Run IT: Dominating Information Technology

By Andreas Graesser

This book describes the intrinsic factors of IT Operation and its set-up during the software implementation phase. Based on the author’s long-term experience in managing IT for more than 100 clients over nearly 25 years, the book examines the needed knowledge and execution management capabilities to implement and run IT environments successfully for all sizes of enterprises. Many real-world examples provide insight into typical IT challenges and recipes to turn common pitfalls of implementation and operation into best practices. In order to dominate information technology and not be dominated by it, readers will understand how to identify the most common risk factors during implementations and how to initiate successful risk-mitigation measures. The goal of this book is to arm the reader to completely prevent The 5 Pitfalls of Software Implementation by using the right programmatic design and execution.
After an introduction to the book, individual chapters examine the vision of a Perfect IT and how Design Thinking and innovation contributes to it. The core chapters conveys The Five Pitfalls of Software Implementation, including Underestimation of System Performance Issues, Weak Program Governance and Leadership, and Operational Un-Readiness. The challenges surrounding implementations of cloud applications, are presented separately. Final chapters describe the preparation of the IT Operation along with a number of dos and don’ts (i.e. ‘Best Practices’ and ‘Worst Practices’). The book concludes by presenting some Digital Strategies of companies, to dominate information technology.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Springer
• Release date: Apr 23, 2019
• ISBN: 9783030142193

Book preview

© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019

Andreas GraesserRun ITManagement for Professionalshttps://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-14219-3_1

1. Introduction

Andreas Graesser¹  

(1)

Innovad LLC, Wayne, PA, USA

Andreas Graesser

Email: [e-mail]

Early on, when I joined SAP in 1996, the first facts I learned during my first few months was that there was a big gap between IT organizations on the one side and the Lines of Business (LoB) on the other side.

I’d like to use the picture of the Great Wall with a clear separation of responsibilities. Inside the wall ruled the king and his family, outside the wall lived the enemies.

The Great Wall situation was eminent already in 1996: the kingdom represented by the IT organization , the outside enemies and disturbers embodied by the LoBs. In fact, inside and outside didn’t talk with each other.

More than 20 years later, and after managing more than 500 customer situations, I must say that the Great Wall didn’t disappear at all, despite the fact of advanced communication technology. IT organizations and LoBs don’t communicate effectively. Of course, there are companies where the LoBs lead and guide (i.e. Apple) and the IT organization is just a service provider providing system reliability, data consistency, application uptime, and highest performance at all times. However, the vast majority of the customer situations I had touched and seen fit into the Great Wall pictures with its powerplays and communication deficiencies.

The role play is still the old game: the IT kings inside the Great Wall keep their technology platform stable as long as possible. They are so afraid of changing a running system. As such, change and innovation are the real enemies for the IT kings.

The LoBs on the other side expect innovation in short implementation cycles. They are under such pressure to surpass their competitors, and they need the newest technology and best system availability at any time and any device.

Expectations from the business are shielded very well from the IT Great Wall. As a result of the IT kings ‘do-not-change-anything-policy’, the innovation cycle too LoBs and end users alike are very long. While I see some shorter release cycles in recent years, there are still many business units who only get one major functional software release within a year. Under those circumstances, how can LoBs innovate in times of dramatic speed of market changes? Under those circumstances, how can LoBs reach and hunt customers while tackling the competition for greater market share at the same time? In fact, they can’t.

The ancient Great Wall picture manifests within today’s Great Divide (see Fig. 1.1). The LoBs need full support from their IT organization to survive. They need to innovate in constantly, with quick time to market. They need the best system availability with all software applications . They need an environment to experiment and run proof of concepts. And what do they get?

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Fig. 1.1

The Great Divide  between IT and Lines of Business

IT offers slow and long-lasting realizations of features and requests. The implementation processes include massive overhead with slow scoping and blueprinting. IT departments adhere to their SLA s ¹. And as long the KPIs are met, everything seems great.

The Great Divide approach still blooms today.

