IT Transformation. Gotta have it! Where to begin?

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By Larry Acklin, Global Applications Modernization Product Marketing Manager

Still struggling with the same IT issues (legacy sprawl, resource issues, new technologies to integrate, information explosion, changing business models and apps that cannot adjust fast enough)?

Sounds familiar? Many CIOs are in the same situation. Many are trying to take action executing transformation projects, but they just seem to add to the already complex IT portfolio instead of simplifying it. This all leads to frustration, gridlock and confusion.

Recently, CIO Magazine’s Richard Sykes, met with HP to see if our HP Applications Transformation Experience process was marketing hype or something real that can drive value to CIOs. Mr Sykes reported that “The twin barriers to constructively tackling the potential for transformational change are undoubtedly sprawling legacy systems and defensive IT departments. What I found at HP is an innovative workshop process that seeks to effectively engage the latter with the business to jointly create the practical means to transform and rework the former”. Mr Sykes goes on to say “We are well into the era of virtualisation and its major technology and business impacts. HP has accumulated significant practical experience by working on transformational agendas with major enterprise clients, and there is a small band of expert HP practitioners intimate with particular industry verticals”

Sykes highlights one of the key benefits of the session being the alignment of the business and IT as a critical factor. We see this time and again as we perform these sessions with our clients. He says “The real challenge is to bring together the enterprise’s business and IT players. A questionnaire brings an initial focus onto what should be common business agendas and, given that the lack of such common agendas is a frequent reality, allows the HP team enabling the workshop to set an approach encouraging the participants to create what that shared business-shaped transformational agenda should be!”

Read more about My Sykes’ review of the HP Transformation Experience at “Learning your Seven Rs. Legacy sprawl and defensive IT departments are blocking transformational cha...

Visit our HP Transformation Experience website and watch the video on the HP Transformation Experience.

What challenges do you have with IT transformation?

[#2]

By Larry Acklin, Global Applications Modernization Product Marketing Manager

In response to a question on Twitter regarding this blog post :

                              "What challenges do you have w/IT Transformation"

Cost & business value justifications are extremely important for an effective transformation. We see many projects fail because of this. You need to have a solid transformation roadmap that is made up of many projects each justifying their investment and the value they will return to the business. Drive your rationalization activities using real data from existing operations as well as industry benchmarks. HP uses a combination of Consulting, process, and software to do this effectively. And the software element will allow you to manage those projects through execution matching back to the initial justification. For business value, it is important to map your business processes to your applications and infrastructure and then truly define the IT spend for each. That provides the vision for how important each is to your business and if you are spending resources in the right places. We see many clients that miss this step and spend large portions of their IT spend on systems that are of minimal value to their business.