How to demonstrate the true value of your IT department

With IT no longer simply the supporting backbone of a business, but now both the engine and the fuel, CIOs are in the spotlight and, consequently, are under immense pressure. They find themselves having to take on more work, whilst make savings and, in tandem, enable digital enterprise, integrate new technologies and embrace new IT Management paradigms like agile, CI/CD and DevOps.

The truth is that, whilst they juggle all of these pressures and demands, many CIOs are not in control of the IT department behind them. As a result, they can’t conclusively or transparently tell the business what value IT is adding. Not only does this leave them with disgruntled business leaders, it also means their IT department doesn’t get the recognition, support or investment they deserve.

Unlock an integrated view of your IT organisation with IT4IT™

The key to meeting the demands of business leaders – and ensuring your IT organisation excels – is having an integrated view of the entire IT landscape at your fingertips. Having this view will enable you to look closely at each of the multiple elements needed to be able to run IT as a business and assess how those elements intertwine and impact each other.

Such a view is possible with the adoption of a comprehensive Reference Architecture: IT4IT¹. Not only does IT4IT provide a big picture overview, it enables you to get into the detail of each element in your IT environment and evaluate people, processes, tools, data, controls and integrations.

The benefits of IT4IT

This detailed capability is your answer to understanding and proving the true value of your IT organisation. Here are just some of the benefits it can bring:

1. Increase transparency and traceability

When a business leader comes knocking and asking for updates on what’s being developed and its timelines, it’s not always easy to give a straight answer. Particularly if your IT department works in an agile way and distributes briefs to multiple teams.

The same goes for financial queries. In the complexity of a hybrid IT landscape with multiple suppliers and internal systems, CIOs can struggle to directly connect costs to revenue.

With access to a transparent, integrated view, you can respond to business queries directly and provide clear timelines, data and costs. It also helps bridge the agile approach at team level with the typical multi-year approach at C-level.

2. Identify efficiencies and implement automations

Let’s be honest, there’s not much business leaders love more than saving money. But cost-cutting for cost-cutting’s sake is never a recipe for success. There are, of course, always efficiencies that can be made that actually improve operations and create savings.

With the integrated view IT4IT provides, you can evaluate each element and spot where improvements and efficiencies within IT can be made. Whether that results in replacing a supplier, automating a process or combining responsibilities into one role. In the process, you’ll show business leaders that you are in control of your IT organisation and well equipped to make such decisions.

3. Launch new products seamlessly

The fear at the back of all CIOs heads is that when new products or updates are launched, existing products or systems might collapse. And, frankly, without an integrated view of how different elements across the IT landscape interconnect, this is a possibility.

The wider business implications of such an impact could be catastrophic and won’t put the IT organisation in anyone’s good books. Avoid taking an isolated view at all costs. Instead have your IT4IT blueprint to hand to navigate your IT landscape, however complex it may be, and make informed decisions.

4. Be able to justify an IT transformation

Any CIO of a long-established business with a complex, hybrid IT landscape of legacy systems will reach a moment where they realise an IT transformation is integral to the future success of the organisation. Getting the support and financial investment for such a monumental overhaul, however, is no mean feat.

You need to be able to provide business leaders with an execution plan, priority areas and a breakdown of the investment required. The IT4IT framework helps you generate all of these insights – both for the initial plan and strategy and on an ongoing basis.

As a long-term undertaking, it’s crucial you have a transparent overview at your fingertips throughout the transformation to keep business leaders on board and continually demonstrate IT’s progress and value.

Make your IT department invaluable with IT4IT

Ultimately, the IT4IT Reference Architecture empowers CIOs to provide a real-time, transparent view of what’s being invested, where and what value it adds. An understanding that keeps business leaders happy and enables you to fine-tune the IT Operating Model to be able to deliver IT services faster, better, cheaper and at lower risk.

Using a global standard reference architecture, IT4IT works seamlessly together with ITIL, COBIT and ISO/IEC 20000 and focuses not on processes, but rather on data and information that is needed to manage your services through their lifecycle.

In conjunction with the framework, our consultants take a hands-on approach in actioning IT4IT effectively on all levels: tailored design, implementation and on-going support. So, you can rest assured you have both the framework and the expert guidance for changing the way you do IT with impact and ease.

To dive deeper into the process of an IT transformation, and how the IT4IT model can help you execute it, download our white paper: The Digital Transformation with IT4IT