Let’s look at the SLA topic, for example. One of the measurements is, for example, server uptime. Server uptime doesn’t mean the applications running on the servers are available. Servers may be pingable; however, the business applications running on the server are not reachable for business users due to network difficulties or database issues. The IT KPI server uptime is reached; however, business users are down. Improving only this KPI will take a long time of negotiation across the Great Divide .

Another example of the existence of the Great Divide stems from market pressures and customer needs with fast decision-making. LoBs want to try out new ideas and new concepts. They want to use proof of concepts to validate ideas and their relevance for customers. Trial and error. Quick and dirty. They would need real-time insight and real-time data processing. However, IT is still very protective of their existing technology and not open for rapid change.  While operating often on old legacy platforms , they just not able to support the needs and change requests of the business.

For IT organizations , it’s too dangerous to introduce ongoing changes and even new software features to the solution. There is no quick and dirty. The rule is scoping and blueprinting, and for sure no trial and error.

One of the biggest concerns of today’s IT kings is budget control. Every year, the CIO experiences budget cuts along with the expectation to deliver more, better and faster services. This dilemma stems from the cost allocation model of Operational Expenses (OPEX) versus Capital Expenses (CAPEX) . CAPEX relates to investments the company has to do, such as servers, hardware, and infrastructure. Due to their depreciation and their long-term impact on the balance sheet, these expenses are being reduced year over year, leaving less and less flexibility to the IT kings. OPEX , on the other hand, include personnel expenses, subscription of software and services, and becomes the preferred cost allocation model also within IT organizations .

If IT organizations would recognize the opportunities that would come by collaborating with the LoBs, I’m sure they would jump over the Great Divide . IT must get into the position of a trusted advisor to business, by offering innovation cycles with Design Thinking approaches, and by providing agile software implementation methodologies to realize fast success. Without technical thought leadership from IT, the business people and LoBs won’t succeed within today’s digitized business.

IT leaders have a unique chance to overcome the Great Divide . Within their own department, they have to tackle the budget pressures, avoiding CAPEX and transforming to OPEX . Therefore, licensed software solutions are solutions from yesterday as cloud offerings provide great value on the accounting side. With regards to the LoBs, IT leaders would be able to help to select the right cloud solution for the particular business scenario. This would establish a great base for a trusted advisor role to the LoBs.

For many business scenarios and business needs, niche software providers offer already solutions in a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) model. I see the mapping of business needs to the cloud software capabilities as one of the greatest value IT leaders could provide to the LoBs.

This collaboration and communication , not existent since the beginning of information technology, will transform the IT organization and will tear down the Great Divide . Cloud offerings could be the solution to many problems the IT kings face today, and most important, could provide a trusted advisor role to the LoBs.

By overcoming the Great Divide , the IT organization and the need for technology leadership wouldn’t go away. Who else other than IT would know how to integrate many best-of-breed cloud applications?

Going forward toward digitization, I see IT organizations transforming into a chief technology advisor role, changing from defensive to supportive, and shifting from ignorance to empathy .

Within the following chapters, I offer advice and best practices on how to implement software solutions best and how to run IT best given the real constraints. I do describe the paradigms that IT leaders need to embrace to stay relevant for the next 5−10 years. Also, I describe the proactive nature of the best-run IT departments . Dr. Uwe Hommel invented SAP’s EarlyWatch® program in the mid-1990s, and its concepts are still valid to this very day: getting proactive and ahead of the problems. Preventing problems is definitely cheaper than fixing problems. The data to predict and to foresee potential future problems are available.

Footnotes

1

Service-Level Agreement .

© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019

Andreas GraesserRun ITManagement for Professionalshttps://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-14219-3_2

2. Digital Vision

Andreas Graesser¹  

(1)

Innovad LLC, Wayne, PA, USA

Andreas Graesser

Email: [e-mail]

IT leader’s digital vision needs to target the domination of information technology. However, if IT leaders don’t have a vision and don’t get themselves into the driver seat, then the danger that information technology dominates the IT leaders is existing. The leaders might even become a victim.

The following scenario describes an enterprise targeting a MobileFirst digital strategy . Their IT leader wants to support the LoBs offering mobile business solutions. The business people can easily reach their customers on any device. What is needed to support a MobileFirst digital strategy?

