This document outlines a 4-step plan for assessing and improving an organization's IT systems and strategy: 1. Conduct a comprehensive IT assessment through interviews to understand the current state of IT, business needs, staff and financials. 2. Develop an IT strategy aligned with business goals using facts to identify wins around cost, efficiency and customer experience. 3. Create a plan to govern IT projects through establishing processes for requirements, oversight and accountability between IT and business. 4. Deliver assessment results in an executive summary highlighting key findings and one "ah-ha" moment to illuminate areas for improvement.

1. 360°
Includes
Three
Bonus
Principles
IT Assessment
Includes
THREE
BONUS
PRINCIPLES

2. The Challenge
IT is a service to the business
Is the tail wagging the dog?
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3. The Perception
“Our IT is a black box
we spend millions
a year on…”
Howard Halligan
COO of Reader’s Digest Association
This is a challenge with IT, but it is really
a business strategy problem for IT to be
properly managed.
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4. Executive IT Right™
If you “Own” IT: You or the senior
team member you designate has the
responsibility to understand.
You are smart and accomplished
in your discipline…
You have the right to understand
how technology helps and
impacts your business.
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Understanding
does not mean
knowing how
to do it.

5. Illuminating the
Current State
is a crucial point
in the creation
of a Plan.
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6. PLAN
Four Step Solution
Assessment Strategy
Govern
1
2
3
4
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7. Assessment
STEP1
IT
IT’s Clients
IT StaffFinancials
Intellectual
Property
Systems
Processes
▪ C-Suite
▪ Department Leaders
▪ Organizational
Framework
▪ Talent Assessment
▪ Core Competencies
▪ Architecture
▪ Infrastructure
▪ Major Tools
▪ Major Project
▪ Day-to-Day Tickets
▪ Support
▪ Where is IT budget
being spent
▪ Code
▪ Content
▪ Core Knowledge
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8. Primary Assessment Tool
One-On-One Interview
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9. Warning:
Resist any DIY Interview Urges – even if
you are a skilled interviewer.
Relationship dynamics for management,
peers and staff make getting the true
details difficult for someone in the mix…
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10. Strategy
strat·e·gy / ˈstradəjē /
noun
: the skill of making or carrying
out plans to achieve a goal
Merriam-Webster Dictionary
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STEP2
Technology
alone does not
a Strategy make!

11. IT is most effective when efforts are
aligned with business strategy
◼ Articulate what the organization needs in
non-technical terms in the form of
requirements
◼ Define a win(s):
◼ Improve customer interaction, retention, etc.
◼ Reduce cost
◼ Increase efficiency
◼ Use facts wherever possible – invest time
to unearth them if necessary
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12. “The great thing about
fact-based decisions is
that they can overrule
the hierarch.”
Jeff Bezos
CEO of Amazon
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13. Leverage primary navigation
principles to create a Plan
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STEP3
◼ Know where you are… (Current State)
◼ Know where you want to be…
(Strategy as Future State Driver)
◼ Illuminate the terrain over which you
must travel… (Current and Best Practice
processes and talent)
◼ Make a Plan to get from here to there

14. Make sure to write down
the Strategy and Plan
◼ Correct View:
◼ Collaborative Communication
◼ Iteration
◼ Wrong View:
◼ IT: “The business tells us what to
build.”
◼ Business: “We tell IT what we want
(and never get it)”
◼ BOTH ARE A RECIPE FOR FAILURE
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BONUS
PRINCIPLE #1

15. Govern
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STEP4
gov·ern / ˈgə-vərn /
verb
: to control, direct, or strongly
influence the actions and conduct of
Merriam-Webster Dictionary
The organization must have a
Business process to ensure it
can govern IT Projects
“What gets
measured gets
improved.”
Peter Drucker

16. Key Points to IT Governance
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◼ Process to ensure:
◼ Trust between Business and IT
◼ A culture of mutual accountability
◼ Common nomenclature
◼ Transparency
◼ Requirements become Business Case
◼ Plan divided into phases/steps/milestones
◼ Decision making authority for start and toll-gate
go/no-go is established
◼ Periodic check-in on
◼ Oversight on the Portfolio of Projects in the enterprise.

17. To learn more on best
practices in IT Governance
click to this Presentation
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18. Few organizations face
an original IT problem
Rent It: If the function is a pure commodity and there
is no differentiation (eCommerce, Payroll, Workflow
Management) should be 100% SaaS (Software as
a Service).
Buy It: Solutions that are self-hosted either on PCs
(WinX and Mac), Servers or Devices. Heavy use,
most current not always critical.
Build It: Only if there is nothing in the market and
functionality is required that only you can do; an
opportunity to uniquely differentiate a product.
The bar for this should be very, very high.
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BONUS
PRINCIPLE #2

19. Assessment Results
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◼ Executive Summary
◼ What is going on
◼ Where the organization wants/needs to be
◼ Based on facts verified by multiple sources
◼ Detailed notes from all interviews
◼ Detailed state of resources, systems and processes
“In the presentation of our IT Assessment
results, there is always at least one
‘ah-ha’ moment for the client…”
Craig A. Miller
Founder/CEO, IllustroTech

20. Data is the IT Crown
Jewel of the Organization
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Data Migration is almost always half the cost and
effort of a new system deployment – plan on it.
Have data backed up in structures outside the
SaaS/Main system so if anything goes out of
business or stops working, its accessible.
[Not the system]
BONUS
PRINCIPLE #3

21. Email or call for a free consultation
on illuminating and solving the IT
challenges for your organization.
Craig A. Miller
cmiller@illustrotech.com
855.650.5500
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