This article takes a look at the 5 disruptive trends that are effectively changing the role of the CIO and the IT function— a shift in responsibility for IT to business units; the convergence of IT and business process outsourcing; the onset of big data, analytics, social and mobility; the commoditization of IT; and the consumerization of IT. The 5 drivers of transformation are: responsibility for IT is moving the business, convergence of ITO and BPO, mobility and analytics, commodiziation of IT, and consumerization of IT.
The Work Ahead: Soaring Out of the Process SiloCognizant
In this edition of our series, we look at how business leaders can turbo-charge operational efficiency and propel massive revenue growth and cost savings by digitizing their business processes.
Delivering on the Promise of Digital TransformationBMC Software
IT is at the center of the digital revolution. Working with business leaders to execute a digital transformation strategy that capitalizes on cloud computing, big data, social networking and smart devices is critical for success. For more information, visit www.bmc.com
Digital Customer Due Diligence: Leveraging Third-Party UtilitiesCognizant
By leveraging digital technologies, automation and third-party models, banks can more successfully navigate the complexities of the client onboarding process.
Battle for the Cloud: The 2014 Strategy& ICT 50 StudyFlorian Gröne
The study ranks the 50 largest publicly held business-to-business suppliers of digitization-related products, services, and infrastructure. This year, cloud computing, digital fabrication, and the internet of things are transforming how companies build and manage their IT. Industry leaders at the forefront of these trends have already gained a competitive edge.
The Work Ahead: Soaring Out of the Process SiloCognizant
In this edition of our series, we look at how business leaders can turbo-charge operational efficiency and propel massive revenue growth and cost savings by digitizing their business processes.
Delivering on the Promise of Digital TransformationBMC Software
IT is at the center of the digital revolution. Working with business leaders to execute a digital transformation strategy that capitalizes on cloud computing, big data, social networking and smart devices is critical for success. For more information, visit www.bmc.com
Digital Customer Due Diligence: Leveraging Third-Party UtilitiesCognizant
By leveraging digital technologies, automation and third-party models, banks can more successfully navigate the complexities of the client onboarding process.
Battle for the Cloud: The 2014 Strategy& ICT 50 StudyFlorian Gröne
The study ranks the 50 largest publicly held business-to-business suppliers of digitization-related products, services, and infrastructure. This year, cloud computing, digital fabrication, and the internet of things are transforming how companies build and manage their IT. Industry leaders at the forefront of these trends have already gained a competitive edge.
Gartner Symposium 2014 - Executive Summary Report Paul Woudstra
The world’s most important gathering of CIOs and senior IT executives, Gartner Symposium/ITxpo 2014 in Barcelona, Spain, had unprecedented demand this year and was one of most talked about and exciting conferences in its history. This conference is committed to guiding attendees on a
journey toward achieving success in the digital world.
This Executive Summary Report focuses on event highlights and t he three major crosscutting
themes that helped shape the Gartner Symposium/ITxpo 2014 CIO Program agenda. Together, they offered attendees a clear path to digital empowerment and new ideas to help them lead and grow within their organizations.
How Digital 2.0 Is Driving Banking’s Next Wave of ChangeCognizant
By holistically harnessing AI, blockchain, IoT, RPA and open banking, financial institutions can build a more resilient, customer-focused bank of the future that incorporates the virtues of nonbanking rivals.
As the rise in sophisticated digital technologies drives an exponential change in online customer behaviour, the need for businesses to embrace digital transformation has never been greater.
Realising Digital’s Full Potential in the Value ChainCognizant
When we spoke with executives across Europe who lead digitising efforts, they described a diverse range of deployments, but digital can, and must, deliver far more than it has so far. In this ebook, we explore how businesses can explore digital's full potential across their value chain.
CIO Insights from the Global C-suite StudyCasey Lucas
Moving from the back office to the front lines - CIO insights from the Global C-suite Study
CIOs tell us that their place in the organizational pyramid has changed in the past five years. Many of them command more respect and possess more authority than before and they are working more closely with their C-suite colleagues.
As businesses continue through this evolution, IT begins to recognize increasingly significant benefits. In terms of value, the focus on management and automation yields a reduction of operating expenses, as automation of manual tasks enables the IT organization to operate more efficiently.
Presenting the results of the 4th annual CIONET IT Trends, based on +2500 global responses, of which +800 European.
The study shows that, overall, IT is becoming more strategic and business focused. It appears that organizations are becoming more digitized with their focus shifting away from tactical and organizational IT issues like efficiency, service delivery, and cost reduction to more strategic and organizational priorities like business agility, innovation, the velocity change in the organization, IT time to market, and the value of IT to the business. Some suggest that IT is the business. Time will tell if this is a widespread trend, but it is here now among global and European organizations, and it is confirmed by a corresponding shift in how CIOs are spending their time.
Analytics/Business Intelligence (A/BI) remains in first place as the largest IT investment, a ranking it has held for six years straight. It has ranked in the top three since 2003, when it was first added to the list. A/BI was selected by 801 organizations
Comprehensive Report:
Integration allows rapid business reconfiguration to create new business models and ecosystems while continually optimizing customer experience and business operations.
5 steps to succeeding in connecting with customers and consumers in this digital era. This presentation outlines a robust methodology used by fortune 200 clients in their journey of Digital Transformation.
VMware Business Agility and the True Economics of Cloud ComputingVMware
New groundbreaking global survey findings demonstrate
the true value of cloud computing to the business. While it is understood in the industry that cloud computing provides clear cost benefits, CIOs are having difficulty getting a true fix on the business value that cloud might offer beyond cost reduction. These survey results reveal a direct link between cloud computing and business agility—how business outcomes are associated with agility, the role of IT for agile companies and the importance of cloud computing to business leaders.
11 things IT leaders need to know about the internet of things WGroup
The Internet of Things (IoT) is the next phase in the evolution of the Internet. More than 100 devices connect to the Internet every second. By 2020, Cisco estimates that number to be more than 250 per second. Morgan Stanley projects the Internet will be loaded with 75 billion devices by the end of the decade. This document discusses WGroup's perspective on what 11 things IT leaders need to know about IoT.
There are five disruptive forces shaping IT today, but none has more wide-ranging impact on all enterprises than the emergence of cloud as a preferred means of service delivery. This article discusses the cloud industry and how WGroup can help give client a competitive advantage using a service delivery strategy and new IT operating models.
Gartner Symposium 2014 - Executive Summary Report Paul Woudstra
The world’s most important gathering of CIOs and senior IT executives, Gartner Symposium/ITxpo 2014 in Barcelona, Spain, had unprecedented demand this year and was one of most talked about and exciting conferences in its history. This conference is committed to guiding attendees on a
journey toward achieving success in the digital world.
This Executive Summary Report focuses on event highlights and t he three major crosscutting
themes that helped shape the Gartner Symposium/ITxpo 2014 CIO Program agenda. Together, they offered attendees a clear path to digital empowerment and new ideas to help them lead and grow within their organizations.
How Digital 2.0 Is Driving Banking’s Next Wave of ChangeCognizant
By holistically harnessing AI, blockchain, IoT, RPA and open banking, financial institutions can build a more resilient, customer-focused bank of the future that incorporates the virtues of nonbanking rivals.
As the rise in sophisticated digital technologies drives an exponential change in online customer behaviour, the need for businesses to embrace digital transformation has never been greater.
Realising Digital’s Full Potential in the Value ChainCognizant
When we spoke with executives across Europe who lead digitising efforts, they described a diverse range of deployments, but digital can, and must, deliver far more than it has so far. In this ebook, we explore how businesses can explore digital's full potential across their value chain.
CIO Insights from the Global C-suite StudyCasey Lucas
Moving from the back office to the front lines - CIO insights from the Global C-suite Study
CIOs tell us that their place in the organizational pyramid has changed in the past five years. Many of them command more respect and possess more authority than before and they are working more closely with their C-suite colleagues.
As businesses continue through this evolution, IT begins to recognize increasingly significant benefits. In terms of value, the focus on management and automation yields a reduction of operating expenses, as automation of manual tasks enables the IT organization to operate more efficiently.
Presenting the results of the 4th annual CIONET IT Trends, based on +2500 global responses, of which +800 European.
The study shows that, overall, IT is becoming more strategic and business focused. It appears that organizations are becoming more digitized with their focus shifting away from tactical and organizational IT issues like efficiency, service delivery, and cost reduction to more strategic and organizational priorities like business agility, innovation, the velocity change in the organization, IT time to market, and the value of IT to the business. Some suggest that IT is the business. Time will tell if this is a widespread trend, but it is here now among global and European organizations, and it is confirmed by a corresponding shift in how CIOs are spending their time.
Analytics/Business Intelligence (A/BI) remains in first place as the largest IT investment, a ranking it has held for six years straight. It has ranked in the top three since 2003, when it was first added to the list. A/BI was selected by 801 organizations
Comprehensive Report:
Integration allows rapid business reconfiguration to create new business models and ecosystems while continually optimizing customer experience and business operations.
