Professor :
Dr. Kanchit Maliavongs
Student
ID :
G4639315
Patcharee Khemsatitanant
Sales Engineer
Measuretronix Ltd.
My
Expectation :
To Learn how to manage IT Department in our
Organization. The things we must concern in
Implementing IT. So one day if we have chance
we
can mange in the correct way and suitable way
My
Experience : I am
The products are network measurement testing that
relate to many computers.
Learning
online
Course
Summary
Part 1: Introduction
Part
2: Success and Failure
Part
3: IT Costs
Part
4: IT
Organization
Part
5: IT Director
Part
6: IT
Direction and Standards
Part
7: IT
Operation
Part
8: Application Management
Part
9: Human Resurce
Part10:
Vendor Selection
Part11:
Vendor Management
Part15: Legal Issues
Part16: Performance Evaluation
Part17: IT Center Planning
Part18: Budgeting and Cost Management
Part19: Steering Committee
Part I : Introduction
·
Most corporations use computer networks to
connect executives and employees, and some time to partners and customers
·
Data are collected automatically from the data
collection devices and stored in databases. Data are
processed by programs in the Information systems and reports are sent to
executives via network. Executives
study reports and make relevant decisions which are communicated to staff via
email
·
Types of Computers 1. Analog computers-old type
2. Digital computers- new type
·
Types
of Digital Computers
-Super
Computers
-Mainframe
computers
-Minicomputers
-PC’s
-PDA
·
Types of PC’s à Servers,
Tower,Desktop ,Laptop,
Notebooks, Desknotes, Handheld
·
Results of Computer Usage
·
Computers help automate routine works, speed up
business processes, reducing expenses,
·
we need a computer center because we want to
o To plan
computer usage and purchase
o To set
standards on HW/SW/NW/Data for ease of computer usage and data exchange
o To ensure good
services can be provided to all users
o To help
organize trainings for staff
o To ensure that
security is in place
·
Types of Networks
LAN – Local Area Network- A network of not so
many computers within a limited space such as in a floor or a building. Total cable length <2 KM.
CAN – Campus Area Network – A network of
LAN’s in a larger area such as university or ministry.
MAN – Metropolitan Area Network - Network of
computers and LAN’s at different locations in a city.
WAN – Wide Area Network – Network of
computers and MAN, CAN, LAN throughout the country.
VAN – Value Added
Network – Network which provides extra benefits such as special news or data to
users.
•
Private Network – Network set up
for a specific group of users. No outsiders can penetrate into the network. ATM
network is this kind.
•
Public Network – Network set up for anyone to use.
However, users must follow rules and regulations. Telephone network and
Internet are of this type. We can also set up Private network from Public
Network
•
Internet is the largest public network linking
many hundred millions computers together.
•
Intranet is the private network using internet
technology. The purpose is just for the corporate use.
•
Extranet is the private network using internet
technology and links all intranets of the same group of companies or partners.
•
Computers and communications are expensive. We
should be careful about expenditures in ICT.
•
ICT changes very fast. We must plan to use these facilities
wisely to gain benefits and to make sure that they offer efficiency to our operations.
•
ICT users need proper trainings and we must be
able to provide these trainings when required
•
conclusion
-
-Not
all organizations and companies have full computer center operations.
-Without
proper computer center management, organizations may not be able to reap
benefits from the use of these technologies
Part 2: Success and Failure
Computer successes
We have seen computers being used
everywhere
•
Computers are used in grocery stores, hospitals,
schools, banks, airlines, gas stations, etc.
•
How to difine Success
and Failures
•
Success should mean that computers make
companies obtain more efficiency and more revenue.
•
Failures should mean that computers cannot work
and deliver results as required by users and executives.
•
Causes of success and failure
•
In fact the main causes of success and failure
in using computers are not in the computers themselves.
•
The main causes are lack of proper ICT
management knowledge and lack of ability to use and produce useful results from
the computers.
•
Other causes are the users who are not willing
to learn and use computers to do things in a new way. They stick to their own
ways of working and thinking.
Symptoms
of IT Distress
•
Business satisfaction: Level of satisfaction and
confidence in the IT Dept on the part of business.
