Managing IT like a Business
To optimize the contribution of technology to the organization as a whole, the IT function needs to be managed using professional business practices. This involves shifting the focus away from technology as an end in itself towards the customers and the business problems to which IT can provide solutions. The Managing IT Like a Business macro-capability provides a structure within which the IT function can be repositioned from a cost centre to a value centre.
Critical Capabilities
- AAAccounting and Allocation
The Accounting and Allocation (AA) capability is the ability to define and manage the policies, processes, and tools used for calculating the costs of IT and distributing them across the organization. The Accounting and Allocation (AA) capability covers:
- Establishing policies for measuring the consumption of IT services by business units in the organization, and for the chargeback/showback of associated IT costs to those units.
- Managing how the chargeback/showback for IT service consumption is allocated.
- Influencing the demand for IT services.
- BPBusiness Planning
The Business Planning (BP) capability is the ability to produce an approved document that provides implementable detail for the IT strategy, setting out the IT function's tactical objectives, the operational services to be provided, and the financial and other resources and constraints that apply in the coming planning period. The Business Planning (BP) capability covers:
- Allocating responsibility to specific employees for IT business planning.
- Managing appropriate financial and non-financial resources and their capacities for ongoing IT business planning activities.
- Specifying the requirements for each activity in the IT business plan.
- Seeking the support of relevant stakeholders for the IT business plan.
- Reviewing the IT business plan against actual performance.
- BPMBusiness Process Management
The Business Process Management (BPM) capability is the ability to identify, design, document, monitor, optimize, and assist in the execution of both existing and new organizational processes. The Business Process Management (BPM) capability covers:
- Implementing process improvement initiatives and driving cultural change for business process improvement.
- Selecting, developing, and applying methods, governance models, technologies, skills, roles, and communication materials that support management of the organization's processes.
- Developing and applying graphical representations of processes—for example, process architecture diagrams.
- Adopting technologies that automate and assist with the execution of business process management.
- CFPCapacity Forecasting and Planning
The Capacity Forecasting and Planning (CFP) capability is the ability to model and forecast demand for IT services, infrastructure, facilities, and people. The Capacity Forecasting and Planning (CFP) capability covers:
- Collecting capacity-related strategic and operational information.
- Designing and advancing IT capacity forecasting models to demonstrate how business forecasts might impact the resources required by the IT function.
- Modelling the current and future capacity requirements across all IT-related resources — for example, services, infrastructure, facilities, and people.
- Communicating insights from capacity planning to the relevant stakeholders.
- DSMDemand and Supply Management
The Demand and Supply Management (DSM) capability is the ability to manage the IT services portfolio in such a way that there is a balance between the demand for and the supply of IT services. The Demand and Supply Management (DSM) capability covers:
- Analysing and managing the existing and future business demand for IT services.
- Analysing and managing the existing and future supply of IT services.
- Proposing responses to address gaps between the demand for and supply of IT services, for both the short term and the long term.
- Fostering collaboration between IT and other business units to manage the IT services portfolio.
- Understanding trade-offs between satisfying demand and the cost of supply — for example, by using emerging technologies or by changing the nature of the demand.
- EIMEnterprise Information Management
The Enterprise Information Management (EIM) capability is the ability to establish effective systems for gathering, analysing, disseminating, exploiting, and disposing of data and information. The data can be held in any medium — all forms of digital storage, film, paper, or any other recording mechanism used by the organization. The Enterprise Information Management (EIM) capability covers the strategic, operational, and security aspects of information management:
- Establishing an information management strategy.
- Establishing data and information governance mechanisms.
- Establishing information management standards, policies, and controls.
- Performing information valuations.
- Defining and maintaining master- and metadata — for example, metadata for information security classifications and continuity management.
- Making infrastructure and storage decisions.
- Managing data and information life cycles, including data and information tracking.
- Establishing information quality with inputs from stakeholders.
- Measuring how frequently information is accessed and assessing its value to the business.
- Analysing information, including exploratory and confirmative data analysis.
- Developing the skills and competences of information management and analytics practitioners.
- GITGreen Information Technology
The Green Information Technology (GIT) capability is the ability to minimize the environmental impact of IT, and to make the best use of technology to minimize environmental impact across the organization.
- ITGIT Leadership and Governance
The IT Leadership and Governance (ITG) capability is the ability to motivate employees towards a common strategic direction and value proposition, and to establish appropriate IT decision-making bodies and processes, including mechanisms for IT escalation, accountability, and oversight. While the leadership aspect establishes the IT function's direction, it cannot directly affect all IT decisions distributed across the various levels in the organization. The governance aspect addresses this by establishing appropriate IT decision rights, and mechanisms for accountability and oversight. The IT Leadership and Governance (ITG) capability covers:
- Uniting the IT function around a shared IT value proposition, vision, and direction.
- Determining the effectiveness of the partnership between IT and other business units.
- Determining the effectiveness of IT leadership.
- Establishing governance/decision-making bodies and processes, including decision rights, accountabilities, and escalation paths.
- IMInnovation Management
The Innovation Management (IM) capability is the ability to identify, fund, and measure technology-driven business innovation, which can be:
- Applied within the IT function.
- Applied to the organization's operations.
- Applied to the organization's products and services.
- ODPOrganization Design and Planning
The Organization Design and Planning (ODP) capability is the ability to manage the IT function's internal structure and its interfaces with other business units, suppliers, and business partners.
- RMRisk Management
The Risk Management (RM) capability is the ability to assess, prioritize, handle, and monitor the exposure to and the potential impact of IT-related risks that can directly impact the business in a financial or reputational manner. Risks include those associated with (among others) IT security, data protection and information privacy, operations, continuity of business and recovery from declared disasters, IT investment and project delivery, and IT service contracts and suppliers. The Risk Management (RM) capability covers:
- Establishing an IT risk management programme and policies.
- Establishing risk management roles and responsibilities.
- Communicating and training in the area of risk management.
- Understanding the organization's tolerance for IT-related risks.
- Defining risk profiles.
- Assessing and prioritizing different types of risks.
- Defining risk handling strategies for identified IT risks (accept, avoid, mitigate, or transfer).
- Monitoring IT risk exposures.
- Integrating IT risk management with wider ERM practices such as business continuity planning, disaster recovery, information security, audit and assurance.
- SAIService Analytics and Intelligence
The Service Analytics and Intelligence (SAI) capability is the ability to define and quantify the relationships between IT infrastructure, IT services, and IT-enabled business processes.
- SSMSourcing and Supplier Management
The Sourcing and Supplier Management (SSM) capability is the ability to evaluate, select, integrate, and manage IT suppliers in line with defined sourcing and supplier management strategies.
- SPStrategic Planning
The Strategic Planning (SP) capability is the ability to formulate a long-term vision and translate it into an actionable strategic plan for the IT function.