5 steps to succeeding in connecting with customers and consumers in this digital era. This presentation outlines a robust methodology used by fortune 200 clients in their journey of Digital Transformation.
VMware Business Agility and the True Economics of Cloud ComputingVMware
New groundbreaking global survey findings demonstrate
the true value of cloud computing to the business. While it is understood in the industry that cloud computing provides clear cost benefits, CIOs are having difficulty getting a true fix on the business value that cloud might offer beyond cost reduction. These survey results reveal a direct link between cloud computing and business agility—how business outcomes are associated with agility, the role of IT for agile companies and the importance of cloud computing to business leaders.
11 things IT leaders need to know about the internet of things WGroup
The Internet of Things (IoT) is the next phase in the evolution of the Internet. More than 100 devices connect to the Internet every second. By 2020, Cisco estimates that number to be more than 250 per second. Morgan Stanley projects the Internet will be loaded with 75 billion devices by the end of the decade. This document discusses WGroup's perspective on what 11 things IT leaders need to know about IoT.
There are five disruptive forces shaping IT today, but none has more wide-ranging impact on all enterprises than the emergence of cloud as a preferred means of service delivery. This article discusses the cloud industry and how WGroup can help give client a competitive advantage using a service delivery strategy and new IT operating models.
Even with the maturity of outsourcing, one of the most important yet often overlooked or minimized aspect of an outsourcing transaction continues to be the relationship management and governance model. The objective of the relationship management model is to ensure the anticipated benefits of an outsourcing relationship are realized in the most efficient manner. It must be based on the terms of the agreement and link the management processes of the two parties in order to govern the working relationship and achieve results. This article highlights the governance and relationship management model developed and implemented to support a sourcing strategy is the single most important factor in the realization of success in an outsourcing relationship. It also shares WGroup’s experience in advising on the creation and management of outsourcing relationships and governance and guiding clients in the development and implementation of sourcing strategies for existing contracts.
Management model for exploratory investment in IT WGroup
The ability to evaluate these new technologies in a practical environment where their technological value and impact on business and IT operations can be assessed is extremely important. Exploratory efforts should be structured and controlled similarly to other major projects and in addition should be evaluated for use in the production environment. In addition to evaluating the technical capabilities and practical application of the new technology, IT must evaluate the “fit” of the new technology in the existing service portfolio or catalog. In this article, WGroup has developed a new class of IT investment, referred to as “Exploratory,” along with a supporting management model to guide the effort through the evaluation phases and ensure a tight fit within the service catalog.
State of Cloud 2016 - WGroup Industry ReportWGroup
Cloud technology is core to delivery of services in almost every industry, but its ongoing evolution means your organization needs to be flexible and agile enough to change with it. New services and applications appear daily, and cost structures are constantly changing. This special WGroup industry report, State of Cloud, will help you understand its rapid evolution so you can refine your IT strategy and fully leverage the power of today’s cloud in your organization.
E-book discussing the new IoT, which is a network. Like the internet, the IoT connects people. This e-book expolores the booming growth of IoT, what it means for companies now, and how your business can leverage it to drive business goals.
In this document, the five disruptive trends shaping the corporate IT landscape today are layed out. Out of the five, Big Data has the biggest potential to generate new sustainable competitive advantages. But the benefits will remain out of reach of many organizations as they struggle to adopt the technology, develop new capabilities, and manage the cultural change associated with the use of big data. This document offers a pragmatic approach to generating business value.
Negotiating Better Solutions with IT PartnersWGroup
See how WGroup helped a major insurer fix service delivery performance issues while working with an incumbent partner – developing an innovative solution to improve service and reduce costs.
One in six projects is a ‘black swan’, or a project that if it goes badly it could threaten corporate financial stability. Now more than ever, companies must critically examine their project portfolio management processes for optimizing success. This strategy brief discusses how WGroup has helped numerous clients design, build, and manage the discipline of project portoflio management. Also shares the common pitfalls WGroup has seen in their experience.
Increasing project success rates using project behavioral coachingWGroup
This strategy brief discusses the use of project behavioral coaching, which is a technique based on the science of human behavior that can be used with any methodology to drive up success. Covers the high level steps used in performing the project behavioral coaching™ (PBC) technique as a guide for project professionals that desire an introduction to learning the basics.
Automation and autonomics are here and organizations that don’t take advantage of the new technology will fall behind. The immense benefits to efficiency, labor costs, and customer satisfaction cannot be ignored. WGroup has decades of collective experience in supporting the implementation and optimization of automation and autonomics. Our team can help your company solve the automation puzzle and gain the perspective it needs to effectively deploy new automation systems or increase the effectiveness of existing ones.
IT Strategic Sourcing Can Relieve the Squeeze on HealthcareWGroup
See how WGroup helped a major healthcare system develop more cost effective IT sourcing strategies. WGroup's analysis and recommendation will help the client develop more sophisticated IT sourcing strategies — to leverage synergies between institutes, improve patient and employee experiences, and reduce costs.
The new world of IT presents an opportunity to enhance the value of IT across the enterprise. Five disruptive trends are driving IT transformation and five actionable strategies will give IT leaders the tools to leverage these trends to their advantage. The choice is yours, do nothing and IT becomes obsolete, do something and make IT a key driver for future growth.
Outsourcing has evolved rapidly, especially during the last year. These changes are primarily due to technological advances, although the increasing globalization of business is also a factor. The attributes of the best IT outsourcing leaders also are shifting in response to this evolution. These attributes may generally be classified into personal characteristics and strategy. This document gives WGroup's perspective on 15 attributes shared by top IT leaders. The top 5 attributes are organization, cloud computing, standardization, renegotiation, and supplier risk.
This new world of technology presents an unprecedented opportunity for executives to enhance IT’s value across the enterprise. ReThink IT analyzes the five most disruptive trends in IT, and addresses the issues and challenges faced by today’s CIO and IT leaders. These disruptive trends point to a new role for IT and the CIO, and the fact that IT responsibilities have moved into the business makes the role of services integrator and advisor to the business the primary focus of the CIO.
Paul Hermelin Capgemini Chairman and CEO at the Capgemini Infrastructure Summit last January highlighted the conflicting tensions within IT organizations, particularly in light of the fact that IT system limitations are among the top three most significant barriers to business digitization.
IT departments have a short window to become “ sexy” again in the eyes of their clients. To overcome challenges by shadow IT and the rapid pace of business change, CIOs must pull two triggers simultaneously—technological innovation and organizational transformation.
To overcome those challenges this paper illustrates:
- The need for IT organizations to accelerate their move to the Cloud to deliver value in the digital age
- Use cases where IT can act as a business partner for digital innovation
- Principles to shape your next IT delivery model
- Key success factors on how to get there
The Digital Transformation Symphony: When IT and Business Play in SyncCapgemini
Digital Masters, such as Starbucks, that leverage digital technologies effectively, differentiate themselves from their peers by consciously striving to build a close relationship between IT and the business. However, Digital Masters are exceptions. The IT-business relationship in most organizations is often a fractious relationship rather than a marriage of equals. Business teams often find the IT department’s high costs and long implementation timelines unacceptable. In addition, IT leaders are often faulted for not speaking the language of business. Leading CIOs take this disconnect head on and try and fix it. Our research shows that leading CIOs take three key actions to align the IT department with the needs of the business: 1. redesign the IT department to unlock digital innovation; 2. create strong digital platforms; 3. rationalize IT Infrastructure to fund digital initiatives. We explore each of these actions in this research paper.
The leap from modernizing to transforming the enterprise it spaceMaveric Systems
‘Digital transformation’ and ‘IT modernization’ are the latest buzzwords and understandably so. However, there is a discernible gap in their comprehension as they are commonly used interchangeably.
Digital Transformation in Manufacturing - A Whitepaper by RapidValue SolutionsRapidValue
This whitepaper aims to answer some of the common questions around digital transformation specifically for the business leaders in the manufacturing industry. Because of the role that technology plays today in a organization's ability to evolve, business leaders must lead their organizations through this era of digital transformation.
Industry 4.0 is the name of the next industrial revolution which is fueled by the advancement of digital technologies. It
is dramatically changing how companies engage in business activities. As a result, the disruptive nature of Industry 4.0
demands a reassessment of the requirements for IT. On the one hand, there is the possibility that the responsibilities of Chief Information Officers (CIOs) could be taken over by other executives such as the Chief Digital Officer (CDO) or the Chief Technology Officer (CTO). On the other hand, this
recent development creates entirely new perspectives for positioning themselves and their IT departments
within the business.
The impact of digital technologies is reaching a magnitude at which IT is considered a substantial
business driver, potentially placing CIOs in the driver’s seat.
The Digital Enterprise Vol 5 - A Framework for TransformationStuart Lamb
We outline the many aspects of digital transformation and a roadmap for getting there. This issue of Perspectives exudes the enthusiasm and capabilities that TCS has in
supporting the transformation ahead.