•
Budgeting: IT spending, including internal
resource costs, services, and capital expenditures.
•
Projects: IT support for business projects:; internal SW and HW deployments.
•
Staffing: IT HR management, team morale, and IT
organization.
Business
Satisfaction T
•
BU leaders are not satisfied with IT
performances
•
B Mngrs lack
confidence when IT commit deadline
•
B users are frustrated by their lack of control over IT
•
Business doesn’t believe that IT has the same
goals as the overall business
•
B users do not understand priorities in IT Dept
•
IT claims that business ignores IT
Business
Satisfaction 2
•
With IT shortcomings, BU start their own IT team
•
BU blame IT shortcomings for making them miss
business opportunities
•
BU create systems without input/help from IT
•
BU bring IT into decision making in the last
minute
•
IT Dept insulates itself from the rest of the
Org.
Spending/Budgeting
•
Spending more than peer groups on IT
•
Large expansion on IT budget without associated
expansion on business volumes
•
Large expansion of IT capital budget without
business imperative or retirement of existing capital
•
High level of outside purchasing on services and
consulting
Spending/Budgeting 2
•
Failing to cover cost of capital on IT
•
Continuous requisition from IT for people,
systems
•
Inability to forecast IT costs annually or
quarterly
•
Ongoing large budget variances
•
Inadequate technology infrastructure to support
business initiatives
Projects
•
No clear successful project to point to
•
Multiple project inventories
•
No distinction between internal IT projects and
projects for business unit
•
Confusion between to-do list and projects
•
Large numbers of projects
•
No project charters for projects underway
•
Slight progress of projects in the inventory
•
IT team capacity does not match with projects
•
Multiple uncoordinated projects
•
No framework to prioritize projects based on
business value, risks, existing system adequacy, ease of completion or relevant
factor
•
No clear project management responsibility
•
Project documentation is incomplete or missing
•
Poor quality projects
Staffing
•
No ownership of results by IT
•
Worried IT staff
•
Large number of recent hires
•
Organization chart not clearly defined
•
Disparate titles – no standardization of roles
and responsibility
•
High attrition rate in IT department
•
Large volume of gossip in IT department
•
Inadequate interaction between IT staff and
others
•
Inexperienced IT managers
•
Little or no screening of new hires
•
Sourcing of candidates from social circles
•
Excessive consumption of vacation time
•
Inordinate number of team members “Working from
home”
•
Disengaged management
•
Constant in fighting fire between business and
IT
Possible
Causes: Business turmoil
•
Changes to business model – new lines of
business
•
Changes to external entities – more customers...
•
Merger and acquisition activity
•
Divestiture or separation of systems and data
•
Changes to business profitability
•
Rapid revenue growth
•
Additional support for disparate geographies
required
•
Multiple technologies in place for operations
Possible
Causes: Vendor Management
•
Vendors appropriate for smaller companies do not
necessary suit large companies
•
Poorly performed vendor selection
•
Weak management of vendors
•
Weak or nonexistent standard setting: wide
variety of disparate technologies and vendors creating chaos
Possible
Causes: Staffing and Communications
•
Business unit leaders take no interest in IT
•
IT makes little or no effort to socialize with
business
•
IT leadership is weak. IT Dir. has limited
experience
•
IT Dir. cannot identify good new hires
•
Department lacks ability to attract right talent
•
Poor staff management
•
Rapid growth in IT department
•
No systems approach thinking
Possible Causes: Financial & Risk Mngt
•
No calculation of ROI for projects or IT
expenses
•
No record of ROI for previous projects
•
No understanding of cost of additional
expenditures to company profits
•
IT Dir. overinsure
system engineering at high costs
•
IT Dir. spending more money on losing projects
•
IT Dir. focusing on optimizing each project rather
than on overall companies
Skills to be developed by IT Professional
•
System requirements gathering and analysis
•
Programming and systems development
•
Application design and management
•
System configuration
•
Business process documentation
•
Technology Implementation
•
Systems administration
•
Programming and systems development
•
Application design and management
•
System configuration
•
Business process documentation
