Right delivery channel strategy that includes HW/Devices, SW, Architecture, and Technology can help to reduce enterprise IT cost.

Software license fees are going up every year, managing assets is also getting expensive. Most enterprises are not looking into their cost of delivery channel. I would like to focus here on delivery channel. For large enterprises, this is a substantial cost and need attention. Enterprises need to have a right client strategy to optimize and control cost. Client is a part of the delivery channel of an Enterprise Architecture. It encompasses, the Software, the Hardware and the delivery devices like desktop to notepad, PDAs, smart phone, near field communication devices, and many other hand held devices that are used to support end users day to day work. Creating enterprise client strategy needs major work and it is time consuming, as we are having so many options. We have so many software, and hardware to be selected from substantially large array of products and also from multiple vendors like Google, Microsoft, IBM Lotus, and open source products just a name a few. We need to create a client strategy, as well as road map that will support immediate need of the enterprise, as well as be able to accommodate future need. Enterprises need to serve multiple channels/users. Policy and governance model for each channel are different. Today’s enterprises typically support Business to Business, Business to Customers, Business to Employees, and Business to Agents channels. Selection of right platform with right software need to be designed based on use case definition for each channel along with the other modules that an EA design needs. Finding out the pattern and common functions for each LOB is very critical. Implementing collaboration functionality among and within the channels is becoming challenging, as one has to select right products set. Carefully architecting and developing right strategy will help to keep the cost down (License fees, TCO, asset management, etc.). I see this as a major architecture endeavor for any organization. Initial investment can help cost savings in down the road. Implementation of control and policy may be a nightmare. Right strategy, right policy will definitely reduce cost, will increase productivity, and boost innovation. Now the question is how to determine what amount of budget need to be allocated for this initiative?

IT Strategy and Roadmap

Enterprise IT covers a large area therefore to develop an IT Strategy one can take a holistic view or a specific component or number of components at a time. Whatever one’s approach may be one need to address all the components of an enterprise IT Environment at some point. In this article I will try to explore the IT Strategy development and the focus will be on an enterprise IT environment. According to Merriam Webster’s dictionary a strategy is an adaptation or complex of adaptations that serves or appears to serve an important function in achieving evolutionary success. A careful plan or method. Therefore, Information Technology Strategy or IT Strategy should have some target or goal that one or an enterprise try to achieve. Therefore, we need to establish an achievable goal or goals carefully. It makes more complicated when we add dynamic nature of today’s information technology. To make it simple, let’s eliminate dynamic factor of the information technology and establish goal(s) using current technology which support agility. Please contact me for detail information.

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IT Optimization should focus beyond

In an IT Optimization initiative most enterprises focus only on their hardware infrastructure that deals only on computing resources, like servers, storage and some time they consider network. But to get maximum benefit out of optimization program, enterprise should go beyond infrastructure computing resources boundary. IT optimization predominantly an IT Infrastructure in a simplified environment that aligns with the enterprise’s business goals. It makes the IT environment interoperable, integrated and automated for greater efficiency, productivity and IT service quality. Optimized IT infrastructure primarily built on virtualization, automation and provisioning technologies along with system management and process management. Virtualization technology helps users to have a logical view of a complex heterogeneous IT environment. In a well implemented optimized IT environment, IT infrastructure should be able to support required business services through pool of virtualized resources that include servers, storage, and network along with operating systems, system management software, middleware and applications enablement software. Virtualization is one of the key solutions for optimizing the IT Infrastructure. Optimization should enable and should provide following benefits by:

• Aligning IT execution with the needs of the business to ensure delivery of high value, modular solutions that rapidly respond to ever shifting business drivers.
• Improving ability to deliver services to the business by automating IT management processes
• Improving resource utilization and response time through a common pool of shared resources, including virtualized resources
• Enabling IT infrastructure to respond to solution’s changing capacity needs
• Utilizing proven methodologies and technologies to speed implementation of IT initiatives

It should also benefits business management by:

• Providing an IT infrastructure that effectively supports the requirements of the business.

In a nutshell enterprise should get the most of any investment. Before investing in additional resources they need to be sure their current environment is as efficient as possible. Enterprise should be able to allocate effectively their excess capacity to where and when they need to respond to changing business needs. Businesses often over-provision on a per application basis or silo basis. Manual processes for managing and allocating all these diverse resources has serious impact on IT staff productivity. IT Optimization should eliminate these constraints.