Today’s most forward-thinking IT leaders view outsourcing not as a cost reduction tactic but rather as a strategic vehicle and catalyst for transforming the organization into a digital business. They have learned that taking an approach that drives alignment with business requirements, transforms the state of IT, and changes the “work” that is being done not only produces better service levels but also delivers exponentially greater cost savings. In this new white paper, "IT Outsourcing Is Not About Cost Savings", The Outsourcing Institute and WGroup have teamed up to provide guidance to help you rethink IT outsourcing and how you can deliver increased shareholder value.
Leaders spend billions on digital transformation. How to keep up?N-iX
Digital disruption is like a giant white shark hunting businesses in the deep waters of the global economy. Industry leaders respond with digital transformation initiatives and we can learn a lot from their examples..
IT Integration Done Right
It may or may not surprise you, but about 70% – 90% of M&As fail, for one reason or another. The integration of two companies into one functional unit inevitably involves great change. Culture, business strategies, and many other variables need to be adapted to fit new environments, people, and goals.
Are you prepared to take on the pressure and complexity of an IT M&A? Our new M&A Playbook for IT is your roadmap to navigating the biggest IT integration challenges and driving business goals.
In this strategy brief, find out:
-The three common M&A pitfalls that CIOs must avoid
-How to improve synergy, lower costs, and shorten time to market
-How to determine the right level of IT integration for your company
Strategies to Address Regulation in SourcingWGroup
Regulatory Changes Impacting Sourcing and Automation – What could it mean for your business?
There is currently a tremendous amount of uncertainty among sourcing professionals as the outsourcing world as we know it is being challenged. Possible regulatory changes have the potential to significantly impact how organizations operate, and may completely change the future state of outsourcing. We explore important questions like:
- What if there is a tariff placed on outsourced or offshore resources?
- What could changes in H-1B visas mean for a global technology workforce?
- How could Bill Gates’ “Robot Tax” on automation impact process improvement initiatives?
- And more…
This is a review of the potential paths of sourcing regulation, detailing the top potential risks, and outlining strategies that could be employed to respond.
IAOP OWS 17 Leveraging Outsourcing to Modernize While Maintaining ApplicationsWGroup
Anthem’s New AMS Approach Proves You Don’t Need to Pick One or the Other:
Learn how a new approach to AMS sourcing can enable the modernization of core IT systems and maintenance of applications in parallel. See Anthem’s playbook and methodology for this innovative sourcing delivery model.
Learn how to stratify which suppliers can truly help you transform core systems, and which ones that may only be able to handle tasks. See the evaluation criteria that Anthem leveraged in assessing its suppliers for transformational work.
Understand the potential for running modernization and maintenance in an integrated effort, as opposed to separate initiatives.
The rising collection and analysis of data has shifted the way companies do business. Four key ingredients to develop a data strategy, how to leverage next-generation technologies, and three essential steps for rolling out implementation are included. The Data Ecosystem will show you how to develop and implement the strategies that will meet the needs of your business.
How to keep pace with changing technology and increase speed-to-value. In order to keep pace in a constantly evolving marketplace, organizations need a new model for sourcin IT services. Sourcing has become one of the most critical functions of the IT organization.
Is your project a losing battle? We've alI seen IT projects that failed, whether in our own organizations or observed elsewhere (hopefully the latter) One common attribute of failing projects is the Gambler's Paradox, where the gambler - the project manager - continues to gamble in the hope of recouping losses, resulting in even greater losses. We believe that milestone based project management LS superior to traditional project management.
Using market-based comparisons to drive transformation planning for a private healthcare hospital system. Are your technology costs in line with what best-practice outsourcing providers would charge for similar work? This is a case study showing how a market assessment led to a transformational roadmap - and the chance for a hospital system to save millions of dollars.
Next generation IT outsourcing and the global enterprise model (GEM)WGroup
Disruptive technologies such as cloud computing and the “as-a-service” model for software, infrastructure and platforms have led to fundamental changes in how IT services are organized, managed and delivered—whether they are outsourced, insourced or a combination. The reality that IT services can be delivered to anywhere on the globe via the “Cloud” has accelerated the commoditization of IT. Ubiquitous access to IT services has lessened business units’ dependency on internal IT and shifted the IT organization’s prime role from process excellence to technology and service innovation. This article discusses through WGroup's perspective how outsourcing can create value through changing the way business is done.
Across the corporate landscape IT functions are completing their transformation to a service-orientation. Slowly but surely, “governance” has become a core mission, if not yet the core competency, of the IT organization. Governance involves many fronts and addresses many levels – there is architectural governance, IT finance and projects governance, and of course, supplier governance. All call for new skills and new structures. WGroup collectively brings decades of hands-on experience in IT supplier management to assist our clients with the multi-supplier challenge – from building the governance structures to defining sourcing strategies to facilitating contract reviews to transition management. This states how WGroup would implement a multi-supplier governance model successfully.
Most sourcing organizations focus on direct procurement, potentially overlooking indirect procurement and missing key opportunities to reduce spend. As indirect purchases increasingly become a larger percentage of overall spend, for many organizations, indirect procurement can be a diamond in the rough. This article makes the arguement that the value of indirect procurement should not be overlooked.
With the role of key vendors growing in importance and with more vendors being introduced into the workplace, effective vendor management has become a critical capability of any enterprise. This document describes how the design (or redesign) of the VMO needs to be approached with a focus on enlisting top skills, implementing effective processes and tools and establishing an organization whose role is clearly defined in the enterprise.
Five principles for improving your cyber securityWGroup
Corporate assets have been shifting from physical assets to virtual assets over the past 20 years. This trend has been accompanied by a corresponding increase in the vulnerability of intangible assets, leading to a greater general awareness of corporate cyber security risks. The alteration or destruction of a company’s data can result in harm to reputation, loss of public confidence, disruption to infrastructure, and legal sanctions. The security risk can adversely impact a company’s stock price and competitive position in the marketplace. In this document, WGroup cites 5 principles that will help improve a business's cyber security. The 5 principles are risk identification, risk management, legal implications, technical expertise, and expectations.
Five ways to develop a successful outsourcing contractWGroup
WGroup perspective paper on how to develop a successful outsourcing contratct--A few key aspects of an outsourcing contract typically drive its projected savings and return on investment (ROI). You must carefully consider all of these areas to avoid mixed financial results on your outsourcing project. Strategizing the following five areas can help you develop a successful outsourcing contract. The 5 key ways are contract components, unit pricing, resource volume, dead bands, and renegotiation bands.
As sourcing is a highly specialized and complex process, many IT and business executives consider hiring a specialized sourcing advisory to support the development of a sourcing strategy, the execution of an insourcing initiative, or the management of an outsourcing transaction. The role that a sourcing advisor plays in the strategy development and orchestration over the sourcing process is vital to achieving the desired business outcomes. Conducting a thorough analysis of sourcing advisory firms is key to finding the best fit firm for your project. This strategy brief discusses how to find the best sourcing advisor that fits your needs.
Innovative sourcing transformation provides ongoing value through strategic p...WGroup
A major North American travel and transportation company was approaching the expiration of contracts covering IT services outsourced to a tier 1 Service Provider with which it had maintained a long-term contractual relationship over a period of 10+ years. Faced with evaluating a stagnating long term relationship with an outsourcing provider, the client turned to WGroup to ensure they were receiving the most value at up to date market competitive prices. WGroup helped rejuvenate the contractual relationship with the client and their provider.
In this case study, WGroup collaborated with business and IT stakeholders to build and compare business scenarios to evaluate in-house and third-party Pharmacy applications to support the client’s strategic, operational, and technical objectives, which resulted in estimated savings of $80M over 5 years. WGroup helped the client work through a complex analysis and evaluation process in just a few months. The client’s commercial pharmacy package will return value in a much shorter time than could be achieved by continuing with their internal solution development.
A global investment firm’s private equity group was unsure of whether a target Healthcare company was a valuable addition to their growing portfolio. They enlisted WGroup to assess the competitive position of the company overall as well as the functionality of a key software platform owned by the company. WGroup assessed the client’s software from all angles (security, scalability, competitiveness and cost implications) and found that several areas for improvement existed. WGroup created a roadmap for the initiatives that mapped out how the client could achieve these goals.
A diversified global manufacturing company was experiencing increasing IT spend and needed assistance to understand if their spend was in line with their S&P 500 peers. The company was in the process of hiring a new CIO, and the current COO wanted to understand, historically, where IT was spending the bulk of their budget, and if this was within best practice. The company was also interested in WGroup’s evaluation of the existing outsourced infrastructure contract. In this case study, WGroup worked with the COO and incoming CIO to identify, categorize and optimize IT spend across the enterprise resulting in greater value of reduced IT spend.
