CIO Blog

Please Vote

peter@birley.net (Peter Birley FBCS CITP PMP) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 12:20:00 +0000

Please Vote for this blog in this years Computer Weekly Blog Awards

Select CIO/IT Director Category
and CIO Blog by Peter Birley

Here is the voting Link

http://www.computerweekly.com/Articles/2009/11/03/238190/vote-in-the-computer-weekly-it-blog-awards-2009.htm

Thank You
Peter

Will the CIO role still be relevant in 2015?

peter@birley.net (Peter Birley FBCS CITP PMP) — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 10:03:00 +0000

Attending the CIO Dialogue summit in December. For details see
http://www.cio-dialogue.com

Involved in the open forum discussion on 'Will the CIO role still be relevant to the business in 2015?'

Will be publishing some thoughts soon for comment but if you have any thoughts in the meantime please contact me

Top 100 IT Industry Blogs

peter@birley.net (Peter Birley FBCS CITP PMP) — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 08:37:00 +0000

Adrienne Sara Carlson's blog 'Online IT Degrees' has included a Top 100 IT Industry Blogs and I am pleased to announce that she has included this blog in the 'Top IT Industry Blogs From a Leader' section, so thank you Adrienne.
There are some interesting blogs in this list, nicely divided into sections and well worth a review. See link

http://onlineitdegrees.org/top-100-it-industry-blogs/

How can technology help your company win business?

peter@birley.net (Peter Birley FBCS CITP PMP) — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 13:04:00 +0000

In these times we need to do even more in order to sustain business levels and at the same time try to increase them with new clients or customers.
The question here is can technology help your company to win business and following a lot of research that I have been carrying out the answer seems to be yes, although not necessarily directly.

What that means is that the core to winning business will still be based around the product or service, the price and possibly the relationship. At the end of the day the customer wants the right thing at the right price delivered in the right way and by somebody they have confidence in.

So how can technology play its part?
Technology can help in numerous ways mainly around automation, providing access to information, analysis of information, specialist systems and improved collaboration.

The specifics identified in my research seem to fall under a number of headings although like most things when you try to put them into a single box they spill over into other boxes but here are my groupings:-.

Customer
Satisfied customers can and do defect. They are often seeking more than a service and want solutions that are innovative, add value and remove their pain points. They also like being delighted when they receive a service that provides unexpected value.
In order to achieve this I believe we need to understand not just the process that we use to deliver service but also the customer’s process and to involve them in this analysis. This will help us to seek out where value may be added.
Some of the areas the research indicated that are customer related were:-
• Providing the customer with improved process
• Giving more transparency with direct access to information
• Improving the customers experience and ensuring relevance
• Providing online systems that are product or service based and that can shorten the supply chain
• Understanding the customers requirements and pain points and delivering unique solutions in response
• Demonstrating relevant technologies that give the client confidence and maybe demonstrate cost containment or quality assurance
• Demonstrating security and data leak prevention to install confidence

Analysis
Knowledge is power and analysis of your knowledge (data) may highlight some interesting results. Your company will have a mass of data, sometimes buried in different systems, but if this can be harnessed and analysed, often known these days as Business Intelligence, then it will assist in the decision making process and hopefully guide you on where to concentrate your new business activities. Results of the research were:-
• Use Business Intelligence to spot growth areas
• Use predictive analytics to identify opportunities and likelihood of success
• Identify profitable areas and focus new business on these

Marketing
The best marketing is still about understanding what the customer wants, listening to their feedback, matching your offering and then getting your message out hopefully in tune with your clients and your target markets. Clients are also interested these days in technology and your capability, your security and your innovations to name a few so these are worth getting over in any pitch or tender. Supporting the marketing message are numerous systems with Web sites and the CRM (Customer Relationship Management) as the prime marketing database. The march of social networking technologies continues and not just in the personal communication market. This is a brand new set of technologies that can be exploited in your marketing campaigns and the power is integrating these new technologies with the existing core CRM products which could open up new prospects, markets as well as providing better data on what your customers are doing. A lot of this trend was identified in the research and included the following specific points:-
• Using social networking for lead generation and qualification
• CRM systems to maintain relationships and information about prospects
• CRM integrated with social networking site contacts
• Google alert type systems to track clients and filter to CRM
• Reporting systems on deals lost and delayed for lessons learnt
• Demonstrating technology capability in pitches
• Web analytics
• Web sites that sell your services and allow easy contact

Internal Business
The remaining area was about using technology to improve internal processes which would not only enhance the client experience and support the business goals but also free people from unnecessary tasks so they could be more productive in marketing and selling. In particular the following research data fell into that category:-

• Innovative businesses models/Streamline/ automate to reduce costs and make product/service more competitive
• Use of technology to free up people time
• Support business goals and expansion plans

So it would seem that Technology is in a supporting role but used properly in conjunction with other initiatives it can help to win business

The Importance of a Project Management Methodology

peter@birley.net (Peter Birley FBCS CITP PMP) — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 07:55:00 +0000

One of the things that is important to project success is having a consistent methodology across the whole organisation.
The alternative of allowing different methodologies or no methodology is often inefficiencies, higher costs, longer schedules and of course higher risk.

Consistency means having a standard way of managing all projects. It ensures that all aspects of the project are considered, evaluated and documented.

Methodology is a collection of agreed processes, methods and tools to accomplish an objective. It becomes a road map for managing projects and provides guidance to project teams.

