Overview of IT Analytics

The growth of analytics is strongest in financial management and budgeting followed by operations and production, strategy and business development.  Sales and Marketing and Customer Services  are target areas of growth.   IT Analytics is the use of analytics to manage and deliver value-centric technology.   Significant is the lack of use of IT Analytics in workforce planning and allocation.   There are many reasons for this discrepancy, not the least of which being the perceived importance of IT in the organizations.  IT is by and large treated as an expense and not an investment. The role of IT Analytics can be better understood by making the distinction between micro-analytics (individual Key Performance Indicators) and macro-analytics (combination of multiple metrics).

ITIL provided a set of metrics which are very specific and cover a few specific measurements.  These analytics fall under micro-analytics. A Balanced Scorecard view provides macro analytics.  Macro analytics is analogous to macroeconomics – dealing with the whole whereas microeconomics deals with a specific domain or area. Macro IT Analytics can be classified into four groups:

• Managing the Services Delivered (user perspective)
• Managing the Resources (staff perspective)
• Managing Value Delivered to the Enterprise (financial perspective)
• Managing External Factors

User centered IT analytics includes customer happiness, response time, ability to triage and prioritize requests, and managing defects. Staff centered IT analytics include staff morale, resource utilization, transparency, productivity and turnover. Financial IT analytics includes number of capital projects, return on investments (ROI), variance and percentage of IT expenditures on new projects. External IT analytics includes outside threats, Disaster Recovery (DR) incidents, technology adoption velocity and percentage of budget allocated to contingency.

These four groups can be combined to provide a benchmark of IT itself.

How far is Google taking us?

Literally.  We all heard about the dozen cars in Northern California that can drive for us.   The one I thought was very cute was something much more mundane.  I was writing an email (using gmail) in which I used the phrase “as per the attachment”.  Needless to say I had not attached anything.  When I attempted to send the email, Google politely pointed out that I had the used the phrase “per attachment”, but there was no attachment.  Clearly, a “wow” moment.  Imagine I had sent an email to my wife telling her I love her but forgot to attach a picture of a dozen roses!  Where is Google taking us?

Google already has language translators eliminating that profession.  They have analytics eliminating many a bright analyst.  Imagine now that Google wants to replace managers with automated tools.  Let us take this further, they want to replace CIOs with tools.  This topic hits home.  After all I run a business providing on-demand CIO services and tools to help CIOs manage the IT department.   I am panic-stricken actually.  If they really do replace us CIOs with tools, then I will lose my business which helps CIOs run the business of IT.   Is it time to work on my resume?

A Lesson From Not-For-Profit Organizations

Till recently I was a Consultant CIO at a renowned Not-For-Profit  (NFP) organization serving the visually impaired, I feel that there are a few key lessons that can carry over to the commercial world. One of the key tenets, NFPs discuss today is to shift the focus from outputs to outcome.  As I turn my attention to the For-Profit world, it is a lesson we can implement as well.  Outputs are necessary but not  necessarily sufficient to create the proper outcomes.

We achieve outputs by keeping our attention on process efficiency and staff productivity. To develop better outcomes, we must focus on the effect we have on our customers, our staff, our environment and the society we operate in.  To understand the impact on the customers, we must understand their eco system.  Crafting our vision must draw the balance on how our organizations eco-system interacts with the customers eco-system.  The simplest way to achieve symbiosis in the two eco-systems is to run the enterprise on a strict code of ethics that is built into the vision of the organization.  Proper ethics is the only objective way to ensure that the outputs our organizations produce is leading to better outcomes.

Technology can be an enabler by providing transparency and a shared information system that can help understand the impact organizations have on the customers eco system.   Not surprisingly, transparent Governance has been proven to be great motivators for staff as well.

Forrester’s Top Ten IT Priorities for 2014 – A Quick Review

What a disappointment!  Not that I am fan of IT predictions, nor am I a big fan of analysts in this space, even given that, I expected more of firms like Forrester.  Their top ten predictions were:

1. Digital convergence erodes boundaries
2. Digital experience delivery makes (or breaks) firms
3. APIs become digital glue
4. The business takes ownership of process and intelligence
5. Firms shed yesterday’s data limitations
6. Sensors and devices draw ecosystems together
7. “Trust” and “identity” get a rethink
8. Infrastructure takes on engagement
9. Firms learn from the cloud and mobile
10. IT becomes an agile service broker (or fades away)

The top ten predictions (save for the last one) were something that could have been written in 2001! The last one is quite interesting.  Service oriented architecture that originated in IT to manage services is now spreading to other areas of the enterprise.  IT needs to encourage and facilitate these services.  Fortunately a number of tools are coming together in the market place to leverage this trend.  This will not only foster efficiencies in the organization but bridge the gap between users and IT.