•
Systems administration
•
Systems performance management
•
Technical, data, and application architecture
design and management
•
Limited project management
•
Upward reporting relationship with technical
manager
Skills required
•
Management of both applications and operations
portions of IT function
•
Vendor selection, negotiation, and management
•
Hiring, evaluating, managing, motivating,
developing, promoting, and firing team members
•
Decision making
•
Cost containment
•
Cost/benefit estimating; project economics
estimate
•
budgeting
•
Risk management
•
Communications with business units and senior
management
•
Resource and project prioritization
•
IT Organization design
•
Standard setting and enforcement
•
IT measurement and effectiveness
•
Coordination of multiple, disparate projects,
and initiatives across BU and internal functions
•
Determining best use of scarce economic
resources
•
Maintenance of steady state service level for
basic IT services
•
Upward reporting relationship with nontechnical mngrs
•
Steps to Effective IT management
- Improve IT
management
·
Implement an IT Steering Committee as a
virtual CIO to provide advice and leadership to IT director and help resolves
issue between IT and business
·
Upgrade management talent by hiring right
director
·
IT director must not be senior programmer
·
Clean up IT Organization chart
·
Create Roles and Responsibility document for
every staff
- Add basic project management
disciplines
·
Create well documented inventory of projects
·
Determine ROI of each project
·
Projects that do not improve revenues, reduce
costs, or improve control over business should be ignored
·
Prioritize projects by their benefits, difficulty
and adequacy of the current systems
·
Determine project capacity of the IT Dept
·
Limit the number of open projects to that
capacity
·
Expect this number to be small, but it will be
fine
·
Assign a specific person from IT Dept to be
responsible for management and execution of the project
·
Each team leader must develop a clear project
plan
- Manage vendors
·
Determine performance of each vendor
·
Migrate business to good vendors
·
Insist on favorable contracts and pricing for
vendor exclusivity
·
Make technology platform homogeneous
·
Negotiate hard for best pricing
·
Ask vendors to measure their own client
satisfaction
·
Reject them if they don’t know how to do.
Otherwise help them to improve their services with clear feedback
-Fiscal management/budgeting
·
Try to make $10 revenue for every $1 in IT
expenditure
·
Build a reputation for saving the company money
– suggest to Managers how to use IT to reduce costs
·
If budget variances appear, proactively explain
them to senior management
·
Build trust with CFO by avoiding typical agency
issues that accompany the budgeting process
–
Improve relationship with business
·
Reduce finger pointing between IT and business
users
·
IT directors should have a quota of two lunches
per week with business unit managers, functional managers, or members of the
steering committee
·
Add effective business-user relationship
management to the appraisal process for all IT team members
·
Conclusion
•
IT Department is always facing problems if the
director is inexperienced.
•
Problems are more serious in management
processes, financial and budgeting, project management, staffing, users, and vendors relationship than in the technology itself.
Part
3 : IT Cost
-Using
IT needs money. Although today IT nowadays look be cheap but we cannot ignore,
we must consider before we decice to buy or implement
new system.
-AT
present , IT spending ranges from 1% to 10% of over
all company revenue depending on the dynamics of the industry and situation of
the company
-we
must learn about finance and budgeting now before taking responsibility as an
IT manager
-Executives
wonder how IT spending relate to the business
productivity
-Trends
of IT spending
IT Capital Budget will include HW, SW
and application, allocating the costs of long term outlays for assets that must
use over a
long time of period .
-Quality
of IT spending should suitable with business
-
We should have analysis in benchmarking IT spending effectiveness such as
satisfaction, Financial cost, Financial Performance
ROI. ,Level of executive objectives met
-We
accept it we pay high cost and get high satisfaction but we not accept in vice
versa
-
The Items of IT spending such as : HW, SW, services, outsourcing, Salaries,
benefits and const of implementing and enhancing applications system that
support existing business system maintenance and admistration.
