4 Executive summary
6 IT strategy defines the potential business value of IT
14 Clarify demand: How will IT help us win?
20 Structure control: Which mechanisms will drive strategic behavior?
30 Define supply: How will we develop and use our assets to create business success?
38 Complete and assess your IT strategy
42 Use advanced behaviors to activate and supercharge your strategy
48 Further reading
March 2009
IT Strategy: A CIO Success Kit
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Inside Out: Creating Value Networks From Supply Chains
october 2008
Creating the Communications Core:
The CIO’s Guide to Effective Communications
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Building a Powerful Alliance With Your CFO
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Effective IT Organizations: Design Matters
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Mastering the Paradoxes of Innovation
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Going Green: The CIO’s Role in Enterprisewide
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Achieving Success With Shared Services
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Build Your Executive Career by Leveraging the
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Making the Difference: The 2008 CIO Agenda
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Anytime, Anyplace: The Interactive Enterprise
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IT Strategy: A CIO Success Kit 1
IT Strategy: A CIO Success Kit
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IT strategy is a tough nut to crack. but great IT strategies
change the value potential of the IT organization, and the
perceptions of IT held by the rest of the business.
3
IT Strategy: A CIO Success Kit
Most CIOs recognize that IT strategy is one of their key responsibilities. Yet while many of them believe they have effective IT operations, few would claim to have great IT strategies. This report addresses the question, What do great IT strategies look like?
“IT Strategy: A CIO Success Kit” was written by members of the Gartner CIO research team, led by dave Aron (vice president and research director).
we would like to thank the many organizations and individuals that generously contributed their insights and experiences to the research, including:
• The contributors to our interviews and case studies: Ajay Burlingham-Böhr, Anglia Ruskin University
(u.K.); Geert Jan dirven, APM Terminals (netherlands); Philip O’reilly, department of Agriculture, food and fisheries (Ireland); Simon Jones, department for International development (u.K.); dan wakeman, Educational Testing Service (u.S.); Hiroyuki Kikugawa, JfE Steel (Japan); John Jackson, London borough of Camden (u.K.); Ellen barry, Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority (u.S.); Tom Halbouty, Pioneer natural resources (u.S.); Albert Shar, robert wood Johnson foundation (u.S.);
Hans-Henrik Mejlöe, SAMPEnSIOn (denmark); Peter Ligtvoet and Peter Jan Thierry, Schretlen & Co. (netherlands); Anders Hedenros, Swedish rail (Sweden); Mike Yorwerth, Tesco (u.K.); Hiroshi Yokotsuka, Tokio Marine & nichido fire Insurance (Japan); and ben wishart, whitbread (u.K.).
• Other Gartner colleagues: Phil Allega, Angelina Atkins, Amos Auringer, Jacques Begin, David Clark,
Judi Edwards, Toon Geensen, John Hagen, Jim Hocker, Mohammed Khalid, Kazunari Konishi, Eddy Louchart, Heather Munoz, Anna-Maria nenna, Kim bjoern nielsen, Colm O’Connell, Jan Soderberg, Gwyn Stone, Paul Turton, Geert visker, Graham waller and Sue Yoe.
Strategy sets the potential business value of IT
Strategy is both much simpler and much harder than most people realize. It is simply about achieving clarity on how the enterprise will win and what capabilities it needs to win. The word “win” may sound competitive, but it holds equally for the public sector; it is about achieving your goals.
IT strategy is about how IT will help the enterprise win. This breaks down into IT guiding the business strategy, and IT delivering on the business strategy. Although some or all tasks involved in creating the IT strategy may be separate, and there are normally separate documents, IT strategy it is an integral part of the business strategy—not something separate that is “aligned” with business strategy.
There are four key documents that form the core of IT strategy: a one- to two-page board summary, a 15- to 20-page strategy document, an IT strategic plan and an IT operating plan. The key is to be clear about why you are writing the IT strategy, and then to create brief, business-success-focused docu-ments that are later leveraged into specific communications for different stakeholders and events.
A great strategy is brief, complete and focused on business
success
The IT strategy should contain sections on demand, control and supply, as shown in the figure opposite.
The demand section clarifies the business context, how the business will win, what business capabili-ties are needed and how IT will contribute to that success. The control section outlines the mechanisms for making the strategy come to life, including principles, governance, financial management and met-rics. The supply section details which services will and won’t be provided, how the enterprise archi-tecture will migrate to support the required business capabilities, the development of human capital to meet business needs, and the strategic approach to sourcing.
details of projects and programs should be left to the strategic plan; and details of financial, technical and human assets should be left to the operating plan.
Most IT strategies focus on providing efficient and effective
IT services. Great IT strategies focus on how IT will help the
business win.
4 Gartner Executive Programs
ExECuTIvE SuMMArY
“we cannot get better simply by trying harder.”
TErrY LEAHY CEO Tesco
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IT Strategy: A CIO Success Kit
Use advanced practices to supercharge and activate your
strategy
Many IT strategies are conventional and boring to read, with the strategy process becoming an unin-spiring box-ticking exercise. use the following three techniques to avoid this:
1. when constructing your IT strategy, don’t think incrementally about last year’s strategy, or even about the obvious needs of your business. Think about the underlying business model, other busi-nesses with a similar model, and what you can learn and apply from them. Consider bringing in CIOs, CEOs or experts from those businesses to educate and advise you.
2. Envisage strategy not only as a periodic project with documents as outcomes, but as an ongo-ing conversation in the enterprise. As such, invest in strategy moments: frequent communications about strategy embedded in all meetings.
3. when constructing communications about strategy, consider using unconventional styles, media and channels to make them more engaging. Examples include stories with a strong narrative flow, metaphors that simplify concepts, and visual communications such as video and animation. This approach may sound secondary to the concepts behind strategy, but it is equally important in terms of getting the enterprise to act strategically.
“I saw resemblances between 7-Eleven’s franchise model and our relationship with insurance agents. I visited their CIO and brought him in to talk to us.”
HIrOSHI YOKOTSuKA MEMbEr Of THE bOArd And CIO Tokio Marine & nichido fire Insurance
“Conventional strategic planning is similar to a funeral for a head of state. It is infrequent, requires very powerful people to come together and be miserable, and the end result is buried and quickly forgotten.”
AnOnYMOuS Demand Business context Business success Business capabilities IT contribution Control IT principles IT governance IT financial management Metrics Supply IT services Enterprise architecture People Sourcing Executive summary
Risks and issues Detailed appendices