WGroup is brought in by a Fortune 100 corporation to restart a stalled RFP effort and guide its IT sourcing strategy. With a contract deadline looming, the client brought in WGroup to restart a stalled RFP effort and guide its IT sourcing strategy beyond incremental improvements toward service providers capable of delivering transformative advances in automation, efficiency, and effectiveness. Having these differentiated and variously priced options saved the client money and alleviated service concerns by appropriately targeting workloads to the delivery model that best fit the needs.
LF Energy Webinar: Electrical Grid Modelling and Simulation Through PowSyBl -...DanBrown980551
Do you want to learn how to model and simulate an electrical network from scratch in under an hour?
Then welcome to this PowSyBl workshop, hosted by Rte, the French Transmission System Operator (TSO)!
During the webinar, you will discover the PowSyBl ecosystem as well as handle and study an electrical network through an interactive Python notebook.
PowSyBl is an open source project hosted by LF Energy, which offers a comprehensive set of features for electrical grid modelling and simulation. Among other advanced features, PowSyBl provides:
- A fully editable and extendable library for grid component modelling;
- Visualization tools to display your network;
- Grid simulation tools, such as power flows, security analyses (with or without remedial actions) and sensitivity analyses;
The framework is mostly written in Java, with a Python binding so that Python developers can access PowSyBl functionalities as well.
What you will learn during the webinar:
- For beginners: discover PowSyBl's functionalities through a quick general presentation and the notebook, without needing any expert coding skills;
- For advanced developers: master the skills to efficiently apply PowSyBl functionalities to your real-world scenarios.
DevOps and Testing slides at DASA ConnectKari Kakkonen
My and Rik Marselis slides at 30.5.2024 DASA Connect conference. We discuss about what is testing, then what is agile testing and finally what is Testing in DevOps. Finally we had lovely workshop with the participants trying to find out different ways to think about quality and testing in different parts of the DevOps infinity loop.
Observability Concepts EVERY Developer Should Know -- DeveloperWeek Europe.pdfPaige Cruz
Monitoring and observability aren’t traditionally found in software curriculums and many of us cobble this knowledge together from whatever vendor or ecosystem we were first introduced to and whatever is a part of your current company’s observability stack.
While the dev and ops silo continues to crumble….many organizations still relegate monitoring & observability as the purview of ops, infra and SRE teams. This is a mistake - achieving a highly observable system requires collaboration up and down the stack.
I, a former op, would like to extend an invitation to all application developers to join the observability party will share these foundational concepts to build on:
Alt. GDG Cloud Southlake #33: Boule & Rebala: Effective AppSec in SDLC using ...James Anderson
Effective Application Security in Software Delivery lifecycle using Deployment Firewall and DBOM
The modern software delivery process (or the CI/CD process) includes many tools, distributed teams, open-source code, and cloud platforms. Constant focus on speed to release software to market, along with the traditional slow and manual security checks has caused gaps in continuous security as an important piece in the software supply chain. Today organizations feel more susceptible to external and internal cyber threats due to the vast attack surface in their applications supply chain and the lack of end-to-end governance and risk management.
The software team must secure its software delivery process to avoid vulnerability and security breaches. This needs to be achieved with existing tool chains and without extensive rework of the delivery processes. This talk will present strategies and techniques for providing visibility into the true risk of the existing vulnerabilities, preventing the introduction of security issues in the software, resolving vulnerabilities in production environments quickly, and capturing the deployment bill of materials (DBOM).
Speakers:
Bob Boule
Robert Boule is a technology enthusiast with PASSION for technology and making things work along with a knack for helping others understand how things work. He comes with around 20 years of solution engineering experience in application security, software continuous delivery, and SaaS platforms. He is known for his dynamic presentations in CI/CD and application security integrated in software delivery lifecycle.
Gopinath Rebala
Gopinath Rebala is the CTO of OpsMx, where he has overall responsibility for the machine learning and data processing architectures for Secure Software Delivery. Gopi also has a strong connection with our customers, leading design and architecture for strategic implementations. Gopi is a frequent speaker and well-known leader in continuous delivery and integrating security into software delivery.
Pushing the limits of ePRTC: 100ns holdover for 100 daysAdtran
At WSTS 2024, Alon Stern explored the topic of parametric holdover and explained how recent research findings can be implemented in real-world PNT networks to achieve 100 nanoseconds of accuracy for up to 100 days.
GDG Cloud Southlake #33: Boule & Rebala: Effective AppSec in SDLC using Deplo...James Anderson
Effective Application Security in Software Delivery lifecycle using Deployment Firewall and DBOM
The modern software delivery process (or the CI/CD process) includes many tools, distributed teams, open-source code, and cloud platforms. Constant focus on speed to release software to market, along with the traditional slow and manual security checks has caused gaps in continuous security as an important piece in the software supply chain. Today organizations feel more susceptible to external and internal cyber threats due to the vast attack surface in their applications supply chain and the lack of end-to-end governance and risk management.
The software team must secure its software delivery process to avoid vulnerability and security breaches. This needs to be achieved with existing tool chains and without extensive rework of the delivery processes. This talk will present strategies and techniques for providing visibility into the true risk of the existing vulnerabilities, preventing the introduction of security issues in the software, resolving vulnerabilities in production environments quickly, and capturing the deployment bill of materials (DBOM).
Speakers:
Bob Boule
Robert Boule is a technology enthusiast with PASSION for technology and making things work along with a knack for helping others understand how things work. He comes with around 20 years of solution engineering experience in application security, software continuous delivery, and SaaS platforms. He is known for his dynamic presentations in CI/CD and application security integrated in software delivery lifecycle.
Gopinath Rebala
Gopinath Rebala is the CTO of OpsMx, where he has overall responsibility for the machine learning and data processing architectures for Secure Software Delivery. Gopi also has a strong connection with our customers, leading design and architecture for strategic implementations. Gopi is a frequent speaker and well-known leader in continuous delivery and integrating security into software delivery.
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Development teams can ship efficiently and ensure applications are cyber ready for Navy Authorizing Officials (AOs). In this webinar, Sigma Defense and Anchore will give attendees a look behind the scenes and demo secure pipeline automation and security artifacts that speed up application ATO and time to production.
We will cover:
- How to remove silos in DevSecOps
- How to build efficient development pipeline roles and component templates
- How to deliver security artifacts that matter for ATO’s (SBOMs, vulnerability reports, and policy evidence)
- How to streamline operations with automated policy checks on container images
Why You Should Replace Windows 11 with Nitrux Linux 3.5.0 for enhanced perfor...SOFTTECHHUB
The choice of an operating system plays a pivotal role in shaping our computing experience. For decades, Microsoft's Windows has dominated the market, offering a familiar and widely adopted platform for personal and professional use. However, as technological advancements continue to push the boundaries of innovation, alternative operating systems have emerged, challenging the status quo and offering users a fresh perspective on computing.
One such alternative that has garnered significant attention and acclaim is Nitrux Linux 3.5.0, a sleek, powerful, and user-friendly Linux distribution that promises to redefine the way we interact with our devices. With its focus on performance, security, and customization, Nitrux Linux presents a compelling case for those seeking to break free from the constraints of proprietary software and embrace the freedom and flexibility of open-source computing.
Threats to mobile devices are more prevalent and increasing in scope and complexity. Users of mobile devices desire to take full advantage of the features
available on those devices, but many of the features provide convenience and capability but sacrifice security. This best practices guide outlines steps the users can take to better protect personal devices and information.
GraphSummit Singapore | The Art of the Possible with Graph - Q2 2024Neo4j
Neha Bajwa, Vice President of Product Marketing, Neo4j
Join us as we explore breakthrough innovations enabled by interconnected data and AI. Discover firsthand how organizations use relationships in data to uncover contextual insights and solve our most pressing challenges – from optimizing supply chains, detecting fraud, and improving customer experiences to accelerating drug discoveries.
3. WGroup 1
Five disruptive trends are
changing the role of the
CIO and the IT function—
a shift in responsibility for
IT to business units; the
convergence of IT and
business process outsourcing;
the onset of big data,
analytics, social and mobility;
the commoditization of IT;
and the consumerization of IT.
The answers for who should
deliver services, where should
services be delivered from,
and how IT drives value in
the business are undergoing
radical transformation.
This new world of IT presents
an opportunity for executives
to enhance the value of
IT across the enterprise.
The choice is to embrace
change and adapt, or resist
and risk marginalization.
High performing IT leaders
understand these trends
and their implications. They
are implementing strategies
to seize transformation
opportunities and better
utilize IT as a competitive
advantage. They are
expanding or repositioning
their roles as strategic
advisors for the organization.
They deliver value from IT
by not only decreasing cost
but from increasing revenue
and enabling new business
models. Leading CIOs
encourage direct alignment
of IT to the business,
and lead innovation.
