Challenges
In today’s uncertain economic environment, organizations are under increasing pressure to capture and demonstrate value from every investment dollar, with the IT function clearly under the microscope. Similar to any business area, IT must demonstrate the attributes to be a worthy steward of the broader organization's resources through financial and operational discipline. To deliver on these expectations, the IT function must have a clearly defined and communicated strategy (that the business can understand) and provide a construct to guide all IT activities. This strategy must also align the IT function with the business strategy by taking into account the business drivers (short and long-term), current capabilities, and trends in the industry (organization and technology). Eurosis Consulting helps clients close the gap between the significant investment a company makes in IT resources and a business’s general inability to realize the benefit from that investment. In recent years, IT has become more a strategic weapon than a mere functional unit supporting the business. This shift not only offers a new set of strategic options but also poses new questions for corporate leaders:By broadening the role of IT to exploit technology trends, how can we help deliver sustainable competitive advantage?How can we make IT a significant driver of innovation while maximizing the benefits of business innovation?At the same time, some traditional questions remain critical:How do we align IT and business while ensuring that the IT strategy is flexible enough to adapt if necessary?How can we focus the IT project portfolio to ensure optimal resource allocation and alignment of IT investment with business needs?Few companies are realizing the full potential from their IT investments and activities. The gap between value realized and full potential is evident from the number of stalled and canceled systems initiatives, those failing to deliver a fraction of the expected benefits and the high level of executive dissatisfaction. For example:79 percent of business leaders feel their ERP efforts were not fully effective70 percent of CRM projects yield no measurable benefit 60 percent fail35 percent of today's supply chain planning projects will be re-implemented half will use a new vendorOur experience suggests that not having a coherent IT Strategy results in several challenges and constrains the value IT can deliver to the business (and vice versa). These challenges include, but are not limited to:Low business satisfaction – driven by limited flexibility and slower speed to marketLack of innovation – as a result of over correction on cost containment instead of building strategic capabilitiesHigher cost solutions – driven primarily by lack of a cohesive strategy, leading to siloed, stove-piped solutions and misaligned prioritiesA clearly defined strategy can transform the IT function into a “high-performing business” that offers long-term strategic value. Developing the strategy requires a holistic and proven approach to help identify a set of future-state capabilities that can position IT to be an equal and trusted partner with the Business.