Practice Areas:
Business and
Functional Strategy Business Model Innovation Organizational Architecture IT Strategy and Governance
IT Cost Optimization
Organizational Reinvigoration
Functional Strategy Business Model Innovation Organizational Architecture IT Strategy and Governance
IT Cost Optimization
Organizational Reinvigoration
IT Strategy and Governance: CLIENT EXAMPLES
Project Approval and Prioritization in a Global Retailer
SITUATION:
This global retailer's IT costs were growing faster than sales, even after major strategic projects focused on addressing the issue were completed.
SOLUTION:
Applying the four dimensions of our approach (process, organization, metrics, and tools) we:
- recommended changes to project approval and governance processes that held business units accountable for the projects they were requesting and established program budgets for maintenance, enhancements and strategic capabilities
- suggested creating a PMO and empowering it to not only govern projects, but monitor the program budgets
- diagnosed perverse incentives in corporate budgeting (because corporate IT costs were not allocated to the business units, IT projects were a “free good” to them) and recommended an alternative budgeting approach consistent with the project approval process reforms
- developed (in collaboration with Corporate Finance) online capital request tools to calculate estimated ROIs (required in the new project approval process)
RESULT:
The recommended management processes brought IT costs under control; and (after a period of adjustment) the business units reported increased responsiveness from IT on the projects that matter most to the business.
Project Approval and Prioritization in a Global Retailer
SITUATION:
This global retailer's IT costs were growing faster than sales, even after major strategic projects focused on addressing the issue were completed.
SOLUTION:
Applying the four dimensions of our approach (process, organization, metrics, and tools) we:
- recommended changes to project approval and governance processes that held business units accountable for the projects they were requesting and established program budgets for maintenance, enhancements and strategic capabilities
- suggested creating a PMO and empowering it to not only govern projects, but monitor the program budgets
- diagnosed perverse incentives in corporate budgeting (because corporate IT costs were not allocated to the business units, IT projects were a “free good” to them) and recommended an alternative budgeting approach consistent with the project approval process reforms
- developed (in collaboration with Corporate Finance) online capital request tools to calculate estimated ROIs (required in the new project approval process)
RESULT:
The recommended management processes brought IT costs under control; and (after a period of adjustment) the business units reported increased responsiveness from IT on the projects that matter most to the business.