IT Strategy to deliver cloud computing values.

Cloud Computing is a new computing model for most enterprises. The forward thinking CxOs are welcoming this new model of computing, because this model can support their business objectives efficiently. It is a commodity based model and it is also scalable. It delivers services dynamically anywhere you want and access your information from any place. It is always available. It supports end-users demand, automatically scalable and elastic in nature. Moreover, it is a self-service computing model. To enable cloud computing model in any enterprise, Systems Management and Infrastructure are the two key areas need to be focused along with application and information services. Success of a cloud computing will depend heavily on how an enterprise design these two components.

CIOs need to prioritize their IT initiatives appropriately to build a successful cloud computing model. Systems Management, Infrastructure Services, Applications, and Information services need to be transformed simultaneously and at the same space.

As services oriented architecture is in the core of cloud computing, therefore, enterprise need to adopt a strategy to transform their enterprise architecture slowly into service oriented architecture and this is a major challenge to an IT organization.

Now the question is do we really need to transform an EA into SOA to implement cloud computing? Many enterprises have enabled their Web Services in a legacy environment. It is true, enterprise can adopt right approach and techniques to make their existing environment into cloud computing. However, enterprise should have a strategy to transform their EA into SOA to get full benefits of cloud computing. Only a right IT Strategy can deliver all the values of a cloud computing that:

• can help to align IT with business easily,
• can sustain change and innovation,
• can make an IT operating environment more flexible and adaptable,
• can support growth and profitability,
• can increase reliability and the operating environment can be more resilient,

and many more values.

In my next article I will focus on what should be our approach to enable cloud computing in an enterprise and deliver these values,

http://nandiamit.blogspot.com/2010/09/in-my-earlier-article-it-strategy-to_30.html

Business Drivers for today's IT

Based on various studies and surveys like, IBM, McKinsey, and various news items, we can conclude: CxOs are facing tremendous challenges. I am trying to analyze the situation in this posting. We should not confuse business drivers with goals, objectives, critical success factors and/or capabilities. Items such as these in the strategic direction are usually "driven" from the external Business Drivers or strength and weakness analysis of internal required capabilities. Normally, drivers are fairly broad statements of the business needs, which must be satisfied by an appropriate Enterprise Architecture. We see..

CEO Needs:
1. Revenue growth with cost containment
2. Responsiveness to business conditions
3. Agility to pursue new market opportunities
4. Tighter partner/customer collaboration/integration

CFO Wants:
1. Partnering with the enterprise to enhance growth insight – In keeping with Finance’s shift from a historical to a more predictive focus.
2. Optimizing decision support to enhance performance insight – These organizations integrates transparent, role-based metrics and exception reporting while fully cascading these metrics consistently throughout the enterprise.
3. Driving beyond compliance to enhance risk insight – These organizations expand risk management to enterprise wide views of risk and use performance dashboards and analytical tools that are focused on risk/reward planning for decision making.

To satisfy CEO and CFO’s demand CIO’s are challenged to:
1. Aligning IT and business goals to grow and contain costs
2. Building responsiveness and agility into organization through IT.
3. Helping IT enable people and teams to be more effective

In other words enterprise needs to create an IT organization that establishes an operating environment which must have all these above defined capabilities to satisfy CEO, CFO and CIO’s needs.

Strategy for 2009 and CIO challanges

According to recent McKinsey Quarterly Survey report....

"Executives are concerned that a new focus on near-term challenges may cause this year’s planning process to overlook long-term trends or preexisting strategies, according to the results of a McKinsey Quarterly survey on strategic planning."

As we all know IT projects are driven by the business needs. Business Drivers are key to IT projects. CIO/CTO will have tremendous challenge in aligning IT with the enterprise's business strategy under the current scenario. Architect's challenge will be establishing tactical plan and adjusting it with the strategic vision and plan. Enterprise will start thinking about or revisit their SOA and agile IT infrastructure thought, if they have not yet started.

McKinsey Link: http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/Strategic_planning_Three_tips_for_2009_2340?pagenum=2