In this paper, we examine
these disruptive trends and
recommend how companies
must react to them. In
fact, we believe the trends
require nothing less than
a total rethink of IT. We
present five actionable
strategies that companies
can take to be successful in
this new world, including:
■■ A new approach to the IT
supply chain and service
integration into one
comprehensive model
that addresses 1) how
IT services are procured
(insourced, outsourced),
2) how IT services are
managed (shared services,
multisourcing) and how
IT services are delivered
(cloud, XaaS / Offshore,
Onshore, Captive.)
■■ A new enterprise-wide
governance discipline
that provides greater
accountability for decision-
making around the use of IT
and a vendor management
office to manage not only
outsourced vendors, but
all the sources of services
across the IT supply chain.
■■ New roles, responsibilities
and skills for the CIO and
all IT managers and staff.
Above all the CIO must be
an advisor to the business.
■■ A new way to manage IT
services and the project
portfolio, one that will
bring high levels of service
satisfaction and better
allocate limited resources
to support a company’s
strategic needs.
■■ A new way to think about
how the IT function can
provide value to the
business—a broader role
that calls for IT to help
the company exploit
critical new technologies
and drive technology-
enabled innovation.
Summary
“CIOs that do not address this new world of IT
will be marginalized and lose out on significant
opportunities these changes are creating for
their company.”
Harry Wallaesa
CEO and President, WGroup
4. 2 ReThink IT
Introduction
CIOs, their IT organizations,
and the business units to
which they supply services
are facing five disruptive
trends that are forcing them
to do far more with IT while
owning or directly managing
far less of the people and
technology delivering
service to their customers:
■■ The responsibility for IT
is moving to individual
business units. Across
all industries, easy to
procure and run software,
business platforms and the
consumerization of IT have
changed the value the IT
organization can provide
to the business unit.
■■ The commoditization of IT.
Cloud, as-a-service, remote
management and offshore
development are just a
few ways IT is becoming
cheaper and more efficient.
■■ The convergence of
business process and IT
outsourcing. New utility or
platform-based models are
emerging where companies
can outsource and bundle
the process, technology,
and people that deliver a
set of business services into
one contract and price.
■■ The huge volumes and
variety of digitized data that
reside inside or within reach
of just about every large
company’s systems, and the
need to turn this so-called
“Big Data” into insights.
■■ Social media, digital
marketing and content
marketing are constantly
changing and growing,
and are now a major
influence on sales, and
both employee and
customer satisfaction.
New social networks are
constantly being created,
requiring a new form of
collaboration between
IT and the business.
■■ Mobility is changing the
way employees work
and customers buy.
It is requiring IT to
keep pace with
new technologies
across a number of
mobile applications
and platforms.
■■ The Consumerization of
IT offers more powerful
devices and 24x7 access
to information that change
purchasing behavior and
elevate expectations. As
employees, these same
consumers demand
similar access to business
information and decision-
making insights, often
on the same devices.
A review of these trends
illustrates how they are
beginning to impact and
change the traditional
corporate IT organization as
well as the role of technology
across the entire enterprise.
ReThink ITFive Actionable Strategies to Drive
Business Value from IT in this New World
5. WGroup 3
The Shift in Responsibility
for IT
In an effort to improve the
return on IT investments,
further integrate IT with
the business, increase
business accountability for IT
projects, and support large-
scale IT enabled business
transformation, many
business executives (e.g.,
Supply Chain executives,
CFOs, etc.) are more open
to taking direct control of IT.
This is a two way shift as many
CIOs are managing business
functions (e.g., business
shared services centers) and
owning business processes
in addition to their IT role.
But there is also a more subtle
yet equally important shift in
responsibilities and concept of
a monolithic IT organization.
With the increasing
availability of software-as-
a-service and cloud based
delivery models, some
core IT decisions are being
made within the business
domain, often without the
participation of the CIO. The
trend may have started with
Salesforce.com, but now
major ERP vendors are full
participants in this process.
Companies’ business
functions have adopted
these cloud applications
so quickly that technology
research firm Gartner recently
predicted spending on IT
from outside of the IT
organization will grow from
20% of total IT spending in
2000 to 90% by 2020.1
Historically, CIOs would
have regarded this as a
massive end-run around
the IT function, and one
they would actively resisted
even to the point of waging
a massive power struggle.
Contemporary CIOs, however,
only need to look at the
rapid adoption of third-
party, cloud-based marketing
applications to see that such
a battle may not be prudent.
A 2011 IBM survey of 1,734
chief marketing officers in 19
industries and 64 countries
found that about one-quarter
extensively used external
providers of IT services.
1 Gartner statement from a October 22, 2012
press release—http://www.gartner.com/it/
page.jsp?id=2208015
What’s more, nearly two-
thirds (61%) said they would
rely on such IT providers in
the next five years.2
High-
tech company marketers
are already there. Gartner
says only one-third of the
2013 marketing technology
budget for 383 vendors
of hardware, software, IT
professional services, and
electronic components will
go to capitalized software
and infrastructure. By
contrast, two-thirds will
go to services provided
by external marketing
technology vendors.3
2 IBM’s 2011 survey, “From Stretched to
Strengthened,” polled 1,734 chief marketing
officers.
3 From a Gartner blog post by Richard Fouts
on Sept. 10, 2012: http://blogs.gartner.com/
richard-fouts/2012/09/10/2013-marketing-
budgets-rising-again-for-high-tech-
providers/
Responsibility for IT is Moving to the Business
Convergence of ITO and BPO
Social, Big Data, Mobility and Analytics
Commoditization of IT and Global Delivery
Consumerization of IT
EXHIBIT 1: FIVE DRIVERS OF IT TRANSFORMATION
Source: WGroup
6. 4 ReThink IT
So this shift in responsibilities
is real and it has implications
for how IT organizations
engage with the business,
plan for and integrate
software-as-a-service, and
cloud-based solutions
within their architecture and
operating models.
The Convergence of ITO
and BPO
The emergence of business
platforms offered on a
subscription basis will be
irresistible to many functional
managers: lower technology
costs, no maintenance
headaches, and the ability
to change service delivery
providers more easily, and
modify business process with
minimal investment and start-
up costs. That’s a far cry from
the days of installing a high-
priced business application
such as CRM, ERP or supply
chain management software,
with its onerous follow-on
costs and multi-year lock-in.
Companies are under
pressure to retool their
value chains. Subscribing to
business process platforms
enables them to tap easily
into the labor and processing
advantages of outsourcing
and offshoring. While some
companies are setting up
captive offshore organizations,
many are wary of incurring
the risk and costs of such
operations. They are more
likely to acquire these services
from the same firms that
run their applications and
infrastructure. The trend
that started with accounts
receivable, payable and call
centers is being extended
to purchasing, strategic
sourcing and other closer-
to-the-core functions.
However, these moves
increase complexity and raise
security issues that the CIO
needs to manage. IT today
will spend as much time in
integration and control efforts
as they have historically in
support and enhancement
capabilities. In the future, the
CIO and his or her business
function counterparts will
operate as more of an
“integrator of services”—
an orchestra conductor
rather than a musician or
section leader in the band.
The convergence of ITO and
BPO will change how services
are priced. For example,
outcomes-based pricing is
where the service provider
charges the buyer not on
labor or FTE cost but for the
business outcome the work
generates. Standardization,
automation, technology
platforms and tools made
more available through the
convergence of business
process and IT are enabling
service providers to bear the
additional risk of outcome-
based pricing. While a true
understanding of cost of
service is required to make
outcome-based pricing
work effectively, it has
tremendous potential to
help organizations align work
to strategic outcomes and
generate business value.
The Rise of Social, Big Data,
Analytics and Mobility
Social involves the way we
connect and collaborate
within the workplace with
employees, and outside the
workplace with customers
and partners. The technology,
process and tools supporting
social—social media,
collaboration and knowledge
management—can directly
Similar trends are occurring in almost every business
function. Without an overhaul in outlook and strategy,
IT organizations will resemble department stores,
where each department is cannibalized by specialty
stores in the mall or e-tailers online.
7. It is not just about
outsourcing, but about
a service delivery model
that leverages all forms
of sourcing based
on what will provide
the best value to the
business (insourcing,
outsourcing, shared
services). IT leaders
must master the
capability to manage
and govern multiple IT
service providers, cloud-
based and other delivery
models into a coherent
operating model
supporting a company’s
business functions.
WGroup 5
impact sales, recruiting,
customer satisfaction,
employee satisfaction and
work productivity. Combined,
social, big data, analytics and
mobility are creating unique
challenges and opportunities
for every industry.
For example, in large
consumer product and retail
companies today, marketing
executives must quickly
identify profitable customers
and send targeted promotions
to their smart phones while
they are out shopping. Supply
chain executives must rapidly
track flaws in manufacturing
and distribution processes.
These and hundreds of other
high-stakes decisions require
processing and analyzing
enormous amounts of
digital data. As companies
become more data-driven,
mobility is making everything
immediately actionable.
The mobile phone provides
immediate decision-making
capability through access to
intelligence and real-time data
collection from the field.
IT leaders must proactively
engage with the business
to ensure that social, big
data, analytics and mobility
strategies, projects and
governance processes
are aligned to overall
business strategy.
