Balancing IT Operations with IT Strategy
August 3, 2009 by Raj Sheelvant
The CIO’s role is one of communicating a vision and driving a change management strategy that will result in greater user and organizational acceptance of the projects selected for development. This according to SearchCIO.com article titled “Avoiding IT project failures with a change management strategy” By Kristen Caretta. Organizational change management is crucial especially in this global recession. A change management strategy formally introduces initiatives to everyone affected by them, and should also introduce any new roles or expectations to team members to get everyone on the same page at the same time. The IT department should embark on projects that will positively impact business strategy.
Research from The Standish Group International Inc. on project success rates found that 24% of projects are canceled partway through or delivered and not used. The SearchCIO.com survey showed that just 11% of large organizations complete all projects in their development queue; the majority (54%) report an abandonment rate of 1% to 10%. The final third don’t finish 11% to 50% of projects. The article also notes that change management should be the starting point because the overall [project management] strategy will succeed or fail based on this. Tighter budgets have led many organizations to add checkpoints for proposals, aimed at weeding out unnecessary or unrealistic projects before they even start.
If there is a silver lining in this global recession, I think role of CIO has been elavated. Developing a vision that meets business objectives and the needs of stakeholders is now being expected for the first time from a CIO. CIOs are expected not only to keep operational spend under control but mainly make progress on IT strategies. The article notes that balancing IT operation with IT Strategy is critical not just for managing IT but also for engaging the rest of the business leadership team. That is one of the CIO’s most important responsibilities.
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Comments (3)
Having led strategic organization change and establishment of communication capabilities in a $110M global IT organization, I fully agree with the power of combining communication and change management. IT organizations that traditionally focus ‘below the waterline’ need to do a much better job of looking ‘above the waterline’ and beyond the horizon. This requires deep commitment and a solid change leader that can astutely engage stakeholders and drive change.
Cheers, Sainath Nagarajan
http://www.obviousideas.com
strategy | organization | execution
Thanks for the information. I am doing a Research Project. I was wondering if you can answer a question for me, what are the different IT strategies that a company can use to align business and IT?
Thank you for writing this, I can not find an information which is so clear and through up to now. Erp, customer relationship management are my favourites, please check.