Advantages abound in that you can achieve common:-
• Training
• Understanding
• Process
• Tools and techniques
• Measurements

And of course a key advantage is that the risk of failure is reduced.

And as more projects are completed using the methodology it becomes part of the fabric of work, speeds up the project process and can help to reduce change management issues as more of the work force understand the process, where to find information and who to communicate with.

The methodology does not need to be rigid and can be modified to suit the particular projects although the core process will remain. The tools and techniques become a tool chest from which the right tool can be chosen for the right job. One essential tool on any project of a reasonable size is suitable software to help manage the project. The number of tasks and resources being managed becomes very difficult without some software to assist particularly once changes start coming in requiring some replanning.

A lot of organisations will take a common method such as that from ‘PMI’ or ‘Prince’ and adapt it to their own requirements without losing the essence of the methodology.

They can of course go wrong and this is generally a result of over enthusiasm which creates a monster by following methodologies to the finest detail regardless of the size of the project or the capability and type of the organisation. Other problems occur when core elements are bypassed usually as a result of weak project management.

Setting up a methodology in the first instance does require commitment in terms of resource and money. The most important aspect is buy-in from top management and if it isn’t driven top down then it will fail.
There will then be which method do we go for, do we need to adapt it, what are training requirements, communication to the business and help with introducing the chosen methodology. In most cases external consultancy help is needed in choosing the methodology and in helping to introduce it into the company.

A project driven company is often a successful company and one that can delight clients by delivering change in a timely and efficient manner.

Back again

peter@birley.net (Peter Birley FBCS CITP PMP) — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 07:54:00 +0000

Lost the service for a while due to DNS problem but all seems to be back now.

Silicon CIO50 2009

peter@birley.net (Peter Birley FBCS CITP PMP) — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 11:55:00 +0000

Maybe a bit of self promotion here but hey ho!
Very pleased to have been voted in the silicon.com Top 50 CIO's
see link below:-

http://www.legalitprofessionals.com/index.php/news/619-peter-birley-amongst-50-most-influential-and-innovative-uk-cios

I think this is one more example of the power of Social Networking in combination with the more traditional ppromotion of articles and speaking which get your messages out.

Innovation - Getting the Ideas

peter@birley.net (Peter Birley FBCS CITP PMP) — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 14:15:00 +0000

Having achieved a reasonable core IT service (and most companies these days have probably achieved the 80% rule in this regard - we all have Microsoft Office and dozens of servers don’t we?) how do we differentiate from the competition?

Well we can use quality or price but these are all proven techniques that use buying power or process efficiencies and with some effort we could all go down those routes. What we need is something really different. Of course if you do come up with that something different you will be copied and your advantage may be short lived so you will need to maintain that lead, which can be addictive and expensive.

With that in mind, you need to be sure that any idea you come up with is fully costed with real benefits identified and is not just that ego trip. You need to add value to the client or customer process and be seen by them as an innovator. If it doesn’t add something to the client process then you need to consider if it is worth doing. Remember, everything we do should be to the benefit of the customer.

You may be saying “that’s great but how do you come up with the ideas in the first place?” Not all of us wake up in the middle of the night with a great idea and some of us that do, can’t remember it in the morning!

Innovation is the successful exploitation of new ideas and whilst those that are generated may not be all IT related, it will do the CIO no harm to be seen to be leading on innovation.

I don’t have the complete answer to all this but I would like to throw in some thoughts about how to collect those new ideas:-

The Customer Value Chain

Understanding the business process, not just within your company but where it touches the customer, is a great way to start. Map your process into the customer from how they place the order and then, once you have completed your company’s work, what they do with the outcome. Review this process. It may lead you to find that they do things with your service or product that you could do for them at no or little extra cost, saving them time and effort.

Listen to Customers

Listen to customer feedback and look to fulfil their requirements where feasible but don’t just stop there, look beyond. Can you go the extra mile for very little extra effort?

Supplier Input

Ask your more strategic suppliers to provide input to your innovation programme. After all they are working in your marketplace and possibly with your competitors and your customers so they may have a view to the gaps in some of the services, or they may be able to relate the market dissatisfactions which could lead you to new solutions.

The Internal Innovation Portal

Create a web based portal to encourage employees to submit ideas. Create a process for review and feedback and make the process visible to all. Use this portal as the one place where all ideas are captured and managed.

The External Innovation Portal

Even better, give your clients access to an innovation portal so they can feed in ideas. Keep this separate from the internal one and maybe restrict visibility but ensure you feed back to the client. Use as many of their ideas as possible and let them know!

Web 2.0

Consider using the power of web 2.0 to help generate ideas - blogs and wikis either linked to the innovation portal or other vehicle, such as the intranet or specific marketing or departmental web pages. Starting discussions around customer service or new products can get the whole team thinking, which can lead to new ideas.

The External Marketplace

There is a wealth of untapped ideas out in the marketplace. Go to conferences and exhibitions and talk to people and you will be surprised the number of ideas that start to formulate from what is said. Somebody else’s experience or idea will start the thinking on how this could be adapted to your business or may start a new train of thought leading to several ideas.

Having (hopefully) collected lots of ideas, make sure they are put through the internal innovation portal so there is one place where they are recorded and then run a process to prioritise and identify cost, resource and benefits. Discuss them internally and also take the important ones to the customer and get their feedback. This will not only tell you if they will benefit the customer but the customer will see you as an innovator which will put you ahead of your competition. If you also deliver the innovation your street value will increase even further.

