Strategy antelope modified_feb06
- 1. Enhancing Business Acumen, appreciation of Business Needs and Responsiveness of IS Functionaries
- 2. Business Acumen The ability to make good judgments and quick decisions Keenness and depth of perception, especially in practical matters
- 3. Presentation Agenda • Business Acumen for IT – What • Why IT needs Business Acumen • Business Acumen scenario at HPCL IT • Challenges to Business Acumen enhancement • Meeting the Challenges • Way Forward
- 4. What is Business Acumen for IT • Knowledge of Business Processes • Appreciating Business Priorities & KPI • Understanding & communicating across diverse Business Ecosystem • People Skills (?????)
- 5. What is Business Acumen for IT • Relationship between “Business Acumen”, “appreciation of Business Needs” and “Responsiveness” how cause & effect relationship holds • Responsiveness - • “Ability to understand business functions within the organization and beyond” • Exploiting technologies
- 6. Why IT needs Business Acumen • Outsourcing – key component is business knowledge • Specific to HPCL cases – Google, eProc • Outside cases • Supporting docs
- 7. Business Acumen scenario at HPCL IT • Survey findings – Internal – External – Interpretation • Manpower statistics – Age / Grade / Experience / Stream – Geographical + (Age / Grade / Experience / Stream)
- 8. CHALLENGES • PHYSICAL – Geographical separation /disconnect – IS’s Tech Focus – Specialization and Job rotation – Organizational Focus on IS’s Business Acumen – Absence of Interaction opportunities – Inability to add value beyond the given requirements/specifications (business case challenge)
- 9. CHALLENGES • EXTRANEOUS – Dynamic Business Environment and Compliance with Changing Regulatory Framework – Managing Attrition of Employees(affects responsiveness)
- 10. Meeting the Challenges • Recruitment • Lateral Transfers – IT to business on tenure – Business to IT • Identify & develop Business-smart people • Raise general level of Business-savvy
- 11. Meeting the Challenges • Recruitment and training • Redefine Development and Recruitment Criteria (Business expertise overrides technical skills in a growing list of roles and jobs at the intersection of business and IT - People in those posts must excel in leadership, communication and negotiation) – Shift focus from technology infrastructure and services to information, business processes and relationships, and integration – Incorporate business orientation and competencies into interview and development criteria, using such techniques as behavioral interviewing, business case development or problem-solving simulation
- 12. Meeting the Challenges • How to stimulate desire for business knowledge? (how to light the fire of desire) • How to incentivize? • Formal Skill development • Knowledge Transfer • Structured training • Forums • formal exposure to business meetings • job rotation
- 13. Meeting the Challenges – Informal networking • Celebrate success • Social gatherings • Team recognition – Participation in Business and review meets – Contact opportunities beyond normal organization structure • Business mentoring
- 14. Meeting the Challenges • Weightage to business knowledge as part of KPI • Structured knowledge sharing mechanisms(Quiz, talk by business people, discussion boards,HP Wicktionary)
- 15. Way Forward • Conclusion – Reiterate need for Bus Acumen of IT – Challenges & Solutions – Action plan • Acknowledgements • Team members
- 16. Action Items Survey for internal IT to judge awareness of business knowledge particularly among the new people (pre ERP , post ERP , age/grade- wise data) – Sumit, Arun Panda,Ali Kausar Picture/example to emphasize need of business acumen for infrastructure teams Relate the three parts of the topic External survey for IS Responsiveness (???)
Editor's Notes
- #2: <Opening Slide>Good Morning everyone. I ___________ on behalf of Team Antelope take the opportunity to extend a warm welcome to Shri xx and Shrixx, and colleagues.
- #3: <Definition / Opening Remarks Slide><Read out the definition ? > Historically, IT professionals focus on mastering IT technology and are valued for IT expertise. Now, while IT technical knowledge is essential, it’s not enough.Today, SBUs need IT to quickly meet the challenges of fast-changing world outside. Business Acumen for IT department– understanding business environment – Processes, Priorities, Stakeholders has added urgency now.Going forward we explore the issue of Business Acumen for IT.
