Reshaping the technology business unit to better meet business priorities of speed, flexibility and cost containment is a major problem for many companies. On the demand side the business does not see how they can understand and control the technology part of their operational budget. We have assisted a number of large organisations design and transition their IT department to a technology services model and summarised some key lessons from our experiences.

Our client, a major Australian bank, had underinvested in technology infrastructure over a period in which business and technological complexity expanded dramatically. 

A banking infrastructure project was initiated to develop a comprehensive strategy to transform the IT infrastructure from a complex and high cost constraint to a simpler, lower cost enabler of future business.

Achieving funding support for large technology projects is a major problem for many businesses. Typically the concept and architectural design make sense - but the numbers are not robust enough, finance does not buy into it, and hard linkage to business capabilities is sketchy. We have assisted a number of clients achieve funding approval and improve the outcomes of large IT investments.

Why do so many IT projects fail? Our view is that the fatal decisions are made at the design phase of a project by selecting the wrong design philosophy. Often, a project is initiated due to a perceived business need, but by inappropriately following an IT centric design approach the project eventually loses sight of the original business problem.

Development of rigorous economic framework for both cost and investment levers to force investment in IT infrastructure to support business needs and provide sound economic basis for business decision making.