Last but not least, try to ensure you do a post review of innovations delivered and in particular the benefit derived. If it helped your company to win more business or increased the bottom line then it is a great advert for more of the same.

Innovation looks like a win-win to me!

10 Steps to Successful IT

peter@birley.net (Peter Birley FBCS CITP PMP) — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 10:13:00 +0000

We all want Successful IT but how do we get there? Well here are my 10 steps to successful IT which should help provoke some thoughts to create your own steps. Of course 10 is an arbitrary number and there could be more or less steps in order to reach your goal. It will depend on where you are starting from and how you define success. I have put them in order but this is not set in stone, as some will be parallel steps and some dependent on where you are in the maturity model and the size and type of business.

1. Ensure costs are understood and under control
You can’t achieve anything unless you understand your cost base so this has to be my number one. Once you have analysed the costs and dealt with any discrepancies it is important to keep them under control. A control system for authorising purchases and controlling invoices may be needed. Maintain reliable information on projected versus actual costs and the benefits of any IT investments.
Any linking of technology investments to business performance measurements would be a bonus.

2. The customer focus
Some people may say this should be number one. Don’t just consider your own company requirements but those that reflect the needs of your customer, otherwise it can focus you internally and restricts the vision beyond the walls of the company. The main customer is the company’s customer. It can be challenging to see how improving IT might make your customers more successful and this may require a fundamental shift to become more an integral part of the company’s operations in order to create real value for the ultimate customer.

3. Create and follow a strategy/ plan
Number three follows on from the customer focus and is the creation of a plan so you have a direction. Strategic business and IT systems plans must be grounded in explicit high priority customer needs and must be aligned. Planning, budgeting and execution should be conducted in a seamless fashion with outputs of one process a direct input into another. Most importantly the strategic goals objectives and direction are used to actually manage and evaluate the performance of the organisation.

4. Business engagement
You need to obtain, engage and maintain business buy in and ongoing support. The business should have been working with you on the previous steps so there are no surprises. Make sure you get board approval, communicate directional changes/ issues and keep the board informed. Find your supporters and nurture them. Position yourself as a senior manager to act as a bridge between top executives, line management and your IT professionals. Advise top managers on the worth of major technology decisions and investments. Promote productive relationships between users of technology and IT.

5. Tech Partners/ suppliers
A good supplier strategy can deliver a win-win for both parties. Suppliers can be an asset and a major weapon in your armoury. Treat them with respect. Choose partners that can deliver best in class products and services. Share the vision with them. Make sure they understand the challenges in your industry. Individuals within the suppliers are the real key to your success, so look to build relationships with those people.

6. Manage IT
Number six is about managing IT. Focus on metrics that really drive the performance of the business. Apply best practice where possible. Manage resources and direct scarce resources to high value/ high visibility projects. Support major cost reduction and service improvement efforts. Measure performance of key mission delivery processes and communicate them. It is also often worth carrying out some Benchmarks within your industry to see how you are comparing against your competitors.

7. Be project driven
Create a project portfolio and manage all IT projects as a programme. Manage individual projects as investments; ensuring a sound business case, that benefits are identified and agreed and stakeholders are fully involved. Don’t be afraid to cut your losses and if necessary have an exit strategy if a project is not going to work out. Sometimes difficult to sustain but don’t forget to manage risk and when looking at implementation use change control techniques so there are no surprises for the recipients. Be benefits driven and make sure they are realised. Consider managing large projects using EVM (Earned Value Method). Ambitious and complex projects should be broken down into smaller deliverables.

8. Ensure team working
A motivated, knowledgeable team is a great step to success. Think team! Operate as one team and include any key suppliers in that. Look at ways to motivate and reward the team but most of all engender trust and don’t be afraid to delegate. You can always put some soft controls in to ensure things keep within boundaries.
Communicate so everybody knows what is happening and what is expected of them. You will be surprised how people react to being treated as responsible individuals.

9. Train the team
Ensure that you have the right level of skills available to make things happen. Develop a Skills matrix based on your functional needs and then match your team’s individual skill levels to the matrix. Use this to highlight deficiencies and determine your training program. Consider sending people on relevant conferences and industry group meetings so they are aware of the wider world. Developing your people will pay off.

10. Shout about it
Shout about your success. Let people know what you are doing.
Create a communication plan. Make sure communication is regular and use every opportunity to talk about your achievements in terms of business benefit. In addition consider executive reports/ dashboards, progress reports and web 2.0 tools. Be prepared to give presentations to new starters and at departmental meetings. Consider external reporting and look at case studies for any successful implementations, writing magazine articles and talking at conferences.

Predictions 2009

peter@birley.net (Peter Birley FBCS CITP PMP) — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 16:57:00 +0000