The Commoditization of IT
A new model of IT delivery
across applications,
infrastructure and IT
management has brought
significant economic
advantages. For example,
until recently, it was always
in the best interest of large
companies to build and own
the IT infrastructure that
supported the business. The
choice was limited: Either
run it in their facility or run it
at an outsourcer’s premises.
No matter which strategy
they chose, large companies
almost always owned or
leased the hardware and bore
the full cost of those assets.
Companies no longer need to
have any computer operations
on their premises, as they can
tap into Internet resources,
such as Cloud services. Today,
Infrastructure-as-a-service and
Platform-as-a-service products
allow companies to pay for
just what they use and acquire
needed capacity just-in-time.
No longer must they have
specialized capacity planning.
No longer do they need to
acquire technology in big,
capital-draining chunks and
burden their return on asset
calculations with long-term
depreciable assets. In some
cases, rather than continuing
to run their own data centers,
companies are outsourcing
their IT infrastructure to
reduce cost, increase flexibility
and gain service advantages.
But this doesn’t mean the CIO
can retire. In fact, companies
need CIOs more than ever—
yet in a much different role.
A robust IT service delivery
strategy and common
8. 6 ReThink IT
framework is essential
to address governance,
security, integration,
processes, policies,
and architecture across
applications, infrastructure
and IT management.
However, it is not just about
outsourcing, but about
a service delivery model
that leverages all forms of
sourcing based on what will
provide the best value to
the business (insourcing,
outsourcing, shared services).
IT leaders must integrate,
manage and govern internal
groups, multiple IT service
providers, cloud-based and
other delivery models into
a coherent, streamlined and
efficient IT operating model.
Even more importantly,
IT leadership must make
decisions to provide flexibility
for the future and enable
them to interchange sourcing
providers (insourced or
outsourced) and delivery
models (cloud, XaaS) as
the business strategy and
requirements change. For
flexibility in cloud delivery
across private, public or hybrid
models, consideration must
be given to the ownership,
form and governance
of data to manage and
transport data across
discrete cloud resources.
The Consumerization of IT
Some employees come
to work every day with a
myriad of devices—their
own smartphones, tablet
devices and laptops—
which can reduce some
of the financial burdens
companies have assumed for
decades. The trend towards
“bring your own device”
(BYOD) allows companies
to reduce their investment
in employees’ technology
by taking advantage of
investments that employees
have already made.
However, at the same time, it
increases the level of security,
integration and control
needed to provide access
to a far less standardized set
of devices and to maintain
control over the most fungible
asset a company has: its
intellectual property and
data assets. An employee
can easily have thousands
of customer names, credit
card numbers and other
sensitive information sitting
on a laptop computer—there
for the taking. Customer data
that used to be locked in the
data center now travels easily
on mobile devices through
airports, bars and hotels.
Until recently, the focus on
the Consumerization of IT
has been only on devices.
Employees and consumers in
general are more technology-
savvy than ever before. Not
only do they bring their own
equipment, they bring their
own applications and tools.
While this trend signifies that
IT organizations have the
opportunity to get out of the
computer and mobile device
supply business, IT leaders
must be prepared to manage
the security and governance
challenges this trend will
continue to produce.
Until recently the focus of Consumerization of IT has
been only on devices. Employees and consumers in
general are more technology-savvy than ever before.
Not only do they bring their own equipment, they
bring their own applications and tools.
9. WGroup 7
It’s a New World
for IT
These five fundamental
drivers of IT transformation
are here now. They affect
every organization. And the
pace of change isn’t abating; if
anything, it is quickening and
becoming more acute.
One key driver is that the
economics of procuring IT
and IT-intensive business
process services from the
outside are now irresistible
and the risks are becoming
more manageable. Procuring
these IT and business process
services externally means IT
no longer has to be a huge
fixed cost. Turning IT into a
variable cost is immensely
attractive to companies that
make major IT investments
(e.g., banks) or in highly
cyclical businesses. As an
example, after the 2008
financial meltdown, a regional
financial services company
outsourced its entire IT
infrastructure to third parties.
IT services are now an entirely
variable cost; tens of millions
of dollars in hardware and
software assets are off its
books, materially raising its
return on assets (ROA). In
industries such as banking,
where IT can be 30% of
operating costs,4
this can be a
major boost to profitability.
4 McKinsey article: http://www.
mckinseyquarterly.com/Smart_IT_spending_
Insights_from_European_banks_1698
Cloud services
are also maturing
rapidly. They are
going beyond
the initial
niche software
applications such
as Salesforce.
com to cloud-
based versions of
ERP from Oracle
and SAP. The mega
million-dollar on-premise
installations of enterprise
software packages are
becoming a relic of the past.
Web 2.0, virtual computing
technology and cloud delivery
continues to be another
key driver of change. Cloud
computing allows managers
and workers to use their
company’s information
systems as if they’re in a
data center down the hall.
Orchestration layers allow
deployment of new servers
and capabilities within
minutes—not the weeks or
months it took in traditional
forms of delivery. Remote
management, virtualization
and numerous IT management
software and tools are
making IT operations and
management more efficient.
Outsourcing and IT service
providers continue to drive
change and shape the
landscape. To compete
for your business, they
continue to improve the cost
and service of their global
distributed delivery center
model (e.g., India, China,
Brazil, Poland) and offer
new service offerings. There
are many more outsourcing
companies to choose from
than ever before. Before
outsourcing, companies must
have a clear strategy that
identifies what are core and
non-core capabilities, and
then from that develop the
right sourcing strategy for
their business. Even when
this is done, picking the right
provider can be complex
and daunting. Consider the
number of IT and business
process outsourcing
companies coming from India
alone. Over the last 15 years a
$75 billion annual industry has
sprung up in this country, with
more than 1,300 companies
taking on the computing and
business process chores of
firms in the rest of the world.5
5 This data is from Nasscom, an association
of Indian ITO and BPO companies,
from an article in India Economic Times:
http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.
com/2012-11-13/news/35068747_1_
nasscom-chairman-software-services-n-
chandrasekaran
10. Senior executives
need a different kind
of IT organization—a
very different kind.
CIOs must break the
model with which
they’ve run their
department for years.
8 ReThink IT
The supply of outsourcing
vendors will expand further
as companies continue
global expansion and seek
services in parts of the world
that are not only offer lower
labor costs but are strategic
locations for them such as
Latin America and Asia. With
these five inescapable forces
unleashed and ongoing
drivers of change senior
executives might conclude
that companies will no
longer need an internal IT
organization. This is absolutely
not the case. They just need
a different IT organization—a
very different kind—as we
will explain. CIOs must break
the model with which they’ve
run their departments for
years. In many cases, they will
need to own and operate far
less technology—or rather,
technology that’s in their data
centers and on their books—
because it’s now possible
to do so.
11. WGroup 9
Business and IT executives
and their staffs face a far
different world than their
predecessors did even ten
years ago. Companies that
are early adopters of the
disruptive trends we’ve
described are managing
five issues very differently.
#1 New IT Supply Chain
The supply chain of IT is
radically different. Disruptive
technologies such as cloud
computing
and the “as-a-
service” model
for software,
infrastructure
and platforms
have led to fundamental
changes in how IT services
are organized, managed and
delivered—whether they are
outsourced, insourced or a
combination. The reality that
IT services can be delivered
to anywhere on the globe via
the “Cloud” has accelerated
the commoditization of
infrastructure. Ubiquitous
access to IT services has
lessened business units’
dependency on internal IT and
shifted the IT organization’s
prime role from process
excellence to technology
and service innovation.
Outsourcing continues to
be a key component in the
supply chain however the
next generation calls for a
different approach. Strategic
outsourcing partnerships
should be developed and
maintained to not only realize
cost-savings but to exploit
global trends and support
business innovation. Multi-
sourcing strategies leveraging
best-in-class providers
matched to strengths are now
the norm. With these multi-
sourced environments, the
interaction among vendors
emerges as a new source of
management focus driving the
development of operating-
level agreements to govern
interaction. Relationships have
greater built-in flexibility to
address changes in platforms,
architecture, services and
performance requirements.
Companies need to
restructure their IT operations
from being a provider of
IT services to a broker,
orchestrator and manager of
IT services purchased from
providers around the globe.
Outsourcing relationships are
smaller, more focused and
of shorter duration allowing
the business to capitalize
on more discrete vendor
Five Actionable Strategies
to Drive Value from IT
EXHIBIT 2: The New IT Supply Chain and Outsourcing
Source: WGroup
12. 10 ReThink IT
strengths while providing
more flexibility in starting
and ending relationships.
More importantly, as line
of business heads have
assumed responsibility for
outsourcing relationships,
IT must serve as the center
of excellence in outsourcing
relationship development
and management. This
means IT acts as a “broker”
in advising the business,
developing relationships and
managing relationships. All
performed consistent with a
predefined (and periodically
updated) sourcing strategy.
