Evolution, not revolution.

With the economy slowly returning to health, now is a great time to re-focus on the future.  Many IT organizations, however, are not properly positioned to take advantage of this breath of fresh air.

• Can you see beyond your current tactical challenges? 
• Do you have a clear picture of what you want your IT organization to look like in one, three, or five years? 
• Will your IT applications support the next round of business demands? 

Let’s face it; the demands on your IT organization are far greater than the resources you currently have available. You are not alone. This is the crux of the challenge faced by IT organizations, particularly those in mid-market companies. The good news is there ARE proven paths you can take, benefitting from the successes of other mid-market IT organizations.

Evolution, not revolution.
In today’s economy, IT organizations transform through evolution, not revolution.  For example, large, complex IT projects are very risky and tend to take a long time (and usually a substantial investment) to complete.  On the other hand, smaller, iterative updates to your systems and processes can be much easier to manage and fund over time. But, cumulatively, these can make huge differences to the business and help you gain competitive advantage.

West Monroe Partners’ Evolve methodology is based on business needs rather than technology features.  At a high level, this methodology includes:

• Defining your current IT challenges.
  o Examples: Difficulty prioritizing projects against business needs; systems or applications that may not scale effectively; poor systems quality control.
• Putting a plan in place immediately to reduce the amount and frequency of “firefights.”
  o This allows you to concentrate on longer-term, strategic items.
• Defining your desired IT characteristics.
  o Examples: Meets service level agreements (SLAs) with the business; mitigates disaster risks properly; delivers new functionality continually and with quality control; bases technology and processes on industry standards and best practices.
• Developing a 12 - 24 month plan to move from the current to the desired state, complete with priorities, effort, and deadlines.
  o Goes beyond looking across the strategy, people, process, and technology lenses; looks at outsourcing, vendor relations, applications, and business intelligence lenses and how they do or don’t serve your business.
• Defining the metrics to track the progress of your IT evolution.
• Executing your plan.

Your desired characteristics will depend on your business needs, company size, industry, and IT resources; the more specific and measurable your future characteristics, the better.  In addition, if your future characteristics are well-aligned with your business strategy, you have a much better chance for success due to leadership buy-in and easier user adoption.

So, as you prepare for the economy to rebound, take the time to assess where you are and where you’d like your IT organization to be. You may just find that a defined evolution is the best path to take.