Here are my musings on IT predictions for next year.
2009 will be a more difficult year with investment being curtailed in line with the recessional indications. This means that efficiency will remain the big thing although there will be some investment in technology other than for efficiency in order to position organisations for the end of the recession. Security will remain high on the agenda particularly for or in dealing with the public sector and so will risk and compliance issues.
This means on the cost/efficiency side companies will continue with the virtualisation to reduce the number of servers and the associated costs, software licence costs will come under spotlight, as will the old chestnut of outsourcing although to the enlightened this can be counter productive unless the technology department is very large.
We may see business process outsourcing and shared services grow as a number of organisations have already put their toe in the water with these types of service.
New areas such as SAAS (software as a service) and cloud computing (Servers on demand) could be on the agenda but think it is still a bit early for these as total solutions and more for specific applications. For smaller companies a full SAAS service with all applications delivered over the internet and paid for on a flexible usage basis could be attractive and a number of vendors are now starting to offer this facility.
Security requirements will see more encryption technologies being deployed at hardware level, for instance laptops being encrypted and software such as emails being encrypted. End point security will become more important with companies looking to close down USB and other entry points to the network.
The less paper environment which can reduce cost and offers a greener approach is back on the agenda with lots of organisations looking at this but it won’t be without pain as many people still like paper and its flexibility. It will put pressure on storage as more documents are scanned and we will see an increase in storage demands over 2009 and beyond as a result.
The push for efficiency and reduced office space will see home and mobile working continue to grow and with voice recognition improving every year we will see this creeping into the work place and eventually being available on mobile devices to create and control email without having to type!
Other areas that I predict are further use, at business level, of Collaboration and social networking and the continued move to Unified Communications to enable flexibility as people move around and to bring together all forms of communication.
Vista will still struggle with companies putting this off and maybe starting to think about jumping over it to Windows 7. Open source may get more attention as a cost saving measure but am still feeling that most companies wont take the plunge.
So an interesting year with reduced or static budgets and as a result companies looking to make quick wins using relatively fast to market technologies such as Sharepoint.The enlightened (and cash rich) may continue to invest ready for the upturn!
As with all predictiosn who knows!

Selling the IT Vision

peter@birley.net (Peter Birley FBCS CITP PMP) — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 16:22:00 +0000

IT is now an integral part of any business and can be aligned with a business’ success.

This success is not necessarily in sales terms, although a system offering competitive advantage to a client relationship could create just that, but generally more in efficiency and support.

The opposite is also true in that an IT disaster could bring down a business.

All this establishes that IT is important to the business - but does everybody in your organisation understand and support that? Do people in the business know where IT is going?

We as CIOs and IT leaders need to find a way to let the business know what IT is doing and why.

From an IT point of view it is often difficult selling this ‘vision’. In particular it can be hard to overcome the language barrier when communicating with the business so conversations can be held at the right level to engage colleagues across the organisation.

With this in mind and struggling myself to find a solution, I carried out a survey with a few colleagues to get some advice about what has worked for them.

From that research the following key considerations in creating an IT vision came out:

• Base the decisions for what is included in the IT vision on hard business facts and metrics
• Understand the challenges the business faces and link the IT vision to them
• Involve the business in the creation of the IT vision
• Get business sponsorship of the vision as early as possible
• Avoid discussion of technology and concentrate on business outcomes and events
• Keep the timeframe within a 12-36 month period
• Quantify the impact of adoption of particular programmes or technologies in terms of cost, risk and benefit
• Avoid terminology in explaining the vision
• Consider a range of options and communicate these
• Summarise with a high level road map for IT

These considerations told me the creation of the vision is the important part, in which the business must be fully engaged and which must reflect the business position. It confirms what many people have been talking about - I guess we have known for ages that IT must be aligned to the business if it is to be successful.

Following these considerations gives us an aligned vision with business involvement, support and sponsorship and therefore a solid foundation. But it is important the vision is communicated to the many not just the few.

Here are some areas for consideration in communicating the vision across your organisation.

For the content of your communication:

• Create an elevator speech
• Create a business-like presentation using Flash (not just PowerPoint) to make it interesting and interactive
• Remember the points from creation (avoid terminology/ concentrate on outcomes)

For delivering the vision:

• Involve a business sponsor in the delivery to show support
• Go on road shows
• Hold one-to-one meetings with key players - keep your pitch succinct
• Speak at departmental meetings
• Send out emails with your presentation
• Create a web 2.0 portal for your colleagues to view
• Start a poster campaign around the office
• Set up an ‘IT vision booth’ in a common area such as the office cafe or canteen

Whichever path is chosen we need to remember that the IT vision is a living programme and not a one-off delivery - and therefore needs regular communication to let people know how it is going. It should also be reviewed at least annually.

One final point in having done all this is: did it work?

To find out, you could ask colleagues to relate the vision back to you. But I think you will know if it’s working. When the general credibility of IT rises and the business starts getting involved in strategic discussions at an early stage, you will know you have arrived.

Models, Frameworks, and Best Practices

peter@birley.net (Peter Birley FBCS CITP PMP) — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 12:59:00 +0000

I have been looking at IT governance and best practice process in particular. There are a considerable number of these models, frameworks, and best practices that are applicable to IT. Some of them seem to overlap but several are different and used for different things.
At first glance it does appear quite frightening as there are so many, thereby creating confusion and conflict.
In my research I have probably only found a few of the total that exist:-

• Maturity Models (someone identified over 30 of these)
• ITIL
• ISO
• SOX (Sarbanes-Oxley)
• COBIT
• Government legislation (i.e. Data Protection)

So what do we do about them if anything? Some may be mandatory such as Sarbanes-Oxley depending on your industry and geographical trading areas.

Well, from my point of view I think it is important to have good processes within IT and we are going down the ITIL route which seems like it will given us a set of best practice processes across the IT spectrum. It could also eventually lead us to a quality standard such as ISO 9001 which would please the marketing people but may not add much more to our IT governance.

Outside of that it is worth looking at some of the ISO standards particularly the security one ISO 27001. Even if compliance is too much going someway down that route would deliver benefits.

Beyond that you start to get into maturity models which are all based on 5 levels of maturity and whilst I can see some benefits in defining where we are against these levels for the various maturity models, think we will get the others done first and then review.

Be interested in what other people think.