This strategy requires an e-commerce backbone, and as such a supporting IT platform . The IT leaders have many options: building their platform on their own hardware, outsourcing the hardware and software operation, or using cloud providers to run the platform. Whatever they do, though, they need to know about the fundamental technology questions and challenges.

They need to have a clear understanding of the implications of the different options. They must have full insight on today’s technical capabilities, and they need to predict the near future, at least up to 3 years. Considering Moore’s Law ¹ with the increasing CPU power year over year, considering the further development of the software applications , and considering what their LoBs want to achieve. The IT Leaders must be able to match the needs of the LoBs with technological capabilities. Connecting the dots is valid for the IT leaders, particularly embracing the MobileFirst digital strategy .

Fact is that many companies haven’t yet arrived with a MobileFirst strategy. While I think MobileFirst is already a scenario from yesterday, the digital strategy of this era is Artificial Intelligence (AI). When you look at the large software provider, they all invest large amounts of money and brainpower into their research and development for AI.

The challenges for IT leaders don’t change. Their understanding of the underlying technology is a crucial success factor. Even more, an AI usage scenario depends upon connecting business needs, innovation, and technology capabilities. True value scenarios for the respective business processes require the creativity and leadership of IT. The end user must gain significant value out of a given AI scenario; otherwise, they won’t use AI and abandon the functionality. AI is another area that helps IT leaders to overcome the Great Divide (Chap. 1).

The picture of domination gets even more colorful with AI. Who will understand how to train the machine and make it intelligent? Who needs to work on the algorithms of AI? The IT leaders need to know how to dominate and to control. As such, they are on their way to create the Perfect IT (see Sect. 2.1) supporting both, MobileFirst and Artificial Intelligence .

The cornerstones of the digital vision are business processes, real-time data, and people involved. IT leaders need to embed all three  foundations within their digital vision.

Business processes. While the LoB leaders rethink and re-innovate their business processes, the IT leaders must replace their legacy IT systems to support their business people. IT always needs to support business processes, without causing frustration, confusion, or tension. IT leaders need to know what the LoBs require. As such, IT leaders must start their technology transformation as a prerequisite for the change of business processes. They must begin to create their Perfect IT .

Real-time data. Often, LoBs still rely heavily on silo-based Excel spreadsheets and own insular databases that contain fragmented, inconsistent, and sometimes outdated information. Some data particles are redundant; others exist in different formats. Within this scenario, real-time data is wishful thinking. However, if there would be real-time data, how faster and better could the LoBs start their transformation journey, developing their digital vision?

Therefore, the Perfect IT needs to offer a single source of truth of all data, application data, customer data, vendor data, and business process data. The single source of truth needs to be real-time , supporting in-depth analysis of any business problem or management question in light speed at any time.

Business people. The business people are the pillars of any strategy, particularly of the digital strategy . Without their agreement and buy-in, any digital strategy is set up for failure. The more the people are involved with developing and with an understanding of the digital vision and its execution, the better they support transformation programs including dramatic change and reshaping of business processes. The IT leaders must engage the collective staff and the LoBs of the entire company to get closer to the vision of the Perfect IT .

2.1 The Perfect IT

In a perfect world, a best-running IT wouldn’t be even recognized, because it’s running without glitches and always on and available: IT comes out of the plug like energy. Or in a different painting: IT is like the air we breathe to stay alive. People suffocate if oxygen has gone—and nowadays, people get severely upset if the software applications on their handhelds won’t work anymore due to any reason. People don’t want to have explanations about why their apps are down. They want to have the Perfect IT : always up, always running, always stable, always reliable, and no performance degradations.

Now, what are the ingredients that create the Perfect IT?

Platform. The technology platform is the core of IT. It doesn’t matter how simple or complex the architecture of the platform is, its technology must be in fantastic shape. The processors and technology components shouldn’t be older than 3 years. Just look at the processors. Every year, the computing power of chips increases significantly (Moore’s Law) and as such, hardware gets outdated very fast within a few years. It must be kept up-to-date and upgraded periodically. The platform , also known as the technology backbone, is the heart of any software application : the algorithms, logic, and data intelligence sit right on it.

