CIO Best Practices: Enabling Strategic Value with Information Technology

Chapter 4. The Sum of IT Can be Greater than its Parts

—BY WILLIAM FLEMMING, SAS, AND ALAN STRATTON, STRATTON ASSOCIATES, LLC

If one were to ask symphony patrons and symphony professionals what section of instruments in an orchestra is the most important, the answer would surely be all of them. Composers utilize every section and every instrument when writing symphonies. Symphony orchestras have steadily changed since they first appeared in ancient Egypt, and the role of every instrument has evolved over time. The end game for a conductor is to get all the sections to perform in harmony. Performing without a section of instruments leaves a gap that cannot be hidden.

Posing the same question to IT customers and IT professionals, pick the most important part of IT—pick the one process, one section of infrastructure, or the one department that stands out as the most strategic piece of IT—what would be your answer? Does IT have one most important strategic piece? If one asked this question of industry vendors and analysts, their answer would invariably be the product or service they sell. If one asks CIOs this question, the answers depend upon the state of IT maturity, the most pressing need of the day, and the state of the business where they work.

The SAS cut-to-the-chase answer is this: None of the pieces are strategic by themselves. None. IT has too many parts. Often organizations gather these parts into technology stovepipes and manage them accordingly. Technology stovepipes lead ...