ten ways to bring it to the leadership table

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NTEN Webinars

May 17, 2011

Presented by

Donny C. Shimamoto, CPA.CITP

Ten Ways to Bring IT to the Ten Ways to Bring IT to the Ten Ways to Bring IT to the Ten Ways to Bring IT to the Leadership TableLeadership TableLeadership TableLeadership Table

INTRAPRISETECHKNOWLOGIES LLC

Technologies and knowledge for synergizing your intraprise

www.intraprisetechknowlogies.com | Hawaii | California1

Today’s SessionToday’s SessionToday’s SessionToday’s Session

� 10 Ways to Bring IT to the Leadership Table

– Improve communication between IT and executive management

– Communicate the business value of IT projects

– Insight into why the CFO and other execs are asking certain questions

– Develop your business business business business skills as a technicaltechnicaltechnicaltechnicalmanager

� Outcome: Create a paradigm shift toward improving the organization and focusing on the future

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Donny C. Shimamoto, Donny C. Shimamoto, Donny C. Shimamoto, Donny C. Shimamoto, CPA.CITPCPA.CITPCPA.CITPCPA.CITP

Background & Experience� Alumni of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP

– Strategic Technology Group

– Financial Audit and IT Audit

– Washington Consulting Practice

� Founder of IntrapriseTechKnowlogies LLC– Organizational Development advisor with a focus on Business Intelligence and Performance Management

– Business Process Improvement with emphasis on internal controls and technology risk management

– IT Outsourcing for small and middle market organizations

� Notable Not-for-profit Clients– Hawaii Community Foundation, Catholic Charities Hawaii, Moiliili Community Center, American Institute of CPAs

Donny C. Shimamoto, Donny C. Shimamoto, Donny C. Shimamoto, Donny C. Shimamoto, CPA.CITPCPA.CITPCPA.CITPCPA.CITP

Involvement, Awards, and Recognition� American Institute of Certified Public Accountants

– Governing Council (2010+)

– Assurance Services Executive Committee (2009+)

– Co-Chair, Business Intelligence Workgroup (2009+)

– IT Executive Committee (2006-2009, 2011+)

� Association of IT Professionals– Honolulu: Board (2008), Treasurer (2009, 2011), President (2010)

– National: Chair – Governance Task Force (2009), Member - Strategic Planning Committee (2009), Facilitator – AITP Professionalism Advisory Council (2010)

� Awards & Recognition– Presidents Award

� 2010, Hawaii Society of Certified Public Accountants

– Top “40 Under 40” Accounting Professionals in the US� 2007 & 2009, CPA Technology Advisor Magazine

– Top High Tech Leaders in Hawaii� 2004, Pacific Technology Foundation & Technology News Network4

Audience Poll #1Audience Poll #1Audience Poll #1Audience Poll #1

� How many of you come from

– Internal IT Department

– Finance Department

– Programs/Department

– IT Vendor

– Academia

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� What level of the organization do you primarily operate at:

– Executive Director / CIO / CTO / CFO

– Program Manager / Department Head

– Team Lead / Area Supervisor

– Staff / Front-line Worker

– Consultant

– Sales/Marketing

– Academia

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� What size of organization are you from?

– Large/Global Enterprise

– Large/National Enterprise

– Middle Market

– Small Business

– Large Vendor/Consultancy

– Local Vendor/Consultancy

– Academia

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The IT The IT The IT The IT –––– Business DisconnectBusiness DisconnectBusiness DisconnectBusiness Disconnect

� IT often reports to a non-IT person at the executive level

– CIO � Executive Director/CEO, CFO, COO

� IT is usually somewhat of a black sheep for these executives

– high level of technical jargon

– unique operating practices inherent in IT

– Lack of time or desire to fully understand IT

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IT’s ChallengesIT’s ChallengesIT’s ChallengesIT’s Challenges

� People don’t understand IT

– People assume that technology is a cure-all for any problem related to data and “automation”

– People think “enterprise IT” is as simple as “personal IT” and “retail IT”

� IT forgets that technology is an enabler

– IT forgets that technology is only a tool, and that IT must support People and Processes

– IT has the “built it and they will come” mentality

– IT forgets that other people aren’t as well versed in technology as we are

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IT is a part of the overall OrganizationIT is a part of the overall OrganizationIT is a part of the overall OrganizationIT is a part of the overall Organization

� IT is often seen as an isolated department doing its own thing

� IT is an integral part of the organization’s operating infrastructure

– Technology has become more ubiquitous in our operations and communications

– IT is one of the foundational departments, along with Finance and Human Resources

� When you approach IT from an integrated perspective

– the way you manage IT changes dramatically10


� Consider the following statement:

I have a clear understanding of our organization’s mission and strategic plan.

