will be used for specific products and segments.
Identify the IT capabilities that must be built to enable digital channels.
Prioritize the list of IT capabilities.
IT and marketing achieve consensus around which digital channels will be pursued for specific product-segment pairings.
Identification of the capabilities that IT must build.
2.1 Assess digital channel fit with specific products.
2.2 Identify the digital usage patterns of target segments.
2.3 Decide precisely which digital channels you will use to sell specific products to specific segments.
2.4 Identify and prioritize the IT capabilities that need to be built to succeed on each digital channel.
Documented channel fit with products.
Documented channel usage by target segments.
Listed digital channels that will be used for each product-segment pairing.
Listed and prioritized capabilities that must be built to enable success on necessary digital channels.
Identification of the best possible way to build IT capabilities for all channels.
Creation of a plan for leveraging transformational analytics to supercharge your digital marketing strategy.
IT understanding of the costs and benefits of capability building options (people, process, and technology).
Information about how specific technology vendors could fit with your organization.
IT identification of opportunities to leverage transformational analytics in your organization.
3.1 Identify the gaps in your IT capabilities.
3.2 Evaluate options for building capabilities.
3.3 Identify opportunities for transformational analytics.
A list of IT capability gaps.
An action plan for capability building.
A plan for leveraging transformational analytics.