Articulating the business value of IT.

With the plethora of messaging hitting functional process leads from outside the organization, internal providers of IT must develop a strategy to articulate their benefits to their organization. Many of the principles and ideas used in marketing and advertising are adaptable to build a enterprise brand for IT.

Brand development takes into consideration 3 key factors, differentiation, relevancy and consistency. Differentiation allows you to separate, distinguish and defend your services against messaging that is coming into your organization from outside service providers. Relevancy keeps you attuned to what users want and need and at the same time keeps you aware of market trends, and Consistency will give your constituents the guarantee or service level that your offering is competitive, at the very least, superior ideally, in addressing and aligning to their business goals. Today your brand is established by past encounters and service features that have already been delivered. In most cases, some re-branding work needs to be accomplished and should be re-evaluated continually. This is not a bookshelf exercise and should be a living and breathing document that should be evaluated in real time.

The first step in building your brand is an identification of key stakeholders with the intent of getting the understanding of their perception on how they think IT as a service is delivered. Do they see IT as a strategic partner who continually creates new benefits or a roadblock that continues down the same old way without alignment to business strategy? Branding of IT must be aligned to the corporate strategy and corporate goals. It must also reach down into the SG&A functionality and be tied to the activity level if individual contributors with in each department. Every person in every department must have an understanding of how IT adds value to their daily activity. An IT brand will build strength over time, consciously or unconsciously your constituents are branding you. A formal branding approach will put IT in the drivers seat.

Business Value through selective sourcing.

In the not too distant past, there were only two sourcing delivery options; in source or outsource. To meet the changing needs and reduce risk, service providers and enterprises have developed an array of choices that better suit the requirements of corporations. In hind site, we have also seen that single-source sourcing is more expensive as solutions are developed that move into niche markets and are aligned to vertical industry functions. This deep expertise offers innovation as part of their service level agreement and delivers increases in efficiency and effectiveness improvements that drives the spirit of the relationship.

Today, I have seen first hand that companies are unwilling to completely dismantle operations and move their people, process and technology offshore with out considering of multiple sourcing choices. Picking, in some cases, multiple delivery options to meet their requirements and business goals. It is also clear that once a process is moved outside the walls, subject matter expertise is required in-house to effectively manage the process and relationship. Governance of multi-sourced relationship is a critical in toady's climate. A strategy, business case and associated action plan must be developed that aligns each choice to how it meets your business requirements and return on investment criteria. Successfully done, these choices will deliver a return on investment and can be used as a growth strategy that delivers to the bottom line.

Innovation, speculation and globalization

Richard Arkwright, a British inventor changed the face of the world. In 1767 he developed a spinning frame, a machine for spinning thread in preparation for weaving. This invention replaced a hand-operated device that required a person skilled in the process to operate. By 1768 his first horse powered mill was in operation. With this new automation, each worker in Arkwright's mill could do the work of fifty hand spinners. England's industrial revolution modernized textile manufacturing, so inexpensive were English textiles they began to export them to India, decimating India's traditional weaving trade.

There are many examples of this type of activity through out the ages, in 1859 China ruled the supply of tea, but by 1899 India outpaced China in tea exports which had a devastating impact on China's tea farmers.

In the 1600's and the early 1700's Arabian coffee ruled the world, by the middle of the 1700's the Dutch took the lead. Years before they exported coffee plants to their colonies in South America. With these plants now mature and producing Arabian coffee found it difficult to compete.

The list goes on and on, from the earliest times, sourcing and globalization has been documented and utilized and "market disruptors" have always been introduced from around the globe. Today as information technology further flattens the world, it remains clear that a distinct business value must be identified at the individual level, their process, their company and their region. Better, faster and cheaper ways will always be introduced as marketers look for the next big thing. Be prepared by weighing options and analyzing your risk, engage and challenge yourselves in sourcing options and be proactive in defining your personal and business value and understand where it fits into your companies enterprise strategy. If you don't know, ask if you dont have one get one.

2008- the intersection of business process and IT.

I was looking for a way to articulate the benefit of Business Value Management. In my career in account management, a common theme that rises to the top at my clients is there has always been islands of information and stand alone processes. It amazes me that CFO's are marching down one route, looking at processes, while CIO's staff are always looking for the next great piece of software or hardware that delivers some unique business value. With enterprise ERP provider's now offering, though acquisition, "full suite" applications, it is time for CIO's and CFO's to sit at the table to uncover and define one version of the truth. A common vision, goal, taxonomy and methodology must be agreed upon before the journey begins. Lean/Six Sigma, Agile, TCO etc. will only "polish the apple. If the core is broken, those processes must be identified and road mapped for remediation.

My career in market research with my clients being both the CFO's office, at Hackett and the CIO and his staff, at Gartner tells me that they are on a journey with two distinct talk tracks in regards to how they define of business value. The good news is, the unification of business and technology has begun, and it is the IT providers who now talk about the business value of their services and products.

2008 will be the intersection of IT and business process at the function level and will we will start to see a emphasis defining business value at the process and activity level.

Business Value Management

The latest in industry buzzwords complete with a three letter acronym. My challenge is how to come up with sustainable benefits and information on how Business Value is changing the way companies operate in a global economy. 2008 will be the year of the individual and how their functions and activities can be measured in terms of value to the business.