Getting to the Executive Office with IT Portfolio Management
by Teresa Di Cairano |

As a change agent, the CIO’s office can play a critical role in enabling strategic enterprise transformation.  In a previous article, we noted how Business Architecture can assist in providing a blueprint for current and future business states.  With IT Portfolio Management, IT teams can also develop, plan and execute the operational capability to realize that transformation. 

This is done - in part - by participating in making decisions about IT resources. Jeffery Kaplan (Author, Strategic IT Portfolio Management – Governing Enterprise Transformation), raises an important issue about  the role of IT in making key investment decisions – “Because it is virtually impossible to transform the business significantly without affecting IT systems, it begs the question, who really makes IT investment decisions?  Is it the IT department or the business units?” - says Kaplan in his book.

Kaplan further contends that, while IT typically makes execution decisions, which affect how the money is spent, they have relatively less authority on whether money is, in fact, spent on IT, and where key investments dollars are allocated.

So how does the CIO office make it to the executive boardroom?  The answer will likely include a Portfolio Management approach that provides a common business language, as well as real-world accountability for business alignment.

Elliot Chikofsky, Intervista Institute faculty and Senior Consultant at EM & I, believes that IT Portfolio Management helps to identify priorities for both the business and IT – and can ultimately assist in executive decision-making.

“If we could put decision making into a framework, where we have a discussion on what is it that is important to the business - what is important to achieve our transformation and the kind of change we need to be successful, the kind of returns that we need, the kinds of infrastructure needed to support technologies that will give us new customer capabilities for the future and finally, where we want to put the emphasis”– says Elliot in a video interview.

Every organization is looking to implement a strategic roadmap for transformation and to better optimize its IT resources.
And that requires a consistent framework for allocating and managing IT investments, programs and projects.  “IT Portfolio Management is truly an empowering capability that should be on the resumé of every IT professional looking to be part of the executive decision-making process” says Robert Mazerolle, Co-founder and Director at the Intervista Institute.

To learn more about how to align your career and your team with your enterprise strategy, register for one of Intervista’s upcoming 3-day course on IT Portfolio Management.

innovationcultures program

IT Portfolio Management

Washington, DC -  Sept. 21-23, 2016

1. Portfolio Management
2. IT Value
3. Capabilities
4. Portfolio Processes
5. Transformation
6. Architecture in a Portfolio Context
7. Decision Methods
8. Information, Transparency, Analysis
9. Governance and Leadership
10. Recognizing the Baseline
11. Legacy Strategies in the Portfolio
12. Justify Projects and Programs
13. Control and Evaluation
14. Visibility
15. Achieving balance

Elliot Chikofsky is a member of the Intervista faculty and is EM&I Fellow with Engineering Management & Integration (EM&I).

He advises on IT investment and portfolio management, enterprise architecture, and systems management for both corporate and government clients.  He is also Vice Chair of IEEE's Technical Council on Software Engineering, as well as Chair of the Reengineering Forum industry association.
Learn more about our faculty.



NEW - Executive briefing video
A 20 minute DVD production from Intervista Institute to aid you in orienting your project team and executives on the advantages of the Portfolio Management approach.

Download video excerpts
Transformation
Transformation 2
Results

Order online

Twitter

Newsletter