Sigh... There is NO future for IT Departments as we know them. We've given you the case for change for IT departments. (The Death of IT). We've told you about how business has changed forever. (Aligning IT and Business Change). Yet we still come across CIOs who believe that the best way to move forward, is to look backward. Let's get this straight: NO MATTER HOW FAST YOU PEDDLE YOUR BICYCLE, IT WILL never BE A MOTOR-BIKE (much less an aeroplane!). So this presentation goes beyond telling you what's wrong with IT (most everything), and starts the discussion on what needs to be done (most everything). We give you several simple-sounding actions to move away from the traditional role of IT in your organisation - toward a new type of IT. We don't even call it IT - We call it ACT: Applied Competitive Technology. Read on. There will be more to follow

1. www.cxo-advisor.co.za
Terry White
Contact: terryw@cxo-advisor.co.za
CXO Advisor
It’s time for IT to act
Business at the speed of change
Change at the speed of business

2. The story so far…
We’ve established that there’s a pressing need
to change the way the IT departments
works, and what it does
(See http://www.slideshare.net/TerryWhite01/the-death-of-the-it-department)

3. The story so far…
We’ve also said that a single business changes
at different rates, so IT departments have to
deliver at different rates
(See http://www.slideshare.net/TerryWhite01/aligning-it-with-business-change)

4. The story so far…
And we also said that what business really
wants from IT, is not what they are getting from
IT
(See the book “What business really wants from IT” Terry White (Elsevier, 2004))

5. Here’s what we need to do…
IT Departments MUST transform themselves if they are to stay
relevant:
They must find a new role in their organization
They must speed up their delivery
They must remove the fuss of day-to-day operations
They must measure their success differently
They must manage and control differently
And if form follows function: IT must organise differently

6. The new role of IT in organisations
Actually it’s an old requirement, never acted on:
For the last 10 years we have asked CEOs what they want from
their IT departments, and their responses have remained the
same:
Deliver IT without fuss,
get involved in business improvement
and give us appropriate leadership

7. Let’s look at what IT departments currently do
Business
Deliver IT Leadership
improvement

8. Let’s look at what IT departments currently do
Business
Deliver IT Leadership
improvement
Notice some
Deliver IT without fuss,
missing words get involved in business improvement
here? give us appropriate leadership

9. Let’s look at what IT departments currently do
Business
Deliver IT Leadership
improvement
Deliver IT without fuss,
get involved in business improvement
give us appropriate leadership

10. Let’s look at what IT departments currently do
Business
Deliver IT Leadership
improvement
The words:
“Without fuss”;
“Involved”
“Appropriate”
Are the words that CEOs use when they talk about their IT departments

11. Let’s look at what IT departments currently do
Business
Deliver IT Leadership
improvement
The words:
Deliver IT
Business improvement
Leadership
Are the words CIOs talk to us about (if they talk at all)

12. Let’s look at what IT departments currently do
Business
Deliver IT Leadership
improvement
The words:
Deliver IT
Business improvement
Leadership
Are the words CIOs talk to us about (if they talk at all)
Mostly they say: “But I know all this already”

13. Let’s look at what IT departments currently do
Business
Deliver IT Leadership
improvement
The words:
Deliver IT
Business improvement
Leadership
Are the words CIOs talk to us about (if they talk at all)
Mostly they say: “But I know all this already”
They don’t. They’ve read it before, but they know very little

14. It gets worse – the proportions of activity level
76% This is the amount
of effort that IT
departments are
Deliver IT putting into
22%
2%
Business servicing their
improvement Leadership
organizations

15. It gets worse – the proportions of activity level
60%
This is the amount
Business of effort business
20% 20%
improvement expects IT to put in
Deliver IT Leadership

16. It gets worse – the proportions of activity level
60%
Business 20%
20%
improvement
Deliver IT Leadership
76% Spot the
misteak!
Deliver IT
22%
2%
Business
improvement Leadership

17. It gets worse – the proportions of activity level
60%
Business 20%
20% Maybe you
improvement
thought this was
Deliver IT Leadership
the mistake
76% Spot the
misteak!
Deliver IT
22%
2%
Business
improvement Leadership

18. It gets worse – the proportions of activity level
60%
Business 20%
20%
improvement
Deliver IT Leadership
76% This is the elephant Spot the
in IT’s room misteak!
Deliver IT
22%
2%
Business
improvement Leadership

19. IT IS NOT DOING WHAT BUSINESS WANTS!
The only thing saving IT has been business not knowing:
What IT does, should do and can do
(and a liberal dose of not knowing what business does as well)
 That has changed – expect a knock on your door soon
 Expect your IT revolution – Why not start it before someone starts it for
you and dictates how things will go from here (You probably won’t be a
key player in this scenario)

20. IT IS NOT DOING WHAT BUSINESS WANTS!
The only thing saving IT has been business not knowing:
What IT does, should do and can do
(and a liberal dose of not knowing what business does as well)
 That has changed – expect a knock on your door soon
 Expect your IT revolution – Why not start it before someone starts it for
you and dictates how things will go from here (You probably won’t be a
key player in this scenario)
 Business not knowing what they want is a systemic and enduring fact of
IT life – you can live with it – in fact you can thrive with it!