Finally, IT leadership must
become more proactive and
focused on requiring business
value from service providers
and no longer satisfied with
just meeting service levels
and operational metrics.
#2 Governance and
Vendor Management:
Two Separate Yet
Important Disciplines
Companies should establish
both a governance strategy
and discipline, and a vendor
management
organization
(VMO) to direct
and integrate
the efforts of
this complex
supply chain to ensure the
organization is receiving value
from IT. This applies to all
delivery models; outsourced,
in-sourced or multi-sourced.
Companies should develop
the people, process and
controls to effectively manage
this new model of IT service
delivery or run the risk of
misalignment or operational
failure if one or more IT
providers fails to execute.
Outsourcing is not
always the right answer
but IT organizations that
move too slowly where
outsourcing makes sense
will tie their companies
down with escalating
costs of maintaining their
company’s IT infrastructure
and applications. That will
put a damper on investing
in technology innovation
in such critical areas as
big data, analytics and
mobile computing.
Recent surveys of senior
business and IT executives
tell an interesting story.
For example, the majority
of 536 C-suite executives
around the world polled
in 2012 by the Economist
Intelligence Unit see their IT
organizations changing greatly
by 2015. Some 43% say their
company will increasingly
buy IT only when they need
it as a commodity service.6
6 The study, conducted by the Economist
Intelligence Unit, is titled “The C-suite
Challenges IT: New Expectations for
Business Value.” It was funded by Dell Inc.
and published by the EIU in July 2012.
Some 36% of the respondents were CEOs,
and 20% were CIOs. The study report can
be found here: http://www.slideshare.
net/Management-Thinking/the-csuite-
challenges-it-new-expectations-for-business-
value
A number of senior IT
executives see a similar
future. As a former FedEx
SVP of IT put it, IT functions
of the future will be “small,
more externally focused,
higher-expertise IT
organizations, with most of the
infrastructure and operational
expertise outsourced.”7
Many computing tasks and
business processes that
depend on technology can be
done by third parties for
far less cost and with far fewer
headaches. In particular, the
focus on core competencies
and competitive pressures
on cost and innovation will
drive companies to outsource
those business processes and
IT services that don’t yield a
competitive advantage. HR,
finance, procurement and
other backroom processes
and their supporting IT
services are especially
ripe for outsourcing.
However, a common mistake
organizations make is
establishing approaches
for governance and vendor
management in parts vs.
taking a holistic view.
7 This comment was from former FedEx
senior vice president of IT, Larry Tieman,
as quoted here in a column he published
in June 2012 in InformationWeek. Tieman
had been with FedEx for 10 years (until
2010), and previously was CIO or CTO
at GE Capital Logistics, GeoLogistics,
Schneider National and A.C. Nielsen. http://
www.informationweek.com/global-cio/
interviews/why-the-cio-position-is-in-
jeopardy/240001607
13. WGroup 11
Examples include establishing
a governance program for
an outsourcing contract
that is stand alone and does
not fit within a broader IT
governance program will not
suffice. In addition, vendor
management must be seen
not as a small component of
a companies procurement
function, but as a core
competency of the IT function.
#3 New IT Roles,
Responsibilities
and Skills
Shifting to this new IT
operating model will require
the IT organization to adopt
new roles and
responsibilities,
as well as
to master
new skills.
New roles and responsibilities
in the IT function: IT
organizations will move
from having hundreds or
even thousands of full-
time employees to a much
smaller headcount: dozens or
hundreds (because most of
the IT services are delivered
by external providers). These
roles will be more strategic—
i.e., helping divisional and
functional managers identify
opportunities with the
greatest promise for using
technology to sell, market,
manufacture, distribute
and conduct other key
processes more effectively
and efficiently. The roles will
also be more architectural:
how to seamlessly integrate IT
and business process services
from disparate providers.
New skills for IT professionals,
from the top down:
Leadership skills of the IT
organization must shift from
capabilities in planning and
managing hardware, software
and network infrastructure to
highly tuned capabilities in
sourcing strategy, managing
outsourcing firms, and
transforming the business
through technology. There
will be vendor management
roles specializing in contract
management, maintaining
service levels, program
management and financial
analysis to assure that service
providers deliver on the
cost, quality, responsiveness
and other potential
advantages of outsourcing.
To fulfill their new, more
strategic role in the
organization, IT executives
including the CIO will need to
raise their game in business
strategy and process thinking.
In fact, these will become the
CIO’s most important skills.
For 20 years, IT has been
foundational to operational
success across industries,
and it has only grown more
so. Numerous companies
have been Amazon’d (book
and electronics retailing),
Google’d (newspapers and
map makers) and Apple’d
(music and mobile devices)
out of existence (or placed
on the death list).
Yet as profound as those
seismic industry shifts have
been to date, more change
is ahead. In every sector
and every day, bricks and
mortar companies are being
attacked by clicks and bits.
The technologies of this
decade—especially social
media, mobile devices, and
big data—will have an even
more profound impact on
such sectors as consumer
products (transformed by a
whole new world of social
media marketing), retailing
and media, to name a few.
Business unit and functional
managers need to understand
which of the multiple
decisions they make every
day can be transformed with
big data and analytics tools.
Reinventing service delivery
models, supply chain models
and corporate operating
models are critical for the
competitive landscape of the
future. The answers are not
straightforward. Companies
need executives at the
top who aren’t blinded by
the business practices of
the past. Farsighted CIOs
and IT leaders can fill this
role—if they can master
the still-nascent arts of
business model invention
and process reengineering.
In addition, strong skills in IT
architecture will become far
more important, particularly
service-oriented architecture
strategy and planning. With
14. 12 ReThink IT
business and IT services
purchased from outside
vendors, it is up to the IT
organization to connect and
integrate them. For example,
the customer database
that the sales force uses to
prospect for customers must
be able to tap marketing’s
customer database. In turn,
those databases need to feed
the call center’s database so
that customer service reps
have a total view of the caller’s
relationship with the company.
The CIO’s organization must
make sure that business
and IT processes are well-
codified, data definition
standards are well-defined,
and the processes bringing
these things together are
well-documented. If they
are not, it will be difficult
for outsourcing vendors to
implement them without a
lot of guesswork. Having
multiple outsourcing vendors
working on different pieces
of the IT infrastructure—and
often in different parts of the
world (often not in the old
data center anymore)—the IT
organization must have clear
instructions for all parties. IT
must act as the hub for key
decision-making and control.
New relationship management
skills—Many IT organizations
today have “business
relationship managers”
whose role is essentially to
meet with functional heads
and take orders for IT and
business process services.
Others continue to play the
role of “rationers of service.”
This will no longer fly. IT
needs to become a strategic
advisor and the “facilitator
of fulfillment” to add value.
Functional heads easily go
around IT and buy business
processes and IT services
by the drink without setting
off the budget alarms.
Functional managers need
internal process and IT
consultants who can help
them understand their
unstated (and unknown)
needs. This takes exceptional
skills in building relationships.
It also requires deep
knowledge of the company’s
industry (its competitive
set, customers, etc.).
CIOs and other senior IT
managers will need to
develop such relationship
skills to deal with numerous
outsourcing vendors. By
doing so, the CIO can
become the orchestrator
of external suppliers for
internal customers. Many
CIOs who moved up the
ranks in computer science
and programming will need
to build deep, late-career
skills in working with and
managing people—especially
those outside the company
at outsourcing vendors. They
must know the skills and
personalities of vendor team
members, as much as they
know their own team. Helping
the company determine
where to focus limited IT
investments requires strategic
and financial acumen. This
is a crucial governance skill.
To provide assurance to
the CEO and CFO that the
company’s IT investments
are being made wisely, CIOs
and their teams must be
able to run ROI analyses
on such things as business
unit requests for Big Data
technologies and expertise.
IT organization must also
help business unit managers
identify high-quality
outsourcing vendors and
strike effective contracts.
Based on the current
outsourcing environment
and the demand for new
or improved capabilities,
the CIO needs to lead the
organization in scanning the
market for opportunities and
strategic partners. The CIO
must have the skills to run
effective RFP and contracting
processes; the project
management office (PMO)
skills to oversee effective
transition; and the relationship
management skills to extract
the best performance,
lowest costs and most
innovative thinking from the
company’s supplier partners.
To be sure, these skills sets
will not be easy for many CIOs
and IT organizations to gain.
However, we see big rewards
for companies and CIOs
who can acquire them, and
quickly. Perhaps the biggest
personal benefit for CIOs is
that they’ll occupy a much
more strategic job in the
15. WGroup 13
organization: the executive
responsible for making the
company’s key technology-
intensive business processes,
and its entire business model
for that matter, click.
This is a much bigger role
than many CIOs and their
IT organizations play today.
Those who can master it will
have an order-of-magnitude
greater impact on the success
of their company, even with
a much smaller internal IT
department to manage.
