business plan

Get hip to IT alignment

Mon, 14 Apr 2008 06:59:58 -0400

IT alignment will save you money if you know what you are doing. But plenty of CIOs don't have a clue what IT alignment really is. Once they get it, they will understand that they can use this technique to strategically build business value. Here's how to make it work:

Develop a written list of the company's strategic business goals.
Plan to redeploy IT.
Audit a completed project.
Get other C-level executives on board to use IT as a strategic catalyst.

For more on using IT alignment:
- See this CIO Magazine article

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Keep your data warehouse humming

Mon, 28 Jan 2008 06:59:58 -0500

Until recently, extract, transform and load (ETL) was considered the most effective way to load information into a data warehouse. It was a method developed because data warehouses were not considered capable of handling the extensive processing required to perform the complex transformations. Third-party tools such as IBM's WebSphere have been used to orchestrate the data movement. But now, there's a newer technique called extract, load and transform (ELT) which moves data to an intermediate platform before passing it along to the data warehouse. ETL transfers data directly into a data warehouse infrastructure. We all know that data preservation is becoming more important for a variety of reasons. As business intelligence becomes part of your protocol, a vibrant data warehouse becomes an essential component of your business plan. Let us know how you are dealing with this issue and whether it is among the biggest challenges you face.

For more on data warehousing:
- See this SearchCIO article

The value of 'Software as a Service'

Tue, 06 Mar 2007 19:01:38 -0500

Software as a Service, or SaaS, where vendors operate, maintain and support software for their customers, can provide real value to a company. But to make sure your company is a good candidate and will reap real value, evaluate the cost and productivity savings carefully. Calculating its benefits requires a different approach from evaluating the ROI of traditional software. Without the right measures, the SaaS model might seem more expensive than licensed software, since IT budgets often don't take the operating expense implications of subscription pricing into account. Instead, CIOs should develop TCO models that accurately assess the business case for an SaaS approach. Clearly understanding the business plan is key; without understanding whether SaaS is a capital investment or an operating expense, it's impossible to determine whether it makes sense for the company.

Learn more about evaluating whether SaaS is a good bet for your company:
- read the article at Optimize

ALSO:
- read this on the pros and cons of SaaS
- and this on SaaS: a view from the trenches

Getting employees focused on the bottom line

Mon, 29 Jan 2007 19:01:38 -0500

Even if you've got an ironclad business plan and a clear strategic vision, without employees backing you up, your company simply won't be as focused or profitable as it could be. The key to is to help your employees focus on issues that increase performance and efficiency. Ways to do that include streamlining your processes, using dashboards, focusing on quick wins, specifying individual responsibilities clearly, creating measurement methods, giving employees what they need to excel at their jobs and keeping them on their toes.

Learn more about how to keep your employees' eyes on the prize:
- read more about the book The Performance Power Grid: The Proven Method to create and Sustain Superior Organizational Performance

Delivering on the IT dichotomy

Sun, 03 Dec 2006 19:01:38 -0500

It's not an easy job, but tech leaders can fulfill expectations for both technology delivery and IT value to the business if they understand what's required and expected on both fronts. As one CIO explains, creating the right perception of IT is just as valuable as making sure that technology implementations make a difference. And it's going to take some work, so be prepared to put together a strategic business plan, incorporate service-level statistics and list ongoing achievements--all while deploying that next great enterprise tool that will boost productivity and save money. As Mike Cuddy, tech leader at Toromont Industries notes, it can be done as long as you realize the value in all of the "little" things that come into play.

For more on delivering value as an IT organization:
- read the column at Optimize

Related Article: The balancing act of being a techie and a leader. Article