Baseline’s 5 keys:

□ Architecture
□ Planning
□ Vendor Management
□ Relationship Management
□ Demand Management

Architecture is important in building an effective IT department. Few in IT will argue with this. The biggest challenge for the CIO is to sell this role to the business management as for many business managers it is seen as only providing an IT benefit. In some corporations this is the first IT role cut in a recession, yet it is the one person who holds the key to the corporate infrastructure. The role has an impact beyond IT as they are the custodians of policies, standards and compliance.

No one will argue the importance of Planning especially as it is important to manage the investment priorities. ROI is firmly back on the agenda as the business must know what it is getting for every dollar spent. ROI demands are becoming shorter (Management is now demanding a positive return in less than a year).

It is important that all projects follow a process, are correctly planned, and the plan adhered to. The management of all projects must be prioritised by business demand.

Effective Vendor Management is essential in keeping a tight reign on the costs of the IT department. The CIO needs to sharpen his negotiation skills in order to drive costs down. Vendors are very aware that this is a competitive market, in fact this is where not being reliant on one single vendor can assist the IT Manager. Push-back on increasing license costs, deals can be struck, this is the feedback I have had from vendors. Look at those unused licenses and trim them.

Building strong relationships through the business community has always been an important factor in the CIO’s role. Now more than ever Business and IT need to be in sync. I believe that the role of the CIO is changing and is now one that encompasses overall business change, not just the technological implementation.

Demand Management ensures that the right level in internal and external staff are available. Tracking future demand is vital in a tight economy. According to Baseline what it takes to get the job done is the right tools to predict future supply and demand.

I do think the Baseline steps are just the starting point. Now more than ever before the business of IT demands ‘No Surprises’ and an effective relationship with business.

(Reprinted from IT Toolbox)

The results of a recent survey (by Channel Insider) indicated the top priorities as:

1- Hosted/Outsourced Infrastructure
2- Backup and Disaster Recovery Services
3- Business Application Services
4- Software Development Services
5- Management and Monitoring
6- Network and PC Management and Monitoring
7- Security Services
8-  Strategy and Advisory Services
9- Project Management

and 63% of CIOs are willing to spend for critical technologies.

I am not saying that these are not important priorities, in their own way they are, but I would not list them with the same priority and there are some key items missing. I guess this relates to the specific survey and what it aims to show. The cynic in me also says that any survey will also favour a sponsor’s product of technology area – One thing I do not have to worry about.  It is undoubtedly true that there are some CIOs that were born and bred in the support function of IT and they will think more about the issues associated with keeping the lights on than the benefits that IT can provide the business. Perhaps also my background in Corporate Solutions, Business Intelligence and Strategic Thinking also taints my viewpoint here.

In my experience each IT Leader will have their priorities dictated to them by the company which they work for, but spending is always required. Most of the items listed by Channel Insider tend to look at the operational side of the business. But I think that there is one major question that needs to be asked of IT, which is “How can IT improve business results or reduce costs?” This question does not seem to have been addressed here.

There are cost savings to be made on the operational side of the business through leveraging our existing architecture to the maximum extent, e.g. virtualization. Improvements in security, particularly for those businesses in the retail sector are always important.

Some things I did not see in this survey (in no particular order) are:

◊ OpenSource
◊ Web 2.0 & collaboration
◊ Statutory Compliance
◊ Audit requirements
◊ Adoption/Extension of Best Practices
◊ Business Intelligence

In my straw poll on this subject, conducted with IT Leaders in my network, “Business Intelligence” ranked number 1 – by a long way. from a corporate application perspective CRM solutions become the next priority as that allow us to better understand our customer and look at service improvements.

CRM of course has a natural linkage to Business Intelligence with questions like – what are our most profitable customers? This naturally forms part of a value chain that links BI with market knowledge and a greater business understanding and ultimately contributes to improvements in business results.

The moral of the story is that you have to identify your own corporate priorities and act on those.

Business Intelligence (BI) and Enterprise Performance Management (EPM) should definitely be high on the priority list. It is not about crystal ball gazing, but the ability to provide the board with the key metrics that can be used for informed decision making.

Many of the IT leaders that I have been talking to recently all indicate that this may be the time for OpenSource to make inroads into corporate IT. Cash strapped corporations are suddenly finding these solutions viable, turning over years of doubt.

Data integration remains an important part of the IT infrastructure. To some extent integration is a key differentiator for any corporation. It brings together the various islands of data. The Data Warehouse, the foundation for BI and data mastering all require integration provide their benefits.

After last year’s financial meltdown compliance will also rank high on the agenda, even if procedures were fully compliant the auditors will be carrying around their magnifying glass for the the immediate future. It will also be important to maintain security standards.

The other security concern relates to the broadening of virtualized environments. Virtualization promises cost efficiencies in the server environment, this is subject of another article published recently (click here).

I would expect a tightening of the statutory compliance requirements within all industries in the current period. This is primarily a business based challenge, but it is expected to have an associated demand for IT resources.

Service and delivery standards should not be allowed to decline, particularly where it impacts the customer experience.

Essentially we are all living in a world where nothing get spent that does not either increase revenue or bring about savings to the corporation, ultimately this drives IT priorities. I would say that we have changed our priorities.

See also: Deploying Solutions on a Shoestring Budget and IT Roles that can Drive Cost Reduction