Business Executive Series #7

IT Value Proposition, Strategic Focus
Representative goal statement -  “I want IT to have superior service/cost positioning on a long-term basis and focus critical domain knowledge and expertise on high value initiatives.”

I would love to work with the CEO  who made that statement. In one simple sentence, s/he captured the essence of the CIO mission.

What this Business Executive is saying that IT should always be delivering services that optimize their value proposition and putting the right people on the most important business initiatives.

The representative goal statement implicitly recognizes the different IT roles (ref. Library – IT Roles Matrix) and explicitly requests that IT become a partner to the business by focusing the right resources on critical business opportunities.

Honestly, I’m not sure where to go with this one. The answer is as broad as I can imagine. I’d have to write a book to cover it. On the other hand, the subtitle of this site is “The Business of IT, Simplified” so I wouldn’t be delivering against that promise if I couldn’t post something on it.

Perhaps this is the time to talk about the right people and how to get them in the right place to be focused on the high value business initiatives. I’ll address “Right People” and “Right Place” separately.

Right People
Critical domain knowledge comes in two flavors – business and technology. One side knows more about the “what” of the business or business process, the other knows more about the “how”. The union of their knowledge is where the value is highest to business initiatives.

The “what” skill set  is found in the Business Value Discovery Function (ref. Library – IT Functions & Definitions). Organizationally, this is usually found in a dedicated “Business Relationship Management” group or  as part of an “Application Development” group.

The “how” skill set is found in the Infrastructure Management and Information Management Functions, respectively (ref. Library – IT Functions & Definitions). Organizationally, this can be found almost anywhere – and usually is. Likely groups are “Application Development,” “Operations,” “Engineering,” or “Architecture.”

Whichever skill set we are discussing, finding the Right People is easy. In the former, they are the IT people that the business folks always want to be on their important projects. In the latter, they are the people that the business-facing IT folks want to be on their important projects. They are the same names that keep coming up for stretch role assignments in talent management discussions. You are aware of them and know how immensely valuable they are to both the company and to IT.

Now that we know who these people are and what their skill set is, let’s discuss the Right Place for them to be.

Right Place
In BES #6, I discussed the Business Value Discovery function and making it an independent group, so that if could be an area of focus and specialization. I suggest the same here as the right organizational home for the “what” skill set.

In keeping with my advocacy of a service-based strategy for IT, here is an illustrative list of services that this group (let’s call it Business Relationship Management) may provide to their business customers:

•    Business System Analysis
•    Rapid Cycle Prototyping
•    Business Rules and Modeling
•    Business Process Mapping
•    Solution Delivery Management
•    MIS
•    Program Support
•    Quality Management (IT)
•    Financial Management (IT)
•    Portfolio Management (IT)

It will take some initial work with HR to create new job descriptions with roles and responsibilities, levels and career path/progression for this group. There will also be some necessary process changes for Solutions Delivery, plus a good bit of Organizational Change Management work. It will pay off quickly as this group becomes a partner in business thought and provides valuable insight to IT as to where the business is heading – and perhaps help shape that.

The second place that your Right People need to be is in Enterprise Architecture, specifically on the Solutions Architecture/Business Process dimension. I structure  my Enterprise Architecture groups with two dimensions, Technology Architecture (Application, Data, Infrastructure, Security) and Solutions Architecture (Business Processes/Domains).

The Technology Architects are accountable for developing the “to-be” state for their respective technology areas. The Solutions Architects are accountable for developing the “to be” state for their respective business process domains and making certain that each project that is delivered brings IT one step closer to the realization of the future state.

The development of these future states is a collaborative effort, as is the development of Business Technology Roadmaps, supported by – you guessed it – the Business Relationship Management groups.

Once again, if this role does not currently exist in the Architecture organization, it will take some work with HR to create new job descriptions with roles and responsibilities, levels and career path/progression for this role. There again will be some necessary process changes for Solutions Delivery and the Enterprise Architecture process, plus Organizational Change Management work. This will be particularly vital, as you will be pulling some of the most knowledgeable folks from their current groups.

The payoff will be in the positioning of these valuable resources in a high-leverage position where they create the technology plan for a business domain and influence project delivery for it. They interact with the Business Relationship Management team so that the plan is grounded in the business strategy and with the Technology Architects so that it is consistent with the technology strategies.

For consistency, here is an illustrative list of services that this group (Enterprise Architecture) may provide:

•    Technology Planning and Roadmaps
•    Technology Research
•    Business Solutions Development
•    Business Process/Domain Roadmaps

They are also accountable for EA Governance and EA Processes.

Now that you have the right people in the right places, the chances are greatly in your favor that IT will be able to “focus critical domain knowledge and expertise on high value initiatives.”