In this time of potential economic downturn what is the role of the CIO?

peter@birley.net (Peter Birley FBCS CITP PMP) — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 08:24:00 +0000

As you would expect I don’t think there is a specific answer other than it depends?
In some businesses where the impact may be higher due to reduced sales then the emphasis for the CIO will be on cost reduction whilst others even in a downturn may be investing, in preparation for an upturn in the future. In that case some prudence may still be expected and all non essentials projects cut back just leaving the new investment. Of course some businesses prosper in a downturn and are not impacted.
The position of the business is key and the CIO needs to be close to what is happening so that they can feel any pain and be able to react early. The role of the CIO should be of a business leader and it is an opportunity to show support for the cause and be proactive rather than wait for the edicts to come from above. Early intervention might even remove later difficulties or loss of the wrong projects. IT is often viewed as a money drain and there is not a great perception or realisation of the cost of keeping it running or Business as Usual so being proactive and showing what can and can’t be done and why, could be the answer.
So lets assume CIO’s are going to be proactive, where do they start? Although we are going to talk about savings, that is not the only answer and it may be that there are initiatives that support or enhance the sales or services that would increase revenue, so bringing these to market early could be a winner. The company is probably looking for quick answers and not something that will happen in 12 months time although that may be welcome as a second tier.
CIO’s should also be wary that they don’t do something they may regret later. Making a quick decision on cost cutting without considering the impact could cost twice as much later or even lose a competitive position.
The CIO therefore needs to identify savings, when they can be achieved, the impact and risk of carrying them out. Conversation would need to be had internally as some of the savings identified may impact another director or head of a department who could resist and react badly to the proposal. It doesn’t mean it should not go ahead in the proposal but the reason for rejection would need to be noted.
If IT is outsourced then the CIO may have some contractual issues but it is still worth talking to the supplier to see what they think can be achieved. It should be in their interest to help in the good and the bad times. Even in that situation there may be projects which don’t fall under the terms of the contract and therefore candidates for this exercise.
Because of the diverse nature of companies and their IT set up, it is not possible in this article to be specific on cost savings and there are plenty of articles where that has been done but as a help I would like to offer up a number of words that hopefully will help to get an exercise underway.

The sentence could start, “What can I ……” and the words are:-

Cancel, Centralise, Consolidate, Delay, Downsize, Find, Offshore, Outsource, Reduce, Renegotiate, Standardise.

One of those words which may need a little more explanation is “what can I find?” This is more about hidden costs and thinking where these may be. Hidden costs are often costs that were introduced several years ago and since that time there have been changes and the current costs do not now reflected those changes. One example would be maintenance of software licences where there may be less people using the system than initially purchased but the supplier has not been told and therefore the annual maintenance is based on the original number. There are a number of similar scenarios in this arena which are all worthy of investigation.

Once completed the CIO would present his findings to the board with appropriate recommendations and because of the proactive nature and affinity with what is happening in the business this exercise should increase his value in the eyes of fellow directors.

The final and perhaps the most important ongoing role will be managing the expectations of his team particularly the morale if projects are stopped or delayed.

I want to be a futurologist

peter@birley.net (Peter Birley FBCS CITP PMP) — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 14:06:00 +0000

Now this is a great job. Went to an exhibition a while ago and one of the speakers was a futurologist which to be honest I didn’t realise was a full time job but this guy made a good living out of it. Wikipedia describes the role as one who speculates about the future, so no surprises there but they do think outside the box and take technologies or potential technologies and expand their possibilities in ways which seem logical but which I don’t think I would have come up with given the base information. Some of the scary things were cellphones or computers embedded in the skin and passing information between people as they walk down the street.
For most of us in the real IT world this is interesting stuff but not that relevant because of the timescales for some of the predictions to come into the mainstream, although for some businesses, particularly those that in the production world have lengthy development cycles, this type of work may be crucial.
Futurologists claim about a 75-85% success rate but one of the things I liked about the job is that it is difficult to prove you wrong because by the time your predications would have come to fruition you may well be retired.
Not like a CIO of today where you are judged on performance in relatively short timescales!

Coping with the Motivation Cycle

peter@birley.net (Peter Birley FBCS CITP PMP) — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 08:21:00 +0000

Human nature being what it is, we all have needs and desires that want fulfilling. As a manager one of our key roles is to motivate our teams but who motivates the manager? Maybe the manager above, but I feel the downward motivation gets less the higher up the management chain you move. Perhaps there is a view that the more experienced and knowledgeable you are then you should be self motivating.
I think that last statement is true but we also need to recognise that no matter how experienced we are we will have moments when we hit the bottom of the motivation cycle. This is usually due to many things like; moments of doubt, lack of communication, lack of involvement, lack of direction, feeling that your worth is not recognised, a throw away comment from a colleague or just the volume of things to be achieved.
Recognising that it is not unusual and we all suffer in some form from occasional low moments is part of the solution to move back up the motivation cycle.
How long the low point exists will depend on the individual and the circumstances that contributed.
The key is to get out of the low point as soon as possible. To do that we have to recognise that we have to self motivate and can’t wait for external inputs which may never come. No matter how good you are or how well thought of you are, senior management or peer groups are often uncomfortable in telling you, so you have to do it yourself and one way is to seek the positives which may include:-
Personal pride, the desire to achieve, recognising it’s not personal, supporting your team, review your successes, focusing on your goals, breaking down the tasks, seek clarification etc.
Whilst the cycle will always have highs and lows we can reduce the lows by doing something about them. Keep smiling!

