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 Vendor Strategy Professionals

What Vendor Strategists Need To Know About Lean — The Hot Topic For CIOs Right Now

by Thomas Mendel, Ph.D., Alexander Peters, Ph.D., October 29, 2009

As smart executives delve into the core of Lean Thinking, the role of technology in Lean-based performance improvements becomes abundantly clear. Senior executives expect their chief information officers (CIOs) to drive improvements in the effectiveness . . .

For CIOs

What CIOs Should Know About Lean

Case Studies Illustrate How CIOs Can Use Lean Inside And Outside IT

by Alexander Peters, Ph.D., October 27, 2009

As smart executives delve into the core of Lean Thinking, the role of technology in Lean-based performance improvements becomes abundantly clear. Senior executives expect their CIOs to drive improvements in the effectiveness and efficiency of technology . . .

For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

How Efficient Is Your Storage Environment?

The KPIs That Matter Most In Enterprise Storage and How To Measure Them

by Andrew Reichman, October 22, 2009

Building an effective storage environment is a balancing act between performance, reliability, and efficiency. For years, improving storage efficiency took a back seat to the other goals. Now, with infrastructure budgets being cut and data growth continuing . . .

For CIOs

Role Descriptions For The Office Of The CIO

Key Roles Support The CIO In Driving IT's Success

by Marc Cecere, October 22, 2009

Forrester has assembled job descriptions for several roles within the Office of the CIO — the group of IT leaders who report to the CIO and provide services outside of applications and infrastructure. Based on analyst expertise and a sampling of actual . . .

For CIOs

The Value Of A Green IT Maturity Assessment

Introducing Forrester's Green IT Maturity Assessment Methodology

by Doug Washburn, Christopher Mines, October 20, 2009

CIOs recognize the importance of environmental considerations in planning IT operations, but they are often unsure about how to put that recognition into action. With sustainability rising on the corporate agenda, and the cost, risk, and revenue benefits . . .

For Application Development & Program Management Professionals

Making The Case For The Next-Generation PMO

Broader Visibility And Flexible Frameworks To Tackle More Work Without Killing The Budget

by Margo Visitacion, October 16, 2009

There isn't a business case for the "old school" project management office (PMO): We've tried it, and quite often it didn't work. Today's PMOs are under pressure to be business process change agents that demonstrate value without generating revenue. PMOs . . .

For Enterprise Architecture Professionals

What's Next For The IT-To-BT Transformation: The Contractualization Trend

by Henry Peyret, October 14, 2009

The combination of the current economic climate and business globalization is accelerating the evolution of business models toward a networked model, where businesses focus on their core competencies to add value and engage with other external and internal . . .

For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

A Sample IT Infrastructure And Operations Balanced Scorecard  (41 KB XLS)

by Rachel A. Dines, Evelyn Hubbert, October 1, 2009

The Balanced Scorecard is built around four dimensions that have been adjusted for use in information technology: the value perspective, the user orientation perspective, the operational excellence perspective, and the future orientation perspective. . . .

For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

Building The IT Infrastructure And Operations Balanced Scorecard

The Eight Essential Metrics That Infrastructure And Operations Should Be Measuring

by Rachel A. Dines, Evelyn Hubbert, October 1, 2009

"You can't manage what you can't measure" is the stated adage, but when it comes to infrastructure and operations (I&O), what to measure is the first challenge. Many firms don't know which metrics to use, or how to collect the information they need . . .

For CIOs

Inquiry Spotlight: Demand Management, Q3 2009

by Tim DeGennaro, September 30, 2009

Despite reduced IT budgets, demand for IT services continues and in some cases accelerates as the business strives to use IT to cut its own costs. Organizations that simply roll with the punches with a FIFO approach quickly find that IT's efforts produce . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

Lean: The New Business Technology Imperative

Lean Thinking Is Central To The Shift From IT To BT

by Connie Moore, Clay Richardson, John R. Rymer, Ted Schadler, Dave West, September 29, 2009

Everyone wants to be lean these days, whether when stepping off a scale in the morning or reviewing the cost of running a successful business. But just how do you define "Lean" — especially in the context of business and technology? Do you think of Lean . . .