Do you:

– Strongly Agree

– Agree

– Neutral

– Disagree

– Strongly Disagree

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Ways to Bring IT to the Leadership TableWays to Bring IT to the Leadership TableWays to Bring IT to the Leadership TableWays to Bring IT to the Leadership Table

1. Do you have a clear understanding of the organization’s mission and goals?

� A disconnect in the answer to this question usually has two causes:

(a) the business strategy is not well defined or communicated, or

(b) IT management lacks the broader ability to think at the strategic level.

� Clear communication of the business strategy is one of the most common deficiencies in underperforming organizations

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2. What role does IT play in helping the organization achieve its goals?

� How does IT enable, facilitate, or otherwise contribute to the achievement of the goals?

– Sometimes IT thinks it plays a larger role that it does from the executive perspective

– Other times IT has underestimated its role and executives expect more

� Coming to an agreement on IT’s role can help to clearly set the organization’s expectations of IT

– Sets the scope of work that IT is expected to perform

� It is crucial to ensure that the definition of success for the IT Department is understood by all13


3. What is your strategy to fulfill IT’s role?

Answer = “The IT Strategy”

� Focus on the role (the need/the how) and not on IT (the technology/the what)

� Technology is only an enabler and a tool, the IT Strategy should be focused on identifying the right technologies and practices to help in fulfilling IT’s role

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4. What are the risks inherent in our current IT strategy?

� Increasing dependence on technology, requires identification, assessment, and mitigation of IT-related risks

– Discuss them as Business Risks

– Establish the Risk Tolerance Level

� Requires effort from both programs and IT

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4. What are the risks inherent in our current IT strategy?

� Management and Programs should

– Help IT understand critical business operations and the implications of technology-related failure or disruption

� IT should

– Help executive management assess the IT-related risks and understand the options for mitigating those risks

� The Objective should be

– To manage (not eliminate) IT-related risk to an acceptable level for the organization

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5. How are we spending our IT investment?

� Do you run IT?

– As a Cost Center – spending must be controlled and reduced

– As a Business – must generate “profit” or “return on investment”

� Both approaches have plusses and minuses

– There are implications based on IT’s role in the organization to using either model

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� Answer: BOTH

� Use Gartner’s Run-Grow-Transform model

– RUN = keep the organization running

– GROW = projects and initiatives that seek to improve organizational efficiencies and effectiveness

– TRANSFORM = providing new capabilities, products, or services

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IT BudgetIT BudgetIT BudgetIT Budget Entity Entity Entity Entity AAAA Entity BEntity BEntity BEntity B Entity CEntity CEntity CEntity CYourYourYourYourOrg?Org?Org?Org?

Run 80% 60% 50% ??

Grow 20% 30% 30% ??

Transform 0% 10% 20% ??

None of these spending patterns are “wrong”.They just represent different types of IT roles/investment.


� Which organization do you most resemble?

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IT BudgetIT BudgetIT BudgetIT Budget RunRunRunRun GrowGrowGrowGrow TransformTransformTransformTransform

A. Entity A 80% 20% 0%

B. Entity B 60% 30% 10%

C. Entity C 50% 30% 20%

D. None of the above

E. Not sure


Questions 1-5 are broad/strategic questions

� What are the organization’s goals?

� What is IT’s role?

� How will IT fulfill its role?

� How are we managing IT-related risks?

� Does our investment in IT match its Role?

These must be balanced with the tactical question

“Are we maximizing the value of what we have?”

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6. Are we realizing the potential of our current applications?

� How many times has an application already had the functionality you or a user wanted, you just didn’t know it was there?

� Are critical applications effectively implemented in the programs/depts?

� Look inward first before looking outward.

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6. Are we realizing the potential of our current applications?

� External solutions usually require higher budgets, more training, additional risk.

� IT alone, may not have all the answers

– IT may understand the technology/data

– Programs/Depts can help provide context and determine the value of functionality/information

� Make an educated determination together whether you need to look outside for a solution

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7. What are you doing to manage the service level provided to the organization?

� IT is a service provider to the organization

� Service Level Agreements (SLAs) are often used for vendors, why not for internal IT?