Voice Telecommunication not included except in small companies
-10-20%
of IT spending may occur outside IT department
-The
way to estimate IT spending we can use following Technique
Compare Percent
of spending against peer group
Compare IT
budget by Revenue
Compare IT
spending per employee against peer group
Use formula
developed by IT investment researcher
-Step
to estimate 1. consider baseline such as baseline IT
cost, Variable IT costs, Other cost 2. allocate
cost to the budget categories
3. select peer group based on similarity across
relevant factors such as company size, industry, geographic, footprint
-
Scale of Economics have impact on estimation
-
Technology with Scale Economics such as ERP System, Help desk Infrastucture
-
Costs that grow with employee are Desktops, Network, Telecom, E-mail servers,
End-user license fees, End-User desktop support
-
Conclusion
•
Estimating and benchmarking IT spending provide
focus and validation of the IT spending and investment strategy.
•
It provides information on how other peer groups
are spending and what are the results
•
It provides actual money value on costs and
spending
Part
4 : IT Organization
-
IT department can be large or small , may have manu or few staffs
-
Some may have many function, others may have few
-
Well structured IT org. can manage complexity
and adapt to new business requirement while maintaining the service levels and
able to complete the critical projects
-
Poorly IT org. will result in confused staff and
business users
-
New IT manager must take time to learn to mange IT .
-
IT department will be attached to other departmeny or not depend on how IT started in the company.
IT department may be found within the Finance and Accounting or in
manufacturing depend on hot it start at the beginning
-
State of growth of
1.
Initiation
2.
Contagion
3.
Contronl
4.
Integration
5.
Data Administration
6.
Maturity
-
computer center that attached to other department may not function well
-
Standard IT Department has 3 major divisions
1.
Division of Operation and Infrastructure
2.
Division of Application Mangement
3.
Administration Support
-
End User Support responsible for physical
computer repair and field visits to customer locations. Most important skills
are customer handling skills
-
Company must plan the right number of staff to
be able to provide services around services the clock if needed.
-
Network Admin Group :
manage all data network communications form LAN to WAN. Such as wiring, Hubs ,
and security , Leaseline router
-
Systems Admin : mange , monitors tunes administratyers all IT servers and system software which
are infrastructure such as email server, file servers, web servers print
servers development , test production, and failover application server
-
Telecom and Service Group : manage telephony ,
voice mail systems,fax machines,and
video conferencing systeml, bandwidth consumption and
network security ,need to know PBX, and SW configuration
-
Operation Manager: responsible for all teams in
the IT operations, must have basic knowledge in all areas managed and the
skills in organizations and management of the teams
-
Process Responsibility in IT Operations
-
IT
operations manager is responsible for
o Systems demand
management process
o Disaster
recovery function
o All management
processes
-
Help-desk manager is responsible
for
o Help-desk
function
o Problem
management process
o
Input to changes in standard operating
procedure/problem diagnosis process
- End-User support manager is
responsible for
o Problem
management process (Break-fix problem)
o Fixed asset
management process
- Senior
network admin is responsible for
o Problem
management process
o LAN/WAN
management process
o Security
management process (overall)
-
-Senior system administrator is responsible
for
Problem management process
o Systems administration process
o E-mail
administration process
o Operators
o Change control
process
o Asset
management process (Server equipment portion)
o Login
management (Add, change, delete)
o Security
(Server portion)
- Telecom services manager
is responsible for
–
Telecom administration
–
Problem management process
- Five key drivers to
determine IT staffing levels
–
Number of end users supported
–
Number of systems supported
–
Number of sites supported and geographic dispersion
–
Support requirements (e.g., 5 days a week, 8 hrs
a day, or 7 days a week, 24 hrs a day)
–
Complexity of the computing environment – number
of different types of applications, systems, and networks
–
Security (telecom portion)
- Application
Development and Support
•
Maintains all the critical business applications
that are layered on top of the infrastructure.
•
Supports the production applications gathers
requirements for enhancements or
additional functionality, develops specifications, programs the new system
functions, tests the interaction of the old and new code, and integrate chances
into the system.
•
Provides enhancements and support for business
applications based on the requirements.
•
In small organization, business analyst is the
same team as the application developer.
•
The applications may be custom developed
in-house, or may be purchased as packages from vendors and configured and
customized for - -Database
Administrator
•
Design database architecture, install and
configure the database software, participate in design and development
activities with the development team, ensure data integrity, and monitor and
optimize the database performance.
•
Responsible for the DB in both the production
and development environments.
