The Lean Foundation For Business Service Portfolio Management

In a time when resources are scarce and expensive, the portfolio of business services constitutes a powerful framework for maximizing the business value of IT capabilities. This portfolio must display a holistic but sharp picture of how IT's capabilities and resources map to business needs as well as a holistic view of its spending patterns and priorities. But too many firms have incomplete portfolio management practices. To correct this, IT executives should design their services portfolio using Lean principles, focusing the IT organization on delivering aggregated services that business customers understand and appreciate and on eliminating waste from duplicated and nonsynchronized activities and resources.