The technology platform can be operated by their own IT organization . It can be hosted by an outsourcing provider. It can run as a subscribed cloud solution. And it could be a combination of all the above. We call this a Hybrid Platform ² comprised of best-of-breed solutions. In any case, the IT organization must enable the platform to operate perfectly.

Make sure as the IT leader that the platform knowledge doesn’t get out of your hands. At first glance, outsourcing contracts look easy as you delegate all responsibilities to somebody else. However, this approach will haunt you one day. It makes you dependent on outsiders and external consultants. And suddenly, in the absence of the platform knowledge, those external people drive business decisions within your own IT department . In my experience, core knowledge of technology platform and business requirements shouldn’t be outsourced.

Takeaway: To embrace a Perfect IT vision, IT leaders embrace and control all platform knowledge in-house within their own IT organization .

IT Budget. The spending for IT and its ongoing budget tracking is key to success of an IT organization. The technology platform as described above could be very costly. If you own the hardware, any change in equipement due to newer technology are capital expenses , usually requiring an investment plan and board approvals. If you have hardware leased or outsourced with a cloud subscription model , then you face operational expenses . Those costs have a lesser impact on the company’s budget. However, as IT leader you need to manage the expenditures carefully either way as you experience budget cuts for IT year over year.

To be proactive , you need to plan the spending of your available funds very wisely. The budget planning and the company’s Digital Vision needs to go hand in hand. Being proactive means to know what might happen and to invest in tools and IT process improvements to prevent potential technology failures down the road as efficiently as possible.

In times of distributed platforms , the challenges for IT leaders are significant in terms of knowledge. You need to know the different technologies, the interplay, and its interfacing between the technologies, and its impacts on software and software usage scenarios.

Knowing includes learning, testing, and researching. In fact, it means that you need to invest money and time in your knowledge and the knowledge of your people. IT budgets don’t target hardware and software alone. Education is required to predict problems and failure situations . Knowledge is required to develop preventative algorithms. It’s a wise decision to include enough learning and upskill efforts within your yearly budget. The vision of a Perfect IT can’t be achieved without in-depth technical knowledge and experience.

Takeaway: To embrace the Perfect IT vision, IT leaders always invest in preventative measures and encourage ongoing learning and knowledge transfer.

Benchmarking. To identify your own IT as Perfect IT, you need to benchmark it against other IT organizations of similar sizes and similar industries. What are the parameters of the benchmarking ? My Magic Quadrant of IT Benchmarking (Fig. 2.1) shows the maturity level of an IT organization on the X-axis against the value delivery of IT organizations towards the LoBs on the Y-axis. The Perfect IT (B) organization sits within the upper right corner with the highest maturity levels regarding proactive infrastructure management, operations management, and application management. This Perfect IT organization provides the highest value in supporting the growth of the company, approaching new markets and new industries. The size of the bubble is calculated by the total IT cost versus the total company revenue: the bigger the bubble, the more money spent by IT.

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Fig. 2.1

Graesser’s magic quadrant of IT benchmarking

Preparing and calculating the benchmark analysis is a powerful tool to identify the status quo of your own IT organization . The Graesser Magic Quadrant of IT Benchmarking helps you to visualize the journey of your IT organization. And it allows you to share and discuss your IT vision with your peer leaders and the CEO , showing them the needed investments and improvement to realize the vision of the Perfect IT .

For example, it’s easy to show and demonstrate the transformation of your IT organization from a very costly keep-the-lights-on IT organization fixing all future problems reactively (C) toward a very lean proactive and preventative IT organization that supports innovation and transformation of all LoBs every day (B).

While the Graesser Magic Quadrant shows the way of your IT organization toward the Perfect IT , achieving the ultimate end state isn’t easy. After convincing your bosses on the needs for a Digital Vision, it requires from you precise execution, tenacity, and persistence. It requires wise budget spending and investment into the people. It requires you to reach your people’s heads and hearts. It requires proactive thinking and walking-the-talk.