Learning from VCs

With his article “Learning from VCs: One CIO’s Strategy for Investing in IT”, Charles is right on the money.  The role of a CIO is very similar to that of a CEO of a professional services firms.  CIOs will face situations where they have to take risk to maintain a competitive edge for the Enterprise.  The company culture, competitive landscape, industry domain and past performance all influence the degree of risk that the Enterprise can tolerate.  Charles correctly identifies that risks entail failure, but failing fast helps facilitate exploring alternatives.

Charles identifies that CIOs are called upon to place bets—much like VCs do—that a given product or service is going to hit the market at the right time and can fill a niche that others don’t.  IT Assessments are a great way to develop a framework for the opportunities that fit the makeup of the the Enterprise.  While the CIO cannot be expected to have the crystal ball, the onus of innovation is clearly on the CIO, and innovation always entails risks.  IT Assessments not only help identify the challenges and opportunities for the enterprise, they also serve as the risk gauge that can help the CIO develop both a short term and a long term IT strategy that is symbiotic with the enterprise strategic plan.

An example of prudent risk taking comes from my friend Rich Hoffman.  At a Los Angeles CIO Summit where over 200 CIOs attended, I had the good fortune to hear my friend for a decade and a half, Rich Hoffman, talk about the importance of collaboration.  He is the CIO at Avery Dennison and the collaboration platform he has built in partnership with Google is a role model for us.  It was launched with great success in just nine months covering 20,000 users in 50 countries.

CIO as a Change Agent

I had the pleasure of meeting Keith Ferrazzi earlier this year. Keith was talking to us at the SCSIM on becoming an agent of change. According to SCSIM, Keith Ferrazzi is one of the rare individuals to discover the essential formula for reaching the top – a powerful combination of marketing acumen and a remarkable ability to connect with others. Both Forbes and Inc. have designated him one of the world’s most “connected” individuals.

Hearing him today confirmed SCSIM’s assertion. Keith spoke of four mind-sets needed to become a successful change agent: Generosity (helping others unconditionally), Vulnerability (sharing weaknesses to help foster intimacy), Candor (being transparent and upfront), and Accountability (walking the talk on the promises made).

In a sense, Keith reflects uGovernIT’s philosophy. With respect to Generosity, the services architecture enables IT to deliver services that drive efficiency in the enterprise. Taking the initiative to provide these services builds credibility with the users. With respect to Vulnerability, uGovernIT provides a user mandated Governance process that essentially transfers IT ownership back to the users. With respect to Candor, uGovernIT provides complete transparency to all stake holders on how IT is performing using Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) derived from the user-IT transactions. Finally, with respect to Accountability, uGovernIT helps IT publish SLAs (Service Level Agreements) and how well IT is performing with respect to SLAs. uGovernIT also publishes all the raw facts so that users see IT as their partner and not as a black box.

Example of Two CIOs who broke the mould

Many, including yours truly, have written about the importance of the role of CIO and the transition to other CXO roles. Some have gone on to become CEOs, entrepreneurs, financial advisors, angel investors and even VCs. When you look at DuWayne Peterson, you see that he was the Chairman at Pasadena Angel Investors and now the Vice President at Colorado Angel Investors. But you forget that for the past four decades he has been one of the most respected IT executives around. From 1977 to 1986 he was Executive Vice President at Security Pacific Bank, and the next five years he was at Merrill Lynch. I cannot even state all the places he has helped – I will need a book for it, but to the best of my knowledge, he was one of the first million dollar a year CIO in this country. I have known him and been his admirer for several years, and besides all the accolades he deserves for his expertise, he is simply a modest and wonderful human being. Thank you DuWayne for the all help and advice you have shared with me. I miss those morning breakfast meetings in San Marino.

Jim Sutter, formerly CIO at Rockwell International is another very respected CIO who made the transition to CXO roles, coaching peers, Board positions and advisor to a multitude of start-ups including my own firm UGovernIT, Inc. Jim’s current role is as a Management Consultant specializing in technology investments related to information systems. He also facilitates one of the most respected CIO Roundtables in Orange County. I have known him for a decade and a half, and learnt so much as both a CIO and entrepreneur.