The Power of 10

peter@birley.net (Peter Birley FBCS CITP PMP) — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 14:21:00 +0000

Half way through the year and time for our half year resolutions or the power of 10. Ten things you can do next week to make a difference.
1. Meet 10 new people in the organisation
2. Set a goal to achieve 10 things from your to do list
3. Set a target to reduce outstanding calls on the service desk by 10%
4. Grow your personal network by 10 people
5. Learn 10 things about the system you are weakest on.
6. Send out one ' how to' tip for users every week for the next 10 weeks
7. Find 10 cost savings
8. Generate 10 new ideas
9. Try and spend 10 minutes with each member of your team during the week
10. Spend 10 minutes a day sorting your desk and that mass of papers

Top things in managing an IT department - part 8 (the end)

peter@birley.net (Peter Birley FBCS CITP PMP) — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 14:12:00 +0000

Finally completed this series and here at the last 8 taking us to the magic 50.
The last 8 things are numbers 43-50 and again they are not necessarily in any order of importance. As always please feedback things that I have missed or just let me know your thoughts.
Hope it has stimulated some thought.

43.You need a Quality Plan
Quality should be in everything you do but it is an important subject often taken lightly. Quality is about the use of best practice, adherence to standards and ensuring fitness for purpose. Having a quality plan will help you think about how you are going to deliver quality in all projects. It is effectively the instruction manual for achieving quality.

44. Model the Business
There is some advantage in considering tools that allow you to hold a model of the business. Often known as Case tools these hold company organisation/ structure/process etc. They provide a total picture of the business and can be useful particularly if making change and ensuring you understand the impact of that change (scenario planning). This is a time consuming and detailed piece of work and you should only consider this if you are prepared to invest the manpower not only in doing it but also in maintaining it.

45. Consulting
Become the consultant to the business on technology and process. To do this you need to get closer to the business and get involved in business decision making and client reviews. You need to input your ideas and thoughts in a positive and professional manner to ensure the business leaders recognise the value of your contribution. Eventually you will be called on to contribute as a natural part of the business process.

46. Maturity Models
Maturity models can be useful. They attempt to define different levels of maturity for different processes such as software development, project management etc (in fact I saw an article where somebody said there were over 30 different models!). By answering the questions for each level it determines your position within the model and then you can move up the maturity levels by implementing the missing pieces. A good way to determine where you are and to progress.

47. Remote and Mobile working
Make sure the business can operate externally whether that is from home, internet café, hotel or clients premises. Look at delivering a secure access solution to the business systems. The workforce is becoming more and more mobile and flexible working is becoming popular so this facility is a must in most businesses.

48. Gateway Reviews
Gateway reviews are a key management tool and decision point. They are used a lot by government and local authorities. Use them at various points in a project. They allow a review of the status of the project by peer groups who can question the value and potential success of the project. Because the peer group are not directly involved in the project they can often see things that the project group cant. If used properly they can halt a bad project or help to put it back on track. Beware of the politics.

49. Knowledge
As they say Knowledge is power. Look at your knowledge management strategy.
All businesses have masses of information often locked up in separate systems. This information is extremely valuable if used properly. There are a number of ways of seeking this out from specific products to using enterprise search tools. It could save your business time and also increase your competitiveness particularly if you consider sharing some knowledge with your clients.

50. New Ways of working
Keep up with new ways of working and review if they can benefit your business. Consider pilots/trials. Everything from Hotelling/hot desking to home working but maybe more obscure ideas. Be an innovator!

THE END

The Internal IT Salesman

peter@birley.net (Peter Birley FBCS CITP PMP) — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 13:38:00 +0000

One of the hardest things is to tell the world (or at least the internal management) what you have done and what you are doing. Hard in two senses, one in finding time to break away from the 'doing' and secondly putting the story together in 'non IT' or business speak.
We are all doing some good and innovative projects as well as keeping the ‘lights on’ but if nobody knows about them, then it can be in vain. Lack of awareness doesn’t enhance our reputation and there is a danger that we are just seen as a support department rather than a strategic partner.
Of course there is no one solution and it needs many different approaches and constant attention.
One method I am trying is what I call the salesman’s approach (that is pre PowerPoint!)
This is based on an A4 landscape ring binder easel. (This sits on the desk and allows you to flip over A4 sheets.)
Now you need to develop an elevator speech on paper to put into business language what you have done, what you are doing and the road map going forward.
You should be able to talk to this for no more than 15 minutes.
Run it against a friendly non IT manager and if all goes well, set up a series of meetings with senior and middle managers, arrive with your A4 book, flip it open on the desk and go through the pitch.
This should help to ensure people know what is happening and they will all get the same message plus you may get some useful feedback as well.

Top things in managing an IT department - part 7

peter@birley.net (Peter Birley FBCS CITP PMP) — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 12:39:00 +0000

I am now pushing on with this series and have just about got to the magic 50 so we are nearly there.
The next 6 things are numbers 37-42 and again they are not necessarily in any order of importance. As always please feedback things that I have missed or just let me know your thoughts.

37. Succession planning
No matter how good you are at looking after your staff people will leave and it is important that you think about who would take over. Sometimes you just have to go external to bring in the right experience but that shouldn’t be the plan. You should plan to have somebody moving towards the ability to take over a position if the current incumbent leaves. Yes there is a danger that you train people and then they leave because the position isn’t available when they feel ready for the next career move but that is better than having no people coming up within the organisation.