EDI/Application Interface Specialist
•
Electronic Data Interchange is a new mechanism
to transfer data between several companies and organizations. EDI standard such
as EDIFACT specifies how one can define data items to be passed from the
creator to different destinations. Once data is received, computers at the
receiving sites will interpret data and take action on these data.
•
EDI is heavily used to send business documents
worldwide
•
EDI specialist is responsible for ensuring the
accurate, timely, and speedy transport of data between applications inside the
company and with strategic partners.
•
Multiple tools are now available that allow the
construction of complicate cross-application, cross –platform asynchronous
communications.
Business Analyst group
•
Work directly with the business users to
understand how the systems are used and identify the enhancements to optimize
these systems.
•
Understand internal business processes and how
IT applications are used in the process, including how IT applications
streamline or inhibit the process.
•
Track and help prioritize all requests for
applications changes or enhancements.
IT Director
•
IT Director is responsible for all IT
organization, daily operations, long term strategies, IT architecture, and
customized development.
•
The position requires a unique combination of
technology understanding, leadership, and managerial skills, and business
knowledge.
Administrative Support
•
Very important for the smooth operation
and efficiency of the IT Center.
•
Responsible for daily administrative operations,
paper work, purchasing and receiving of office products and stationery, and
some time doing the accounting of the center.
•
This includes secretary to the IT Director.
Conclusion
•
IT Center organization is crucial for the
success of the operations. Large and small organizations may have different
organizations and staff levels. Make sure that the organization is developed in
such a way that the efficient and safe operations can be achieved.
Part 5 : IT Directors
Important Role
of IT Director
•
IT Director is a leader of the IT Center and
leads the Center to success. IT Director has the largest impact on the overall
effectiveness of the IT Center.
•
This role can be called by many names
–
IT Director
–
VP for Information Systems
–
Chief Information Officer or CIO
•
IT Center interacts with virtually every unit in
the organization. Therefore, the IT Director must have a wide range of
management skills, communication skills, motivational ability, and political
savvy.
•
Leadership is very important for the success of
IT Department. Therefore, IT Director must be carefully selected to make sure
that he can lead the IT Department
Critical Role
of IT Director
•
IT function involves with the entire business,
therefore, IT Director must be responsive to all business and business styles.
•
IT Director has the most highly visible and
politically complicated position. He is in control of the function that uses a
lot of financial budget with not so obvious result. This causes doubt as to the
usefulness of the IT to the business in general.
Talent ChallengeIn
general,
•
it seems that a good IT Director candidate
should be from the internal IT department. However, the history proves
otherwise. IT heads of internal units are not suitable because they cannot
adapt to the new roles and expectations.
Needed Skills
and Responsibilities
•
Business technology planning process
•
Applications development
•
IT infrastructure and architecture
•
Sourcing
•
Partnerships
•
Technology transfer
•
Customer satisfaction
•
Training
Groups to Work
With
•
Senior management
•
Business unit general managers
•
Outside business partners/customers/suppliers
•
Functional vice presidents
•
Business process managers
•
Professional IT staff
•
End
users
•
Vendors and service providers
How to Allocate
Time
•
Winning IT Director spends most of his time
planning and communicating and the minority of his time on “doing”.
•
Successful IT Director goes to lunch everyday
with a group of business unit managers from his company.
•
New IT Director should spend the first 30 days
in the position completing a full assessment of the department. The next 30
days to write a strategic plan for 3 years.
IT Director
Time
•
Administrative and financial
•
“Doing” technical work or managing projects
•
Cultivate relationships with senior management
•
Communicating, marketing, and selling the IT
department to the rest of the organization
•
Leading and developing senior IT staff
Recruitiong and Retaining is
Difficult! It must be attractive to
the best candidates.
•
Many IT Director recruitment failed because too
much emphasis in the technical skills rather than in the leadership, business,
communication, and management background. Another failure is to look at “I
built the department” rather than considering how he used budget, staff, and
capabilities to drive revenues and reduce costs.
•
Use a scorecard when interviewing candidates to
drive the selection process and to ensure that the candidate has
technology-specific knowledge.
•
Check the references and educational background,
credit checks, criminal background, etc. This process can be conducted by HR.
Other useful screening is on the psychological and behavioral testing and
situational interviews.
