The document discusses using the Skills Framework for the Information Age (SFIA) to create an effective IT organization. It summarizes that SFIA can play a key role in linking an organization's design to its talent strategy by defining required skills and competencies. An effective strategy also considers people processes like performance management, retention, and recruitment to acquire, develop, and manage the necessary talent. While SFIA is useful, an organization must have complementary operating models, HR processes, and a talent strategy to address IT's unique challenges.

1. 2008 CONFERENCE
Making IT Talent Work.
Using SFIA to create an
effective IT organisation
Tom Fuller
04 December 2008

2. An effective IT organisation focuses on people,
processes and control as well as technology
An IT Effectiveness Framework… …and its outcomes
Client
Architecture Programme Applications Service Vendor
(Business)
& Planning Delivery Development Management Management
Management
Efficiency
People: Skills and capabilities
Behavioural Change Reduce Consolidation
Reduce
Succession Planning Reaction and
Costs
Times Standardisation
Process: Operating Models & Enterprise Architecture
Effectiveness
Service Delivery e.g. ITIL/ISO20000
Project Delivery e.g. SEI CMMI End to End
Business Consistent
Service
Relevance Nomenclature
Management
Controls: Objectives and measures e.g. COBIT, BS7799
KPIs and Management Information
Finance e.g. budgeting, recharging Quality
Maximise
Ensure
Increase On-Time/
Secure
Technology: Automated Testing Reliability On-Budget
Delivery
Operations
End-to-end Service Management
Workflow Engines
What role can SFIA play in delivering an effective IT organisation?
2 SFIA and IT Effectiveness ©2008 Deloitte MCS Limited. Private and confidential

3. Delivering an effective IT organisation requires
managing an additional set of talent challenges
Typical talent challenges Additional IT talent challenges
Constant pressure to minimise IT is a highly complex industry
expenditure, cost and cash IT people costs represent a large
pressures dominate proportion of IT expenditure
Managing a diverse workforce in There is a recognised shortage of IT
multiple locations and geographies talent in many areas of IT
Effective management of poor Market factors are dynamic and can
performance is not always make some skills highly sort after and
optimised expensive
Retaining the best staff is a Prohibitive restrictions on IT salaries
constant challenge (typical in public sector)
Sharing leading practice internally The profession is still maturing
Working collaboratively with other meaning a lack of established:
organisations, particularly suppliers career paths
qualifications
regulatory powers
3 SFIA and IT Effectiveness ©2008 Deloitte MCS Limited. Private and confidential

4. Delivering an effective IT organisation requires
managing an additional set of talent challenges
Typical talent challenges Additional IT talent challenges
Constant pressure to minimise IT is a highly complex industry
expenditure, cost and cash IT people costs represent a large
pressures dominate proportion of IT expenditure
Managing a diverse workforce in There is a recognised shortage of IT
multiple locations and geographies talent in many areas of IT
Canofyou afford to leave this to
Effective management poor Market factors are dynamic and can
chance…and are you doing skills highly sort after and
performance is not always make some enough?
optimised expensive
Retaining the best staff is a Prohibitive restrictions on IT salaries
constant challenge (typical in public sector)
Sharing leading practice internally The profession is still maturing
Working collaboratively with other meaning a lack of established:
organisations, particularly suppliers career paths
qualifications
regulatory powers
4 SFIA and IT Effectiveness ©2008 Deloitte MCS Limited. Private and confidential

5. IT organisations must ensure they get the right mix of
ingredients to acquire, manage and develop talent
IT Talent Ecosystem
Retain
How are you going to develop the people who
Develop already work for you and will you need to draw
Talent Talent
on external training or recruit new people?
Develop INTERNAL Manage
INTERNAL
Talent Talent
Retain
How do you make sure once you’ve developed
Talent Talent your people, that you retain them?
Recruit
Train &
Certify
EXTERNAL Perm How do you manage your people to ensure
staff Manage
Recruit
you address poor performance and reward
Talent
Contract success?
staff
How do you make best use of training and
The IT Talent environment is like an Train & certification schemes to develop, manage
Certify and retain your talent?
ecosystem and needs the right mixture EXTERNAL
of ingredients to stay healthy – if one is
missing, the ecosystem can suffer To what extent can you afford to rely on
Recruit
Contract contractors to meet your needs? Is this
The ecosystem interacts with the staff affordable, and will it increase your flexibility?
external market and this needs to be
controlled. Unlike a profession such as
accountancy, you can’t rely as easily on Recruit What will be your approach to recruiting
Perm permanent staff, how will you attract them, and
the market to provide the talent you staff
what career development schemes will you offer?
require
5 SFIA and IT Effectiveness ©2008 Deloitte MCS Limited. Private and confidential

