How do you quantify the business value that an IT Infrastructure project delivers? Peter Williams Microsoft Technology Pre-Sales Manager Jane Pfeifer Senior Manager – BearingPoint Australia

Agenda What is Business Value? Some Commercial Examples Some Public Sector Examples Common Themes that occur Thoughts on how to improve your chances of success Recommendations on how to start Q+A

What is Business Value? The value of an IT initiative is defined as: a business performance improvement that is aligned with the organisations critical success factors (CSFs) and that enables the organisation to make optimal use of its resources within the context of acceptable risk.

Some Examples An out of support system for a equipment supplier We found 75% of the value was in inventory reduction A people dependent business with a manual recruitment process Inappropriate use of high value individuals Business risk of people working without signed contracts Manufacturing Organisation manual processing of data causes bottleneck in the process Cannot realise the value of a multi million dollar investment because of this data processing problem

Some examples Major state govt authority with manual recruitment process Unable to achieve KPIs due to labour intensive process Up to 44% of instances falling outside agreed limits Not for profit fund manager Poor service to clients due to difficulty in accessing corporate knowledge Marketing Bureau Business dependent on IT for content publication Lack of resource – limited maintenance – content not reliable as a basis for decision making

A word on the public sector… There is no bottom line! Focus is on efficient delivery of outcomes.

Common Themes “Before I got married I six theories about bringing up children; now I have six children and no theories” – John Wilmot Where to look Cost reduction – savings, avoidance Productivity gain – revenue generation, better use of working capital Risk Reduction – legal and statutory compliance – intangible but the Directors can sleep at night Alignment with Strategic goals – product innovation, improved customer experience Your Business will be able to identify the critical business process issues very easily if you listen

Some Objectivity Helps The business may not want to expose its issues internally Go in with an open mind to identify opportunities Align with the business agenda and don’t go with a fixed IT agenda A external consultant can help Potentially use a trusted party from another part of the business Potentially use a trusted party from another part of the business

“If you can measure it, you can manage it” Identify what you can and will measure Gather baseline data Innovate Measure and keep measuring – communicate This will get easier over time – builds trust with the business

Improve the odds Most projects fail to deliver value due to lack of user involvement/adoption Business Owner Executive Sponsorship will drive user involvement A business case that aligns with the business owners agenda will buy support

Objective Allow IT DM to effectively sell infrastructure investments to your business Show you ways this has been done There are some basic principles here Think about getting some objective views to help you You need measure before and after to know you have succeeded Executive sponsorship will help your project succeed

Taking the first step Do whatever you can to better understand your company’s business If you have Project Management Office, talk to them, they will understand the Capital Expenditure approval process of your company Use a Management Consulting Partner to help you build your case, look for one that understands your industry Talk to your Microsoft Account manager, we have partnerships with all the major management consulting partners and can help you find one that meets your needs

Questions

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