Archive for the 'IT Questions' Category

Jul 11th 2007 Is Your IT Growth Engine Sputtering? Some Questions

Companies can ask these basic questions to determine whether IT capabilities are contributing to–or hindering–their growth.

  1. Is your total IT spending below or above the average for your industry?
    (Clearly below, 1 point; average, 2 points; clearly above, 3 points)
  2. What share of your IT budget is spent on new capabilities?
    (0-10%, 1 point; 11-35%, 3 points; above 35%, 4 points)
  3. Who decides the size of your IT budget?
    (Your company’s business units, 1 point; business with IT input, 2 points; IT alone, 0 points)
  4. Is your company satisfied with its IT capabilities and services?
    (Not at all, 0 points; yes, with prominent exceptions, 3 points; yes, 5 points)
  5. Is your IT organization familiar with–or consulted on–your business’s growth strategy and initiatives?
    (Neither familiar nor consulted, 0 points; familiar, 3 points; familiar and consulted, 5 points)
  6. Do you consider your competitors’ IT superior to yours?
    (Don’t know, 0 points; in just a few areas, 1 point; usually not, 4 points)
  7. Does a business team have a major role in each IT project, including infrastructure and software?
    (Rarely, 0 points; just for key projects, 3 points; always, 6 points)
  8. Does your IT team quantify the return on investment of its projects?
    (Rarely, 1 point; where possible, 3 points; always, 4 points)

Here’s how to evaluate your totals:

  • A score of 4-14 means that fundamental IT performance and capability issues are inhibiting your company’s growth.
  • A score of 15-20 means that IT is not powering growth and is performing poorly. However, it could do better with the confidence of and support from the business side of your company.
  • A score of 21-30 indicates your IT organization is not powering growth, despite business leaders who are IT “believers.” It also shows IT needs business ownership for infrastructure projects.
  • A score above 30 means the IT and business teams are successfully working together to achieve growth.

Source:
IT-powered growth
by David Shpilberg
Bain & Company

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Jul 10th 2007 Investing in M-Business: Nine Strategic Questions

  • Have the firm’s competitors invested in m-business technology? If so, where and how?
  • Have companies in complementary industries invested in m-business technology? If so, where and how?
  • How large or significant are m-business opportunities and threats in the firm’s arena?
  • To what extent does mobile technology support or threaten the firm’s existing business model?
  • What degree of business transformation is required to implement a wireless solution within the firm?
  • What should be the strategic thrust in mobile technology for the given opportunity or threat (operational efficiency, range and reach, or new business model)?
  • Who is the primary audience for each wireless application (partners, employees, or customers)?
  • Will the investments in m-business solutions (people, processes, and technology) pay off in a reasonable time frame?
  • Are there profitable opportunities to forge cross-industry alliances to create new value for customers?

Source:
Rational Exuberance: The Wireless Industry’s Killer “B”
by Venkatesh Shankar
strategy+business, Summer 2003

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Jul 9th 2007 Finding Out How Management Addresses IT Issues

  • How and how well are enterprise and IT objectives aligned with each other?
  • How is the value delivered by IT being measured? Are the assumptions reasonable and are intangible benefits verified?
  • What strategic initiatives has executive management taken to manage IT’s criticality relative to maintenance and growth of the enterprise, and are they appropriate?
  • Is the enterprise clear on its position relative to technology: pioneer, early adopter, follower or laggard? Is it clear on risk appetite: risk avoidance or risk taking?
  • Is there an up-to-date IT risk register relevant to the enterprise? What has been done to address those risks?

Source:
Performance Improvement – A Classic Checklist
by Rick Sidorowicz
The CEO Refresher

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Jul 8th 2007 Business Critical Service Asset Questions

For every asset that supports business critical service, Visible Ops recommends the following questions be answered:

  • What does it do?
  • What is the hardware platform?
  • What is the operating system platform?
  • What applications are installed?
  • Who is responsible for this asset’s uptime?
  • What service(s) does it support?
  • Who is authorized to make changes?
  • What does this box do for the business?
  • What will happen when this box stops working completely?
  • What will happen when the performance of this box is severely degraded?
  • What is the change success rate?
  • Is this device fragile? Can we build a new one if it fails?
  • What are its dependencies?
  • What other infrastructure depend on this unit?
  • What planned and unplanned changes have been made?
  • What is the device’s name? Is it appropriate for the tasks performed?
  • What is the outage cost? (In other words, the cost per minute of downtime)
  • Where is it physically located?
  • Is there anything odd about this box?
  • Is this a generally-supported platform in our company?
  • Is this box going to go away in the next few months?
  • How do we get access to this box (remote or otherwise)?
  • How is this unit backed up?
  • How long does it take to re-provision this unit (estimate)?
  • How long can the business afford to be without it?
  • Are we monitoring this unit for changes?
  • Are we fault-monitoring this device?
  • Do the fault-monitoring assumptions match the dependency realities?
  • If the unit is mission critical, then are there adequate hardware backups in place (power supply, network card, RAM, etc)?
  • Why do we feel that this unit is unstable (if applicable)?
  • Is there anything that needs attention on this unit?

