2016-09-15 How To Improve Your IT Decision Making
- 1. Thrive. Grow. Achieve. IT Decision Making Technology Guidance Paul Williams and Nate Solloway September 15, 2016
- 2. AGENDA Strategy – Who needs a Strategy ? –Business Strategic Plan –IT Strategy –Tactical Execution Project / Strategic / Change Management (doing new things) –Core Business Competences –Differentiators / Competitive edge –Commodities –Governance Operational Imperatives (Run the engine) –Compliance –Maintenance / Obsolescence –Prioritization / Resource Management –Measurement Build or Buy, Rent or Own (How to do it better) –How to help you choose –Where’s my data Can your business survive without technology ? Can your IT team help you achieve business goals ? Are you compliant with the law ? With best practice ? How can you manage change? What’s the right priority ? Who can assess vendors independently ? Is there a different way to do this ? IT Decision Making Page 2
- 3. WHO NEEDS A BUSINESS STRATEGY ? - EVERYONE Can be as simple as a single sentence • Is the yardstick for decisions • There can be no wrong or right decisions unless there is an objective • Cannot measure progress towards a goal without the goal Needs to be Communicated (to) • Everyone who makes decisions (about priority or using resources, including time) • Stakeholders (who manage resources you need) • Contributors (who actually perform the work) •Provides for Common objectives • Different functions have common alignment: Fund raising, Marketing, Finance, IT • Allows for Authority to be delegated • Supports accountability • Allows contribution towards organizations objectives I understand what my role is and what the organization expects of me I am doing what the business needs me to do My contribution towards the business goals can be measured I can help the business meet its goals IT Decision Making 3
- 4. THE IT STRATEGY HOW TECHNOLOGY CONTRIBUTES Technology supports the business by Meeting Basic needs: Commodity Services • Communications, Equipment, Capabilities (Phone, Email, Fax, Word, Excel, Computers, Printers) • Efficiency, cost control, non differentiating services Servicing Operational needs: Specific Applications • Digital web presence, Storage, Data, Accounting, Business process, network, Payments • Effectiveness, fit with business goals, moderate differentiation, Value model Enhancing efficiency and execution: Custom and configuration • Automation, Workflow, Integration, reporting, management and exploitation of data • Differentiators, investments, Improvements, Returns on investment Risk Management •Backups, resilience, disaster preparedness, security, compliance •Compliance, Mandates, Best practices ‘cost of doing business’ Very little work gets done today without technology Many different ways of doing the same things: Apple vs PC vs Chromebook, Microsoft vs Google Business strategy will determine best fit strategy for IT Having even a small IT footprint means maintenance and support will be required IT Decision Making 4
- 5. CAPACITY AND CAPABILITY: DO YOU HAVE WHAT YOU NEED ? •How does my Inventory translate into Capability • What you HAVE today is a constraint – created by past decisions • Resources are focused around status quo and stability (reliability, repeatability, Routine, Maintenance) –Not the best environment for change – but do you need to change ? –If the Inventory doesn’t match the Enterprise you can change the inventory ! What you have and what you need may not be aligned IT tends to over estimate capacity and capability to deliver change Result is delivery below expectations Processes and people are harder to change than systems Page 5IT Decision Making
- 6. WHAT’S YOUR TECH INVENTORY ? End user computers (and software) Back Office Computers, Storage, Data (and software) Security: Passwords and more Network: All the connected devices How important is technology to your enterprise ? Critical ? Essential ? Peripheral ? Will it stay the same? What are your technology lifecycles ? • Hardware ? • Software ? • End of Life ? • End of Use ? IT Decision Making Page 6 Expensive. Don’t last long (3-5 years) Hate power spikes, heat, water ~ 5 year life Keys to the kingdom The Domain, LAN or WAN
- 7. WHAT’S YOUR SKILLS INVENTORY ? How many people / what people Generalists • Helpdesk : Internal or External • Supporting Functions: Supervision, Project Management, Business Analyst Specialists –Administrators –Engineers –Developers What resources do I have ? What are their competencies Certifications ? What do I need ? Is there a gap ? What’s most valuable to my business ? Where are my biggest risks ? IT Decision Making Page 7 •Future specialists •Can be a commodity •Low investment •Generic Skills •Specific Skills •Privileged Access •Out of hours support ? •Key System architects •Hard to replace •‘On demand’ ? •Should not have ‘1’ •Need governance
- 8. WHAT DECISIONS SHOULD YOU BE MAKING? –What Processes you have in place • WHAT does IT do, HOW is it done –Are you getting what you need ? – Are you really getting good value ? • Main Elements: People, Processes, Technology (Services, Software, Hardware) • What Information you are processing and storing –Compliance – HIPPA, PCIDSS, PII –Accuracy / Quality and standards –Completeness / Controls –Security The world is changing and your enterprise needs to keep up. It’s a survivability issue. Tech is everywhere. There are complex rules that can hurt you Page 8IT Decision Making • Look at what you HAVE / ARE DOING / CAN DO with technology in your Enterprise, Compared to what you SHOULD HAVE / SHOULD be doing – and act to close the gaps.