•
Senior management must spend time in a social
setting with the finalist to make sure that the person is likable and a good
cultural fit to the company.
Other Factors impacting IT Director’s
Roles
•
Learning
to get things done through people.
•
Learning to judge people and attract the best
professionals.
•
Developing and managing people.
•
Focus on the majors.
•
Ensuring all projects are
productive.
•
Developing partnerships with management.
Getting
Promoting
•
The
new IT Director can be the victim of his own past “Doer” instead of trying to
developing new skills needed to succeed in the IT directorship.
•
The IT Director must first try to fill in the
gap of his knowledge in business, senior management priorities, and
business. In the new position, the
IT Director should concentrate in the management aspects rather than on the
technicalities.
IT Steering Committee
•
This committee is important for helping the IT
director to succeed and for ensuring that the priorities of the business are
reflected in the IT department’s projects.
•
If the IT Director is weak, the committee will
be helpful to lead the IT functions.
Evaluating the IT Director
•
IT Director must be accountable for
value-increasing performance.
Appropriate measures must be developed to assess the performance of the
IT Director. Later we shall study these measures.
•
IT Director should build relationship throughout
the company to effectively and efficiently fulfill his mission and should be
judged against these relationships.
IT Director Self-audit
•
Have you read the latest company financial
reports?
•
Can you list key financial metrics (e.g.,
revenues, profits?)
•
Can you list the company’s top five customers?
•
Do you understand the business strategy of the
company’s top five competitors?
•
Can you list the top five key trends in the
industry?
•
Can you draw the top three layers of the
company’s organizational chart?
•
Have you met or spoken with a customer in the
past month?
•
Do you know the secretaries/receptionists of
stakeholders by name?
•
Have you met in person, one-on-one, at least
once with all of the business unit leaders in the past month?
•
ConIT Director is
important for the success of the IT Department and must be screened carefully.
•
IT Director must spend the time studying
business, business strategy and how to use IT to help business.
•
IT Director must communicate well with other
business managers, preferably, have lunch with them.
Conclusion
•
IT Director is important for the success of the
IT Department and must be screened carefully.
•
IT Director must spend the time studying
business, business strategy and how to use IT to help business.
•
IT Director must communicate well with other
business managers, preferably, have lunch with them.
Part 6 : IT Direction and Standards
Standard
Setting
•
We can begin standard setting by collecting and
grouping information about technologies (that we use and/or available).
•
These technologies are interrelated. When we
decide to use one technology, it may dictate the other technologies to be used
together
Framework for
Setting Technology Standards
Decision Factor
•
Information used as criteria in setting the
technology standard.
•
Decision factor analysis determines which
criteria are important for the standard.
•
Each criteria should be
kept the same when assess the technology. However, its importance may vary for
each application or technology to be used.
Example: ERP
•
Reliability: If business cannot run when the
system is down, the business may lose some profits.
•
Labor availability: A well-trained group of
staff is needed to ensure continuous operations
•
Upgrade path: A clear path of upgrading is necessary
for running the business.
Decision
Factors
•
•
Unit Volume
•
Stability of area supported
•
Expected asset lifetime
•
Level of customization
•
Interfaces with other systems
•
Current and future transaction volume required
•
Organization growth plans
•
Size/type of user base
•
Cost
•
Industry adoption
•
Consistency/Interoperability
•
Labor availability
•
Upgrade path
•
Current life cycle
•
Reliability
•
Scalability
•
Flexibility
•
Timing/availability
•
Available support
•
Customer, suppliers, and competitor use
•
Ease of use
•
Durability
•
Manageability
Technology Life
Cycle
•
Technology is created, becomes old, and dies
•
Technologies that we have used widely in the
past have died. In the future the present technologies will also die. When we are using obsolete technologies,
it seems that they are cost effective. On the other hand the usage might block
our progress and enlargement in the future.
•
One factor that we need to consider is the cost
of technology.
Investment
Consideration
•
We can classify technologies into two groups.
The first includes technologies which are adequate and the second includes
those which need to be further improved. We call this factor as System
adequacy.
•
The second consideration is based on the life cycle
stage. That is whether the technology is in the first stage of the life cycle
or is in the last stage.
