The word 'transformation' is probably one of the most overused words in business and IT. I put my hands up and confess that in the past, as an enterprise management consultant, I have tagged IT management solution projects as 'transformations' as it just sounds so much sexier than the word 'change' or 'implementation'. Come on, you have to agree it does, doesn't it? But my call to you today is to help Forrester to eradicate the abuse of this word during 2013.

How can I help? We are currently working on The I&O Practice Playbook at Forrester which looks to address the I&O organisation of the future in terms of its people, process, technology and culture. Before I go on any further, I am going to say that in order to get to this 'future', I&O organisations really do need to go through true 'transformation' which can be defined as:

  • A major shift in people, processes, technology and culture. An example is an IT organization which wants to transform to be more customer-centric. The vision to be customer-centric will potentially require a change to people (skills, recruitment etc), process (structure, activities, measurement etc) technology (end-user, infrastructure etc) and culture (fostering customer-centricity). 

What we need are IT professionals who can identify with the definition, and have knowledge or experience in this area. Maybe you are about to embark on a transformation program, are currently part of a transformation or have been part of one in the past. Whatever the case we are looking to get your views on the following via a 1 hour telephone interview:

  • Stakeholders (people who have an interest in the I&O organization) in relation to IT transformation. How you/your organization are involving/involved stakeholders? What has worked well or not worked well?
  • Business case for IT transformation. How did you or your organization justify the need for transformation? Was/is the transformation being driven by a wider business transformation program? 

This will be used for primary research purposes and we can either use your comments as direct quotes or keep them completely anonymous along with your company's identity.

In return you will receive a complimentary copy of the report that will be the result of this research.

So if you are interested, available for interview during February/early March, or have any comments/questions about this research then please either leave your details as a comment below or email me at jrakowski@forrester.com.