For CIOs

Best Practices In IT Financial Management

The Foundation For Running IT Like A Business

by Craig Symons, November 6, 2009

In a recent Forrester survey of 84 enterprise IT decision-makers, only 52% said that they have a formal IT chargeback process in place. It is difficult to run IT like a business when the product appears to be free to customers but costs the business hundreds . . .

For CIOs

A Framework For Managing IT Investment Risk

by Craig Symons, August 25, 2009

There is no shortage of articles, reports, and blogs on the topic of IT risk; however, they almost always focus on security-related risks, including computer viruses and worms, denial of service attacks, and theft of data, or infrastructure-related risks, . . .

For CIOs

IT Chargeback Adoption: The Haves And Have-Nots

by Craig Symons, July 29, 2009

One of the key methods for obtaining more value from IT is to provide increased cost transparency to IT customers/users. This cost transparency, coupled with line-item invoicing, permits business managers to make informed, fact-based decisions about their . . .

For CIOs

Inquiry Spotlight: IT Chargeback, Q2 2009

Drivers And Challenges Of IT Cost Transparency

by Craig Symons, July 8, 2009

Charging back for IT services has been a controversial practice for many years, so much so that a significant number of organizations have either never implemented IT chargeback or have stopped the practice. Past crude allocation mechanisms provided no . . .

For CIOs

The ROI Of Project Portfolio Management Tools

A Total Economic Impact™ (TEI) Analysis Uncovers Significant Benefits

by Craig Symons, May 8, 2009

Project portfolio management (PPM) discipline has remained a significant effort in organizations of all sizes. Both inside and outside of IT, leaders are turning to PPM to better capture, manage, prioritize, and align investments and resources with the . . .

For CIOs

Programs, Not Projects, Deliver Business Value

by Craig Symons, April 30, 2009

CIOs have been searching for ways to measure, improve, and communicate the business value of IT for years without a lot of success. Many have implemented PMOs, hired certified project managers, and begun CMMI or Six Sigma initiatives, all designed to . . .

For CIOs

Do You Know Your IT Cost Of Goods Sold?

by Craig Symons, April 28, 2009

As IT has become more pervasive in most organizations, it has migrated from a supporting role to an enabling role for products and services. As a result, IT costs represent a growing and sometimes significant part of products' and services' total cost . . .

For CIOs

Director, IT Finance - Job Profile And Description  (28 KB XLS)

by Craig Symons, April 6, 2009

Summary job description for the director of IT finance.

For CIOs

Director, IT Project And Portfolio Management Office - Job Profile And Description  (28 KB XLS)

by Craig Symons, April 6, 2009

A summary job description for the director of the IT project and portfolio management office.

For CIOs

Governance Communications

Measuring And Improving Governance With A Balanced Scorecard

by Craig Symons, February 6, 2009

Implementing strong IT governance is on the agenda for many organizations as they continue the seemingly endless pursuits of aligning IT and business strategy and getting more value from their IT investments. Developing a governance framework by defining . . .

For CIOs

Inquiry Spotlight: The PMO, Q4 2008

by Craig Symons, January 21, 2009

Program management offices (PMOs) continue to evolve, taking on increasing responsibilities and widening their scope. To understand the nature of this evolution within Forrester clients, we sifted through the more than 20,000 client inquiries we got from . . .

For CIOs

US IT Spending Benchmarks For 2008

More Options For CIOs To Find The Best IT Budget Benchmark

by Andrew Bartels, Craig Symons, December 23, 2008

Forrester's annual report on US IT spending benchmarks has been one of our most popular and eagerly awaited documents each year. We first offer CIO-based data and analysis on the whys and hows of IT benchmarking and the impact of cash-outlay-based IT . . .

For CIOs

Service Portfolio Management Links IT Capabilities To Business Value

SPM Provides The Transparency That Is Essential To The BT Transformation

by Craig Symons, November 3, 2008

Many IT organizations struggle to demonstrate the value of IT to the business. Business stakeholders find IT to be impenetrable, a black box. Much of this is a result of IT's culture of acquiring and operating assets (e.g., servers, storage, networks, . . .