•
When combined, there will be four groups of
technologies.
The First Group
•
Technology is in the first stage of the life
cycle and the system is not adequate.
We should not heavily invest either in the training, support, or
development. If we believe that the technology can be further improved, we
should advise the technology producers to improve the technology based on our
ideas. We should also ask the producer to send the beta version to us for
testing.
The Second
Group
•
The technology is in the last stage of life
cycle, and the system is not adequate. The systems in this group should be the
target for replacing with newer systems. When we assess
the replacing services and products we should consider whether they can improve
or increase the current technology capability. The new replacement should be in
the early stage
The Third Group
•
The technology is in the early stage of life
cycle and the system is adequate. Systems falling in this group are worth for
investment with the producers because they will still have a longer period to grow needing
only low investment. ICT executives
should consider investing in technologies within this group to obtain maximum
benefits and to get returned profit at the end.
The Fourth
Group
•
The technologies are in the last stage of life
cycle and systems are adequate for use. We should still use these technologies
to obtain maximum return. These technologies normally are
efficient and has low operating costs. Using these technologies enable
us to
invest
in technologies which are in the early stage of life cycle. In case that vendors
do no longer support these technologies, we must develop a plan to support them
ourselves.
Comparing
Impacts with Investment
•
We can create a matrix showing levels of
investment and levels of impacts. This will result in 4 groups:
–
Low impact and low investment
–
Low impact and high investment
–
High impact and low investment
–
High impact and high investment
Low Impact and
Low Investment
•
We should reconsider technologies in this group
to ensure that we really understand the impact.
•
If the business impact is low and will not be
improved, we should not invest in such technology. The decision to invest in
this group of technologies does not involve high risk because the level of
investment is low. However, the IT Center may be misled which will cause a risk of We should avoid using expensive
technologies which have low impact on business.
•
In general, when a technology progresses, it
will have better quality and lower price. We must frequently check the
technologies in this group whether they will move to other groups.
•
opportunity loss.
High Impact and Low
Investment
•
We should investigate systems, devices, and
services which are in the early stage of life cycle and do not have partners in
the current platform. If we think that this is a good opportunity, we should
then invest in them, We should spend time with the
vendors to explain how to improve the products and services. We should request to be a partner to test
their products so that there is a closer relationship between IT Center and
vendor
•
If the technology really has high impact with
low investment, we should invest in them asap.
High Impact and
High Investment
•
Most technologies which have high impact always
require high investment.
•
We should watch these technologies when they
have higher maturity so that we can rewrite our plan to also gain higher
maturity.
•
The knowledge of business impact and technology
investment can help IT Director to make a clear decision to invest in the
technologies which will offer highest benefits with lowest investment.
•
The knowledge of business impact and technology
investment can help IT Director to make a clear decision to invest in the
technologies which will offer highest benefits with lowest investment.
Adopting
Standards
•
Document the standards after they have been
determined.
•
IT Center reviews the standards document and
give comments on the standards. This is to enable the center to have a sense of
ownership.
•
After review, the documents are submitted to the
IT Steering Committee for review. After that, the Chairman approves and signs
the documents.
•
IT Center works with other departments to ensure that standards are
understood and followed.
•
Plan to improve and migrate
the current technology to the adopted standards.
•
Improve and update technology standards every
quarter.
Standard
Enforcement
•
Standards must be easy to use, written in the
form which is easy to understand, clear, reasonable, with proper schedule of
tasks to be followed, and linkages to the procurement department.
•
Business department will not use the standards
if they are not understandable or reasonable.
•
If the standards are supported by senior
management, other departments will adopt them.
Steps in
enforcement
•
Clear documentation of the standards distributed
to business and IT.
•
Clear documentation of the rationale/reasoning
behind each standard.
•
Purchase approval and procurement processes that
support the standards.
•
Support of the business senior management for
the standards
Conclusion
•
Creation of standards is important for the
development of information systems and for unifying the information technology
and applications. Standards will
enable all systems to communicate with each other in the most efficient and
economical mode.
•
After standards are determined and adopted, IT
Center must keep these standards up-to-date so that they are really followed.
Part 7 : IT