A world where most
companies’ IT services are
outsourced rather than
insourced forces a major
change in the CIO’s role. The
role of the past—effectively
and efficiently managing
an IT organization—is
inappropriate for the future.
CIOs must not only manage
their IT professionals; they
must manage the services
delivered by a diverse group
of external service providers.
After helping business units
select the best outsourcing
vendors, the IT organization
needs to orchestrate all of
the internal stakeholders into
a full lifecycle governance
organization for all the
suppliers. This governance
organization must actively
manage outsourcing vendors,
assuring performance, cost
effectiveness and continuous
improvement of service.
Competition doesn’t
stand still; companies
must continually improve
the performance of their
service providers to keep
pace. Business heads, IT
leadership, procurement
and legal must work in
concert and speak with one
voice. They must represent
the company’s interests,
not parochial interests.
CIOs need to increase both
their strategic and operational
value. (See Exhibit 3 below)
In a world in which companies
bring more IT services in
from external providers
than they deliver internally,
the roles of managing
data centers, recruiting IT
professionals (especially
those in IT infrastructure
jobs), and managing big
systems projects become
far less important.
Managing outsourcing
vendors (lower right quadrant)
and identifying strategic
outsourcing vendors (upper
left) are two of the high value
roles. What will diminish in
value are roles in managing
data center and other IT
infrastructure (e.g., tech
support and maintenance),
IT recruitment and internal
systems development
projects. Yet these managerial
chores occupy much of the
work of many CIOs today.
CIOs who can generate
significant strategic and
operational value will find
themselves in continual
discussions with the CEO
and the board about the
most important issues of the
company: How might we
need to reinvent the entire
business model? How do we
use technology to reengineer
the way we acquire customers
or serve them after the
purchase? What emerging
technologies could have
a profound impact on our
entire business model or
a key business process?
Strategic
Value
HIGH
• IT and business services
architecture planning
• Outsourcing vendor
identification
• Key technology vendor
identification
• Business model
reinvention
• Business process
innovation
• Key technology
watching/identification
LOW
• Data center management
• IT infrastructure management
• Recruitment and retention for IT
infrastructure jobs
• Management of internally
developed information systems
governance
• Outsourcing vendor
• Outsourcing vendor
management
LOW HIGHOperational Value
EXHIBIT 3: THE CHANGING ROLES OF THE CIO
Source: WGroup
16. 14 ReThink IT
#4 New Way to
Manage IT Services
and Project Portfolio
Leading companies are
transforming to the best
practices of Information
Technology
Service
Management
(ITSM) to
achieve
discipline,
standardization, service
excellence and process
efficiency of IT across
the enterprise. The ITSM
model provides guidance
and structure to assist IT
in the transformation from
a support organization to
running IT as a business.
The CIO and IT leadership
will need to champion ITSM
and be the bridge between
technology and the business.
As we mentioned earlier, the
new world for IT organizations
is one of shedding much
of their IT operations. But
which operations, and
where should they go? This
should be the outcome of a
rigorous portfolio analysis: an
evaluation that determines
which business processes
and IT services should
remain in-house and which
should be outsourced.
Such portfolio analyses can
reveal substantial cost savings.
The first step is determining
which components of IT may
not have value anymore and
thus should be eliminated.
For example, we find many
companies with systems
that once were essential
but have lost their value,
and yet still linger. After
identifying what could be
eliminated, the analysis should
focus on benchmarking
and cost comparison. As
an example, a large U.S.
health insurer commissioned
an extensive analysis of
the cost and performance
of its IT organization. The
company was compared
to other companies, both
in and outside the health
insurance sector. It found
that outsourcing many
IT services (including
application development and
maintenance, data center
operations, technical support
and network management)
would reduce annual IT costs
by 11%. It struck a seven-year
contract with an outsourcing
vendor, which has delivered
the savings expected.
Companies should conduct
such services portfolio
analysis jointly with the heads
of the business functions—i.e.,
the internal customers of IT.
Changes should address both
the opportunity to outsource
IT support and move to BPO
as well. Together, functional
and IT leaders need to
assess the current state of
service and what functional
managers need in the future.
They must work together to
reduce costs and improve
operational performance.
This portfolio analysis is
a crucial part of creating
an outsourcing vendor
management capability (VMO
as referred to earlier). Business
units and functions need to
make a service and financial
case for determining whether
and how to outsource—similar
to the ones that CFOs force
divisional and functional
managers to make in justifying
any major purchase. The
portfolio analysis approach
should apply to all aspects of
IT, including operations and
maintenance and projects.
CIOs who can generate high strategic and
operational value will find themselves in continual
discussions with the CEO and the board about the
most important issues of the company.
17. WGroup 15
The role of the CIO is no longer an operator but an
integrator. It is about how well they partner with the
business. CIO’s must lead company-wide innovation
and understand how technology can increase revenue
for their business. CIOs must behave more like a
venture capitalist to embrace pace of change and align
technology investment with business strategy.
#5 New Definition of
IT Business Value
A big shift is underway in how
IT performance is measured.
How should
a company
measure IT’s
value in this
new world?
When IT ran the data center,
built or implemented most of
the applications, maintained
those applications and
provided tech support, its
key performance measures
were necessarily about cost
and efficiency: How well is
IT delivering cost-effective
services to the company?
Those were measures of IT
operational performance.
Going forward, those won’t
be the most important
measures of IT. After
getting huge amounts of
the IT infrastructure out
of its data centers and off
the company’s books, IT’s
performance will require a
whole different set of metrics.
In short, IT’s value must
shift to delivering business
impact to the organization.
Success of IT and business
services will be based on
“business outcomes” and
not only operational (e.g.,
effectiveness, responsiveness,
performance) and
financial metrics (e.g., cost
reduction). For example:
■■ How did the IT function
enable exploratory
investment in IT that
resulted in new products
or competitive advantage
for the business?
■■ How quickly did IT enable
the company to revamp
its business processes to
react to ever-changing
market conditions and
execute its strategy?
■■ How quickly did IT
enable the company to
transform its business
model (if necessary)?
■■ How well did IT help the
company capitalize on
the billowing amounts of
digital data that courses
through its information
systems, i.e., how well
did it help knowledge
workers make better
decisions using big data?
In short, the IT function
must embark on its own
transformation. IT must
redefine the business value
it delivers to the company—
from one of cost savings
and operational efficiency
to one of strategic value
and revenue growth.
18. 16 ReThink IT
The new world for IT
organizations is here and
rapidly evolving. The new
model of IT needs to contend
with a world that has evolved
from one in which the IT
department was the sole
provider of IT services to one
in which they compete with or
need to manage a wide array
of external global providers.
Consequently, the job of the
CIO (and the role of the IT
department) has evolved into
a role that requires the CIO to:
■■ Not only manage the
service delivery capabilities
of the internal IT group,
but integrate the services
delivered by a diverse
group of service providers,
■■ Manage the transition
of responsibility for IT
decisions to the business
and manage the effective
use of IT resources to
support the business, and
■■ Champion an effective
governance framework
and vendor management
capability.
Above all, the CIO must be an
advisor to the business. They
must bring insight on new and
evolving technology and stay
current on the offerings and
capabilities available to them.
With the increased use of
outsourcing, there is a danger
for CIOs to become over
reliant on service providers
and vendors to identify
and execute innovation.
Innovation strategy needs
to come from leading edge
CIOs that will understand
the services and products
available to them in the
market and how to integrate
them based on their specific
business needs. This will
enable the business to move
faster than the competition.
While IT strategic planning
has always been critical,
it takes on an even more
important role in this new
world of IT. Leadership must
drive a shared view of the
current business, and the
IT landscape, which is often
referred to as Enterprise
Architecture (EA). The right
EA strategy aligns IT systems,
processes, and organizations
to to business unit strategy
and goals in response to to
these disruptive trends. EA
delivers value by allowing
business and IT leaders to
have a recipe for adjusting
policies and projects to
achieve business outcomes
in response to disruptions,
challenges and opportunities.
Now is the time for IT
executives to dissect and
anticipate the impact of
the disruptive industry
trends we identified in this
perspective paper. Those
who can transform IT’s
operations, roles, skills and
governance accordingly
and move from a pure cost
reduction to a top line
growth orientation will have a
much greater impact on the
success of their companies.
Key Skills Required of Today’s CIO
■■ Strategic Planning
■■ Relationship Building
■■ Business Leadership
■■ Business Systems and Process Thinking
■■ Architecture Planning
■■ Governance and Vendor Management
■■ Industry Knowledge
Conclusion
19. WGroup 17
About WGroup
Founded in 1995, WGroup is a boutique management consulting firm
that provides Strategy, Management and Execution Services to
optimize business performance, minimize cost and create value. Our
consultants have years of experience, both as industry executives and
trusted advisors, to help clients think through complicated and pressing
challenges to drive their business forward.
For more information on WGroup, visit http://thinkwgroup.com
Contact Us
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Malvern, PA 19355
610-854-2700
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