6. A strategic approach to talent can help make your IT
organisation more effective and efficient
The challenge Your approach should look more like this
Retain Performance Management
Talent
De
e
Retention & Recruitment
fin
Develop
ve
INTERNAL Manage
De
Talent Talent
lo
IT Talent
p
Continuity & Succession
Talent Strategy
Recruit Resourcing & Scheduling
Train & EXTERNAL Perm
Certify
staff
Maintain
Recruit Career Development
Contract
staff
Strategic Levers IT Talent Strategy
IT Talent Ecosystem
An IT Talent Strategy can help manage IT talent challenges, allowing you to control approaches to
one or more Strategic Levers such as Performance Management.
If you want to become an employer of choice for example, you would need to consider a balance of
levers, including retention, recruitment and career development.
Additional benefits could be derived from thinking about resourcing to ensure employees experience
a range of projects/roles
6 SFIA and IT Effectiveness ©2008 Deloitte MCS Limited. Private and confidential

7. SFIA can play a key linking role in turning an IT
organisation design into practice
IT Target Operating Model Organisation Designs/Operating Models – what will the organisation look like?
Organisation Designs translate high level Operating Models into
reality, detailing roles, reporting lines and hierarchies
Job Descriptions then describe the activities and responsibilities of
each role, but rarely the skills and capabilities required for delivery
Competency Model – what skills and capabilities will I need?
A Competency Model defines the skills and capabilities needed to
IES
IT deliver the requirements of the Operating Model
LIT
Competency
Competency Models should be based on recognised skills and
B
Model
PA
capability frameworks to provide both a common language between
CA
organisations and to enable baselining and external comparisons
SKILLS
Talent Management Strategy – how to acquire, develop and manage your talent
Performance Management
Both the Organisation Design and Competency Model are a
De
e
statement of what you would like to achieve but they cannot be
f in
ve
Retention & Recruitment
De
acquired, developed or managed without an ongoing process
l
op
Continuity & Succession IT Talent
Strategy The Talent Strategy defines the approach an organisation should
Resourcing & Scheduling
take to one or more related talent issues such as performance
management, retention and recruitment – it is underpinned by the
Career Development Maintain Competency Model
The Talent Strategy has to be continuously managed and updated
Key strategic Strategy lifecycle to enable the required skills and capabilities to be achieved
talent levers
7 SFIA and IT Effectiveness ©2008 Deloitte MCS Limited. Private and confidential

8. Lessons Learnt: What are the critical success factors
for using SFIA to raise the bar in your organisation?
Things you must do
Use SFIA to help baseline your existing skills and
capabilities, ensuring you robustly challenge them
Consider using external organisations to help you
provide an independent audit
Set ambitious targets for developing skills and
capabilities
Link SFIA levels to your own grading structure
Things to watch our for
Don’t just use SFIA as way of representing your
existing organisation – use it to make it more effective
Don’t allow IT and HR to work in isolation
Don’t allow people to select too broad a skill base
Don’t confuse knowledge with skills
8 SFIA and IT Effectiveness ©2008 Deloitte MCS Limited. Private and confidential

9. Lessons Learnt: How can you use SFIA to help
create a more flexible organisation?
9 SFIA and IT Effectiveness ©2008 Deloitte MCS Limited. Private and confidential

10. Lessons Learnt: How can you use SFIA to help
create a more flexible organisation?
10 SFIA and IT Effectiveness ©2008 Deloitte MCS Limited. Private and confidential

11. Final Word: Highly effective but could be dangerous
in the wrong hands – handle with care!
SFIA has the ability to play a key role in driving IT
effectiveness
Like PRINCE2 and ITIL if you use it in the wrong way
you can cause more harm than good
Particularly in the present climate, efficiency,
effectiveness and quality are now more important than
they have ever been
Recognise that SFIA can play a key linking role in
delivering the type of IT capability you want to deliver
SFIA cannot do everything: so also recognise that you
also need an operating model, HR processes and a
talent strategy to get your IT organisation fit for the
additional challenges which IT has to address
11 SFIA and IT Effectiveness ©2008 Deloitte MCS Limited. Private and confidential

12. Deloitte
Stonecutter Court
Tom Fuller Stonecutter Street
Consulting London EC4A 4TR
United Kingdom
www.deloitte.co.uk
Mobile: +44 (0)7818 011423
thomasfuller@deloitte.co.uk A member firm of
Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu
Member of
Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu