Practical IT Research that Drives Measurable Results Establish an Effective IT Steering Committee

Many organizations contemplate forming an IT Steering Committee to better align IT investments with business priorities, but most don’t know where to start. Forming an IT Steering Committee can greatly benefit IT governance. But without clear objectives and strong executive participation, new committees risk being ineffective and short lived. This solution set will help you: Introduction Build the Case for IT Steering Focus Your IT Steering Objectives Get Your Steering Committee on Track

Executive Summary IT Steering Committees are a best practice approach for aligning strategic business and IT priorities. Clear mandates and a real ability to influence decision making through executive participation increase the value of IT Steering Committees. Successful IT Steering Committees focus on three main tasks: IT strategic planning, project prioritization and project approval. Other activities, such as resource allocation, are best left to other teams. IT leaders can get started on the right track by gaining executive buy-in and taking on a facilitative role on the IT Steering Committee.

Build the Case for IT Steering Focus Your IT Steering Objectives Get Your Steering Committee On Track

IT Steering Committees are a commonly used approach for aligning strategic business and IT priorities IT Steering Committees are used by 62% of organizations to ensure that IT priorities align with business strategy. You do not need to be a large company to have one. Source: Client Survey, Info-Tech Research Group, February 2010

Need for shared decision making and group business consensus on strategic investments drives IT Steering Committees A lot of business executives who are not IT- savvy will toss the problem over to the IT side even though most IT projects are really business projects. Instead, the executives need to engage IT through a governance model, whether it’s an IT steering committee or an IT governance board. You need the executives to jointly drive what they need from IT so that they can do the give and take that is necessary when there isn’t enough money to get everything done. - CIO, IT Services Top Three Activities of IT Steering Committees IT Project Prioritization Approval of IT Projects IT Strategic Planning “ ” Organizations leverage IT Steering Committees as a forum to gain consensus between business leaders and their participation in major IT decisions.

IT Steering Committees are most effective when there is an existing culture of communications between business units Use the “IT Steering Committee Challenge Assessment Tool” to get a clear picture of the Leadership, Business and IT factors that determine readiness.IT Steering Committee Challenge Assessment Tool LeadershipBusinessIT IT Steering Committees often struggle to find their role in environments without an existing shared decision making dynamic (e.g. an “autocratic” CEO). New IT Steering Committees are more effective when there is already a business culture of sharing and communicating objectives across departments. Organizations that already have formal accountabilities for most IT governance tasks (e.g. project requests, budget review), are in a better position to succeed.

Build the Case for IT Steering Focus Your IT Steering Objectives Get Your Steering Committee On Track

Use the IT Steering Committee to find the balance between IT constraints and business priorities IT Constraints Business Priorities We tried a bunch of ways to drag in our business stakeholders, in order to communicate what we were working on and why they can’t have resources. Not having everyone at the table at one time was our problem. Even though we have set priorities together, we still have the same amount of work when it comes to communicating to stakeholders why we don’t have IT resources – but now it’s not just me and my decision, it’s what we all agreed on. - CIO, Professional Services New and existing IT leaders should refer to the note, “New IT Leaders: Engage an IT Steering Committee,” to learn from experiences of peers that have formed these groups.New IT Leaders: Engage an IT Steering Committee Info-Tech Research Article: “ ”

Don’t expect the IT Steering Committee to do IT’s job – bring appropriate focus to IT strategy and investment decisions IT Steering Committees play an important role in IT governance. But understand that effectively setting and managing scope is critical to success. Is the IT Steering Committee effective in this task? 91% Agree 86% Agree 95% Agree Over 77% of IT Steering Committees focus on three of these tasks or fewer. Source: Client Survey, Info-Tech Research Group, February 2010

Plan for the IT Steering Committee to mature with time to take on more IT operational oversight Understand that stakeholders may lack a deeper understanding of IT challenges and will likely not be prepared to tackle operational issues in the first year. The biggest issue that I have had is keeping it at a high enough level to keep people interested. I have a tendency to get down into the technical details more than I should. Everyone wants to participate, but their interest starts to wane if we get into too much detail, because they’re executives. We’re trying to explain it all to them, but sometimes they don’t need that – they just want to keep moving forward. - Director of IT, Construction “ ” n = 105 Source: Client Survey, Info-Tech Research Group, February 2010

Info-Tech Helps Professionals To: Sign up for free trial membership to get practical Solutions for your IT challenges “Info-Tech helps me to be proactive instead of reactive - a cardinal rule in stable and leading edge IT environment.” - ARCS Commercial Mortgage Co., LP