For CIOs

Global Initiatives Require Enterprise IT Executive Committees

by Marc Cecere, September 22, 2009

Paraphrasing Winston Churchill, committees are like democracy — the "worst form of government except for all those others." However, an enterprise IT executive committee is critical to making IT decisions that span the entire company. Consisting of the . . .

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 Enterprise Architecture Professionals

Integrate Enterprise Architecture With Application Portfolio Governance

by Henry Peyret, August 24, 2009

IT organizations that are seeking to drive down operating costs while delivering business projects on time and on budget find they must manage their application portfolios to provide an optimal foundation for execution. Application portfolio management . . .

For CIOs

CIOs: Plan Effectiveness Review To Squeeze More Value From ERP Investments

by George Lawrie, August 11, 2009

Most CIOs have inherited mature enterprise resource planning (ERP) implementations. As the years pass, the original implementation team disbands, retires, or dies, and the old use cases and best practices start to brown and curl at the edges like the . . .

For CIOs

Market The BT Service Portfolio To Fuel Innovation And Utility

by Alexander Peters, Ph.D., July 24, 2009

As businesses become infused with technology, CIOs are expected to provide portfolios of business technology (BT) services, which sustain the competitive advantage of their firms. To improve IT's responsiveness to this increasingly complex and dynamic . . .

For Enterprise Architecture Professionals

Next-Generation IT Requires Next-Generation EA

EA Makes The New Core Processes Of IT Work

by Alex Cullen, Gene Leganza, Jeff Scott, Jost Hoppermann, June 30, 2009

What business wants from IT is changing, and that means IT has to change how it manages itself and the IT-business relationship. Building on current project delivery and operational management competencies, CIOs are adding new core management processes: . . .

For Application Development & Program Management Professionals

Anatomy Of A Portfolio Management Tool

Common Qualities Apply To All Types Of Portfolio Management Tools

by Phil Murphy, June 23, 2009

The term "portfolio management" is officially in vogue — it has been appended to applications, projects and programs, enterprises, and to IT itself. But what does it mean to manage a portfolio? What are the criteria for determining whether portfolio management . . .

For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

Help Yourself Make Tomorrow's IT Decisions

Tools For IT Planning

by Simon Yates, June 23, 2009

Flexibility and quick thinking are vital when planning for IT, so go ahead and arm yourself with the best weapons: You're going to need them. Volatility in the marketplace and an increased reliance on IT across all business sectors have forced IT managers . . .

For Enterprise Architecture Professionals

EA Can Facilitate IT Cost Transparency

by Alex Cullen, June 19, 2009

IT is directly tied to most businesses' products and services, but in most cases 100% of IT's cost is allocated to the general and administrative (G&A) portions of the business' financial reports. While this produces a distorted view of financial . . .

For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

Keep An Eye On All IT Costs

Do You Know Your IT Cost Of Goods Sold?

by Simon Yates, June 17, 2009

Understanding your IT cost of goods sold can lead to a more agile and competitive organization. Cost of goods sold (COGS) includes the variable and fixed costs — for example, materials and labor — directly linked to the product or service. The key to . . .

For CIOs

Value-Based Communication Boosts Business' Perception Of IT

Best Practice CIOs Take A Personal Leadership Role In Marketing IT's Value

by Bobby Cameron, May 15, 2009

CIOs list IT-business alignment as a perennial challenge. They fail to achieve the business partnership they seek as the gap persists between business execs' expectations of IT and those execs' sense of IT's ability to deliver. But CIOs themselves are . . .

For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

Unraveling ISO, CMM, And ITIL IT Management Frameworks

Combine CMM With ITIL And Six Sigma With ITIL For The Best Results

by Evelyn Hubbert, May 7, 2009

Technology is the beating heart behind business, but with economic crises on a global scale, increasing sensitivity to cost, and competitive pressures, IT services must be managed and delivered with high levels of customer service and satisfaction. At . . .

For Security & Risk Professionals

Topic Overview: Governance, Risk, And Compliance

by Chris McClean, April 29, 2009

Successful businesses universally strive to achieve better corporate governance, more effective measurement and management of risk, and greater assurance that compliance requirements are met. Whether or not these efforts bear the governance, risk, and . . .