IT Portfolio Management Step-by-Step: Unlocking the Business Value of Technology

Introduction

Information technology (IT) is at a critical juncture in today's business climate. The pressure of managing and optimizing IT investments across multiple business units/divisions in alignment with key business drivers and their associated risks, cost, value, performance in light of limited resources (people, funding, facilities, etc.) and a demanding legal and regulatory environment is a challenge for all companies. The measurement for return on IT investments has shrunken from yearly to quarterly to monthly. The increasing velocity in the pace of change and innovation is requiring a corresponding increase in the ability to adopt structure, discipline, and rigor in delivering value and meeting customer needs; a Darwinian shakeout is happening in front of our very eyes. Information technology can be either a strategic enabler that adds value, drives growth and transforms a business or a source of distracting noise that results in increased costs just to maintain the status quo. It is up to companies to decide how to manage IT. Unfortunately, most business executives have little regard for IT and minimal visibility into their IT investments. With IT investments ranging from 1.5% to almost 7% of revenues (a few companies spend as high as 20%), it is clear that an approach is needed to ensure these investments meet or exceed expectations. This book prescribes a logical, consistent, common-sense approach to aligning, rationalizing, prioritizing, selecting, optimizing, ...