Maximize Business Value From IT Through Benefits Realization
- IT and the business are often misaligned because business value is not well defined or communicated.
- Decisions are made without a shared perspective of value. This results in cost misallocation and unexploited opportunities to improve efficiency and drive innovation.
Our Advice
Critical Insight
- IT exists to provide business value and is part of the business value chain. Most IT organizations lack a way to define value, which complicates the process of making value-based strategic business decisions.
- IT must link its spend to business value to justify its investments. IT doesn’t have an established process to govern benefits realization and struggles to demonstrate how it provides value from its investments.
- Pursue value, not technology. The inability to articulate value leads to IT being perceived as a cost center.
Impact and Result
- Ensure there is a common understanding within the organization of what is valuable to drive growth and consistent strategic decision making.
- Equip IT to evaluate, direct, and monitor investments to support the achievement of organizational values and business benefits.
- Align IT spend with business value through an enhanced governance structure to achieve cost optimization. Ensure IT visibly contributes to the creation and maintenance of value.
Maximize Business Value From IT Through Benefits Realization Research & Tools
Start here – read the Executive Brief
Read our concise Executive Brief to find out why you should establish a benefits realization process, review Info-Tech’s methodology, and understand the four ways we can support you in completing this project.Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:
- Maximize Business Value from IT Through Benefits Realization – Phases 1-3
1. Understand business value
Ensure that all key strategic stakeholders hold a current understanding of what is valuable to the organization and a sense of what will be valuable based on future needs.
- Maximize Business Value from IT Through Benefits Realization – Phase 1: Understand Business Value
- Business Value Statement Template
- Business Value Statement Example
- Value Statement Email Communication Template
- Feedback Consolidation Tool
2. Incorporate benefits realization into governance
Establish the process to evaluate spend on IT initiatives based on expected benefits, and implement the methods to monitor how well the initiatives achieve these benefits.
- Maximize Business Value from IT Through Benefits Realization – Phase 2: Incorporate Benefits Realization into Governance
- Business Value Executive Presentation Template
3. Ensure an accurate reference of value
Re-evaluate, on a consistent basis, the accuracy of the value drivers stated in the value statement with respect to the organization’s current internal and external environments.
- Maximize Business Value from IT Through Benefits Realization – Phase 3: Ensure an Accurate Reference of Value
Workshop: Maximize Business Value From IT Through Benefits Realization
Workshops offer an easy way to accelerate your project. If you are unable to do the project yourself, and a Guided Implementation isn't enough, we offer low-cost delivery of our project workshops. We take you through every phase of your project and ensure that you have a roadmap in place to complete your project successfully.
1 Understand Business Value
The Purpose
Establish the business value statement.
Understand the importance of implementing a benefits realization process.
Key Benefits Achieved
Unified stakeholder perspectives of business value drivers
Establish supporters of the initiative
Activities
1.1 Understand what governance is and how a benefits realization process in governance will benefit the company.
1.2 Discuss the mission and vision of the company, and why it is important to establish the target state prior to defining value.
1.3 Brainstorm and narrow down organization value drivers.
Outputs
Stakeholder buy-in on benefits realization process
Understanding of interrelations of mission, vision, and business value drivers
Final three prioritized value drivers
Completed business value statement
2 Incorporate Benefits Realization Into Governance
The Purpose
Establish the intake, assessment and prioritization, and output and monitoring processes that are involved with implementing benefits realization.
Assign cut-over dates and accountabilities.
Establish monitoring and tracking processes.
Key Benefits Achieved
A thorough implementation plan that can be incorporated into existing governance documents
Stakeholder understanding of implemented process, process ownership
Activities
2.1 Devise the benefits realization process.
2.2 Establish launch dates, accountabilities, and exception handling on processes.
2.3 Devise compliance monitoring and exception tracking methods on the benefits realization process.
Outputs
Benefits realization process incorporated into governance documentation
Actionable plan to implement benefits realization process
Reporting processes to ensure the successful delivery of the improved governance process
3 Ensure an Accurate Reference of Value
The Purpose
Implement a process to ensure that business value drivers remain current to the organization.
Key Benefits Achieved
Align IT with the business and business to its environment
Activities
3.1 Determine regular review cycle to reassess business value drivers.
3.2 Determine the trigger events that may cause off-cycle revisits to value.
3.3 Devise compliance monitoring on value definition.
Outputs
Agenda and tools to assess the business context to verify the accuracy of value
List of possible trigger events specific to your organization
Reporting processes to ensure the continuous adherence to the business value definition