38. Production environment
Keep it safe. Build the moat! Make sure your production environment is separated from the test environment and protect it well with technology and process. Also protect it from attack both deliberate and accidental.

39. Testing
Test, test and test again. Testing is the key to a successful implementation. There is a whole career to be made in testing and it is a vast subject with tiers of testing types from ‘unit’ to full ‘integration’ testing and also lots of software to automate the process. Some people will see it as overkill but ignore them and insist on a test plan that is rigorously followed. It will pay off.

40. Innovate
Keep ahead of the game (and the competition). Encourage new ideas from the business and from IT. Create an Ideas bank so it is easy for people to define their thoughts. Link it from the Intranet. Develop a new product development process to make sure that ideas get reviewed and there is feedback to the contributor. Also it is important to identify the need and the value of the idea. Try to get some Research and Development funds in the budget.

41.Push for Data Management
Data is the lifeblood of many organisations but it is not often looked after very well.
Define the data owners and push for the physical stewardship of data to ensure its coherence, availability and accuracy.
Give them the tools to audit and manage the data. Get them involved in system change, data migration, system modifications and the data impact of those events. Build the validation at the gateways and try to keep the rubbish out!

42. Organisational awareness
This is a bit more sophisticated than item 17 where we talked about the customer touch points. That was more specific to the IT service.
Organisational awareness is a bit fluffier but is essential to the well being of what is achieved in IT.
This is about understanding the culture of the organisation so you can swim with the tide. It is about being politically aware of who are the real decision makers and influencers; it is about networking with those people. Create yourself a stakeholder map of the business and use it to your advantage. You and your organisation will be stronger for it.

Digital Rights Management DRM

peter@birley.net (Peter Birley FBCS CITP PMP) — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 16:50:00 +0000

Digital Rights Management (DRM)
“A system for protecting the copyright of digital data by enabling secure distribution and/or disabling illegal distribution of the data. Typically, a DRM system protects intellectual property by either enctypting the data so that it can only be accessed by authorized users or marking the content with a watermark or similar method so that the content can not be freely distributed.”

Interesting subject when you start to go into it.
I had read about it but hadn’t taken much notice until a conversation I had with someone made me dig a bit deeper.
The worry was that someone could send a document with DRM embedded that we would store and it would then be unreadable at a later date due to a deletion or expiry date in the DRM setting.
It may not be quite that bad as yet because I understand that you need to be registered and have to accept the DRM policy.
But there might be a need for some user awareness here as I am not sure that a user couldn’t accept a DRM document by registering their email address and accepting the policy without us knowing about it.
There seems to be 5 players in this market, Microsoft, Adobe, EMC, Oracle and Liquid M/C.
If anybody has any more information or can provide more clarification, would be worth sharing otherwise it is one to watch particularly in the Vista and beyond territory.

Predictions 2008

peter@birley.net (Peter Birley FBCS CITP PMP) — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 17:16:00 +0000

My predictions for 2008 are based on the background that companies are looking ahead (and behind them!) in order to ensure they are positioned in an ever competitive and changing market place with still an uncertainty on how some future scenarios may pan out. The Triple Crown of increased profit, improved efficiency and added value remains the goal for a lot of companies.
On that basis I believe that Business Intelligence software will continue to grow in importance as companies try to understand their business in more depth, BPM (business Process Management) software will figure in order to drive efficiency. There is also likely to be more moves towards the less paper office both for efficiency, security and the new mantra of being ‘green’ so we will see increased integrated scanning solutions. Within IT departments, server virtualisation will continue apace with new players such as Microsoft challenging the VMware dominance. Collaboration software such as Microsoft’s Groove will start to be considered as a way to add value with clients and improved mobility for people will be introduced with more services available via handheld or remote devices (Blackberry will still dominate over Microsoft), IP telephony and WiFi. Improved web sites using Web 2.0 will start to emerge as differentiators in the market place.
Customers will increase their demands for efficiency pushing e-billing and electronic communication up the priority list. E-billing will present a major challenge with increased costs due to lack of standardisation at the delivery point.
Sharepoint will still be high on the agenda but the reality will kick in as to what can actually be achieved. Vista will be reviewed but risk adverse sectors will put it back to 2009 except for the brave few! Office 2007 will follow a similar route. Concerns such as DRM (Digital Rights Management) and how that will impact records management and elctronic document sharing will start to be debated.

A-Z of Leadership Behaviours

peter@birley.net (Peter Birley FBCS CITP PMP) — Sun, 25 Nov 2007 17:49:00 +0000

Attending a recent course on complex projects we discussed the characteristics of a successful leader and came up with an A-Z list (Had to think hard on X and Z!). On returning home I thought I would try to recreate it just for a bit of fun. Some of the key things for me are taking Responsibility, being a Mentor to your team, Honesty (telling it how it is and doing it early (Don’t hide from problems no matter how difficult)), Supportive to the team and individuals and Encouraging (tell them when it’s good).
Here is the list. Am sure you can add a few more!

