IT Strategy – Gartner approach

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QbyJY9KlrtM&feature=related

dave aron

• best IT organizations in the world are not distinguished by great delivery / execution – it is about great strategy
  • most IT organizations can be described as => “great landing – wrong airport”
  • too much focus on doing  “things right” instead of “doing the right things “
  • “…last 20 years IT was about automating the factory, the next 20 years is about informating the management about your businesses !”
  • “…that means great operations is no longer enough – it is about strategy, it is about influencing the rest of your businesses,..
  • “…strategy is not about managing the things you control
  • “…you can deliver IT systems on your own, but you cannot deliver business value on your own..”
  • “..for those people who are cynical about  IT strategy – i don’t think strategy is bad but there are lots of bad strategies aroun, a lot of strategy which is missing ownership etc…. 😉

• strategy is NOT a the same as a plan
  • plan is fundamentallz a gannt chart (cost, risk, time)
  • plans are fragile and change too much
  • IT strategy is the stable anchor
  • separate strategy and plan
  • strategy and plans have different time cycles

• whats in your IT strategy ?
  • the gartner model
  • demand, control, supply

• WORN = “write once read never”
  • bad strategy have 70 pages centered around the IT supply side

• wiersema model
  • choose one => “the value discipline”
  • e.g. HSBC => customer intimacy focus (e.g. only innovation around customer intimacy) => “motto = money is money – we cannot compete on trying to differentiate on the product..
  • e.g. walmart = operational excellence

• “true strategy is about tradeoffs ”
  • it is all about a differentiated focus

• “business capabilities”
  • looks more like principles and values in the demand section (e.g. efficiency, innovation, collaboration, agility, change, m&a…) => i would rename this more to “business drivers” or “business principles” to keep the methodology around business capability model clear !!!
  • but on the demand side this seems to make sense to stay on that very high level (no structured business capability needed on that level)

• 7eleven
  • clear business strategy, clear IT strategy

• control section
  • IT principles can change the way people behave
    • touchstone in governance
    • 8-10 IT principles
    • connected how the business will win
    • specific to our enterprise
    • detailed enough
    • e.g. “..we must be able to disengage from every vendor within 2-3 years …”
    • e.g. “..all systems must also work over a high latency satellite interlink..”
  • IT governance is about how decisions get made and what they mean / impact
    • for each type of decision an own governance is needed
    • needs to be designed to be aligned to business demand (by type of decision ~ 8 differernt types)
    • it is very dangerous to have only one central IT steering

• conclusion
  • how to get IT team engaged in think in business success
  • “strategy moments”
    • how do we succeed as a business ?
    • how will IT help ?
  • => implant the thinking in business demand / success to IT
  • how to get business (board)  aware about IT strategy
    • e.g. story how IT can contribute to transform the business, story was told as an animated cartoon, CIO presented the cartoon in board meeting => this completely  changed the way how IT was perceived in integrated in the business
  • invest in human communication much more, make artifacts which really means something to your stakeholders, communication is a big part of strategy, going the extra mile !

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