December 21, 2011 5:45 AM

After another couple of month’s silence precipitated by some minor surgery, the holiday season and, quite frankly, too much “same old – same old” news, a couple of articles have caused me to, once again, put my fingers to the keyboard. The first, a blog – unfortunately his last with CIO.com, by Thomas Wailgum, IT in 2020: Will it Even Exist?, and the second by Marilyn Weinstein, again in CIO.com, The Power of IT Drives Businesses Forward. While the two titles might appear contradictory, I felt they were both saying the same thing in somewhat different ways, and that what they were saying is important – although not new.

In describing a new report from Forrester Research, “IT’s Future in the Empowered Era: Sweeping Changes in the Business Landscape Will Topple the IT Status Quo”, Thomas suggests that the question that lingers throughout the report is whether corporate IT, as we know it today, will even exist in 2020.

In the report, analysts Alex Cullen and James Staten identify three forces bearing down on IT that will likely have long-lasting ramifications. The three forces include: Business-ready, self-service technology (including cloud and SaaS adoption); empowered, tech-savvy employees who don’t think they need corporate IT; and a “radically more complex business environment,” notes the report.

Cullen and Staten write “The IT status quo will collapse under these forces, and a new model–empowered BT [business technology]–will take its place. Today’s IT and business leaders should prepare by rethinking the role the IT department plays and how technology staff engage the business, shifting from controlling to teaching and guiding.”

Well, whether it be these three forces or others, I certainly agree that the status quo is unacceptable and this rethink needs to take place – it should have taken place a long time ago.

In her article, Marilyn echoes a comment I have been making for well over a decade in saying “One of the most overused terms I’ve heard in the past few years as CEO of an IT consulting and staffing firm has to be the word “alignment.” With IT embedded in just about everything that we do, it is ridiculous. and dangerous, to continue to talk about alignment. As Marilyn goes on to say, “IT drives efficiencies. IT enables business. IT powers business success. The goal is not merely to align, but to get in front of the business goals and spearhead growth… IT does drive and enable business. It’s time for IT leadership to drive that point home. ” Again, the long overdue need for IT and business leaders to rethink the role the IT department plays and how technology staff engage the business.

The role of the IT leader, the CIO is indeed changing, or certainly should be. The CIO is accountable for delivering required technology services at an affordable cost with an acceptable level of risk. The business leadership is accountable for investing in, and managing and using technology such that it creates and sustains value for their organization – this cannot be abdicated to the IT function. But nor can it be done without the IT function – they have a key role to play here. The CIO, as the IT leader, is responsible for ensuring that their team works in partnership with other business leadership to help them:

• optimize value from existing services;
• understand the opportunities for business change enabled by current, new or emerging technologies;
• understand the business changes they will have to make to realize value from these opportunities; and
• select opportunities with highest potential value and execute such that value is maximized.

This requires moving beyond the current culture of delivery – based on a philosophy of “build it and they will come”, to a culture of value. This will further require moving beyond the current approach to IT governance – one that is again focused on delivery and the “factory” to a broader more strategic approach to enterprise governance – one that ensures that organizations have:

1. A shared understanding what constitutes value for the organisation;

2. Clearly defined roles, responsibilities and accountabilities, with an aligned reward system;

3. Processes and practices around value management, including portfolio, programme and project management, supported by complete and comprehensive business cases, with active benefits and change management; and

4. Relevant metrics, both “lead” and “lag”.

The Val IT Framework 2.0™ provides, in Section 6 – Functional Accountabilities and Responsibilities, a summary of the roles of IT and business leadership required to support this approach.

In the Afterword of the revised edition of The Information Paradox, I introduced a Strategic Governance Framework. Since that time, as well as working with ISACA in leading the development of The Val IT Framework™, I have continued to refine that framework into what I now refer to as the Strategic Enterprise Governance Framework. Over the next few months, I will be introducing this framework, and describing each of the ten major elements that it comprises.

Moving to such a governance approach is a business imperative, one which is itself a major change programme that will take time to plan and implement, and also for the benefits to be achieved. We will not however come anywhere near realizing the full potential value of IT-enabled change until we do so. It is time to move beyond words and place an emphasis on action. This will require strong leadership, and engagement and involvement at every level of the organisation.

Originally posted on the Thorp Network

Blogger Profile: John Thorp

John Thorp is an internationally recognized management consultant and speaker with over 45 years’ experience covering all aspects of the information management field, including technical, management and executive positions. Author of “The Information Paradox“, John’s focus is on realizing the benefits of information technology-enabled change. A highly effective strategist, communicator and facilitator, he has led many assignments in strategic planning, organizational change, and value management.

Posted by Sue Ansell at December 21, 2011 5:45 AM

Categories: General Trends

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