Evaluating IT – how do you know....? Iain Pritchard-Sayer Vincent Laura Dawson-RSPB

Aim for this session To compare the view from “the bridge” with the view from “the engine room”; To look at some practical models for evaluating IT; and To consider ways of evaluating your IT leadership

The view from the bridge...

Some respected truths......? IT is crucial to organisational strategy We know what we want from our IT We know how to manage organisational change We look to our IT director for more than answers to technical questions We believe good planning and preparation are key to success We value opinions of our IT department more than those of suppliers, consultants and other third parties. We want to be one single coherent organisations We know what we are doing

Three evaluation models (that tend not to work…) Conventional commercial ROI Keeping up with the charity next door Making sure IT s under control

Some evaluation models (that can sometimes work…) Force fields Strategic alignment

Model #1 – Force fields Innovation User needCost (£)

Roles and people IT systems and software How we get things done – processes and workflow Model #2 - strategic alignment

The view from the engine room...

Lies All you need is the next new CRM and ££££s will roll in. Spend IT £££ = Big efficiency Gains Successful procurement is the end of the project. I have spoken to IT about this......

What hacks off your IT Director “Please come to the strategy meeting next week...but, first, do you think you could just fix my Blackberry?” “I think its just a bit too early in our strategy thinking to involve IT” “We really need to bring in some experts to help us review the options” “One of the trustees has a nephew who works in IT” “But I don’t see why we can’t just do it all with Gmail and Googledocs...”

No smoke without fire Do IT staff ‘look’ different? Does your IT Director delegate answering technical questions? Does your IT Department use 3 rd parties for advice and do they believe the advice Is IT good at cutting costs through cutting services rather than same service, smaller cost. Does your IT Director manage projects or do they delegate?

What is yours like?

Weights and Measures CCITDG – Benchmarking Sayer Vincent – Benchlearning Gartner CIO Checklists NCC IT Department Accreditation Peer to Peer review

A few indicators Is your IT Director:- Meeting with internal peers regularly? Meeting with external peers, sharing good practice? Measuring costs? Measuring benefits? Using 3 rd Parties and trusting the answer

Question.... Operational 1234 Strategic 5 Where are you now? Where do you want them to be? Operational = Maintenance, Responsive, Cost-conscious Strategic = Innovation, Proactive, Value-driven

Questions and discussion?

For more information... Laura Dawson Iain Pritchard