Moving the Business Forward -- Part 2

Shackleton’s incredible journey is a great framework for our discussion on how IT can move the business forward. For like Shackleton’s imperial trans-Antartic expedition – moving the business forward requires a firm foundation. Both require:

1. A Blueprint/A Plan Whereas Shackleton spent two years selling his audacious plan to sponsors (wealthy donors, scientific societies, and governmental entities), IT must expect that it will take weeks or months to sell its plan to the board, the executive team, and/or the “business.” And like Shackleton’s plan, IT’s multi-year plan must be well thought-out, understandable, and business-centric. The plan is the pathway from our current business model to our future business model. It should be a multiyear plan focused on implementation with expected timeframes, investments, and value creation. Specifically, a successful multi-year plan must:
• Define and design a business, application, and technology blueprint and architecture before you begin investment and construction,
• Enforce a “common way” for development and quality engineering, and
• Be disciplined in its approach to program and project management (Feld)

2. Business Alignment Whereas Shackleton needed to make sure that the objectives of his expedition aligned with the goals & objectives of his sponsors (e.g., being associated with the fame of achievement, being a serious scientific endeavor, national prestige, etc.), IT must be sure that it has critical business buy-in. And the buy-in of the business is much more likely if IT’s multi-year plan:
• Is business-driven technology enablement (rather than a technology solution looking for a business problem).
• Is consistent in both timing and focus to that of the company’s 3/5 year plan,
• Supports and enables the company’s 3/5 year plan, and
• Can be explained in part (or in whole) in solely business terms.
We need to become students of the business and learn enough to speak the language of the business and understand their real issues. Forward-thinking IT leaders change their focus from “aligning IT with the business,” to instilling a philosophy that says: “We are the business.”

3. Credibility A firm foundation also assumes that one has credibility. Whereas Shackleton had the “gravitas” to pitch his audacious expedition – he had twice been to the Antarctic and once got within 97 miles of the pole (which is closer than anyone until Amundsen reached it in 1912) – IT can only pitch a multi-year plan if it is seen as being credible. How does IT earn credibility? IT earns credibility by consistently delivering projects on-time, on-budget, and as designed. If your IT organization hasn’t achieved basic credibility, don’t expend a lot of your time and energy asking for funds to transform. Don’t expend a lot of your time and energy asking for funds to innovate. If IT can’t:
• Complete projects on, time, within budget, and with all deliverables intact,
• Keep the servers and networks up with reasonable levels of performance, and
• Solve the problems average end-users have without undue delay (Lewis)
Then asking for funds to be transformational or innovational is not warranted. Before you can be transformational or innovational, you have to be credible.

4. Customer-Centricity Lastly, a firm foundation requires customer centricity. Whereas Shackleton recognized that his expedition must serve his “fans” (he was an early 20th century rock star – he promised to write a book upon his return, he sold the rights to the motion pictures and still photographs, etc.), IT must seek to serve its “customers” -- those who make or influence buying decisions. That is, the real, paying, external customer. If our customer portals, our billing statements, our schedules, our mobile apps, etc. do not yield high levels of customer satisfaction and customer value – does anyone care whether our new technological solutions win magazine and industry awards? Customer-centricity starts with understanding and really caring about customer goals and concerns.