define your it strategy

Info-Tech Research Group 1

Define Your IT StrategyWorld Class Operations - Impact Workshop


Beyond Practical Research – Workshops Get You To Results

Workshops: Leverage Best-Practices Research and Get to Action

• Unlike other Research firms, we believe it’s important to help our members implement improvements.

• An onsite 40-hour workshop, which allows you to make systematic improvements to your core processes.

• Workshops are designed to help focus attention, create alignment, and ensure best practices are put to work at your organization.

• Our workshops help you get to immediate impact and results and are tailored to your situation and needs.

Workshops: Focused on You Implementing Improvements

• The goal of each Capability Optimization Workshop is to create tangible benefits

and clear improvements as a direct result of the workshop.

• Specific deliverables, goals, metrics, and outcomes are established for

each workshop.

• Successful workshops will leverage our years of analyst experience and

written research to provide an engaging experience which focuses

on implementing and getting to measurable results.

• Each workshop begins by diagnosing the current state, and then

focuses on designing high impact improvements based on

best-practices research.

• Three and six month follow-up will occur to ensure benefit realization.

ITRG Workshops provide the best-practices and implementation support necessary to help an IT leader build a World Class IT Operation

Capability Optimization

Workshop

Diagnose Current State

Right-Sizing

Process

Process Design

Measuring Benefits

Implementation Support


Immature or non-existent strategy causes:

Wasted investments on non-critical IT initiatives.

Low operational efficiency relative to competitors, within IT and business operations.

Poor IT agility and prolonged time-to-market for products and services.

Low levels of business satisfaction with IT service and performance.

Dissatisfaction and poor morale within the IT department.

A formalized IT strategy process results in:

Clear understanding of the business strategy and objectives. Specific criteria for assessing the relevance of IT investments to business objectives. Documented and prioritized list of IT initiatives for the coming year. Rigorous evaluation of the benefits and costs of upcoming initiatives, relative to corporate objectives. Awareness of the key risks in the coming year, potential costs, and steps to mitigate. Aggressive, but achievable performance standards for the IT department and staff.

What is IT strategy?

A set of IT initiatives that will align the capabilities of the IT department with the goals of the business.


Workshop Schedule & Core Deliverables

Name Goal Core Deliverable

Day 1

Understand the Corporate Strategy

Understand the goals of the organization and changes occurring in the environment.

• Corporate Goals Analysis• PEST Analysis of Macro Trends• Emerging Trends Assessment• Goals and Target State Analysis

Day 2

Assess the Current State of IT

Determine how well the IT organization is performing at the service level and with supporting business units.

• IT Self-Assessment Scorecard• IT Performance by Business Unit• Prioritize Top Areas of Need

Day 3

Define Targets and GapsDetermine how IT can improve its support of the current and future business needs.

• Top Business-IT Goals• Goals Analysis• Detailed Action Plan for Goals• IT Organizational Plan

Day 4

Define the RoadmapPlan out the IT strategy as a series of initiatives.

• IT Target Capability Cost Analysis• IT Target Capability Risk Assessment• IT Strategic Roadmap

Day 5

Communicate the IT Strategy

Plan the specific communications needed to put the plan into action.

• Communication Plan• Key Strategy Metrics• IT Strategy Reporting and Refresh Plan


Day 1: Understand the Corporate Strategy

1.1 Determine the Corporate Goals

Whiteboard the corporate goals.

Identify market goals.

Identify operations goals.

1.2 Identify the Macro Trends

Whiteboard the macro environmental changes.

Identify changes in the political environment.

Identify changes in the economic environment.

1.3 Conduct a Needs Assessment

Identify business capabilities required.

Identify changes in the social environment.

Identify IT goals.

Identify supporting programs required.

Evaluate the current status of capabilities and

programs.

Identify other enterprise goals.

Identify changes in the technological environment, and complete an Emerging

Trends Assessment.


Day 2: Assess the Current State of IT

2.1 Assess the IT Organization

Rate IT service delivery across the organization.

Prioritize the areas that could benefit from

increased IT support and innovation.

2.2 Rate IT’s Performance by Business Unit

Generate a list of business units supported

by IT.

Rate IT’s support for each business unit.

Prioritize the business units that could benefit

from increased IT support and innovation.

Whiteboard specific areas of need.

Whiteboard specific areas of need for each business

unit.

2.3 Select and Prioritize Needed Changes and

Improvements

Prioritize needed changes and improvements.

Link changes and improvements to business

goals.

Rate IT process maturity.


Day 3: Define Targets and Gaps

3.1 Visualize and Plan IT-Business Goals

Define top IT-Business goals.

Assess the benefits and cost drivers.

Create detailed action plans.

3.2 Visualize and Plan Organizational Goals

Create a detailed action plan for Applications.

