In today’s IT world, alignment with business needs and leaders is crucial. Requesting investment in IT applications and or infrastructure is a challenging event. In the not too distant past, if the justification for an investment was that IT was going to reduce costs and get more efficient or provide a more stable environment, then you likely got approval. Learn strategies on how to be successful at justifying your IT projects.

1. 5 Key Aspects of Information Technology
Project Justification
Scott Millhollin, Sr. Manager, Product Management - Hyperscale Cloud

2. 2
Overview
In today’s IT world, alignment with business needs
and leaders is crucial.
Requesting investment in IT applications and or
infrastructure is challenging.
Everything IT does must show direct support for
corporate and business unit strategy and
initiatives.

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First, answer these questions
1. Which business goals and or strategic initiatives will benefit
from the project and how?
2. What are the projected capital payback and ROI periods?
3. Which business units will benefit and have they bought in?
4. Which employees will benefit and how?
5. Did you evaluate any other architectures and or vendors?

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Aspect 1: Business leader buy-in
Build relationships by learning about their needs and
wants.
Help them understand the supporting IT strategy.
Work closely to develop the story about how the IT
project aligns with their needs functionally,
operationally and financially.

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Aspect 2: Work with the CFO
Build a relationship – review monthly and quarterly
financial data about IT and how you are operating.
Stay engaged between the financial reviews when
anything of financial significance comes across your
desk.

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Aspect 3: Show solutions to the challenges
Include examples of challenges likely to
be encountered and how to address
them.

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Aspect 4: Concisely summarize pros and cons
Include solution options in a comparison
matrix for the options with the pros and cons
of each.
Assuming the Pros and Cons align with the
recommended solution, this is a great way to
give your C-Level colleagues the information
they want in an easily understood format.

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Aspect 5: Communicate challenges and goals
While you are establishing relationships, you
are getting deep insight into how the
business runs and the opportunities.
Bring this information to the IT organization.
Make sure the business initiative that is
driving the IT project is documented in the
requirements and is not overlooked.

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Conclusion
It’s all about communicating with all levels of the
organization and teamwork.
Building relationships with business leaders and
colleagues helps you better understand the
business.
Leveraging the relationships and the information
exchange between IT and the rest of the business
feeds directly into these 5 steps that build a
compelling story for your IT projects that will
increase the chances of approval.

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Links for further reading
5 Key Aspects of Information Technology Project Justification
How to Justify an IT Project With Uncertain Returns

11. Scott Millhollin joined Ensono in 2005 and presently leads
product management for the Managed Public Cloud services in
the Product and Technology division. In this role, he works
closely with client CIOs and IT leaders to provide business
enabling services and solutions. His responsibilities include
evaluating market trends, setting service and technology
strategy, and leading a team of passionate architects and
engineers. Scott received a BBA in Management Information
Systems from the University of Iowa and holds numerous
industry certifications.
About the Author