- 9. WHAT DO YOU NEED FROM IT MIS MANAGER VS CIO When is a CIO the right choice May not need a CIO all the time, but role is critical : •During major change •When IT is no longer meeting the enterprise needs •New Initiatives / New Business IT Decision Making Page 9 CIO Manager / Supervisor Primary focus is Business opportunities and drivers Primary focus is maintenance / IT Operations External and Enterprise focus – How IT is leveraged Business area inward focused on IT Proactive, Opportunity seeking to improve Responsive to demands, reactive Strategy and execution focused – What to perform Process and Procedure focused – How to perform Critical during times of change or in larger environments Works in a smaller or stable environment Generates and drives strategic plans Requires Strategic leadership from outside, may generate tactical plans
- 10. SIMPLE TOOLS AND PROCESSES IT STRATEGY / DELIVERABLES Annual or longer view of multiple changes or projects Simple presentation of complex issues Present IT and projects to a board IT Decision Making Page 10 Time scale / Item Q1 16 Q2 16 Q3 16 Q4 16 Q1 17 Q2 17 Exchange Upgrade ERP Migration New Location opens Office 2013 deployment IP Video Deployment Intranet / SharePoint Simple depiction of major initiatives that can be easily shared and digested. High level summary – Low level details can be built as required
- 11. ITS NOT AS SIMPLE AS IT SEEMS SOMETIMES YOU NEED EXPERT KNOWLEDGE Does your business have a web address or business email ? Your web address Backup and Disaster Recovery Do you have legal exposure for sensitive data What does the group do all day Outsourced and Hosted services are not secure IT Decision Making page 11 Do you own the web address No its Rented – the ‘DNS’ record links that name with specific “Addresses” Is your data secure? Do you have it backed up? Are copies off site (fire) ? Have you ever tried to restore data ? How long could you be down without irreparable Harm Do you know your legal obligations about data Employees ? Customers ? Donors ? PII, HIPPA,PCIDSS – who has access and how Not just digital data. Voicemail, paper records. Birthday including year ? Address and phone ? Do you know what they are doing ? Do you know what they can do ? Expectation gaps: Never want to say ‘No’. Set up to fail Keeping the lights on (Housekeeping) Maintenance (Obsolescence) Growth (Volume / Size, Projects, Features) Capacity and Capability What are you getting for your spend ? Software is not really a good asset Maintenance and housekeeping High Risk High Cost Low added value
- 12. DELIVERING CHANGE: PROJECTS SIMPLE TOOLS AND PROCESSES Project reporting is about how well change is being executed Do you know what projects IT are executing on ? What are your expectations on scope and delivery ? How are you gate keeping and prioritizing projects ? IT Decision Making Page 12 USUALLY MONTHLY EXCEL 1 LINE PER PROJECT. Item Content Name Name and code for project (if coded) Description Business name / meaningful to all Purpose Why do this project (type, benefit, priority, risk) Budget Project Lifetime (original) budget to actual. Performance to plan. Estimate to complete, contingency balance Scope management Changes to scope – Approved, waiting, declined Dates Approved, planned start, Planned end, Projected end Status Green (on plan / target), Yellow (at Risk), Red (off target –Time, Budget, scope, outcome)
- 13. ACCOUNTABILITY AND STAYING IN CONTROL Where a project is high risk, or a large project, with cross functional teams or enterprise wide impact E.g. changing ERP systems Copies from MS project Use Excel data Bars for complete % IT Decision Making Page 13 PROJECT STEERING / STAKEHOLDER MEETINGS Item Content Objective / Milestone Project Component being reported E.g. Cleaned up Vendor Master file, Chart of accounts sign off Dates Planned start, Due, projected Completion Percentage Complete Actions Responsibilities and actions due / performed