Takeaway: To embrace the Perfect IT vision, IT leaders always strive to move to the proactive and transformational quadrant, with a lean IT organization as small as possible.

Team. Win the hearts and minds of your people, your managers, and the entire team. While you always can educate and upskill team members toward new technologies or new software applications , you can’t easily win the battle at the engagement front with employees. The battle happens between skill factor versus engagement factor . If your team is eager to come to work, to strive for higher KPIs (such as greater customer satisfaction), to work harder making things better, to work longer because they like their work and their teammates, then you have succeeded achieving a high employee engagement factor . The high employee engagement factor is the foundation for a world-class team. Passionate people always help to drive the agenda forward. And once those passionate people are on your side, they will influence others multiplying the efforts toward the Perfect IT.

The Perfect IT requires at any given time employees who love what they do. Therefore, hiring people with the right mindset and keeping them engaged within your organization is the fine art of people management. Of course, the surrounding working conditions must fit: working hours and working locations, salaries, and benefits. To keep your team motivated starts with you as the IT leader : if you give your best every day of the year, then your people will do so, too. IT leaders " best practices of people management include the following:

Do what you say and put your actions where your mouth is

Keep your words and promises

Always walk the talk

Don’t get detached from your team

Volunteer for night shifts or weekend shifts if required.

Why would you do all this? You get to know what they do and how they work. You get involved. You get connected with them and you learn about their dreams and their visions. You understand their ideas and their proposals to improve business procedures and service levels. You always practice empathy .

As you know, replacing any team member leaving your IT organization will require much hiring effort, onboarding time, and budget money. Therefore, the higher the employee engagement is the more likely your employees will excel and work for your organization, in the mid term and long run.

Takeaway: To embrace the Perfect IT vision, IT leaders are never afraid to get their hands dirty. They show empathy in any situation and occasion.

Hot spots. The Perfect IT requires permanent analysis and examination. There are always hot spots within an organization. Under the paradigm of prevention, identifying hot spots as early as possible is a key to success. If you as the hands-on IT leader stay close to your teams, you will identify easily the organizational hot spots caused by technology, by people, by communication , and by processes. Identify the needs of your team with your own eyes. You will see with your own eyes how to make their jobs better with specific software tools and applications. You will see what they need to communicate better with their customers using mobile applications. And you will recognize their creativity and power of innovations and improvements by eliminating hurdles and bottlenecks .

Takeaway: To embrace the Perfect IT vision, IT leaders strive for early hot spot detection and elimination of potential threats.

Communication. Communication is always two-sided: there are senders, and there are receivers. In addition, there is a communication medium, and there is time. Let me provide an example. In a situation of direct communication , let’s assume you are leading an important team meeting. You felt you brought your points and guidelines across very clear, straightforward, and without any doubt. But the following hours and days, nothing changed. Your team didn’t follow your instructions. Was there a misunderstanding? Many reasons could count for your team’s missing actions. Possibly they understood your words differently, maybe due to the early morning time the meeting happened. Fact is that your message provided during the meeting did not reach your team members as the receivers.

Involving people also helps with communication and provides additional perspectives on the subject. What do you think about the open-door-policy by managers? Maybe you even don’t sit within an office anymore but in the middle of your team. You provide your team a chance to approach you, talk to you, even seemingly unimportant things. Communication always leaves room for interpretation. Within direct communication scenarios (like in meetings) those interpretations could be discussed immediately. Within asynchronous communication (such as email or chats ) asking questions back might be inappropriate.

Now, let’s think about your communication with your superiors. How do you explain to the CEO that you need more money within this fiscal year? Would you use large Excel files, filled with thousands of data cells—only to show off your homework? Or would you explain the expected value you’d get out of the additional budget on the whiteboard? Indeed, it is advisable to keep the communication simple. You don’t want to overwhelm your boss with data and risk potential confusion.

Takeaway: To embrace the Perfect IT vision, IT leaders communicate openly and describe needs and demands as simple as possible to both, team members and own superiors.

Integration. Within the age of digitization