– Well defined expectations and objectives

– Use SLAs to demonstrate implications of budget or spending decisions’ impact to IT’s ability to deliver the expected level of service

Answer: “Is IT performance appropriately measured?” How do you know IT is performing well or poorly?24


� Where are you in the adoption of cloud computing?

A. Everything we could move is in the cloud

B. We are in the process of moving to the cloud

C. We are in the planning stage

D. We are analyzing the feasibility

E. We haven’t considered it yet

F. We have decided not to move

to the cloud

G. Don’t know/Not sure

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8. Have we properly balanced internal-IT vs. outsourced-IT (incl. Cloud Computing)?

� Myriad of reasons for and against outsourcing

– Every organization is different—no one answer

– Pros and cons must be evaluated through different perspectives: financial, operational, process, strategy

� Outsourcing approaches to consider:

1. Outsource commodity IT (e.g. e-mail)

– Keep competitive advantage IT in-house

2. Outsource “back of the house” IT (e.g. data center)

– Keep “personal touch points” in-house26


8. Have we properly balanced internal-IT vs. outsourced-IT (incl. Cloud Computing)?

� The important thing is to go through the thinking process of evaluating alternatives

– Go back to IT’s role and how specific functions within IT support fulfillment of that role

– What is the best use of in-house IT resources?

– What is the proper balance to best achieve the business objectives and org’s mission?

– Remember that IT is biased in this analysis!

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At this point we’ve looked at:

� Where do we need to go?

� What is IT’s role in getting there?

� How can we get there? (investment)

� Are we managing what we’re doing now?

Now we want to switch and at look at:

� What may hinder us from getting there?

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9. What is the biggest challenge you are currently dealing with as our IT leader?

� Designed to turn the focus back to the IT leader him/herself.

– May be a personal challenge

– May be a professional challenge

– May be an organizational challenge

– May be a technical challenge

� A double-edged sword for the IT leader29


9. What is the biggest challenge you are currently dealing with as our IT leader?

� Don’t be afraid to show weakness

– Treat this as an opportunity to demonstrate your understanding of the organization’s needs

– Seek help in areas where you may not be as competent and other managers can help

� A good ED/CxO will see this as an opportunity to help the IT Leader to grow professionally

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10. What one (currently unfunded) project do you think would provide the most value to the organization?

� Business-focused IT leader:

– may bring a project to the table that may help improve a current business process

� Technology-focused IT leader:

– may bring a project that involves emerging technologies or provide increased functionality

Neither answer is necessarily correct or wrong as long as a justifiable business case is there.

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10. What one (currently unfunded) project do you think would provide the most value to the organization?

� A project without a business case may indicate:

– Additional nurturing of the IT leader is necessary to achieve alignment

– Worst case: IT leader needs to be replaced

� An opportunity for the IT leader to demonstrate their understanding of the organization’s business objectives and how IT can help achieve them

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� As a result of this Webinar I am going to:

A. Reflect more on the role of IT in my organization

B. Schedule a meeting with my ED/CxO or IT Leader

C. Realign my organization’s IT Strategy

D. All of the above

E. Do nothing – I am already doing

all of this

G. Not sure – I need to digest this

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� These questions are conversation starters

– Ensure the proper alignment of IT with organization objectives and goals…mission.

– Clarify expectations and common understanding

– Communicate how IT is thinking and ensure that both technical and non-technical managers are on the same page

� None of the questions are technical

– IT is the expert on technology

– How is IT applying its expertise to help achieve the organization’s mission?

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� Everyone should leave the discussion with improvement in mind:

– Improving the alignment of IT’s activities with the organization’s mission;

– Improving the organization’s use of its current technology; and

– Improving the communication between the IT leader and executive management

IT is an increasingly integral part of any organization. IT and non-IT management must be in sync for organizational success.

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IIIINTRAPRISENTRAPRISENTRAPRISENTRAPRISETTTTECHECHECHECHKKKKNOWLOGIESNOWLOGIESNOWLOGIESNOWLOGIES LLCLLCLLCLLC

Donny C. Shimamoto, CPA.CITP

Email: [email protected]

Voice: (808) 735-8324

Twitter: @donnyitk

Closing ThoughtsClosing ThoughtsClosing ThoughtsClosing Thoughtsand Questions?and Questions?and Questions?and Questions?

Thank you for your participation and attention

Feedback or questions are always welcome: [email protected]