Marketing Your IT Strategic Planning Process: Relationship Building with Business Stakeholders Fred Mapp EFM April 10, 2013

Lets start with a few questions  Why are we here?  What is the Business Problem? CIO Survey Results  Why should you care about marketing IT?  How good is your relationship with the business?  How do we communicate the strategic plan?  Why technology?  Do we have the right people?  How do we measure success? What is the overall strategy? Introduction

CIO Survey Results

When do you meet and what do you talk about with your business partners? The implementation of a Technology Strategy must be targeted toward a clearly defined value creation focus:  Top-line growth – Technology projects that primarily generate revenue  Bottom-Line optimization growth – Technology projects that yield profit  Shareholder value growth – Technology projects that increase the value of the company Customer retention Market share CIO “I promise that this technology strategic plan will meet your needs and provide business value” What Business Problem are You Trying To Solve?

 A plan is typically any diagram or list of steps with timing and resources, used to achieve an objective.  A goal or objective is a desired result a person or a system envisions, plans and commits to achieve—a personal or organizational desired end-point in some sort of assumed development. Many people endeavor to reach goals within a finite time by setting deadlines.  Strategic planning is an organization's process of defining its strategy, or direction, and making decisions on allocating its resources to pursue this strategy. In order to determine the direction of the organization, it is necessary to understand its current position and the possible avenues through which it can pursue a particular course of action. Generally, strategic planning deals with at least one of three key questions:  "What do we do?"  "For whom do we do it?"  "How do we excel?" Definition: A strategy is a plan of action designed to achieve a vision

What did we do, For Whom did we do it and How did we excel?  What were the objectives?  How did they impact the business?  Did we achieve the objectives?  Would the business agree? Did we make a difference?  Why do we continue to ask the question about what IT needs to do to support the business?  Is IT truly committed to solving business problems or is the focus on technology implementation?  Is IT focused only on “operate and maintain?  Grow data centers  Implement latest technology fads Marketing Your Report Card

Business Processes and Requirements SalesFin.Mfg.HR Provide a “three year” technology roadmap and time-line with a thorough and well-articulated plan for software and hardware deployment IT Technology Plans and Roadmap ERPCRMSCM Infrastructure DEV Building the Strategy Based on Business Needs

Who Calls the Shots? Source – CFO Research Services The findings are based on a survey of 382 senior finance executives and 300 senior IT executives working in a wide variety of companies. It was conducted in December 2011 and January 2012

Collaboration with peers How good is the relationship? How are decisions made? How are requirements captured? How effective in building the strategy? How to market? Why Focus on Relationship Management?

To better understand and support your business needs and improve communication, IT has defined a new role, ‘Relationship Manager’ A Relationship Manager…  Provides IT consulting services the Business Units  Conducts business process analyses & needs assessments  Aligns technology solutions and business strategies  Facilitates and maintains the strategic planning process Relationship Manager

Information Sharing with Account Managers:  Staff meetings  Planning sessions  Hold Relationship Management Forums  One-on-ones Quick Hitters:  Tactical development  Temporary Fixes  Quick turnaround IT Project Qualification Review Boards Role:  Hold Steering committee meetings  Translates business needs  Review technology alternatives  Review cost/benefit Project Prioritization:  Investment decisions  Demonstrates ROI  Prepare for executive approval Feedback Loop:  Process improvement  Customer satisfaction It all starts here Relationship Management Process

Another step, Survey your users  Meeting with users  Ask about their strategic direction  Assess how they rate their process, their current application and importance of automation  Follow up sessions to review survey results  Showcase your deliverables  Newsletter of current IT events When was your last survey? Relationship Management Assessment Survey

The transformation of IT: Jumping the chasm Some can make it easily Some will need training Some will need a jet pack Some will not make the cut Former Skills New Skills Do You Have the Right Skills to Execute the Strategy? Strategic Direction

How is IT Success Measured? Source – CFO Research Services

Do Your Metrics Make Sense to Your Users? Number Of Calls Closed Response Time Versus Systems Availability Number of on Time Shipments Response to Change in Market On Time Close TECHNICALBUSINESS A Perfect Order What Needs to be Measured? Survey Your Customers

IT Strategic Direction Killers Top 6 Killers in Implementing Strategy  Unclear communication of responsibility and/or accountability for execution decisions or actions  Poor or inadequate information sharing between individual or business units responsible for strategy execution  Poor or vague strategy  Inability to manage change effectively or to overcome internal resistance to change (cultural issue)  Lack of feelings of “ownership” of a strategy or execution plans among key employees  Lack of sharing the vision  Execute

Develop an IT Executable Plan Plans to Achieve Company Objectives Initiatives Objectives, Strategies, and Metrics Company Core Values Strategic Framework Execute, Execute, Execute

Questions & Answers Fred Mapp CSO BestIT Fred Mapp CSO BestIT