21. We shouldn’t even call it IT
Consider this:
IT = Information Technology

22. We shouldn’t even call it IT
If
IT = Information Technology
Then why?
 We’ve never done the “I”, and now, given the
Cloud, consumerization, mobility, BYOD, an all the other trends in my
previous “Death of IT” presentation, we shouldn’t even do the “T”

23. We should be called “ACT”

24. We should be called “ACT”
Remember this?
60%
Business
20% 20% It is what business wants
improvement
Deliver IT Leadership from their IT department

25. We should be called “ACT”
Let’s change the words
60% 60%
Business
20% 20% 20% Applied 20%
improvement
Deliver IT Leadership Technology Competitive

26. We should be called “ACT”
60% 60%
Business
20% improvemen 20% 20% Applied 20%
t
Deliver IT Leadership Technology Competitive
Change the Order
Applied
Competitive Technology

27. We should be called “ACT”
60% 60%
Business
20% improvemen 20% 20% Applied 20%
t
Deliver IT Leadership Technology Competitive
And we have A C T
Applied
Competitive Technology

28. How do we “ACT”
A = Applied
 How we use technology in OUR business
 Newsflash: It’s not about the technology

29. How do we “ACT”
A = Applied
 How we use technology in OUR business
 Newsflash: It’s not about the technology
C = Competitive
 How our use of existing technology, and harnessing of new technologies
allows us to gain new customers, products, channels
 Often in the busy-ness of business we forget to look at what’s out there

30. How do we “ACT”
A = Applied
 How we use technology in OUR business
 Newsflash: It’s not about the technology
C = Competitive
 How our use of technology, and harnessing of new technologies allows us
to gain new customers, products, channels
 Often in the busy-ness of business we forget to look at what’s out there
T = Technology
 Don’t sit back and say – “Yes, I knew I could keep doing the tech stuff!”
 The “T” in ACT is the management of technology
• Not the doing of technology

31. The application of technology
The tech is there – in spades
It’s how we use it

32. Fun things to do to apply technology
Here’s some “A” actions for you to do now:
 Get up, and go into your factory, branch, truck, shop-floor
 Look at some stuff:
• How much technology can you see?
• Who is using it?
• Why are they using it? (It’s OK, you can talk to people!)
• What do they need? (Don’t make promises, yet. You will get to a place where you can
promise without fear, but not just yet)
• What technology (not computers – technology) is not being used – but is there. Why?
• What business processes can you see that would benefit from tech you already have?
• Add your own technology application question here…..
 Now prepare a presentation for your management team about what you found.
 Challenge every member of the team to do the same.
 Set up a schedule for each team member to do this once a week and report back
 Look to second-order issues :
• Example: Don’t deal with why tellers are not using the tech properly, but with why that
situation arose
• Don’t look about the sheer volume of unmet demand – look at why it is not being met.
(There are solutions to meeting demand – in fact some of our clients’ businesses have
asked IT to slow down please!)

33. How to commit suicide
Here’s some things that people tell us about why they can’t do the above:
 It’s not my business.
• Actually it is – in fact it should be MOST of your business!
 It will just open a Pandora's box of unmet demand.
• Look at it this way – given the drivers of IT change, there isn’t much time before your
business will look to get their IT demands met elsewhere. See:
http://www.slideshare.net/TerryWhite01/the-death-of-the-it-department
• Give some thought (no… get on with it) to using a proper Agile Platform like
Outsystems to get the backlog sorted out. It has been done – all that changed was the
mindset!
• Also re-look at the four speeds of business change we’ve talked about in
http://www.slideshare.net/TerryWhite01/aligning-it-with-business-change
 We just have to fix the technology first
• No you don’t. You have to do it all. And there’s no way you can do it all yourself! Ever!
That’s what I mean when I say do as little as possible – Just do the stuff you can do –
let others do the stuff they do best – Like fixing your technology
 But our people can’t do the business stuff
• Here’s the hard part – if your people do technology, they should be working for a
vendor. ALL your people (including tech managers) should be business people first.

34. Competitive technology
You can’t be competitive unless you’re different
 Faster, closer, cleverer
 And your existing tech will allow all that – you really just have to think
about it
 And given that tech allows you to be faster, closer and cleverer, then
what new products, channels, markets and competencies can you
unlock?
Products Channels Markets Competence
Faster
Closer
Cleverer

35. Fun things to do to be more competitive
Get faster, closer, cleverer…
Let’s start with cleverer, because it makes faster and closer easier
How can you use existing technology to be a cleverer organisation?
 Ask everyone: You have an intranet right – if not, get one free from the Cloud
• Set up idea generators around the matrix in the previous slide
• Forums, social networks
• Proof of concept engine – Do you have one?
 Ask your customers
• Funnily enough they want to play too – ask for feedback, new ideas
 Use BI, data analytics, data mining properly for once
How can you use existing technology for a faster organisation?
 Funny thing here, this is unlikely to be a technology issue, and more of a control
(over-control), bureaucracy, people, not invented here issue. Who said the ACT
department can’t be involved with people?
How can you use existing technology to be a closer organisation”
 Closer to your customers?
 To each other?
 To your competitors / suppliers / to your objectives?

36. Manage technology – (Don’t do technology)
Find out how little you really have to do?
 Here’s a hint: A national Police Department controls only 5% of its data – the rest
is not confidential
 Another hint: A telecommunications company builds NOTHING! Their motto is:
“We find and apply the best”
 Another hint: A large manufacturer owns no IT infrastructure. At all! And it’s
cheaper.
Decide what the difference is between managing and doing:
 Manage the POEM way:
• Plan (But go for the 20% that’ll achieve the 80%)
• Organise (people, processes, governance)
• Execute (Get someone else to do this, but make sure it gets done)
• Monitor / Measure (You still have accountability, so monitor and measure, and act)
Change your skills set
 You need managers, not doers
 You need business understanding not technological understanding

37. Moving from IT to ACT is a journey
Actually it’s a mind-set before it’s a journey
Don’t map out the journey – You’ll never start
Choose the small thing that will get results and have tangible
benefits
Build on that… with your new mind-set
There’s a lot more to do, and the road is a long one
Call us if you need help.
 We’ve done this before, and have the learning to show for it.

38. B
IT’S DAYS CHANGING
Terry White
terryw@cxo-advisor.co.za