Source:
Starting a Visible Ops-Based Change Management Program
by Tori Harris
Tripwire Inc.

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Jul 7th 2007 Assessing the Board’s IT Governance Practices

  • Is IT a regular item on the board’s agenda and, if so, is it addressed in a structured manner?
  • Does the board articulate and communicate the business objectives for IT alignment?
  • Does the board review, and possibly approve, the IT strategy?
  • Does the board have a clear view on the total IT investment portfolio from a risk and return perspective? Does the board receive regular progress reports on major IT projects?
  • Is the board regularly briefed on those IT risks to which the enterprise is exposed?
  • Is the board getting independent assurance on the achievement of IT objectives and the containment of IT risks?

Source:
CEO’s Guide to IT Value and Risk
BetterManagement.com

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Jan 9th 2006 Questions to ask about business critical service IT assets

For every asset that supports business critical service, Visible Ops recommends the following questions be answered:

  • What does it do?
  • What is the hardware platform?
  • What is the operating system platform?
  • What applications are installed?
  • Who is responsible for this asset’s uptime?
  • What service(s) does it support?
  • Who is authorized to make changes?
  • What does this box do for the business?
  • What will happen when this box stops working completely?
  • What will happen when the performance of this box is severely degraded?
  • What is the change success rate?
  • Is this device fragile? Can we build a new one if it fails?
  • What are its dependencies?
  • What other infrastructure depend on this unit?
  • What planned and unplanned changes have been made?
  • What is the device’s name? Is it appropriate for the tasks performed?
  • What is the outage cost? (In other words, the cost per minute of downtime)
  • Where is it physically located?
  • Is there anything odd about this box?
  • Is this a generally-supported platform in our company?
  • Is this box going to go away in the next few months?
  • How do we get access to this box (remote or otherwise)?
  • How is this unit backed up?
  • How long does it take to re-provision this unit (estimate)?
  • How long can the business afford to be without it?
  • Are we monitoring this unit for changes?
  • Are we fault-monitoring this device?
  • Do the fault-monitoring assumptions match the dependency realities?
  • If the unit is mission critical, then are there adequate hardware backups in place (power supply, network card, RAM, etc)?
  • Why do we feel that this unit is unstable (if applicable)?
  • Is there anything that needs attention on this unit?

Source: Starting a Visible Ops-Based Change Management Program / Tori Harris, Ron Zika / Tripwire, Inc.

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Dec 30th 2005 IT Infrastructure Questions

Still stuck with bad processes and high-maintenance legacy systems? Here are five questions that will help you determine and sort your priorities.

  • Is your company’s infrastructure helping or hindering your company’s …
    M&A options and plans?
    New-product and speed-to-market strategies?
    Efforts to implement new technologies that deliver a more unified, holistic view of your customers?
    Depending on your company’s business strategy in the coming years, a response of “hindering” to any of these questions might put your organization on the defensive when faced with competition from third-party providers.
  • Do you have metrics to prove that your IT infrastructure delivers value to the company?
    If not, you’ll constantly be competing on costs, which won’t give sufficient emphasis to the value you provide.
  • Can you respond effectively when outsourcing providers tell your CEO that they can take over your company’s IT infrastructure and cut costs by one-third?
    This scenario will be a continuous challenge in the coming years. Developing an effective response is a necessity. At what point do you hop on the outsourcing bandwagon, too? Educate yourself now about all the options.
  • Is your company’s IT infrastructure group considered an equal partner with other technology areas and business partners when developing new technical capabilities?
    If not, you run the risk of being considered simply a commodity rather than a strategic differentiator.
  • How comfortable do you feel about achieving the financial targets set for IT in the coming year? In three years?
    There will continue to be sources of savings within IT. However, they often will come from new sources that have to be built into future IT plans.

Source: Overcoming IT Ambivalence by Jeff Hughes / Optimize, December 2005, Issue 22

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