Steve Bates, Principal, CIO Advisory
Mandates for enterprise IT departments have taken a 180° turn since the 2008 financial crisis began easing. While board of directors and business leadership had been calling for slashed costs, their new directives are for provision of IT transparency and proof of real, tangible business value delivered.
Realizing the need to transform IT into a high-performing, value-focused business partner, an increasing number of CIOs and CFOs are turning to Technology Business Management (TBM), which is effectively a discipline to “run IT like a business.” They are finding that TBM helps them by:
- Enabling collaboration among IT, finance, and business partners
- Driving alignment between technology supply and business demand
- Guiding and demonstrating the value of technology to business partners
- Utilizing the principles of marketplace economics to drive change.
For organizations beginning to embark on a TBM journey, following are five KPMG-identified keys to succeed in running IT like a business.
The demand for IT transparency starts at the top
Boards and executive leaders are demanding IT make a significant change in its capabilities. The result is altering the very fabric of how organizations invest in and interact with both customers and suppliers. KPMG’s podcast, IT Transparency: New Capabilities Driven by the Boardroom, provides more details.
IT transparency enables transformation
IT transparency can transform the relationship between IT and business from a supply-based model to a business-demand consumption model. The second in KPMG’s IT Transparency podcast series, IT Transparency: An Accelerant to Transformation, delivers insights into how IT transparency enables transformation, why traditional IT delivery models cannot react with agility to changing business conditions, and the new lens through which IT is being evaluated.
IT staff must gain new capabilities to run IT like a business
To achieve IT transparency success, the IT organization must make fundamental behavior shifts to ensure value is delivered and business measures are achieved. KPMG explores this topic in its third IT Transparency podcast, IT Transparency: Changing the IT Mindset.
Changing the IT discussion from a cost to a value investment
Managing the business of IT through an integrated view of technology cost, performance, supply, and demand is a value-oriented conversation bigger than IT alone. To transform from technology provider to value-focused business partner, IT must address its business audience and tie into corporate culture, strategy, and goals. KPMG’s thought leadership paper – Moving Information Technology from a Cost to an Investment – delves deeply into the three domains of TBM, the four stages of value optimization, and managing the journey and realizing value.
Learn from your peers
First American Financial Corporation, a TBM pioneer, recently shared with KPMG its multi-step journey from legacy spreadsheet-based models to collaboration with its business units, and its challenges and successes along the path to running IT like a business. The KPMG podcast, The TBM Journey at First American Financial Corporation, provides valuable lessons learned that have practical application to your own organization’s TBM initiative.
To learn more about KPMG’s approach to TBM and how we can help you run IT like a business, please contact me at sjbates@kpmg.com.
