Optimize the IT Operating Model
Enhance how IT adds value for consumers of technology services.
- Organizations have to adapt to a growing number of trends, putting increased pressure on IT to move at the same speed as the business.
- The business, seeing that IT is slower to react, looks to external solutions to address its challenges and capitalize on opportunities.
- IT and business leaders don’t have a clear and unified understanding or definition of an operating model.
Our Advice
Critical Insight
- The IT operating model is not a static entity and should evolve according to changing business needs.
- However, business needs are diverse, and the IT organization must recognize that the business includes groups that consume technology in different patterns. The IT operating model needs to support and enable multiple groups, while continuously adapting to changing business conditions.
Impact and Result
- Determine how each technology consumer group interacts with IT. Use consumer experience maps to determine what kind of services consumer groups use and if there are opportunities to improve the delivery of those services.
- Identify how changing business conditions will affect the consumption of technology services. Classify your consumers based on business uncertainty and reliance on IT to plan for the future delivery of services.
- Optimize the IT operating model. Create a target IT operating model based on the gathered information about technology service consumers. Select different implementations of common operating model elements: governance, sourcing, process, and structure.
Member Testimonials
After each Info-Tech experience, we ask our members to quantify the real-time savings, monetary impact, and project improvements our research helped them achieve. See our top member experiences for this blueprint and what our clients have to say.
9.4/10
Overall Impact
$89,374
Average $ Saved
31
Average Days Saved
Client
Experience
Impact
$ Saved
Days Saved
Cairns Regional Council
Guided Implementation
9/10
$42,999
50
NASA
Workshop
10/10
$259K
10
Shared Services Canada
Workshop
9/10
N/A
20
Fisheries and Oceans Canada
Workshop
9/10
$23,500
18
Oman LNG L.L.C.
Guided Implementation
10/10
$30,999
55
State of North Dakota
Guided Implementation
8/10
N/A
N/A
South African Reserve Bank
Guided Implementation
8/10
$35,017
18
Workshop: Optimize the IT Operating Model
Workshops offer an easy way to accelerate your project. If you are unable to do the project yourself, and a Guided Implementation isn't enough, we offer low-cost delivery of our project workshops. We take you through every phase of your project and ensure that you have a roadmap in place to complete your project successfully.
Module 1: Identify Organizational Strategy and Technology Consumer Groups
The Purpose
- Identify the IT and business strategies, so that the target IT operating model can be constructed to support them.
Key Benefits Achieved
- Identify the implications for the IT operating model and understand how to optimally construct it.
- Create consumer groups for consumer experience mapping and consumer profile classification.
Activities
Outputs
Review business and IT strategies.
Identify implications for the IT operating model.
- Implications for the IT operating model
Identify internal technology consumer groups.
Identify external technology consumer groups.
- List of internal and external technology service consumer groups
Module 2: Map the Consumer Experience and Identify Consumption Patterns (Consumer Group 1)
The Purpose
- Identify the interfaces with IT for the consumer group, its level of technology service requirement, its sentiment toward IT, and its needs from IT.
Key Benefits Achieved
- Consumer group needs from IT and feelings toward IT are identified.
Activities
Outputs
Identify interview candidates for the consumer groups.
Complete consumer group questionnaire.
Complete consumer experience map.
- Consumer experience map for first group
Classify the consumer group into a business profile.
- Business profile classification
Module 3: Map the Consumer Experience and Identify Consumption Patterns (Consumer Group 2)
The Purpose
- Continue mapping the experience of consumer groups and classify them into profiles based on their needs to draw implications for the target IT operating model.
Key Benefits Achieved
- Consumption patterns from the consumer groups are defined and implications for the target IT operating model are drawn.
Activities
Outputs
Continue interviews for consumer groups.
Complete consumer experience map.
- Consumer experience map for second group
Classify the consumer group into a business profile.
- Business profile classification
Aggregate the consumption patterns for the business profile and document implications.
- Aggregated consumption patterns
- Implications for consumption patterns
Module 4: Create the Target IT Operating Model
The Purpose
- Map the target operating model to show how each element of the IT operating model supports the delivery of IT services to the consumer groups.
Key Benefits Achieved
- Identify whether the current IT operating model is optimally supporting the delivery of IT services to consumer groups from the four core IT operating model elements.
Activities
Outputs
Determine the approach to IT governance.
Select the optimal mix of sourcing models.
Customize the approach to process implementation.
Identify the target organizational structure.
- Target IT operating model
Module 5: Build a Roadmap and Create Initiatives to Reach the Target
The Purpose
- Create initiatives and communicate them with a roadmap to show how the organization will arrive at the target IT operating model.
Key Benefits Achieved
- The steps to reach the IT operating model are created, assessed, and prioritized.
- Steps are ordered for presentation.
Activities
Outputs
Identify initiatives to reach the target IT operating model.
Create initiative profiles to assess initiative quality.
- Initiative profiles
Prioritize initiatives based on business conditions.
Create a roadmap to communicate initiative execution.
- Sunshine diagram
About Info-Tech
Info-Tech Research Group is the world’s fastest-growing information technology research and advisory company, proudly serving over 30,000 IT professionals.
We produce unbiased and highly relevant research to help CIOs and IT leaders make strategic, timely, and well-informed decisions. We partner closely with IT teams to provide everything they need, from actionable tools to analyst guidance, ensuring they deliver measurable results for their organizations.
What Is a Blueprint?
A blueprint is designed to be a roadmap, containing a methodology and the tools and templates you need to solve your IT problems.
Each blueprint can be accompanied by a Guided Implementation that provides you access to our world-class analysts to help you get through the project.
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Guided Implementation 1: Construct the IT services consumer experience maps
- Call 1: Define consumer groups in the organization.
- Call 2: Create a consumer experience map for each consumer group.
Guided Implementation 2: Classify IT service consumers based on business needs
- Call 1: Classify the consumer groups into four profiles.
- Call 2: Identify implications for the target IT operating model from classification.
Guided Implementation 3: Determine the target IT operating model
- Call 1: Select the implementation models for governance and sourcing.
- Call 2: Select the implementation models for process and organizational structure.
Guided Implementation 4: Create a roadmap to develop the target IT operating model
- Call 1: Create initiatives to reach the target IT operating model.
- Call 2: Prioritize initiatives and create a roadmap for their execution.
Contributors
- Terry Brigman, CIO, City of Lakeland
- Daniel Bursuc, Senior Manager, Rogers Communications
- Stu Charles, CIO, Workers Compensation Board of Manitoba
- Chantelle Denstedt, Director, IT Services, District Municipality of Muskoka
- Joe Evers, Consulting Principal, JcEvers Consulting Corp
- John Hansknecht, Director of Technology, University of Detroit Jesuit High School and Academy
- Five anonymous individuals also contributed their insights to the project
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