For CIOs

Learning And Growth Metrics For CIOs

Best Practices For Managing IT Human Capital

by Craig Symons, October 28, 2008

The skills and competencies of the people in the IT organization are integral to its success. Recruiting, retaining, and motivating IT staff (permanent as well as contractors) to deliver superior performance is extremely challenging in this era of globalization . . .

For CIOs

The Three Basic Steps Toward Business Governance Of IT

Business Leadership Needs To Drive Governance, Not IT

by Craig Symons, October 14, 2008

Improving IT governance is on the agenda for many organizations as they attempt to improve the business value that they are getting from their IT investments, increase operational efficiencies, and reduce their risks. Unfortunately, there is a very important . . .

For CIOs

The Efficient Frontier: Balancing Risk And Reward In Your IT Portfolio

by Craig Symons, July 31, 2008

Successful IT investments have a track record of delivering outsized returns. However, they are the minority. The majority of IT investments tend to produce returns that don't justify their high risks. Portfolio management should be used to ensure that . . .

For CIOs

Who's On First — A Simple Model For Project Prioritization

by Craig Symons, July 25, 2008

Rarely have we encountered an IT organization where the demand for IT resources did not exceed the available supply. Mature IT organizations have developed IT demand management and portfolio management processes to focus IT resources where they can have . . .

For CIOs

Synchronizing Strategy And The IT Portfolio

Doing The Right Things Every Time

by Craig Symons, July 25, 2008

IT and business strategy alignment remains a concern of many IT and business executives, yet few organizations have put in place any formal processes or activities to improve it, and even fewer attempt to measure it. At the same time, portfolio management . . .

For CIOs

The Road Map To BT Maturity

How CIOs Should Identify And Track Next Practices

by Craig Symons, April 30, 2008

IT maturity frameworks abound, but none take into account business technology (BT) — where technology is embedded in the business, recognized as indispensable, and managed as a shared and strategic capability. Forrester's BT Maturity Road Map examines . . .

For CIOs

IT Governance For The New Ecosystem

Adapting To A Multisource Provider Model

by Craig Symons, April 23, 2008

Today's IT organization often finds itself to be an IT service provider in a competitive environment. Consumers of IT services, which now include both internal and external customers, have a growing range of options beyond the organization's internal . . .

For CIOs

The Five Essential Metrics For Managing IT

by Craig Symons, April 4, 2008

CIOs frequently ask what IT should measure and report to business executives. The key to success is choosing a small number of metrics that are relevant to the business and have the most impact on business outcomes. The five metrics that meet the criteria . . .

For CIOs

Executive Q&A: Level 5 Portfolio Management

by Craig Symons, February 28, 2008

Level 5 portfolio management represents the highest (optimized) level of maturity an IT organization can aspire to. It is characterized by an enterprisewide use of best practices and results in the maximum return on its IT-enabled business change investments. . . .

For CIOs

Justifying And Funding Infrastructure Investments

by Craig Symons, February 6, 2008

IT-enabled business change investments by definition are linked to business strategic objectives and business benefits. These benefits can and should be quantified using an IT value methodology and documented in a business case. This makes for straightforward . . .

For CIOs

Creating A Culture Of Performance And Value

by Craig Symons, Alex Cullen, January 4, 2008

The role of IT in many organizations has evolved from supporting the business to enabling the business — a shift that requires IT to transition from being mostly tactical and cost focused to being an enabler of the overall strategy and value focused. . . .

For CIOs

Getting Portfolio Management To Level 5 Maturity

Following A Maturity Model To Value Optimization

by Craig Symons, October 31, 2007

Portfolio management continues to gain traction across our client companies as a governance process best practice — a recent Forrester survey of 317 IT decision-makers has 60% of respondents indicating that they are practicing portfolio management somewhere . . .