- Using IT Portfolio Management to Improve the IT Contribution to the Business
7 Sep 04 | Single Topic Reports
This report on IT portfolio management addresses the unique needs of CIOs who want to improve the track record of IT investment in their company. As this report points out, their job is not to pick the right investments. The business leaders who are accountable for business results should make those decisions. Instead, this report identifies the important roles that CIOs can play in the IT portfolio management process.
This report suggests how to recruit the appropriate business managers into the process, and provides a useful approach to getting those conversations moving. It goes on to discuss the CIO’s role as the operational manager who has to deliver the value of the IT portfolio. And throughout, the CIO is positioned as a much needed trusted advisor on what’s possible. The CIO alone has the expertise to choose the technical approach that will achieve long- and short-term objectives, and provide the agility to survive on what I have called ‘the information frontier’.
Recommended both to CIOs who are building an IT portfolio for the first time and to those who want to improve their existing programmes.
- Aligning IT with your Business
11 Oct 05 | Presentation
Professor McFarlan shares his latest thinking with a particular emphasis on the role of senior business managers in setting the IT agenda.
See event: The Future of the IT Organization (27 - 28 Sept 2005)
- Test Drive Your Critical Decisions
5 Apr 05 | Presentation
Richard Adler introduces ForeTell-DSS, an innovative "what-if" software platform that helps organizations test drive critical decisions in a virtual environment before committing capital, labor and strategic positioning. Rich illustrates concepts and capabilities by demonstrating a pilot application for IT portfolio management decisions.
- Stimulating Innovation in Challenging Times
21 Feb 05 | Presentation
This talk provides a closer look at the nature of innovation by exploring what makes an innovative organization and the role of the CIO in the context of innovation.
We define ‘innovation’, provide insights into, and understanding of, the holistic nature of innovation, suggest how you can explore your organization’s attitude towards innovation, and suggest ways that you can improve your organization’s innovativeness.
In this session we introduce a management tool that we call the ‘IT Innovation Portfolio’.
See event: Breaking Through the Glass Ceiling – Beyond the Role of CIO (21 Feb 2005) - Disruptive Technology
21 Feb 05 | Presentation
This talk presents our research on the attitudes and behaviours of the successful 21st Century CIO. We also provide an overview of the management techniques that smart CIOs use to align IT with the CEO’s agenda.
See event: Breaking Through the Glass Ceiling – Beyond the Role of CIO
- Aligning with the CEO Agenda
21 Feb 05 | Presentation
This talk presents our research on the attitudes and behaviours of the successful 21st Century CIO. We also provide an overview of the management techniques that smart CIOs use to align IT with the CEO’s agenda.
See event: Breaking Through the Glass Ceiling – Beyond the Role of CIO - Disruptive innovation within an IT portfolio
30 Nov 04 | Journal Articles
Successful CIOs tell us that they face what Clayton Christensen has called ‘the innovator’s dilemma.’
The closer they are to their business, the better they contribute to what Christensen has dubbed ‘sustaining’ innovations – modest but important improvements to the existing business.
However, the relationships and management practices that enable them to contribute to ‘sustaining’ innovations often prevent them from helping their businesses identify what Christensen has called ‘disruptive’ innovations – new ideas, usually based on exploitation of new, often immature technologies, which ultimately transform an existing practice or market.
- Balancing the IT portfolio
28 May 04 | Journal Articles
The 2003 Research & Advisory Services client survey surfaced IT Portfolio Management (IT PfM) as the number one issue for CIOs.
AMR Research found that as many as 75 per cent of IT organisations have little oversight of their project portfolios and that they employ non-repeatable, chaotic planning processes.
In the face of continuing reports that 40 per cent of IT projects fail , our client organisations want to ensure that their projects deliver value to the business.
They are adopting IT PfM because it brings structure and rigour to the selection and prioritisation of IT investments.
This article was developed in response to the request from many of our clients for a framework to help them start building their IT portfolios.
- Portfolio Management: The Answer to Your CEO´s Demands for Greater Returns on IT Investment
27 May 04 | Presentation
At this web conference, Alex Mayall describes:
- how to determine what should be managed as part of your particular IT portfolio
- how to ensure that you have an overall view of the status of the portfolio
- how to use the indicators in this view to determine specific actions to optimise the portfolio
- how to use the portfolio to monitor and re-align IT with the rest of the business.
He illustrates his points with case study examples from our research.
- Managing the IT portfolio to maximise the return to the business
5 May 04 | Journal Articles
In February 2004, CSC’s Research & Advisory Services conducted a survey to collect baseline information on how Global 500 businesses and large government organisations are using IT Portfolio Management (PfM) and related IT management tools and techniques to improve the return on investment in IT.
Surveys were sent to over 200 senior IT executives in business and government organisations in Asia, Europe, the United States and South Africa.
This article summarises the results from the 50 completed surveys received by mid March 2004. All but 5 per cent of the respondents were responsible for some or all of their organisation’s IT PfM programme.