- 14. SIMPLE TOOLS AND PROCESSES RUN THE ENGINE Cyclical tool to manage a department Formal communication between execution and management Over time see trends and patterns Suggested Weekly or bi weekly Can have meeting notes on reverse or second page IT Decision Making/ Page 14 Broad Focus Areas ■ What’s Important in the function at the moment ■ Where are we spending time money and effort New Information ■ What’s New this cycle ■ What did we achieve in the last cycle ■ What did we find out Targets for this cycle / week ■ What are we going to get done ■ Who is doing it ■ What’s the status of ongoing efforts Open items / Roadblocks ■ Open Decisions ■ Things I am waiting for others (who) on ■ Carried forward open issues THE 4-BLOCK REPORT : DATE / PRESENTED BY
- 15. GROWTH VS MAINTENANCE PROJECTS VS SUPPORT Good support requires active management Metrics make support accountable as well as proving value proposition to the business Recognized stress point in many methodologies: ITIL, Six Sigma TQM IT Decision Making Page 15 Constant Conflict: New Imperatives vs Maintain current status means Generally: • MINIMUM 30% of resources dedicated to maintenance (normal range is 40-70%) • Business wants new capabilities but neglects support for existing needs • Lower cost / value resources dedicated to maintenance •Helpdesk •Configuration management •Hardware support •Patching and upgrading •Low value perception (until it breaks !)
- 16. ACCOUNTABILITY ROUTINE KPI’S / METRICS Usually Monthly Aligns with Enterprise Objectives / Strategic Plan Meaningful indication of performance IT Decision Making Page 16 MONTHLY IT METRICS DATE / PRESENTED BY Item Content Budget Operating budget with narrative. Performance to Plan / Last year Reliability Uptime %, failure rates, downtime stats. Trended over time (Network Phones, Backups, Servers) Helpdesk Tickets handled, average time to close, Outstanding unresolved by importance (critical) Capacity Utilization: Storage, Compute, Network Inventory Bought, Broken, Repaired, Retired, Lost/Stolen (phones and aircards if owned as well) Staff Gaps, new, exits, promo’s, Training, Skills Services SAAS provider performance by provider Change Management Planned and Deployed changes. Outcome summary
- 17. WHAT SHOULD I BUY OR RENT TODAY Possible Strategies / viewpoints Are we BIG enough to have enough skills to support specific technologies in house ? Using SAAS we can avoid having to hire skill set specialists Should IT functions be a primary competence of our business ? Can also consider full outsource models 17IT Decision Making Page Product SAAS Status Impact Results Email Common High Reliability, resilience, Frees resource for Enterprise mission Payroll Common High Compliance, Security, Risk SharePoint Rare (but growing) High Resilience, Accessibility Website Common High Security, Reliability, Capacity ERP / Accounting Becoming common High Reliability, Accessibility, Key skills Helpdesk (system) Common Med Reliability, Accessibility - Stays up even if you are down ! Telephony Becoming common Med Depends on installed base and equipment HR Systems Common High Security CRM systems Common Med Reliability, accessibility POS Common is small orgs High Risk, compliance. Can be more efficient in house but higher risk Network / Connectivity Growing High In house skill is expensive. Key man dependencies. Critical infrastructure
- 18. CLOSING VIEWPOINT Things change – Entropy vs Development •We make decisions with what information we can gather and digest • Research • Experts • Evaluations •As new choices (and mandates) become available • Need to re-evaluate options • Context of past decisions and current status • Some ‘trigger points’ – Obsolescence, Contracts, Strategy, Staff turnover, Compliance, Growth •Not all new options are right – Change vs Stability • Lots of marketing hype. Don’t get sold on shiny toys • Biggest benefits are not always cost • Will it help achieve the goals of the enterprise - how How do you stay informed ? •People like us. Field experts, Benchmarks, Peer review, Sector experience, Passion in our fields. Where am I compared to best practice Where am I compared to my peers For my type and size of enterprise What keeps me awake at night Am I happy with what IT is doing for me now IT Decision Makin Page 18
- 19. THANK YOU! Paul Williams Direct: 202.730.7237 E-mail: PGWilliams@raffa.com Seth Zarny Direct: 301.279.6500 E-mail: SZarny@raffa.com Q A Who needs a CIO? Page 25