A - Assertive, Approachable, Accountable
B - Balanced, Brave
C - Creative, Coherent, Curious
D - Decisive, Delegating
E - Enthusiastic, Empowering, Encouraging
F - Focussed, Flexible
G - Goal-Orientated, Governing
H - Honest, Helpful, Happy
I - Intuitive, Intelligent
J - Just
K - Knowledgeable
L - Listener, Lawful
M - Motivational, Mindful, Mentor
N - Nurturing, Noble
O - Objective, Open, Opportunist
P - Perceptive, Progressive, Personable
Q - Questioning
R - Reliable, rational
S - Self motivating, Strategist
T - Trustworthy, Thinker
U - Understanding
V - Versatile, Venerable
W - Willing, Wise
X - Xenophilous
Y - Yearning
Z - Zealous

Business Relationship Managers

peter@birley.net (Peter Birley FBCS CITP PMP) — Fri, 23 Nov 2007 12:08:00 +0000

I have mentioned before the need to align to the business. It is very important that IT understands the business that we work for and also for them to understand us. I don’t think IT is very good at this but it is important to a successful relationship and a profitable business.

IT can deliver business benefit, without a doubt, but to help in this we do need to understand what makes the business and its clients tick, their drivers and their issues.
One way of achieving this is the role of a Business Relationship Manager (BRM) assigned to specific areas of the business. Larger companies may have the luxury of being able to fund this as a full time role. They are often called Account Managers and sometimes the role is coupled with project management responsibilities.
But in smaller companies this cannot be justified and certainly not until it has proved a value.

One way around the lack of available headcount is to double the role up with existing ones. By this I mean giving each existing IT Manager/ Senior Team leader or other responsible person the additional role of Business Relationship Manager (BRM) for one or more areas.

The BRM would need to allocate some time, within their assigned area(s), getting to know the people and the work they do.

In particular their goal would be to do the following:-
- Relate IT Strategy, direction, projects, and issues to their business area
- Relate the business plan, direction, issues, concerns and needs of their business area back to the IT group.
- Create visibility in the business area
- Identify and meet regularly with key stakeholders in their area. these stakeholders should be a mix of key managers but also influential administration staff.

Hopefully this approach will be a two way benefit with both sides having more knowledge and respect for each other and maybe some new business benefits emerging.

The AKAN Plan

peter@birley.net (Peter Birley FBCS CITP PMP) — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 14:54:00 +0000

AKAN who?
The Akan are an ancient African tribe. The Akan calendar is based on what the Akan call 'forty days’. Close examination of the cycle reveals forty-two different days, with the forty-third being the same as the first. (So it has inbuilt contingency!)

The objective of the plan is to manage what is to be achieved over the next 40 working days (basically the next two months) so as to get some focus.
The plan I have devised covers high level project status, Tasks and Strategic items. It details what is going to be delivered, when and by whom. We give the projects a risk rating within 1 to 5 based on likelihood of achieving the delivery.

What and when is committed to by the owner and the plan is shared across the department and reviewed regularly. It doesn't replace detailed programme plan or project reviews but gives a higher level view of what is happening.

It's a sort of I Can AKAN.!

Top things in managing an IT department - Part 6

peter@birley.net (Peter Birley FBCS CITP PMP) — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 13:05:00 +0000

After a bit of a lay off due to work pressures I can continue with this series.
The next 6 things are numbers 31-36 and again they are not necessarily in any order of importance. This is part of a series of postings and at the moment will end at 39 unless I think of some more or I get some feedback for things that I have missed so as always please let me know your thoughts.

31. Review alternative methods of working (or else somebody else will)
Outsourcing, co-sourcing and other methods of working are out there, always in the press and the board will read the articles and ask if one of them could save them money. It can be effective for a number of reasons and in some cases not at all suitable. This can change year on year as different business change comes into play. The key thing here is not to ignore it but to review and be in a position to recommend a change or to show why it is not suitable at this stage. I would look at this on a regular basis.

32. Know your support capabilities
It is extremely important to know what your support capabilities are and failure in this area will catch you out at the worst possible time. Make sure you know what you need to support in terms of system and Infrastructure, to what level and over what periods. Then assess your existing capabilities and identify the gaps. Fill the gaps as soon as possible whether that’s internally or using a third party to extend your own capabilities. You will sleep better.

33. Manage the minefield of software licensing
Don’t get into trouble over illegal licences. It is theft after all. Ensure you know what software you are using. Consider a software discover solution. Lock down PC's so people can't install software without approval. Have a policy that the staff are signed up to so it is a disciplinary offence to install software without authority. Record your licences/ invoices so you can prove ownership. Get somebody trained to understand licensing as some suppliers make it complicated and you can find yourself in an illegal situation without realising it.

34. Recruitment plan with structured interviews
When recruiting create a plan. The plan should contains such things as Creating the Job specification and personal specification, Defining the recruitment process (how and who), Considering filter or pre screening of candidates, the interview process (stages/ interviewers/ structured questions etc), Testing (consider technical tests and/or psychometric testing), Background and reference checking, Offer process. This should then lead into an induction programme for the new recruit.

35. Retain your staff
It’s a bit like customers. It’s cheaper to keep your existing staff than recruit new ones. You don’t just have to pay them massive amounts of cash but you do need to treat them well. Some key things to consider are frequent communication (people like to know what is going on), Regular Appraisal (Listen and give feedback on performance), Training (give people the skills and keep them up-to-date), Working environment (make it a great place to work), Fun (bring some fun into work with sports and social type activities), Rewards and Recognition (not necessarily expensive but recognising achievement or going that extra mile is worth a lot to the individual)

36. Audit
Auditing gives the opportunity to check that things are being done as expected. Consider an external audit but if not you could do it internally. Obviously not as good as it is hard to be objective when you are amongst it. Create an Audit plan starting with the scope and objectives. Who is going to do it, what are they going to look at and how. Something’s to consider auditing are the DR plan and tests, Backups, Change control process, Any of your documented processes, SLA compliance and process etc.