- #4: Summary:Going ahead we shall examine business knowledge in the IT Context, Why Business knowledge is so crucial for IT today,Look where HPCL IT stands in Business Acumen area,Define the challenges in enhancing Business Acumen,Ways to meet the challengesFinally we shall present a road map for action.“Wise men say Do not look for Answers, Try to understand the Question” (try to have a video like 3 idiots aamir khan explaining..)Picture with ladders and man
- #5: <Put a graphic to relate the topics ..topics to be presented in a circle/arrow one leading to anotherORDisplay animation for bullet points>We see Business Acumen in IT context as a <Enter>- Understanding of HPCL business processes like projects & procurement, sales & distribution and finance.<Enter>– The Ability To distinguish between core requirements & Nice-to-have (Change this or eliminate nice-to-have) features, appreciate timelines & accord priorities.<Enter>- understanding the Differing Work cultures across HPCL like Refinery, HQOandTerminal – each are separate cultural milieu Successful & satisfactory interaction with each requires a slightly different cultural orientation and norms of behaviour . Learn to interact & influence cross-functional projects and teams, even outside the enterprise.Understanding Power structures<Enter>- Collaboration is on the rise, solo time on the wane. - Increasingly IT will spend more time working on group outputs rather than individual metrics.- Demand for quicker organizational response is leading to formation of Ad Hoc Teams. - IT Professionals need competencies to participate in activities outside IT domains, manage deadlines and outcomes, and collaborate with people across functions
- #6: No data available yetExploiting technologies – like Google maps - RTKMDK
- #7: For outsourcing software like DCMS, Business Acumen will be a key skill to successfully interact, guide & manage software vendors in terms of scoping, framing deliverables
- #8: AP and AK
- #9: IT Professionals operate at the twilight/confluence of technology and business, however historically the loyalties lie towards technology. Improving the business acumen of IT Professional is a challenge of culture and organization structure.<Enter>Historically IT has been symbiotically located with business departments. Modern data center exclusively for IS has lead to geographical isolation of the IT Professionals. The near-absent interaction with business people leads to minimal avenues for lateral learning. <Enter>With focus majorly on mastering emerging technologies, and higher rewards for pursuing & achieving technical excellence, IS professionals miss out on the knowledge bus of business acumen. <enter>IS is expected to explore and master new technologies. Such specialization leads to continuous holding of the same portfolio & Job rotation becomes painful for both employee & management.<enter>Absence of clearly defined Platform for improving Business knowledge <enter>Exploiting technologies – like Google maps - RTKMThe Geographical separation /disconnect of IS Team leads to limited Interaction with Business. Point 2 needs convincing supporting argumentPost ERP organization structure with functional people interacting with businessIT itself has got substantial people with zero customer interfaceInclude Map to denote geographical separationMotivate officers to acquire business acumen
- #10: Examples for dynamic business requirement – Bhatinda refinery (Tiru&Srini sir )Business functioning keeps on changing, so needs to be updated continuouslyEmerging technologies – Google Maps, Online temperature density, RFID etcAttrition – Accumulated business knowledge with the employee is depletedAppreciation of business people for the business knowledge of IS(debatable)???
- #11: Identify business smart – via peer/supervisor feedback and develop their knowledgeIdentify & develop Business-smart people - Zero in on IT people who do have business savvy & designing assignments, defining development through cross-training, especially in roles that focus on business insight, cross-functional areas like process change, and behavioural competencies that enhance leadership and communicationLateral transfers – Internal recruitment from business to IT (have a data analysis on the number of people joined from business to support the process) Encourage Business people from SBUs to join IT - Past entrants have proved their worth –Similarly transferring people from IT to business and subsequent re-absorption on tenure basisRecruitment –Tweak Recruitment for weightage to Business Savvy, Direct recruitment of business-savvy people from outside. Redefine Recruitment & Personnel Development and Criteria - Business expertise overrides technical skills in a growing list of roles and jobs at the intersection of business and IT - People in those posts must excel in leadership, communication and negotiation. Incorporate business orientation and competencies into interview and development criteria, using such techniques as behavioral interviewing, business case development or problem-solving simulation. Redefine Development and Recruitment Criteria (Business expertise overrides technical skills in a growing list of roles and jobs at the intersection of business and IT - People in those posts must excel in leadership, communication and negotiation) - Shift focus from technology infrastructure and services to information, business processes and relationships, and integration - Incorporate business orientation and competencies into interview and development criteria, using such techniques as behavioral interviewing, business case development or problem-solving simulation
- #12: The history of IT has revolved largely around technology infrastructure and services. The future of IT will revolve largely around information, business processes and relationships, and integration. CIOs and IT leaders who seek business smarts must incorporate business orientation and competencies into interview and development criteria, using such techniques as behavioral interviewing, business case development or problem-solving simulation to fill in the blanks. Business expertise will override technical skills in a growing list of roles and jobs at the intersection of business and IT. People in those posts must excel in leadership, communication and negotiation.
- #13: Knowledge Transfer –Job rotation – within IT people should get exposure to all areas
- #14: Informal networking – nomination to business and review meets, inclusion of technical IT people at the initial stages of requirement gathering specifically for business knowledge enhancementMentoring – Business managers as a mentor for IS persons and IS persons as mentor for business person. Adopt location (may have repercussions like full engagement of the employee)Participation in Business and review meets – open an opportunity for people with no business contact to have interaction with business peopleSix Sigma for process improvement??Advantages ??
- #15: In industry offshore development model , a core group visits the offshore site has a understanding of the business and then they explain it to the development teams …Cross –pollination – Exchange of peoples ideas by rotation of core IT and business peopleChapter 2 - Lack of focus on Business Impact wrt. IT Deliverables
- #16: Road map of activities and intentional actions to increase business knowledge in an achievable time frame with active involvement of SBU’s, Recruitment and training.
- #17: EXTRA – Not part of presentation