Create a detailed action plan for Infrastructure.

Create a detailed action plan for Service Desk.

Create a detailed action plan for the Project

Management Office.

Create a detailed action plan for Overall IT.


Day 4: Define the Roadmap

Identify synergies and dependencies between

initiatives.

4.3 Create the Strategic Roadmap

Determine sequence of initiatives and assign

dates.

Create an implementation roadmap

for IT initiatives.

Link the IT initiatives to business capabilities and

goals.

4.1 Estimate Costs and Benefits

Investigate purchasing costs for software

licenses and hardware.

Estimate implementation,

maintenance, and labor costs.

Estimate return on investment.

4.2 Assess Risks

Brainstorm risks to target IT capabilities.

Assess magnitude and likelihood of risks.

Find risk mitigation strategies.

Estimate benefits.


Day 5: Communicate the IT Strategy

5.2 Create a Communication

Plan

Identify the key groups for

communication.

Plan the format of each

communication.

Create a strategic communication

plan.

5.3 Determine the Metrics

Determine the expected

outcomes.

Assess appropriate

metrics for each.

Create a metric evaluation plan.

5.4 Maintain the IT Strategy

Assess the frequency of refreshes.

Create a report and refresh plan.

5.1 Review the Final Deliverable

Summarize the workshop findings.

Review the final deliverables.

Assess whether questions have been answered.


Client Testimonials

This week allowed me to fill in the gap between

the corporate strategy….and the

tactical initiatives that I will need.

-Hospital

We know how to do tactical initiatives…

but what I can now do is get the conscious

corporate buy-in because I can show

them the relationship of their Strategic Plan

to mine. I will look really good when I

present this.

-ManufacturingCompany


IT Strategy Workshop Primary Deliverable:Communicate your IT strategy to the business with clear visuals.

• Assessment of top Corporate goals and IT’s readiness to advance these.

• Detailed analysis of current state, including IT process capabilities and services delivery.

• Identification of which Big Bets IT must make to support the overall Strategy.

• Implementation planning for all key IT initiatives, including Organizational improvements required to deliver on the Strategy.

Define Your IT Priorities Create an IT Strategic Roadmap

Ensure IT & BusinessAlignment


IT Strategy Workshop Core Deliverables

Nine Key Deliverables will be completed during the Workshop:

1

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3

4

Corporate Goals and Target State Analysis

• Assess the alignment of IT with the enterprise strategy and broader trends.

• Tie IT initiatives to specific business goals.

• Create your IT strategy as a plan to align IT with the business direction.

• Create documentation that IT can use for showcasing its engagement with the business strategy.

Emerging Trends Assessment• Identify the major trends and macroeconomic factors

affecting the industry.• Determine the impact of the emerging trends on the

IT areas of need.

IT Self-Assessment Scorecard• Rate the performance of the IT organization for

each IT program and service.• Determine which areas of the IT organization

require attention in the IT strategy.

Detailed Action Plan for Goals

• Define IT-Business goals and describe their costs and benefits.

• Create an action plan for goals that meet IT-Business needs.

IT Organizational Plan• Assess five key areas of the IT organization, and

create a strategy for each.5


IT Strategy Workshop Core Deliverables

6

7

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Nine Key Deliverables will be completed during the Workshop:

IT Target Capability Cost/Benefit Analysis

• Analyze costs for each target capability.

• Estimate time for return on investment.

• Determine hard and soft benefits for each target capability.

Target Capability Risk Assessment

• Ensure that all Initiatives have been assessed for key risks.

• Prepare high level, initial direction as a starting point for more comprehensive risk assessment by the eventual project team.

IT Strategic Roadmap

• Identify synergies and dependencies between IT initiatives.

• Determine success metrics for each.

• Determine a sequence for the implementation of initiatives and assign dates for pilots and launches.

• Create an implementation roadmap.

Communication Plan

• Create a plan for communicating the IT strategy to stakeholders.

• Run through the key stakeholder groups that the participants need to communicate with.

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IT Strategy Workshop:Built on World Class Research, Experience, and Standards

Research Process

COBIT Driven

• Grounded in open international standards.

• Team with over 30 years experience.• Over 2,800 hours of research.• Based on primary and in-field

research.

Tools & Templates

• 140 page Research Report• 16 in-depth activities and exercises• Ability to prioritize IT initiatives• Visual roadmap of IT Strategy and links to target business

capabilities

• PEST Analysis of Macro Trends• Goals and Target State Analysis• IT Self-assessment Scorecard• Need Selection and Prioritization• Emerging Trends Assessment• IT Target Capability Cost/Benefit

Analysis• IT Target Capability Risk Assessment• IT Strategy Communication Plan

define your it strategy

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